Reports from Ecuador

Checking out Alfaro street in beautiful Baños

A week of office work

After a long week working in the office of Fundacion Futuro (we were unable to conduct any mobile medical clinic trips due to lack of lab technicians), and demonstrating the lab-in-a-backpack to the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health – which will shortly be receiving a shipment of 24 packs to distribute throughout the country – Andrea and I were able to get away for the weekend to recharge. QiQin asked us last Thursday if there was any place in particular that we wanted to visit, and I recalled the fact that Dr. Lorena very strongly recommended that we visit Baños. I really had no idea what was there, so only the name came to mind. Soon after mentioning this, QiQin had us online researching places to stay and things to do, because we were going to fly solo for this one! Scary but exciting, because we were ready to venture out on our own while also allowing our gracious hosts a little bit of personal space.

Piscinas de la Virgen - a natural hot spring pool fed partially by waterfalls

The glorious city of Baños

We arrived in Baños on Friday afternoon and realized we’d forgotten to bring our notes with information about our hotel and potential activities. Luckily we were able to remember at least the name of the hotel (well, a hostel actually), and due to the kindness of the locals we were able to eventually find our way there. We also knew that Baños was a very small town, so it wouldn’t be too hard to find our way around. Baños is absolutely spectacular, sitting in the shadow of Tungurahua, the largest active volcano in Ecuador. It erupts every 10-12 years, prompting a city-wide evacuation. The city is also known for its hot springs, waterfalls, and the fact that the edge of the Amazon rainforest is right in its backyard. And the pennypincher in me needs to gloat for a bit about our great find: we stayed in an extremely nice hostel for 3 nights at just $7.50 a night!! Andrea and I even had our own bedroom (none of that 6-bunks-in-one-room business) and our own bathroom, where I experienced the most amazing shower I’ve had in Ecuador (as hot water and water pressure have been generally nonexistent). Awesome awesome awesome.

Bike tour on the avenida de las cascadas

Cuyes asados, or grilled guinea pigs!

Adventure Time!

Saturday, our first full day in Baños, was one of the longest, craziest, most exciting days of my life. Even though I ended the day with a nasty fever (probably just heatstroke or dehydration), I still fell in love with the area. We started early in the morning by renting bicycles so we could ride down the ‘Avenida de las cascadas,’ or ‘Avenue of the waterfalls.’ We stopped at an area where a lot of people were clustered around and saw that people were bridge jumping – my name for what is essentially bungee jumping but with a more rigid cord. I was happy to just watch, but then Andrea asked me if I wanted to do it, because they could do two-person jumps and she said she would only go if I went too. I thought about it and realized I wouldn´t get another chance to do something that insane in South America, so then we literally took the plunge! The drop was about 15 meters of sheer terror before coming to a quick stop and swinging for a few minutes over the rocky Rio Blanco. What a great opportunity to freak out our mothers! Maria Alicia, essentially our Ecuadorian mom, almost had a heart attack when we showed her the video of our jump (kindly taken by a Canadian tourist). More adventures of the day included getting stuck on an open side-open top cable car 100 meters above a raging river in the middle of a monsoon. The rain put our bike tour to a halt and we had to jump on a chiva (tour bus) to get the 20 km back to Banos. Luckily by this point we had run into two other American tourists (med students from Seattle) and their guide, who invited us to come to some hot springs with them afterwards. They also invited us to go eat cuy (guinea pig) with them. I abstained, but was curious to witness the spectacle. Carnivorous Andrea of course loved it and even ate the tiny liver. Ewww. (Side note reminder: Stacey = vegetarian). The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the heat, and after the hot springs we got an appointment at a small local spa to get (cheap, but awesome) massages.

Sunday was also adventure time, as we had signed up for a full day white water rafting trip. We spent several hours on the Rio Pastaza in Class III+ rapids and nearly got thrown off several times, but despite my initial fear it ended up being a lot of fun. Andrea is apparently some sort of rafting champ and therefore she put the pressure on me when I started to waver – after hearing from other tourists that the river was really dangerous, and that two weeks earlier a tourist had drowned while rafting! Nevertheless, we are both still here to tell the tale, and I´m proud to say that I jumped off a bridge and went rafting in treacherous waters in the Amazon! Our rafting guide also spent a while joking – I´m not sure how seriously – about there being anacondas and piranhas in the river. All the better! I think Andrea and I are just a pair of daredevils.

We returned to Quito on Monday ready to get back to work, rejuvenated by our weekend adventures. 3 weeks to go! Here´s hoping we can make the best of it.

The scary cable car that Andrea and I got stuck on

Andrea and Stacey bridge jumping over Rio Blanco