During our 5 day holiday from Jatun Sacha we went to visit a town south of Tena called Baños. Baños was a very small but beautiful town, set in the middle of a valley and surrounded by the active volcano Tungurahua. Our first evening there involved us taking a night tour to the volcano, on a ´chíva´bus (a bright colourful bus where you can sit on top, which of course we did). We were taken to a point near the volcano where we had a beautiful night view of the city, and after waiting with much anticipation we were lucky enough to see 3 different lava explosions from the volcano. It was such a surreal experience and neither of us had ever seen anything like it.

Baños is also famous for its thermal baths and we were advised to get there early to miss the afternoon rush. So at 5:30am we found ourselves sitting in the ´piscinas de la virgen´baths (which are the nicest ones in Baños), whilst it was raining. The baths were so warm that the rain did not matter. There was one pool that was 48oC, and it was neccesary to take a freezing cold shower before entering. Jo gave us and the locals a few laughs when one of the local ladies was showing her how to enter into the hot pool- her reactions were hilarious. Its amazing to think that these pools are being naturally heated by the volcano, and the huge waterfull next to the pools was also very stunning.

The same day we took a waterfall tour, once again on a chiva bus. There are lots of beautiful waterfalls surrouding Baños and we had the chance to take a cable car over two of the larger ones, which was lots of fun. Also, during the tour we had a chance to do a bridge jump, so of course it didnt take much persuasion for me to do it. It was such an amazing experience, and the adrenaline rush was great. It was like a pendulum swing between two bridges, not quite as bad as a bungy jump, but it was definately worth it.

We loved everything about Baños, it has its own unique charm about it, and is definately on our list of favourite places so far.