Pailon DEl Diablo & Banos

This morning during breakfast we were able to fully appreciate how beautiful our accommodation in Banos is. Yesterday evening when we arrived it was already dark and since we were so tired, we didn't really look around the hotel. It is decorated in Ecuadorian style. Many wood decorations adorn the interior. Breakfast is served in a glass pavilion surrounded by the self-constructed Botanical Garden. This morning we were able to observe two hummingbirds from our table. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to take a photo of a hummingbird with my phone yet!

Banos is located at a pleasant altitude of 1800 meters and it is a beautiful place. It is known for its unique waterfalls and they were at the top of our agenda! The weather was very nice today and it felt great to be able to walk around in a t-shirt and shorts again! Finally, we can put the thick clothes at the bottom of the suitcase 😊!

We had a taxi 🚕 brought to us. This taxi was supposed to take us to the waterfall - Pailon del Diablo - which is THE waterfall in Banos. The driver was super nice and since Daniela speaks Spanish, he gave us some good travel tips. He stopped at all the smaller waterfalls along the way and we were able to take great photos.

There seem to be two entrances to the PdD waterfall and we really wanted to take the entrance where we could take a long walk through the rainforest. The newer entrance leads directly over a suspension bridge and you would have had a view of the giant waterfall from above - no, we wanted more 😊!

The taxi driver dropped us off at the right entrance and we immediately started walking towards the waterfall. It was amazing, we could hear the waterfall from the beginning, even though we still had a 40-minute walk ahead of us. It was mostly downhill and locals were sitting by the side of the path, selling souvenirs or food. A woman was standing behind a grill, skewering live, fat, juicy worms 🐛. She took them live out of a box where there were still dozens crawling around. Just for your information, they were really fat, as thick and as long as a thumb! The head was brown! Two were already on the grill. 🥴 She wanted to make those things tasty for us. So if it had been a currywurst, I would have said yes immediately, but I can't eat such a big grilled bug. We continued on and were amazed at the beautiful trees/plants with a variety of fruits and flowers that surrounded us. Then two guides greeted us and it seemed we had reached our destination. We had to pay two dollars for entrance tickets. With our tickets in hand, we walked across a long wooden suspension bridge. The feeling was amazing, you could see through the individual wooden panels and look down into the depths 🙈🙃. From the wooden bridge, you could already see the waterfall very well and a rainbow 🌈 had formed below. We really wanted to see the opening where the water comes out with all its force! So we went back over the suspension bridge and now had to crawl through a long cave. For people with claustrophobia, it was not a good idea, and some turned back immediately. I just crawled behind Daniela. Of course, it was a strange feeling, but I really wanted to see where this giant waterfall came out. It didn't take two minutes and we were already on the platform where we could see exactly where the water 💦🚕 shoots out. Daniela walked a little further and got soaking wet. I was smarter, I had put on a rain jacket beforehand. Yesssss, that was clever of me... haha. I'll be honest, I had read about it somewhere before and since we only had one rain jacket with us, the wimp 😉 got to wear it... smile! At this point - thanks Daniela 😘! So now that we were face to face with the waterfall, we actually had to crawl back the same way. But we also managed that very well and then walked comfortably to the exit.

We didn't want to take a taxi back to Banos. Instead, we took the local bus. It stops everywhere. People just hold their arm up and the bus 🚌 stops by the roadside. What's also strange is that there are always two bus drivers on board. Of course, only one of them drives the bus, but the second one sits next to him! In the center of Banos, we jumped off the bus and explored Banos. It's a really beautiful place. We really liked the square in front of the church. The locals sat there in their traditional costumes, children played, and the police chased away the sellers in the square. We watched the hustle and bustle for a while and then visited the church in Banos. I noticed that the churches in Ecuador are almost all amazingly beautiful. You don't know where to look. The same goes for the church⛪️ in Banos.

We walked through countless streets in the town center for a long time. We took photos of the colorful houses and also the locals. At a small market, we bought souvenirs and at a fruit stand, we bought great fresh fruit 🍈🍇🍉. The saleswoman was super nice, she wanted us to try everything. But somehow we were still full from eating. I have to mention at this point, the people here in Ecuador are all super friendly and helpful. We really like our trip and the experiences we have every day are really incredible.

Now we're in the hotel and there will be fresh fruit soon... smile.

Tomorrow the journey will continue. We will take the coach to Riobamba.

Good night and greetings from beautiful Ecuador!

Anke and Daniela