Baños: Where there´s smoke...

We decided that it was time to move on from Latacunga and spend a bit of time pampering ourselves...we headed for Baños. .....The idyllic town of Baños was of interest to us because it is surrounded by lush, green mountains offering great hiking, mountain biking, excursions to the jungle, and the of course after a tough night of climbing, cherished hot springs.

After arriving back in Latacunga, we quickly returned our equipment to the tour operator, picked up our backpacks, reshuffled some items and headed to the bus station. From Latacunga, there is no direct bus to Baños, we first had to head the 33km to Ambato. Upon arrival in Ambato, we picked up our bus to Baños in the fashion we are getting very used to: dropped off on the side of the street, organize our packs, a bus pulls up, the tout yells out the destination, toss our packs on board, scramble in, find a seat and away we go!!

Behind Baños and its tranquil feel sits Volcan Tungurahua, an active volcano that has made some noise already this year. Before we made the trip here we spent some time online researching (the volcano is closely monitored and there is a lot of information including Instituto Geofisico http://www.igepn.edu.ec/), talking to other travellers, locals and getting information from the Lonely Planet website. As we made our approach, we could see the Volcano not far off in the distance, with its ever-present steam cloud brooding above.

The town is very relaxed, and extremely oriented toward the traveller. It seems as if we cannot turn a corner without coming face to face with a hostal. There are numerous tour operators that are all offering package excursions and adventure to anyone who is willing and able. Language schools and just the relaxed atmosphere at 1800m (ie plants, flowers and warm temps) are all draws to the gringo looking for a place to call a base.

After our lack of sleep from the night before, our first night in Baños was quite uneventful. We checked into the Hostal Santa Cruz (http://www.livetravelguides.com/south-america/ecuador/andean-highlands/central-highlands/banos/hospedaje-santa-cruz/), went and had a quick bite to eat as we hadn´t eatten anything since 12am, then went back for a nap. For the evening we had booked a tour to go out on a "bus" to get a view of the volcano at night (you are supposed to be able to see a red glow from the crater), this was a waste of time and money as it was cloudy-smoky and we ended up sitting around a campfire at the lookout almost the entire time.

Today has been restful. We slept in, had breakfast and then soaked in the thermal baths here in the town. The water is naturally supplied, and cooled with water from a local waterfall. The facility is older and concrete, comprising of a number of pools of varying temperatures. Our time in them was very relaxing as we looked out on the gorgeous scenery surrounding us.

From there we wandered the town and went and explored recent lava-mud-rock overflows (by recent I mean months ago) that took out part of the road. Of course, life goes on here in Banos with or without the volcanoe, and locals barely cast an eye up as the occasional dark smoke cloud blots out the sun. Kind of a weird surreal thing coming from Canada where the idea of living underneath a volcanoe and directly in its lava flow is a little off base, but the town is beautiful, and you can see why people want to stay, liquid hot magma or not..

The town is not just famous for its volcanoe or hot springs, another yummy treat is the wood pegs on almost every store front. Here people pull fresh taffy that they make in their shops and they will happily break off a fresh warm chunk for you for 25 cents. mmmm taffy

Our plan is to remain here for the night and then head off to Riobamba and the train ride down the Nariz del Diablo (Devils Nose) tomorrow. The train leaves on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, so we hope to make the Friday train.

Hope to be in Peru by the end of a weeks time...