Baños de Agua Santa: The Dells of Ecuador
Update on work-- I just finished my first grading period, which we call partials here. It's exactly how we used to have three marking periods in MPS each semester. The only real difference is that each partial is not always exactly six weeks. Some are longer and others are shorter. We also have to have at least one grade for each of five categories, and some grades can easily be put into multiple categories. After that, we have to evaluate our students on "Discipline Grades" which seems so arbitrary. Are they responsible? Respectful? Aware of their actions? Participatory? It's the hardest part of the grades for sure.
Furthermore, I have so many different responsibilities in my position. I am teaching 10th, 11th, and 12th grade biology in the international section at my school. The two differences between the two sections I feel are that:
And it puts my stress levels near maximum. Because of this, I needed a much needed trip out of the Quito to relax and compose myself. Luckily last weekend was a long one because the 10th of October (Diez de Octubre) marks the holiday of Guayaquil Independence Day. I don't know much about it except that we had a three-day weekend. My roommate and I, along with others, went to Baños de Agua Santa, in the Tungurahua Province. There province gets its name from its very active volcano. The city receives its name because legend has it the Virgin Mary appeared at the waterfall inside the city. It's a prilgrimage location, and people fill containers with its water-- its supposed to have healing properties.
David and I stayed at La Casa del Molino Blanco, which rests on the northwest edge of the city. It is about a 10-15 minute walk into the center of the city (which is nothing for us because we walk a lot of places), and it is still really quiet. It is also next to the stairs that lead you up to the virgin statue. Like Bambu in Mindo, I will be staying at Molino Blanco for my next visit... breakfast is included, there is a garden with hammock for you to rest in, prices are very reasonable, and the hosts are incredibly helpful and friendly. It helps they also speak a little English, because I am so busy with work that I haven't a lot of time to learn my Spanish.
In the morning, David and I rented bikes for $6 and rode the Rute de las Cascadas, which takes you on a 25+ kilometer ride through a valley outside of the city to seven eight waterfalls. We left around 9:30 from our hostel... and stopped three minutes later at the waterfall for the virgin. There is a hot spring there as well, but we never had a chance to go in it. Not that I would have wanted to that weekend because it was packed from edge to edge with people. Not my kind of thing. Anyway we continued down the road and stopped at most of the waterfalls.
The best of the two were Pailon del Diablo and Cascada Machay. Diablo is definitely the tourist spot, located in the town of Rio Verde. There are a few different ways you can get to the waterfall, and we chose the less expensive and better view of them. If you continue heading southeast on the route, you reach the edge of the town. Before leaving, turn into the parking lot toward the mercados that look like a wood hut/cabin type thing. You'll end up walking down for at least 15 minutes before making it to the "bottom" of the path, but it's still some 100 meters above the bottom of the valley. For between $1 and $1.50 you can climb stairs and a cave up to and behind the waterfall. It is so impressive... a must see in Baños. David and I went a few more kilometers outside of Rio Verde to Cascada Machay, where for $1 you can climb down the valley and swim in the pools created by the waterfall. The trek down took about 20 minutes and the water was freezing but it was all worth it... until the climb up. It took at least 30 minutes to make it back up. We biked back to Rio Verde, paid $2 to have ourselves and our bikes trucked back to Baños, and relaxed. I was so tired after this adventure that I slept for 12 hours that night. HIGHLIGHT/NON-SHOCKER: I fell off the bike into traffic on accident. It started to rain and I tried slowing down before turning off the road. It was kind of a s****show but it was hilarious and I have scabs on my arm to show my damage.
The next day, we did a full day of canyoning and rafting. Kind of. Through Imagine Ecuador outfitters / adventure business, we began the day with canyoning... aka rappelling down waterfalls. Living on Bosmediano has helped David and me with our hill-climbing stamina so the walk up this mountain seemed doable. Then we proceeded to practically throw ourselves down several waterfalls.
Once this part was done, our small group rode to Rio Negro for lunch. Food was amazing and then.... we were stuck in the town for almost three hours due to a parade. I think it had something to do with the national holiday but it seemed that the town was celebrating itself! The first group to make it down the parade was their version of Hell's Angels... except they were called the "Águilas del Fuego," or the Fire Eagles. Some of them had Harley's, which doesn't seem badass when you know how much one of them costs in this country. They were followed by troop after troop of dancers, each of them with their own theme and song to dance to. Some of them were dressed in some skanky cheerleader costumes while others were in traditional ones and others yet in a hybrid of the two. Check out my FacePage album for Baños to see more pictures and video. The whole time this was going on, our guides were drinking beer after beer until they decided we should make a go for it. Mind you, this parade was down the only major road through this town (so of course it was shut down)... and the other road was barely two lanes. Traffic was backed up on this alternative in the opposite direction we needed to go. Remember, it starts getting dark around 6 pm here and it was already 4:30 at this point, with at least half an hour til we reach our destination. Long story short it was a s***tshow. I'll give rafting another go but on a weekend that isn't so insane with people traveling and by not trying to pack everything in one day.
After it was all done, it took 2 hours to drive back 30 kilometers... aka 18 miles. I went out that night and eventually ended up at Leprechaun's... the equivalent to Brother's Bar (Eau Claire AND Milwaukee...) or Whiskey Bar (MKE) or any other kind of frat-type bar you can imagine. Wall-to-wall people and inappropriately loud music.
