Ruta de las Cascadas

I had an action packed day today on four hours of sleep...and it's not over yet!

I rented a mountain bike for the day ($3.33) with two guys I met here in Baños. Paul from California and Vicente from Wales. We rode part of the Ruta de las Cascadas (Route of Waterfalls) about 10 miles (17K) fairly leisurely over the course of 5 hours with stops along the way to admire the many waterfalls and a few little side hikes to get a closer view. (Pictures soon to come.)

Oh! And how could I forget the bridge jumping ($15), which I happily observed despite the intense peer pressure. Watching was scary enough for me. Bridge jumping, I suppose, is a milder version of bungee jumping. Paul jumped. Vicente jumped. I took pictures.

At the bridge jump, we met a couple of Australians from Sydney (Simon & Jeff - ¨best mates¨) who also jumped, and who we met back up with towards the end of our ride and hiked up to the Pailon del Diablo waterfall.

The Pailon del Diablo (Pillar of the Devil) waterfall was amazing! Can't wait to post photos, but my battery is dead at the moment. It's not exactly Niagra Falls, but the water was really coming down fast and strong. You could walk right up underneath and have a bit of a ¨shower¨if you wanted...which we all did. It was a nice thrill!

Now it's off to thermal baths...which is what Baños (literally ¨baths¨) is famous for...this will be my second dip in the thermal baths. I also had a steam bath the other day, which was interesting and invigorating.

That's it for now!