After my time in the jungle, I came back to Baños, where I would stay for 5 days with a family, go to school to learn Spanish, and explore the area around Baños.
Baños is a small town, quite popular for tourist from all over the world (including from Ecuador). It's directly next to an active vulcano, still lies in the mountain region of Ecuador, but is also called the gateway to the jungle. Being in the region of the cloud forrests, the is also lots of water and therefore (because of all the mountains) also many waterfalls around. Because of all the waterfalls, rivers and canyons, it's also very popular for any kind of adventure sports: canyoning, rafting, ziplineing, bungee jumping, mountainbiking, ...
The familiy I stayed with was really lovely and took me in, almost as if I were a part of the familiy. The family, that were the parents, Gina and Roberto, and their three kids, Jessica, Marco and Lissi. But most of the time it seemed that the familiy was actually much larger, as most of the time friends or relatives came to visit. Especially one neighbor kid (also cousin) in a similar age of Lissi (around 8-9) came around a lot. Both him and Lissi also often joined us when the dad took us for walks. Both kids had so much energy, but also were really lovely and really seemed to enjoy the time with us (a couple from New Zealand was also staying at the familiy). (But I guess they are also a lot if work for the parents.)
Apart from hosting Spanish students, the familiy earns their money making maracas, jewlery and other souvenirs. Like most people in Baños, they live from tourism. On Sundays, Gina has a stall in the Parque de la Familia to sell here work. However, most of it gets exported as souvenirs unto other countries, like Peru, Bolivia or Cuba (as 'original' souvenirs from there).
We also went to visit Gina at her stall (where I got a small maraca with my name as a present), and then explored the Parque de la Familia with Roberto and the kids. The parc is really beatifully made, showing the different plans and flowers typically in the area, as well as greeting areas for typical animal like chicken, geese, rabbits, guinea pigs and fish living in the surrounding rivers. Additionally, from the parc, it was possible to get a nice view on the hydroelectric powerplant, which supports the whole region with electricity.
Another day I took a bus tour to visit the 'Ruta de las Cascadas', the route of the waterfalls, which is the first 20 km of the street to Puyo (and Tena). Nowadays, the street is in very good condition with many tunnels. Not so long ago, however, it was considered one of the most dangerous street in Ecuador, as it was a small dirt road along the edge of a canyon, without any security on the side, but with lots if traffic (including many buses and trucks). (With the new road, the travel time from Baños to Tena was reduced from 8-9 hours to 3.5 hours.) It is still possible to see parts of the old street (although paved now and with a small wall on the side), which is used as detour around the tunnels for bikes and walking. We came across several waterfalls, although unfortunately most of them were quite far away on the other side of the canyon. Basically at every waterfall (and at some other locations) it was possible to do ziplining. At some locations it was also possible to cross the canyon with cable car, which I gave a try once. The last waterfall on the tour (and supposedly the most spectacular one) was the Pailón del Diabolo. Here we were able to walk down close to the waterfall (close enough to get wet) for a good view.
In the evening we took a chiva (mixture between truck and bus) up to a viewpoint over the city. Especially on the weekends, this seems to be quite a party tour. The chiva was lit up with many disco light, and salsa music was playing as loud as possible. On the top, after enjoying the view for a bit, we were first served a warm alcoholic drink (the nights in Baños were quite cold), and then got to see a fire and comedy show (unfortunately it was all in Spanish, and I really didn't understand much).
On the next afternoon, we then also hiked up to the same outlook, again with Roberto and the two little kids. The bit up until the viewpoint was quite steep, but after enjoying the view and recovering a bit, we decided to continue for a bit further. We came by lots of plantations of tamarillos and tomatos, a chicken farm (the smell wasn't so nice), cows and horses. The view down the valley was quite beautiful. What we weren't aware of was that the path we were on (actually a road) would take about 2 more hours from the viewpoint to the 'casa del arból', a tree house on top of the mountain. As we only started the hike after lunch (we had school in the morning), it was starting to get quite late. Just as we were about to call it a day and turn around to head home, a pick-up came by (with a 'tourist group on the way up to the top) and offered us a ride in the back. We took the opertunity (as did another couple nor much later), and this way we were able to enjoy the view from the top after all. And like perfect timing, even the clouds around the vulcano shortly cleared up. Next to the tree house, a swing was installed, where people were lining up to take photos while swinging out into the nothing... As it now was getting really later, we managed to catch another ride in a pick-up for most if the way (this time we actually had to pay 2 dollars for it).
Much too early I had to say goodby to 'my' family, as my two weeks on the mainland of Ecuador were almost over, and I was heading back to Quito.
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