Traveling to Baños took a full six hours, it took a mile walk, two crowded trolley busses, and another bus to get to Baños. After we arrived, we headed to the hostel Alcanzar. I've never stayed in a hostel before, so that was quite surprising. Although it was only $6 a night, it had "erratic" water temperatures, a dead spider in the bed, just enough space for a bed, and an unavoidable (and unforgettable) stench.

However, that's where the bad stuff ends. After a night of getting my butt kicked at pool, eating their famous salchipapas for $2, buying helados outside a store at 12 AM and happily dancing to crazy Ecuadorian music that we knew none of the words to, we woke up early to start our tour of the cascadas, or waterfalls. We boarded onto this chiva, which is like an open bus, and cruised around for about 3 hours to view 7 waterfalls.

We took this short ferry ride to view the waterfall, and bought shrimp kabobs and bananas with cheese (surprisingly good). For the last waterfall, it was a legfest going back up- straight vertical for about 2 miles to get to the chiva. But when you made the descent, you saw this crashing waterfall that you can stand in front of to get absolutely drenched.

After our tour ended, we decided to check out the actual piscinas which Baños is famous for. They are a bunch of naturally hot pools right by this waterfall. When we got there, we found something resembling a public pool with hundreds of people in it and opted out. Didn't look like too much fun, or attractive whatsoever (especially for the common germophobe). My friend, Kathy decided to do a different type of baño: one in a box. They alternate steaming your body, scrubbing it, and dousing it with cold water. Apparently it's amazing for your skin. Also has a slight comical element because it looks like you're trapped in a guillotine.

We took a chiva in the nighttime to visit the nearby volcano; unfortunately, there was too much fog to view it. We watched this incredible fire-juggling show with about 300 other audience members.

Oh. I forgot to mention one TINY detail. I realized that if there was a time to bungee jump, it was now. Not only that, but I went first, I was up on a bridge overlooking a crashing river for only 10 seconds before I jumped, AND I put my arms out. I actually wish I fell for a longer amount of time. It was a short jump that came with a seemingly endless amount of adrenaline, emotion, and self-belief. As we put it oh so smartly, "Today I love everything because today is today". It's pretty funny looking back on it and realizing how high on life we were that day, and how nothing, not even freezing ourselves in pouring rain all day, could change that. My memories of this weekend trip to Baños will always bring a little confidence and a big smile.

This post is by Gizelle Pera, a junior at CMC who studied abroad in Quito, Ecuador for the Fall semester of her junior year. She is a Biology major and wants to become a dentist.

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