Banos!

This past weekend, we were given three days off [because we had a take home test] so a group of friends and I decided to head to Banos for a little getaway. Banos is a small town situated at the bottom of Volcan Tungurahua. The city is famous for its pools of natural hot water coming from the volcano, but there's a lot more to do there than just relax...

Once we arrived and ate lunch on Friday, my friends and I wandered through the streets which are lined with travel agencies and companies that take tourists on different excursions. About seven of us decided to go for a horse back ride, so we hopped into the back of the agency's pickup truck and drove to the house of the family who owns the horses. Waiting for us was our THIRTEEN year old guide, Jonathan. We were all pretty dumbfounded when we realized that this kid was 'in charge' but he was great and we all had a really good time. We reached a gorgeous waterfall where we got off the horses to climb up the falls and take some pictures. The climb was a little sketchy, especially since this kid wasn't about to catch any of us if we took a spill, but the view was well worth it. We returned safely (and quickly-the horses knew the way back and decided to run for it) and decided to relax a bit in the hot pools which were only a block from our hostel. We ate an excellent dinner with a few rounds of two-for-one Mojitos and called it a night.

Saturday was a non-stop adventure-starting with a few of my friends bungee jumping off one of the bridges just outside of the city. Watching them jump was just about as much of a thrill as I needed-I wasn't even tempted to jump myself (I'm sure you're happy to hear that, Mom). From there we took about a 15 kilometer bike ride to check out the different waterfalls. We also took an open gondola-type ride across one of the gorges; it was beautiful with great views of the mountains and the river below, but again, heights are not my thing and I was happy to get my feet back on solid ground. Next was a hike to a waterfall called 'Pelon del Diablo' or Hair of the Devil, which is easily one of the most powerful waterfalls I have ever seen-there definitely isn't any swimming going on at the bottom of that one.

Following that hike was a much needed lunch break, and before we knew it, we were off to the next excursion: white water rafting. Everyone was pretty freaked out by the idea of rafting, I was one of only a few who had done it before, but we all had an amazing time. My group was split into two rafts, and four other girls and I happened to land in the raft with a guide who I can only describe as borderline crazy. After about five minutes of rafting, our guide abandoned ship and jumped onto the other raft leaving us girls to our own devices. We survived a few small rapids and promptly pulled our guide back onto our raft. Not long after his first stint, our guide started throwing my raft-mates into the water, leaving me to catch everyone's oars (which he had noted would cost us $40 each if we lost them). I thought I was safe, but as soon as I would start to pull someone back into the boat, we would both be in the river again. Truthfully, it was really fun and we all got over our fear of falling into the water pretty quickly. Little did we know, this experience would come in handy just ten minutes later. The other raft was in front of us when we witnessed them go over a rapid that pitched all but two out of the boat. We braced ourselves, but we too were effortlessly thrown from the raft when we hit the same rapid. We all eventually made it back to our boat, and even more miraculously, nobody lost their oar! This rafting trip turned out to be one to remember. After this long day, another soak in the pools and good meal was all we needed.

Overall, everyone had an amazing time in Banos, we all felt that we packed just about as much as we could into a weekend and came home to Quito satisfied and exhausted. I still pulled off watching most of the Super Bowl (Go Saints!) and that take home test got turned in this morning.

Tomorrow I'm bringing Ceviche de Camarones into class-and I'll be happy to share the recipe once I get back to the states.

Next adventure: Carnaval!! I'll be on the beach from Friday to Tuesday-can't wait to tell you all about it!