Saludos de Baños

So it turns out that we´re such efficient tourists, we´ve done everything we wanted to do in Quito within the span of three days. Now we´re in the town of Baños, a 3 hr bus ride away. It´s a beautiful but touristy town high in the Ecuadorian Andes, and we´re staying in the hostel Plantos y Blancos. Last night we went out with the people we´re currently travelling with, Andre and Isabelle, and encountered pretty much every single person in our hostel at the same bar. They played terrific Ecuadorian music like Bon Jovi, the Cranberries and Bob Marley. Because the bar prices are cheaper than Phils, we felt obliged to have several rounds of Mojitos and extra long Long Islands. The alcohol here does strange things such as making your Spanish worse. When I returned to the hostel I asked the security guard to take me to my room but instead he kept showing me the exit. I thought he was kicking me out for coming back so inebriated, but it turns out that I kept saying ´salida´instead of ´room.´ Salida means exit. Now I know.

We chose a really great exercise for curing hangovers this morning. It consists of waking up at 7 in the morning, taking a terrifying bus ride through the mountains, and squeezing into really flattering wetsuits... to go white water rafting. We also picked a really great expedition company that didn´t ask us about our swimming ability or rafting experience. But they were really nice and it only cost $25. So we rafted the Rio Pastaza for 10-15 kilometers and it was absolutely terrifying. The ride would have been shorter if it wasn´t for Meghan getting washed overboard with another rider, and since we spent so much time fishing them out of the water we missed our exit. These disastrous events took a turn for the better when we finally reached the next meeting point, where we found a woman and child stranded in the middle of the river. Apparently they had gone for a morning walk, but the river became so swollen with heavy rains that they couldn´t find their way back. So our guides became heroes and brought them back across the raging rapids. You can´t buy this kind of entertainment.

So far I would give Baños a 6/10 disaster rating, and 10/10 for breathtaking scenery.