Banos, Ecuador

This past weekend was a blast! Erinn, her mom (who is visiting for the week) Kyle and I went to Banos which is about a three hour bus ride from Quito. The day we arrived there we went exploring through the town, looked at waterfalls and such. Our second day there was the big adventurous day! Ahead we had river rafting and "canoying" down waterfalls. 

The group:

Once we got to the site for rafting, our guide (who turned out to be horrible) warned us what we should do if we fall out of the boat or if the raft flips at all. I've never been rafting before but figured the chances of us flipping or losing a person were slim. He did emphasize though the importance of not being stuck under the boat if it flipped. 

After a few minutes of rules and safety, we began to practice different commands. The one pictured below is "inside," basically the position we took when rapids were crazy.

Finally... we were off and the rapids began! 

Right before we got the biggest set of rapids, our guide warned us it was about to get a little crazy. Well, we hit a rock and nearly flipped in the beginning where we lost a girl! This poor girl. She was on her honeymoon and was flipped out of the raft. She was floating down the rapids a while and got really bruised and battered from the rocks. There was a guy who was in a kayak taking pictures so he helped her out and brought her back to the boat.

We took a break and went swimming in the river which was really refreshing! 

A few minutes after our break ended, we went back to the water to finish the course! Next thing we knew, we were against a rock again and flipping over. Yup. Thanks guide. As we were flipped and going down the rapids, my friend and I were both under the boat, you know, the one spot the guide said don't ever be in. Everything turned out fine though. Most of the people in my boat helped flip the raft back over, but the married woman and I were rescued by a nearby raft haha. Oh the adventures of Ecuador. (P.s. I love how the man in the kayak who was taking pictures chose to take multiple pictures of our flipped raft before helping us hahah)

I just want to point out the picture below. See that giant rock? RIGHT AFTER we flipped, our raft was stuck against that rock for a solid few minutes. We began to flip AGAIN so we all had to race to one side of the raft to get unstuck. There were 3 other rafts that had a smooth ride. I don't know what was wrong with us haha. But it did make a good story to tell. The level of rapids was only 3 so it wasn't very strong and I never felt like I was in danger. 

Yay! So we survived the rapids. Next adventure of the day was "canoying" down waterfalls! Not going to lie, I did feel pretty cool in a wet suit.

First waterfall we went down, our guide made us take pictures with us not holding on to the rope. The other three spread their arms out and didn't have an issue with this. On the contrary, I was way more reluctant and once again, questioned the guide since he was telling me "no hands!!!" while going down a waterfall. Who knows.

This waterfall was neat because it was like a slide! I'm not going to lie, I did squeal since it turned to be a lot steeper than expected, but it was really cool riding down! Good thing we had butt pads...

Okay I have to give mad props to Erinn's mom. She was with us when the raft flipped in the river AND climbed waterfalls with us. The first four waterfalls we climbed down were pretty easy. The last one our guide told us it was huge but the easiest. Huge doesn't even begin to explain it's size. Just look at the next few pictures of how high up we are hanging!

To get to the final waterfall, we climbed down this baby one. I guess the guide saw the moment I realize how high up we were. My face gives away how terrified I was haha.

I only smiled for the picture. And because my feet were against a rock. All the other waterfalls we literally climbed, as in our feet were against the rock. A few feet after this picture was taken, the rock was too far in to be able to climb on AKA we were climbing down this rope in mid air. Erinn and her mom said once I reached the part where there was no rock to put your feet against, I was kicking my legs around like crazy and looked like I was freaking out a tad. YUP. 

That is the waterfall we went down! The process to get down is we had a rope looped through a metal thing attached to us. We would have to give the rope slack and climb down slowly. I really wish we had gloves for this. We all left with burning hands. I am not one to complain about adventures, ever, but this last waterfall was not my cup of tea. I had never been so thankful to reach ground before haha. Kyle and I both were just legitimately grumpy after the last waterfall while Erinn and her mom were so excited at what they just completed haha. 

So that was my crazy adventure filled weekend! I LOVED the rafting and waterfall climbing (minus the last one) and had a great time! I am so happy I chose Ecuador. No offense to people in other countries, but I am so thankful I chose here for the crazy adventures I get to go on such as cave diving, snorkeling, amazon rain forest hiking, rafting ect... rather than looking at historical "important" buildings. I just have so much more appreciation for adventurous activities than looking at buildings. 

This coming up weekend is Halloween! November 1st is Day of the Dead here which is a much bigger deal than Halloween, but a few of the clubs that appeal to "gringos" are holding Halloween parties. I'm sure nothing will be exciting enough to blog about...but I GET TO GO TO THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS SOON! I believe we will be there November 2nd-6th. There will be a super epic blog about that coming up. CAN'T WAIT!! We get to go snorkeling with sea lions and sea turtles! And there are epic animals there. Until then, chau!