Baños and Tena

Baños

The town of Baños is situated in a valley surrounded by lush green mountains, waterfalls pouring down their sides, and meandering rivers. The town itself was touristy with tons of tour operators, bars and restaurants seemingly around every corner. But we weren't there for the town we were there for what surrounded it!

Our first full day saw Tiffany and Bridgit get messages in the morning while Tammen and Tobias hiked up one of the smaller mountains just outside of town. The hike up took us up a muddy switchback trail with viewpoints of Baños and the surrounding area. The higher we climbed the more it seemed like we were hiking into the clouds as the mist and rain descended upon us. Once we reached the top we found a little cafe that served canelazos and we waited for Tiffany and Bridgit to join us.

The top of the mountain had a number of swings sets that allowed you to swing out over the "edge". There was even a super sketch slide down a small cow pasture!

Of course Tobias had to go down it!

We spent the evening at Las Piscinas de La Virgen thermal baths, running back and forth between an ice pool and a pool that reached 118 °F (42 °C)!

For our second day, we rented bicycles and rode down the Ruta de las Cascadas. Our 20km bike ride took us past over 20 waterfalls and along the Rio Pastaza canyon. Along the ride, we stopped to admire some of the larger falls we came across.

For one we took a tiny cable car over the top and hiked around the surrounding area.

Another, the Río Verde and the Pailón del Diablo waterfalls took us on a short walk down over a suspension bridge and right next to the sheer power of the falls.

Our final stop on the ride was McFannys Waterfall where we walked deep down into the canyon and had the pools at the base of the waterfalls to ourselves to swim in.

When we were ready to head back to Baños we put our bikes and ourselves in the back of a truck, grabbed a few beers, and enjoyed the scenery of the ride back up to town.

Tena

Tena was the last stop of our trip with Tammen and Bridgit. The town of Tena is a jumping-off point for a lot of people into the Amazon and is a great place for whitewater rafting! Our hostel in Tena was perched up on a hill overlooking the town and then forests and mountains in the distance.

We spent our first full day in Tena rafting with Ríos Ecuador. The day was spent zipping down the class 3 and 4+ rapids of the Jondachi and Hollin Rivers.

After an action-packed day of rafting the day before, we decided to spend our last day with Tammen and Bridgit exploring the small Rio Tena River. We spent the day walking up the slow-moving river hopping from swimming hole to swimming hole.

That night I distracted Tiffany by making her pack up her bag while Bridgit somehow managed to whip up a chocolate birthday cake in a frying pan on the stovetop! That night we had a self-catered meal and an early birthday celebration for Tiffany!

Birthday cake in a frying pan!

Tiffany's Birthday!

On the morning of Tiffany's birthday, we woke up and had breakfast with Tammen and Bridgit before saying goodbye to them. We then hopped into a taxi and drove to a small Lodge on the Napo River where we spent the rest of the day reading and listening to a massive thunderstorm!