Braving Baños

There is a volcano in Ecuador that is threatening to erupt any day now. Most of the neighboring villages have been evacuated, and the others are on high alert. So what does a group of adventure-seeking gringos do? They get on the first bus headed for Baños, one of the villages closest to the volcano that has not been evacuated, for a front row seat.

There is much to do in Baños. From river rafting to horse back riding to canyoning to sitting in the thermal baths, there`s something for everyone. We arrived at 7am, after taking a night bus from Cuenca, ready to pack in all there was to do. But first, we slept.

The first day, Kristi and Bryann took off on ATVs to discover the countryside, while Vince and I decided to spend a few hours in the thermal baths, before heading up to check out the zoo. It was pretty relaxing, although a dirty affair, since ash spewing from the active volcano seemed to cover everything, including us. The zoo was all animals from Ecuador, like the leopard, the capybara (world`s largest rodent, or ROUS, if you want to go that route!), the Galapagos Turtle, and many many birds. My favorite were the parrots who said, "Hola, Como estas?" and then proceded to laugh in a freakily accurate immitation of a woman. It was bizarre. Unfortunately (FORTUNATELY) the serpent zoo was closed.

The next day, we rented bikes and biked 16 km to Rio Verde, where we made many stops along the way. First, we watched Kristi and Bryann jump off a bridge, bungee-style, then we took a rickety cable car to a waterfall. We rode through tunnels and along cliffs, until finally we got off to hike down to this amazing waterfall, where there was a outdoor restaurant, overlooking the vista. To get there, we had to cross a suspension bridge, which warned that there could be no more than five people on the bridge at once. Not very reassuring! As we were exhausted by this time (there may have been tiny hangovers involved from the previous night...), we chucked our bikes in the back of a truck and got a ride back to Baños, just in time for a dip in the baths, a meal, and an excursion to see the volcano up close. Unfortunately, it was raining and overcast, so there wasn`t much to see, and it was freezing, but the four of us were crammed in with a busload of Ecuadorians who were chanting "Canelazo!" (an Ecuadorian alcoholic drink), and singing their heads off to the spanish pop music that is incessently playing everywhere you go. Although it was raining, and we couldn`t see the volcano, it was a pretty decent night.

On Sunday, we decided to go canyoning, which is basically harnessing yourself up and rapelling down waterfalls. We climbed down three waterfalls, wearing wetsuits and helmets. The first two were good practise for the motherload. Basically we climbed down about ten feet, and then hung in our harnesses, zipping down at our leisure for the last 50 feet, under the waterfall. It was amazing and terrifying.

If that wasn`t enough, when we got back, we decided it would be a good idea to go back to the bungee bridge and all try jumping off it. It was the freakiest sensation, as you`re standing up on that bridge, looking death in the face and saying, yup, I`m gonna jump. Against everything my brain and body are telling me, I`m going to jump. And although it took me a few times to work up the nerve, I did it. And it was horrible and amazing and scary and awesome. There`s an instant between when you jump and when the rope tightens when you are freefalling basically towards your death, and all sorts of thoughts go through your mind. The biggest one for me was, "What the hell did you just do?!" Anyhow, once we all did it, apparently we got a free jump, or a doubles jump off the smaller bridge (yeah, why did I do the bigger bridge first? I dunno, I`m an idiot?!), so Vince and I braved it a second time and jumped off together, which wasn`t nearly as bad as the first one. We conquered our fears and now can laugh about it. Holy cow.

PS -- The volcano didn`t blow it`s top by the time we left on Sunday evening. I`m not sure if I`m disappointed or relieved.