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La Ruta de Las Cascadas: The Route of the Waterfalls, Banos

When I arrived in Banos, I couldn't believe what a beautiful place it was.  Mountains all around, a waterfall visible from any point in town.  It was the first place in Ecuador that just felt right from the beginning.

When I checked into my hotel the Posada J which I recommend, the lady behind the counter mentioned that they had a waterfall tour the next morning on a bus, to 7 waterfalls.  The trip was to take 4 hours.   I thought what a great way to explore this town and its surroundings!  So I signed up.  (Plus, the price was right.)

The next morning a double decker bus pulled up to my hotel and honked.  I hadn't known it was a double decker -- I was impressed!  We of course drove by the waterfall right outside of my room, the Virgin Waterfall that is visible from anywhere in town.


Absolutely gorgeous.  Then we went to a little town nearby called San Martin?  There was a huge gorge there, which our bus drove over on a tiny, old bridge.  After the bus parked, you can take the cage trolly across and zipline back, or you can just take the cage trolly up and back.  I took the cage trolly both ways -- chickened out on the biplane which really makes me mad (the chickening out).



You can't tell but here's me on the cage trolly thing.  My camera batteries were dying so I rushed the nice girl who took it for me and ended up looking like a freaked out idiot.
This is looking down from the bridge the bus was on.  Very steep!
Next we went back to the normal road.  It's the same road you on which can rent a bike and coast down.  You can go the full 60+ km to Puyo, which is the beginning of the rainforest, or you can just ride as far as we went in the bus, about 15 km.  If I had known this was the same road, I would have done it on bicycle.  The views would have been even more amazing.

This was the 3rd waterfall.  It's called Manto de la Novia.  
There were a few other small waterfalls, can't remember the names but they were equally beautiful. They also had ziplines and those cage things which some of the people on our tour did.  And all around, we were in a cloud forest so that's not fog, SF people -- they're clouds, and they're hauntingly beautiful.


 

But check out this rock of Jesus Christ!  You have to look at it for awhile.  Right now I only see a monster but I saw it when I was there, man!  (Try covering up the bottom part that looks like a huge mouth)



And finally, we got to the Pailon del Diablo waterfall which is the biggest, most powerful waterfall I've ever seen in my life.

The beginning

Just about 10-15 feet below the top

About halfway down -- we couldn't see the bottom at all.  You have to walk back up the long, steep hill, cross the street and go down all those stairs like you see below.

It was truly a beautiful place.



All in all, it was a great day, and I met a family that I talked to most of the time.  The husband was on sabbatical from his college professor job and they were staying in Quito for 6 months.  The "kids" were in college and were on break visiting their parents.  Such cool people.
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