Banos de Aqua Santa

 

I don't know much Spanish, but I do know "banos" and it means bathroom.  I also had been to Banos in 2018 when we stopped for lunch on our way back from Macas.  I was confused about the name, but also knew it was a really pratty part of Ecuador.  The Gateway to the Amazon.  This time, on our 4 hour drive to get there, I learned that banos means bathroom not just toilet.  Much like our bathroom has more than just a toilet, specifically it has a shower too.  And Banos got its name because of the waterfall like a shower.  

Breakfast, however, was before we got to this waterfall and was in a gas station.  It was good though, and we all spent some money on snacks and drinks in addition to breakfast.  We ate a Flamingo's and I got an empanada and potato chips.  Odd combo, but these chips were more like homemade chips and really good.  

Our first activity when we got to Banos was to ride on a zipline basket to get close to a waterfall.  I thought I would be more scared, but it was not too scary.

 

Our next stop was El Pavilon del Diablo, the devil's cauldron.  It is a beautiul waterfall!  The hike to it was fairly easy until the end.  It was slippery though and you had to be careful.  Also, it was one of the few hikes I have made that had snack options along the way!  (I guess Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon would count as a snack stop.)  But this hike had ice cream!

I got mora ice cream/blackberry

Another snack option were grubs

Our CBC team

This was a restaurant along the hike

The trail was well groomed 

As we got closer to the waterfall, that is when we had to walk up and down stairs that were wet.

The last fairly easy part of the hike ended at a ledge beside the fall where you could see why it is called a cauldron as the water churned and sprayed on us.

After this the fun began!  You had to squeeze through a rock crevice called La Grieta al Cielo/crack to heaven.  Then you had to climb into a fake tree and up rocks ledges.  Then you hiked behind the falls and got pretty wet,  But it was worth it!

Behind the falls

We finished our hike and were getting hungry as none of us wanted to eat grubs.  We ended up at a steak restaurant in Banos with very friendly and kind servers.  Two of our group got tomahawk steaks for $25!  I got a t-bone with really good fries.  

We were able to look around Banos a little before time to head back.  We saw guinea pigs on a grill, but didn't try them.  But we did go to a really nice bakery.  I got an apple tart and a blueberry candy confection.  The outside was chocolate and the inside was a cheesecake like consistency with blueberry jam in the middle of that.

Guniea pigs

The candy store.  This area grows sugar cane and makes taffy with it.

Liz and Vainilla 

The town was set in the midst of the Andes and near the Tungurahua volcano.  It is a town known for outdoor activities such as white-water rafting, ziplining, and bungee jumping.  One bungee jumping spot was at the top of the mountain.  

   

There was also a pretty cathedral in Banos.

 

Pelileo is a town known for jeans that we passed on the way back home.  The jeans were $9, but we were too tired to stop and shop.

We saw mountains and volcanoes on the way back to Dunamis; and then stopped for pizza at Dominoes around 10.  We were in bed around 1.  It was a fun, but long day!

On Sunday we got up for church at 10:00.  We went to a church called Elkballo Church.  They sang for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  I knew two of the songs they sang.  The  service was in Spanish, but they had an app that let you listen in English.  I couldn't download the app, but did use Google translate and could follow along for most of the service.  

After church, we went to the mall and ate at Vaca y Vaca.  It was an okay meal.  The potato soup was the best part and was good.  We tried Krispy Kreme donuts at the mall and decided that they are not as good in Ecuador.  We also got ice cream at Baskin Robbins.  We got soft serve and it was really good.  The hard ice cream looked more like gelato.  

We made it to the market with an hour to shop.  We found all the things we were looking for and I even was able to use my knowledge of Spanish numbers to barter!  I learned them to twenty/veinte just for that day.  

 

We had two full days of touristy stuff, but the real reason we had come to Ecuador was about to begin.  We organized our stuff and our schedule and got to bed to be rested for a great week of ministry.

   

Travel can be long, but fun

 

Getting to your destination can be long and tiring, and definitely not the best part of any trip.  But you can have some fun if you try!

For our trip to Ecuador, I had my alarm set for 3;45 in order to leave the house at 4:30.  When it went off, I decided I only needed 30 minutes to get ready and stayed in bed until 4.  But I made it to the airport by 4:45 in order to make our 7:00 am flight.  

We got through securitry without too many issues and our flight was uneventful.  I even had a child in my row who only got fussy when we were waiting to get off the plane.  We landed in Houston around 8 and were ready for breakfast. After that, there was just a long layover until 6:30ish.  About 10 hours!  So we had a scavenger hunt.  And it was really fun.  Houston is actually a nice airport.  The group I was in also took a picture with an AI World Cup camera.  It was a fun photo that turned us into fit soccer players, but did make one of the women into her son.  AI is not as smart as we think it is.

    Here are some other pictures of cool things we found in the airport.

A bagel sculpture

George Bush

A Texas longhorn

A chocolate boot, yum!

I liked this painting

The rest of our time in the airport was spent eating lunch (brisket nachos for me) and playing Phase Ten.  Even with all that time, we did not finish the Phase Ten game.

I did not grab dinner in the airport because we were going to get a meal on the plane.  Plane food is never a good idea!  But that is what I had for dinner.  I also watched the movie Michael on the plane and it was really good.  Other than the food, though, the flight was good.  I had a window seat and could sleep some.  They even gave us blankets.

We landed in Quito at 11:30 and were on our way to Dunamis around 12:30 and arrived around 1:30.  Then we had to unload, get ready for bed and settled in to sleep so that we could get be ready to go to Banos in the morning at 6:00.  I slept in my Saturday clothes!  But that is a different story.

The way back home was not quite as long of a day, but after getting to bed late Friday night, and waking up at 2:30 when I heard people loading the van, we left Dunamis at 4:00 to make it to the airport for a 7 am flight.  

Last view of the mountains of Quito

On our first leg, we got breakfast and the cinnamon roll was kind of good.  I watched Solo Mio (I still stand by my opinion that Kevin James does not make a good leading man for a rom-com) and Song Sung Blue ( a good but sad movie).  

During our only 5 hour layover in Houston, I got a good meatball sandwich at Potbelly Sandwich Shop and an even better chocolate milkshake.  More Phase Ten finished our layover, but we still did not finish the game!

The last leg of the trip was shorter than expected and again very smooth.  We got home before 10 and walked outside to the muggy humidity of Charleston.  Was glad to be home, but missed the cool evenings of Quito!