Baños, Ecuador

Baños is nestled in a deep valley and surrounded by lush mountains and snow-capped volcanos. This is Ecuador's adventure capital - canyoning, zip-lining, bungee jumping, mountain biking, trekking, rafting - all within the gorgeous landscape and tepid weather. The mountains are filled with waterfalls, hikes, and bike trails. The terrain is dramatically different from the barren mountains of the north - this is the gateway to the Amazon and the rain forest's flora & fauna.

The town is also famous for its hot springs - and after our frigid trek around Quilotoa, the hot springs were sooooo appreciated. Just beside the town's hot spring is a huge waterfall which pours over the tall Andean mountains into a river which runs beside the springs. Both Dashiell and Imogen loved the hot springs, and Zander had an entire crew of babysitters who were ecstatic to see a baby. We walked home that evening clean and energized. In Dashiell's words, "The hot springs were so fun. They were warm, but shallow, and perfect for playing games in." He woke up very clean the next day and said, "Being clean makes you itchy." Getting an 8-year-old to take a shower has been a struggle. We need more hot springs in our life.

Walking home from the hot springs. Our hotel was just a few blocks away.

In Jonah's words, this was "the first stop in our global tour of playgrounds." With little kiddos, the first ask as we enter a new town is to find a playground. Baños's playground was - by far - one of the best playgrounds I have ever seen. The kids loved it - and I loved the scenery. The pictures just don't capture it all - the mountains shoot straight into the air from the flat valley, the waterfall pours down nearby. It felt safe and the local kids played with us as well. By the end of this trip, I hope that Dashiell and Imogen can speak some Spanish and communicate with the kids that we meet along the way in words instead of playful hand movements. (We are now switching to movies and shows in Spanish-only.)

Adventure tourism is my favorite type of travel. Jonah volunteered to stay behind while Dashiell and I went canyoning. Canyoning is an adventure sport that combines, jumping, rappelling, scrambling and swimming as you head down a steep canyon into a waterfall. We put on a wetsuit, helmet, water shoes, and a harness, and headed to the tall, ferocious Cashaurco waterfall nearby. From there, we went on a 10-activity course of rappelling down waterfalls, sliding down them to a steep drop, hiking to another section, and then jumping something like 30 feet to the bottom. Along the way, we had a guide making sure that we were jumping and rappelling correctly. This is low season - so we were fortunate to be the only ones on this tour.

Dashiell was incredibly impressive. He did it all with a smile, yet knowing that it was pushing his limits. At one point, we slid down one waterfall like a slide together, and when we finished, he said, "I'm NOT doing that again!", but with a smile. Secretly, I think that he loved it; climbing is his sport at home.

On the final canyoning activity, we jumped off a 30-foot cliff & the guide caught us "somewhere" along the way to stop the fall before we hit the water. Dashiell was all smiles through his fear and ended the day saying, "I think that I'll wait until I'm a teenager to do this again." While we were lucky to get some sun, this was off-season and chilly - the water was freezing and we were shivering through it all. For me, the adrenaline kept me warm, but Dashiell was shaking (perhaps it was from fear and I misunderstood).

There are tons of waterfalls around Baños - and a trail which one can drive or bike to see them all. I wish that we had explored by mountain bike, but there seemed to be few with seats for kids and it is hard to know how far the kiddos are willing to bike. We also ventured on a hike, but it was far from what we had just experienced in Quilotoa. While I am glad that we are on our adventure with the kids now, I am looking forward to the day when we can all participate in adventure activities together.

1. One of the waterfalls from the waterfall trail 2. Dashiell running through the waterfall over a road 3. A small hike that we went on 4. the same small hike

Despite all the adventurous attractions and hot springs, Baños is much more of a tourist town - still a very enjoyable one. There isn't a strong local culture. However, the food was awesome and we found better pizza than we have in San Francisco (as New Yorkers, we're always on the lookout for amazing pizza). The air was warm, there was tons of activities, and it was a nice place to rest our bones after the hard hike which we had just completed.

Last thing that we tried - food and juices in the local mercado. The juices are amazing in Ecuador!

Our next stop was Guayaquil - but we couldn't get there in one day. This is why we bought Bishi - our car. It is fully set up for us to car camp anywhere we want. We can just hit the road and when we are ready to stop, we find a place to stay - either a hotel, hostel, Airbnb, or simply sleep and eat in the car (my preference!). It has a rooftop tent for Jonah, Zander, and me, plus a bed inside for Dashiell and Imogen. We have a stove and fuel and are ready to sleep, cook, and eat straight from the car.

We stopped at a town called Alausi - which used to be the start of the Devil's Nose train - supposedly the hardest train tracks / route to construct in the world (I thought that the train from Chengdu to Lhassa was the hardest - it also has an interesting history). This is a train with a long switchback trail up and over the tall Andes ridge and through the mountains. Unfortunately, the train stopped running just before the pandemic - impacting all of the towns which depended on it for tourism.

We stopped at a small farm with a campsite. The owner is an American-born Ecuadorian who moved to Ecuador to run the farm when his father passed. It was an awesome place and, together with the owner, we set up a projector with a sheet against the car, had a few drinks, and enjoyed a movie. It was one of those spontaneous moments which makes traveling so magical.

Next up - a day trip to the Amazon while we were in Banos.