bliss...

I have found heaven on earth... the thing about ecuador thus far is that it has been quite a bit of work. between health brigades and spanish lessons and learning about alternative medicines here, our schedule is pretty booked. granted this is a rotation, so I expect far less play than a vacation; that said, it is nice to get to enjoy some of the touristy aspects of ecuador, and that is exactly what is happening here in baños - aka heaven on earth :)

 today was either the best, or second best, day of the trip yet (you can decide for yourself if carnival/tamascal trump what I'm about to describe). we met up with 10 from our group (jenny, emma, liz, trisa, rachel, becca, misha, anne, lo and me) in our hostel lobby at 9am to pay for and set off on our canyoning adventure arranged by the hostel owner (this place, la princesa maria, is owned by a dad and son and we love it here!!). two guys walked us to their home base (everything in baños is within walking distance), and we geared up. one baggy wetsuit, two ragged knee pads, a decent looking harness (thank goodness), and some sweet converse-esque, size 36 shoes later we were ready to go!! oh, and a sexy helmet, can't forget that part. and also this butt bucket thing made of slippery canvas (we would later discover the purpose). let's just say, if you aren't already imagining our group in this getup, that we looked good ;) our two guides seemed pretty thrilled to have a tour group of 10 young, overly-enthusiastic females, and they were taking advantage of the photo ops. out front we took the smiling pic, the crazy pic, the jumping pic, oh, and can't forget the canvas butt pic (hope that one doesn't make the front window of their store)...

then a truck pulled up, just a little tacoma-ish 4 door, and I jokingly told the group to just all pile in the back... only as we finished laughing about this silly idea our guide was like, ok 5 of you inside, 5 of you in the back. with our driver and the two guides in the bed of the truck with half our girls we had 13 people in this single car. ohhh if dr. W only knew! (stick a stray dog in the car with us and take a pic to show dr. W, he'd have a heart attack on the spot)... what happens in baños... we made it in one piece to the waterfalls a few miles down the road. you see baños, lovely baños, is this small town surrounded on all sides by steep, jungle-laden cliffs, many of which continue up to form volcanos. waterfalls cascade down many of these mountains, creating the perfect playground for tourists seeking adventure. and boy did we find that and then some...

we started off small to learn the technique and also because a 20 foot-ish waterfall stood between us and the good stuff... one at a time and watched closely by our awesome guides, we would repel down the waterfall; right hand holding the rope at our hip, left hand feeding it from ahead, our instruction involved a lot of "wide feet" and "lean back"... having completed the first waterfall of the group, we walked to the next, this one smaller, smoother and shaped steeply like a slide. so rather than repel our guided hooked the rope to the back of our harness and we discovered the reason for the slipper butt covers, they make for easy sliding down the waterfalls. and I dare you not to laugh when you're being lowered down a waterfall by your butt, and I double dog dare you not to laugh when your friends are being lowered down in a similar fashion. at the end of these two I had had enough fun for it to be well worth the $22.50 i paid, but there was more :)

our next repel was considerably bigger than these past waterfalls. we were to repel down to a ledge overlooking what appeared to be a lot of air... 45 meters of it, to be exact (nearly 150ft)...!! they stacked us up on this tiny wet ledge (just a flatish rock with less water than the actual waterfall), inbetween the two steams of water launching down to the valley below. the repel, however, would be a little different. I was hooked to the rope, my safety secured. I began the repel but less than 10 feet down the wall, the wall itself disappeared! or rather it became apparent that we had started on an overhang and so the bottom 140 ft of the repel were free falling, so to speak. I took my sweet time, controlling my own descent with my bare hands gripping the rope on either side of my harness. it was a very ninja experience dropping from the sky in such a manner. I paused to enjoy the plant life growing in the ever-moist environment under the waterfall... I spun slightly and looked up to appreciate the water falling down on either side of me, though I remained surprisingly dry for the moment... a few feet more, I looked down. the rope wiggled feet above the ground with my movement, and I couldnt help but wonder if I would just drop off the end and fall the rest of the way to solid ground. another pause for the view and yet another to appreciate my epic location in the world at that very moment - is this real life?!

I made it to the bottom without dropping off the end of the rope, and, safely on the rocks, i unhooked my harnesses. what a wild experience. we couldn't help expressing that the many rules and regulations in the us mean that adventures like this would never fly. and speaking of fly I wish I had recorded how our guide decended the waterfall - think superman. we hiked/climbed this crazy ladder out of there and set off for the next waterfalls. through a maze of bamboo next to a river we walked. the trail transitioned to rocks and we climbed, using ropes placed there to help our ascent. finally we were in the middle of this cascade of at least 8 massive waterfalls, one after the other like dominos down the side of the mountain cliffs. we repelled down these and after many more crazy photos we were thoroughly soaked, pretty darn cold, and unquestionably exhausted of our adrenaline.

we sat in a hut in the forest and drank tea that tasted exactly like fruit loops, which helped us warm up. then I piled in the bed of the truck with half our group and all 13 of us made our way back to baños. the bonus was that the guys supposedly gave us a cd of all of the photos they took of us that day. hope we can open it!! 

the rest of our day looked like this:
-banana chocolate empanadas (oh wow).
-taffy samples on every block (they manually pull it here, looping it over this wood hook thing nailed to the wall, it is delish!! I like the purple flavor best).
-plantains filled with cheese and served warm.
-a hike up the mountain where my other friend lo had been bit by a dog when she was here in baños (fortunately no dog run ins for us). incredible views and a great workout.
-a few hours at the natural hotsprings here, directly below this insane waterfall, and all natural mineral water in these pools directly from the springs. it was packed, and all the women are forced to wear shower caps, so it was an interesting experience, but definitely relaxing...
-more plantains and queso.
-dinner at an italian restaurant...?
-a few more souvenir purchases (that almost didn't happen because the girl working at the stand where I wanted to buy these earrings was sucking face, literally, with some guy, so hard I thought one or both of their lips might fall off...)
-walking around the town at night with an ice cream cone. bliss!! and yes, we fit all of that into one day!! 

like I said, I love it here... but I'm exhausted now and need sleep because I somehow have a cold in a place much warmer than oregon in february (though oddly enough my phone is convinced that there are snow flurries here and the temp is 33 - not sure which baños verizon is thinking of...)