Baños 1

I had a date this morning with four waterfalls, so I was a little disappointed to be awakened early by what sounded like rain. But when I opened the doors to my patio, I realized that it was just the sound of the waterfall outside my room and it was actually a beautiful day.

So off we went to the waterfall experience of Baños:

After a while, my German friend Nadine and I had a hankering for some cevichocho, so we each got a cup of it from a vendor at one of the falls. Oh, you don’t know what that is? Bottom layer of marinated beans, second layer of salted corn kernels, top layer of fried plantain chips, all doused with a salsa of tomato and onions. I figured that of all the foods here that might wreck me, this was a pretty safe combination. That was eight hours ago – so far so good.

And along the way we saw a contraption made out of a large metal basket hanging from a cable that travelled above and across a canyon for a close up, if not exactly stable, look at one of falls called the Lover’s Veil (Velo de la Novia).  The whole thing was powered by an engine that looked like it was lifted from an old Chevy truck, dropped here and connected to a rusty cable. Seeing absolutely no reason not to eagerly get aboard, the four of us took a ride above the canyon to the falls. I know that success wasn’t guaranteed, but it didn’t seem any riskier than the cevichocho.

I’m settling into a little bit of a rhythm here and enjoying being in a smaller, cleaner, safer place than Quito. And things are simpler here too. Ask yourself the following – do you (a) really need hot water or will (b) “not cold” water suffice? Do you (a) really need to be able to flush toilet paper down the toilet or (b) can you just wrap it up and toss it in the trash? Do you (a) really need separate hand soap, face soap, shampoo and conditioner or can you (b) just pour some green slimy generic cleaner out of an unmarked tub and use it for everything? If you answered (b) to these questions, then you should plan a trip to Baños!