Banos
Baños is a beautiful city with hot springs, waterfalls and mountains on all sides but it is also an adventure town where you can race downhill by bike, climb mountains or volcanoes, soak in a hot spring, take a cable ride and party all night. It makes a terrible sticky toffee thing that stretches for ever. I dare not try it for fear of losing all my fillings.There is a wonderful natural seed pod which is named Tagua, a palm tree nut, and often described as Ecuadorian Ivory palm. The jewelry made from this nut is extremely fashionable and durable. It can be painted a myriad of colours and the colours hold. Natural is also beautiful. In bygone days almost all buttons were made from this seed. The beauty of this nut is that it also gives work to indigenous people and protects the forest.
This popular pretty little city has lots of pizzerias, hostals, bars and a lovely church in the centre of town. Cycling here is great fun as there is a recognised route where you pass waterfalls getting bigger at every stop until you reach the final waterfall which is called El Diablo. The waterfalls were long and v beautiful but the last El Diablo was stupendous, roaring down the mountain. It was very powerful. The recognised cycle run to the waterfalls is a must as it suits everyone because to get to the waterfalls the road is almost all downhill and the less fit, like me can get a lift back with an enterprising truck driver.The volcano Tungurahua is active and volcanic ash covers Banos every so often. The cathedral is full of stories of Virgin San Agua’s good deeds. Slipping and sliding down the volcano clinging onto trees not knowing whether they were snakes or not is not fun.
