Baños : nature, aventure et quelque chose en tête

In order to see a bit more of the highland surroundings of Ecuador before heading to the islands, we booked a two-day tour with Ecuador Hop. In the morning, we set off by minibus towards Cotopaxi. Climbing the famous volcano was not part of the plan - on the one hand, it was not possible time-wise, and on the other hand, Seraina has already done it before. So we basically just drove past it and had breakfast at a lodge nearby. From there, we could see Los Illinizas, the two other volcanoes, although we unfortunately couldn't see Cotopaxi due to the fog.

After this stop, the tour continued - this time to Quilotoa. There is also a volcano there - inside the crater, it houses a truly beautiful lagoon. Again, there was no time for a longer trek, but the weather was good and the view from the edge was breathtakingly beautiful!

Next stop, Baños - this is where we stayed. The small town is known as the adventure sports capital of Ecuador and is teeming with providers for rafting, mountain biking, climbing, zip-lining, cable cars, and giant swings.

On an afternoon tour, we also stopped at one of these giant swings in the mountains around the city - and Mathias even managed to convince Seraina to sit on it. Although she was shaking quite a bit in the meantime, we survived it (including our stomach contents).

From Casa de Arbol, we were able to enjoy the great view over Baños and the valley before going back down to the city.

On the next morning, we went on another short tour, which took us through the valley passing several zip-lines - this time, only Mathias wanted to do a short ride - to the “El Pailon del Diablo” waterfall. It reminded us a bit of the Maggia Valley and was definitely beautiful to look at - as was the other waterfall that we then got very close to with a cable car. Although the gondola did not look very safe anymore, we made it there and back safely.

And then, the excursion was actually over and we only had the approximately 6-hour return journey ahead of us. Unfortunately, while strolling through Baños, something got into Seraina's left eye and we first went to a pharmacy. The drops didn't help, and after the long bus ride to Quito, which Seraina spent with her eyes closed most of the time, we went to the emergency room at the hospital. On the second attempt, an eye specialist was there - after some waiting time. Fortunately, he was able to help us and found a transparent little piece of plastic under the eyelid. As soon as the thing was out, it already felt much better, and after a night's sleep - we left the hospital around 1:30 in the morning - the world literally looks better again.

Now we will spend another day planning and working on our photo album in Quito, and then we will fly to the Galapagos. And because that is supposed to be our big finale, we have booked an 8-day diving safari. So cool!