Baños, Ecuador - Deeper in the Andes

Named for their Hot Springs
The town of Baños sits in the Pastaza valley like a scar, an ugly contradiction to the gorgeous surrounding landscapes.  Each dirty street, crumbling building and cinder block hostel is a tiny cut that bleeds the place of any charm or potential.  We were led here by a former colleague from Ecuador who said it was secondary in all of Ecuador to the Galapagos islands.  I can only imagine he was joking with me at the time and is still laughing.

It huddles at the feet of the 16,500 foot Tungurahua volcano, so close that you cannot see it from the city, you have to climb past a 1,000 foot rock cliff on the south side of the town just to catch a glimpse.

The town map refers to Baños' resiliency - a reference to Tungurahua's repeated eruptions since 1999, the latest in 2014.  Her glacier is long gone. 

This is how she looked just 15 years ago...

We reached Baños from Quito by bus.  Three and a half hours of sharp green mountains, verdant pastureland and crystal blue sky.  Then the bus slowly entered the town, introducing us to a man made ugliness that is both old and growing.

We've been waiting for the past few days for the weather to break.

We have a small house at the foot of the cliffs on the eastern edge of town.  Out hosts, from Sweden, are puzzled by the weather.  They've lived here for 30 years.  October is the driest month of the year they explain, but this - this is out of the ordinary.  The town is bathed in cloud and drizzle that crawled up the valley from the warmer Amazon jungle, just 40 miles away.

We've spent time walking the town, just a mile across, if that.

We've been contemplating our first move once the weather breaks.  Perhaps a hike up.

We've walked back and forth to town from our house, which sits at the end of this street after the left hand turn in the distance.

We've checked out all the small waterfalls that fill the river at the northern edge of town.  This one feeds the local hot springs with cold water.

The word baños means baths - the town is named for their hot springs.  We've bathed in this one, about a mile outside of town as well as the one in town.  It's the usual brown, burning hot volcanic water - same as in Hokkaido.  That is where the comparison ends.  Dodo bathes correctly - in the hot water for a while, then a dip in the ice cold river then back in the hot water, etc.  It's supposed to be good for the skin.  I got one toe in the cold water and stopped dead in my tracks.  No thanks.

We love the local market.  You can either buy your own fruits, veggies and meats and take them home or let the experts cook for you.  By 7am, you can come here for breakfast and keep eating until about 4pm.

The fruits here are really good.  There are both familiar and unfamiliar - such as the naranjilla, a member of the nightshade family which tastes a bit like orange.  At breakfast time, we come to the fruit stand first and get a large cup of fruit salad.

Dodo is particularly fond of the deep fried banana empanada stall.  Only after you order do they roll out the dough, peel a banana, breaking off an inch or so, mashing it down into the dough, fold, crimp and slide it into the scalding oil.  They get a flip after 20 seconds and then they're in the bag and sprinkled with sugar.  You eat them burning hot and never feel the same way about store bought sweets again.

There is no shortage or restaurants in town, some fancy but most simple.  We walk around and look at them and usually end up back in the market for lunch and sometimes dinner.

The Dodo stood in a long line at lunchtime with a scrum of high school students to get this.  It's french fries and a beef patty with mayonnaise that is made fresh in a blender while you wait.

More classic Ecuadorean mountain cuisine is this "seco de pollo" which is stewed chicken, rice, tortilla (which is a patty of fried mashed potatoes) beans and salad.

Or, even better in my opinion is a similar setup with a grilled pork chop.  They use a sauce here and in Colombia called Aji, which varies in composition but essentially is a hot sauce with onions.

We've had one breakfast at our hosts' house.  They offer the typical Swedish variety, with danishes and homemade bread.  

It was a bit jarring to be sitting in a beautifully appointed house eating this to an opera soundtrack.  Our hosts Ove and Aase will soon be moving to a small town near the Peruvian border.  They claim the weather is nicer there and echoing my feelings Aase said "I don't like the way they build things here - they're so ugly."  

The central market is very close to the local church, the sole exception to the rampant repulsiveness of the town's other buildings.

We just happen to be visiting during the holiest of months.  Each neighborhood takes turns daily to show their respect for the Virgin.  There are daily fireworks to celebrate.  We've also seen a few processions in the street with a band followed by a group of well dressed citizens.

As we've spent more time here we've come to realize that this is a get away town for many in Ecuador.  People come here from Quito on the weekends to eat, sit in the hot springs and buy melcocho - a hand made sugar cane taffy.  The remainder of the many foreigners - German, American, Italian and Dutch come here for the extreme sports.

The majority of the store fronts here advertise things like white water rafting, mountain climbing, zip lining, glacier scaling and canyoning.  Not exactly my cup of tea, however, since we're going to be here for almost a week, we may just have to get extreme.......