The next day was pretty much devoted to just getting ready to go back home. It was a wonderful weekend and I will definitely go back because there's much more that I have to see. ...... but I will probably always prefer Mindo to Baños :-)
Furthermore, I have so many different responsibilities in my position. I am teaching 10th, 11th, and 12th grade biology in the international section at my school. The two differences between the two sections I feel are that:
- National section classes are larger (25-30 students?), international classes are smaller. My two 10th grade classes have 18 students each. One 11th grade class has 4 students and the other has 10. I only have one 12th grade class and there are 13 students in this one.
- International section teachers have more preps (for you non-teachers, its the number of classes to prepare lessons for). From the previous difference, you can see that I have three... but wait, there's more. I am starting my higher level DP biology class tomorrow. So in total: 4 preps.
I also have other responsibilities on top of teaching. I am a mentor/facilitator/supervisor for both an extended essay AND a personal project. Starting this month and once each month thereafter, I will also be leaving the campus with my 10th grade homeroom for their Social Action and Awareness (CAS) project. Think "service learning." AAAAAAND on top of this, I am taking a professional development course on what exactly International Baccalaureate for the Diploma Program is. And i have to start (finally, and probably request an extension on) my Wisconsin Teachers License relicensing thing. Work never ceases.
Baños, here we come!
On Thursday the 9th, after school, a few of us took a taxi to the bus terminal that departs for Baños, called Quitumbe. Since it was the eve of a major national holiday, of course the roads were backed up with traffic and it took us about 80 minutes to arrive. Unfortunately we negotiated price before leaving rather than having our driver turn on the meter ($20 total to the bus terminal, compared to $5 total from the terminal back to our house when we returned... FML). I have to be more confident with saying "TAXI METRO!" when I hop into a cab. We got to the station and purchased our tickets 10 minutes before our bus left... perfect timing. AAAAND the ticket only cost $3.50. About 3.5 hours later, we arrived to the terminal in Baños, in the dark, and left to drop our things at our hostels before getting some dinner.
In town, we met up with Brenda and Andrew again and ate at The Coffee Lounge. Lots of options on the menu and even more paintings/posters/pictures/sculptures of breasts on the walls. Definitely interesting. Also interesting were the amount of screen-tee stores along the street, novelty dragon-triceratops designed trolleys, people on four-wheelers and go-karts on the street, stray horses in the street, and street performers. Let's just say that it reminded me a lot of the Wisconsin Dells. Those of you who have been there before, visualize that in the middle of mountains.
In the morning, David and I rented bikes for $6 and rode the Rute de las Cascadas, which takes you on a 25+ kilometer ride through a valley outside of the city to  |
| Standing in a waterfall with my umbrella |
The best of the two were Pailon del Diablo and Cascada Machay. Diablo is definitely the tourist spot, located in the town of Rio Verde. There are a few different ways you can get to the waterfall, and we chose the less expensive and better view of them. If you continue heading southeast on the route, you reach the edge of the town. Before leaving, turn into the parking lot toward the mercados that look like a wood hut/cabin type thing. You'll end up walking down for at least 15 minutes before making it to the "bottom" of the path, but it's still some 100 meters above the bottom of the valley. For between $1 and $1.50 you can climb stairs and a cave up to and behind the waterfall. It is so impressive... a must see in Baños. David and I went a few more kilometers outside of Rio Verde to Cascada Machay, where for $1 you can climb down the valley and swim in the pools created by the waterfall. The trek down took about 20 minutes and the water was freezing but it was all worth it... until the climb up. It took at least 30 minutes to make it back up. We biked back to Rio Verde, paid $2 to have ourselves and our bikes trucked back to Baños, and relaxed. I was so tired after this adventure that I slept for 12 hours that night. HIGHLIGHT/NON-SHOCKER: I fell off the bike into traffic on accident. It started to rain and I tried slowing down before turning off the road. It was kind of a s****show but it was hilarious and I have scabs on my arm to show my damage.
 |
| Falling off my bike, seconds away from the bus passing me |
 |
| Rio Verde |
 |
| Pailon del Diablo |
Once this part was done, our small group rode to Rio Negro for lunch. Food was amazing and then.... we were stuck in the town for almost three hours due to a parade. I think it had something to do with the national holiday but it seemed that the town was celebrating itself! The first group to make it down the parade was their version of Hell's Angels... except they were called the "Águilas del Fuego," or the Fire Eagles. Some of them had Harley's, which doesn't seem badass when you know how much one of them costs in this country. They were followed by troop after troop of dancers, each of them with their own theme and song to dance to. Some of them were dressed in some skanky cheerleader costumes while others were in traditional ones and others yet in a hybrid of the two. Check out my FacePage album for Baños to see more pictures and video. The whole time this was going on, our guides were drinking beer after beer until they decided we should make a go for it. Mind you, this parade was down the only major road through this town (so of course it was shut down)... and the other road was barely two lanes. Traffic was backed up on this alternative in the opposite direction we needed to go. Remember, it starts getting dark around 6 pm here and it was already 4:30 at this point, with at least half an hour til we reach our destination. Long story short it was a s***tshow. I'll give rafting another go but on a weekend that isn't so insane with people traveling and by not trying to pack everything in one day.
After it was all done, it took 2 hours to drive back 30 kilometers... aka 18 miles. I went out that night and eventually ended up at Leprechaun's... the equivalent to Brother's Bar (Eau Claire AND Milwaukee...) or Whiskey Bar (MKE) or any other kind of frat-type bar you can imagine. Wall-to-wall people and inappropriately loud music.
The next day was pretty much devoted to just getting ready to go back home. It was a wonderful weekend and I will definitely go back because there's much more that I have to see. ...... but I will probably always prefer Mindo to Baños :-)
Comments
Post a Comment