"Waterfalls Everywhere" Baños by SullyBiz

We missed the 6:20 am bus by 1 minute, no lie, and they tried to make us pay again for the 6:35. Don't let them bully you. It took about 3 hours to get to Banos from Quito. I was practically unconscious and quite possibly drooling on the whole way down. The ride cost about $3.

Our hotel was "the best in town" with a view of the waterfall. When our contact in town failed utterly to set us up with horseback riding we opted for the waterfall taxi tour. I loved this tour simply because we had the greatest cab driver in the world. We even hired him to come get us the following day.

I ended up dragging everyone on a 3 mile trek down el rio Pastaza (led by 2 little tourguides aged 8 and 9) which nearly killed my asthmatic friend. But we got to fly across the river in a basket for $1 and the hike was really nice.

Later in the evening our contact (Evelyn's aunt's friend) picked us up to go see the sparks fly out of the volcano, Tungurahua, but it was actually too foggy to see anything (although we could hear the rumbling which was eerie).

Our friend had some interesting contacts, so we posed as students taking an educational trip, and made our way to the surveillance center at the base. It was very cool to be able to look through the equipment and see the sparks and to get a tour as the place is actually closed to tourists.

We went out and partied like usual and hit the hotsprings and the zoo in the morning. It was such a great little town with some very interesting people. I will definitely make the trip when I visit Ecuador again.

• Pros:Waterfalls, that great bar, friendly people.
• Cons:The hotsprings were a little sketchy
• In a nutshell:A great little town tucked away but with much to do.