Guayaquil & Baños

I recently flew from New York (JFK) to Guayaquil (GYE) in order to visit one of my first friends that I met traveling back in 2014.

My flight was 7 hours long on JetBlue from New York. I arrived at 7pm on February 10th and I left at 12:30am on the 14th. I was only able to spend about 6 hours exploring Guayaquil. The one thing my friend said I had to do before we could leave, was feed an iguana at Parque Seminario. I like most animals, but from a good distance. This park was filled with iguanas crawling everywhere, with no fear of humans. I was fine with that. The part I hated, is the fact that the park is also filled with pigeons! I don't think there's any animal I hate more than pigeons. Somehow I made it out the park unscathed, but my friend was not so lucky. A pigeon shat on my friend's white shoes. Definitely a funny moment for me, but she didn't enjoy it as much (she didn't really like any of my jokes during the trip).

Afterwards we decided to climb the 444 steps of Las Penas, and see the view of the city from the top. The climb isn't too bad, but the heat and humidity is what gets you. It was around 90 degrees with 64% humidity when I began, and there was not one cloud in the sky. While climbing to the top, you pass a lot of small shops and houses. A lot of places sell ice cream, snow cones and water for a low as a quarter. At the top of the stairs, you can look out at the city and also across the river. Theres also a small lighthouse at the top you can climb to get even higher up. Because of the time crunch, we only stayed long enough to cool off and catch our breath.

Once we descended to the bottom, we went to a small cafe style dessert place to relax. Once we finished our drink and sweets, we returned to the apartment to pack for our trip to Baños. One of her friends picked us up, and joined us for our 3 night trip. It started with a long 6-7 hour bus ride through the mountains until we reached our destination. Luckily, my friend was paying attention and knew when to get off, because I fell asleep and just assumed they would wake us up when we arrived. Instead of pulling into the bus stop, we just pulled over to the side of the road where taxi drivers were eagerly waiting on our arrival at nearly midnight. We got a ride to a restaurant that was open late, and then to our airbnb.

To start off the day Tuesday morning, we had breakfast and then walked to a waterfall that was right behind our airbnb. We learned that the people in the city would use the waterfall to wash all of their clothes before they invented washing machines. We then proceeded to go to a tourist agency and signed up for a tour to visit a waterfall, and the Swing on the End of the World. But before we got to any of that, I agreed to go jump off a bridge that was over 300 feet high over the river. After getting fit for all the proper equipment, I climbed up on the platform. Not thinking, I immediately looked down and started imagining all the ways this could go bad. But after going so far, there was no way I could climb down and not do it. So in order to not think about it, I turned around and faced the bridge. I closed my eyes and just let myself fall backwards. It felt peaceful with all the air blowing by me like I was in a free fall. Then I suddenly felt the rope jerk me, and I returned to reality.

Afterwards we got on a chiva (a colorful modified bus mainly used to transport people, livestock or merchandise) to start our tour. The first stop was to see a rock that is shaped liked the face of Jesus. It is believed that if you make a wish while touching the rock, it will be granted. The next stop was a little adventure station where you could zip line, or sit in a metal cage ball and be swung and flipped around. I didn’t participate, but I did enjoy listening to everyone scream while they were inside. Our third destination was the Pailon del Diablo. It is the tallest waterfall in Ecuador. The waterfall is over 250 feet high, and is ___ by water from the Rio Verde. We took a path to the bottom of the waterfall, so we could climb the steps and get as close as possible. There’s a small opening in the side of the mountain that you can crawl through in order to get behind the waterfall. The view of the waterfall is breathtaking, but it was the hike back to the top that really took my breath away.

We finished the day by going to La Casa del Arbol. This was the only thing I wanted to see while I was in Ecuador. We arrived at the treehouse right before sunset. We hopped in line to get on the swing, and got to the front right as the sun was setting behind the mountains. I was happy I could check another destination off of my list. That happiness was short lived. As we were riding back to the city, my brand new phone fell out of my pocket and into the street. But you win some, you lose some. We ended the night at the Leprechaun bar. I had a delicious pepper steak. It was probably my favorite meal of the trip. After eating, we played a quick round of pool and then headed back to the airbnb.

The next day, we went back to the tourist agency and signed up for a little adventure circuit. We started by zip lining in between two cliffs. Zip lining isn’t as much of a thrill ride as I thought it would be, but it was nice gliding over a river. After we made it to the other side, we had to walk on a sketchy bridge that swayed side to side every time you took a step. The bridge was only made up of 5 wires, and metal plates that were the size of my foot. There was enough space between the plates that my leg could go through if I wasn’t careful. It made it worse that someone was on the bridge at the same time as you. Once we made it to the other side of the bride, we had to climb the side of the cliff. There were iron rods placed on the side of the wall, that we used to climb. It started off easy, but the spacing of the rods started to get further and further apart. At one point we couldn’t climb up anymore, so we had to stand on the rods and walk to the side of the cliff. At the end of the cliff, we had to tightrope walk to finish the climb. Once we all made it safely, we zip lined across the river one more time to finish the circuit.

We returned to the city and got lunch at the Selina hostel. We enjoyed a bottle of wine with our food and a view of a waterfall in the distance. Once we finished, we returned to the airbnb to get ready to go and relax at Luna Volcán. It’s a spa in the mountains, with hot tubs that overlook the city. We stayed in the hot tubs for a couple hours, and then we ate dinner there. It was a nice upgrade from the hostels and fast food I’m accustomed to. It was also the perfect way to spend my last night in Banos.

The following morning we returned to the Selina hostel for breakfast. Afterwards, we returned to the airbnb and finished packing. We checked out, and proceeded to walk about 30 minutes to the bus station with all of our luggage. We bought a few snacks at the station before we boarded the bus for our long haul back to Guayaquil. Once we made it back to the city, I still had about 4 hours before my red-eye back to the states. We decided to get some food and return to my friend’s apartment and watch tv. My last meal in Ecuador was a poke bowl. It was my first one and delicious, so I don’t regret that decision one bit. I enjoyed being in Ecuador from the moment I stepped out of the airport, until I stepped back in it. My bag was searched on arrival to the country, and before I boarded the plane to leave. Even with that hassle, I still really enjoyed being in Ecuador.