Baños

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Right after school Jeni, Maxim (also from HH) and I went to Baños. Baños is a little town 3 1/2 hours south of Quito, located in between some volcanoes, which erupted in 1999/2000 and according to our travel guides and other people you have to go there since it is the outdoor paradise of Ecuador (and they all were right!!)

We took a bus from Quito and let me tell you, this bus was special. I think, we took every possible detour and picked up some people in the middle of nowhere. Needless to say, that this bus was on the road for over 5 hours instead of 3 1/2 hours. Anyway, when we arrived, we found our Hostel (was really nice with a roof deck and a beautiful view).

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After a very nice diner (Italian and very yummy - it was soooo great not to have to eat rice and potatoes, I mean, don´t get me wrong, I love rice and potatoes, but after a couple of weeks it gets kind of old ...), Jeni went to Bed (she had a very bad cold - and I know now how bad it was, because I caught it :-( ... ) and Maxim and I went to the roof deck. There I met couple of girls from Germany/Denmark I knew from Quito (I met them first in a bar, and later on we ran into each other, when we went to the Cemetery couple of days ago). So we had another beer and I finally learned their names.

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Saturday morning Jeni, Maxim and I got up very early (6:30) and went to the famous Hot Springs in Baños. Our travel guide said, that you have to go really early in the moring to avoid the crowd. And that is truth! There was a very cold pool (freezing if not colder!), one pool was just perfect and another pool was extremely hot (I hardly could stand it!). But we had a great time.

After breakfast we decided that we want to try ¨Canyoning¨. So we found an agency (there are thousands of them). There were two other girls from Switzerland (Sarah and Eva-Marie) and so we five went off to our new adventure. A Bus took us down to an area, which is already kind of the jungle. Our tour guides (two young guys from Baños) gave us a short instruction and than we were already climbing down the waterfalls. It was lots of fun! We had a blast! But to be honest, I don´t think, that will be my new hobby. It was fun, but the next time I would chose Rafting or so ...

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When we returned to Quito, Jeni and I decided that we will treat ourself with something good. But sorry, I won´t tell you what I did - it wasn´t something bad or so - I behaved properly (for a change ;-) ...) - I just don´t want any stupid comments about it and if you know Susanne, Susie, Juanita and Mary, you know what I mean ;-)

That night we (Jeni, Maxim, Sarah, Eva-Marie, the four girls from Germany/Denmark and I) went out and we had so much fun. We met our Canyoning Guides and they introducted us to ¨Bob Marley¨ - a disgusting drink (shoot) ... other than that: What happened that night in Baños, stays in Baños :-).

Sunday morning Jeni, Maxim, Sarah, Eva-Marie and I rented mountain bikes. There is a beautiful trip downhill (that by itself was already great!). We passed several waterfalls and enjoyed the green mountains (volcanoes) - but we ran out of luck ... its started raining really early that day (at 12 PM instead of 3 PM) and so we decided that we won´t do the whole 62 km ... since Jeni was still sick, Maxim has a bad hangover and Eva-Maries bike was kind of weird, it was a good decision. Back in Baños (we put our bikes on a truck and had a great ride up the hills ;-) ...) we got something to eat and at 5 PM we left Baños and - big surprise - we arrived in Quito after exactly 3 1/2 hours ...

It was a great weekend !!!