if your friends jumped off a bridge...you would too.

Back from another crazy, fun, exciting weekend trip, this time to a place called Baños. The name comes from the natural hot spring baths the town has because of the huge volcano nearby, but there's a ton more to do in the town than just relax in the pool. We got there Friday evening and immediately loved the town as soon as we stepped off the bus. We ate dinner at a cute place owned by a gringo, and I had a delicious cheese, avocado, and tomato sandwich. Baños has incredible nightlife, so we had a blast hanging out on the streets, dancing in the clubs, and meeting people from all over the world (we met a ton of people from Argentina because they're all on their summer vacation right now).

SATURDAY
We started the day early and explored around town a little. Baños is a cute little town with a couple beautiful cathedrals and, of course, the Andes mountains as a backdrop.

We had breakfast at a little café, and I got some delicious chocolate pancakes (of course) that came with bananas and cream.

 

After breakfast, we started our adventure of canyoning. Canyoning is basically repelling down some of Baños's best waterfalls. We rode in a truck out to the waterfalls, and the company provided us with our very own wetsuits and Keds (apparently they work as great water shoes). We also got jackets (which smelled awful), helmets, and harnesses.

 

We repelled down one smaller waterfall to start. For the second waterfall, we layed on our backs while our guide repelled us down quickly, kind of like a waterslide.

 

For the last and tallest waterfall (about 150 feet), we repelled down the first part and then jumped, and the guide repelled us down.

To get back up to the top, we had to hike through what I can only describe as the jungle. The "path" the company created was very narrow and was almost vertically uphill. Our hike even included climbing under barbed wire. Only in Ecuador. We got to do the biggest waterfall twice, and then we finally got to peel off our pretty smelly wetsuits. We got to do all that for the whopping price of $16.

We got some lunch in town when we got back and walked around a little bit more. I went with my friend Cole to get his long hair chopped off, and then we went back and relaxed in the hostel. That night, we enjoyed more of Baños's awesome nightlife.

SUNDAY
We started off the day early again and got breakfast at the hostel where another group of USFQ students was staying. After breakfast, a few of us rented go karts and rode them around town, then to the next town over to see a zoo.

 

 We drove back, met up with the rest of our group, and headed out to do puenting. Puenting is the "extreme sport" of Baños, essentially bridge jumping (puente = bridge). The bridge we were going to jump off is about 450 feet high and runs over a huge gorge and raging river. 

We got harnessed up and, connected to a rope, dove off of this little platform. The fall literally lasts less than 2 seconds, but it's amazing and exhilarating.

After the jump, you swing for a while on the rope and then hang while the man at the top lowers you down to the cliff below. 

It's definitely the craziest thing I've ever done. And it only cost $10! After we finished puenting, we headed back to the hostel to get our stuff, grabbed some lunch, and then hopped on the bus to head back to Quito. Needless to say, Baños is my favorite place we've been so far, and I wouldn't surprised if we end up back there for a weekend before the semester's over.