Baños de Agua Santa, Tungurahua, Ecuador: I’m not going to make it to the Galapagos this trip, but after two weeks on mainland-Ecuador I think you can skip Ecuador if you are pressed for time. 

 
Similar to Bolivia, Ecuador and I got off to a shaky start. However, unlike Bolivia Ecuador has not won me over for a variety of reasons. Many of which came to a head in Baños. 

  

Baños is in a beautiful valley, at the foot of the Tungurahua volcano, along the banks of the Rio Pastaza. The town is named for the thermal baths that come from the volcano, which is quite active. 

 

One night I was standing outside my hostel and the proprietor pointed out smoke emanating from the crater. 

  

On my first day in Baños I hiked up the mountain across from the volcano. There is a viewpoint near the top called Mirador Ojos del Volcán (“lookout: eyes of the volcano”). 
It was a nice hike and gave me a good view of the valley. However, on my way back down I was attacked by a dog. 

Normally my experience with dogs in South America has been they bark at me, put up a fuss, and then let me go. This dog came charging out of a driveway and bit me. 

  

I was totally caught off guard. I was not the biggest dog lover to begin with and my feelings for them have not improved.  

  

But I did get to go to the hospital clinic in Baños, which looked like something out of a 50s sitcom. 

 

Once I asked 100 questions to be sure I wasn’t going to get rabies (the nurse actually laughed at me) I was told to wash the wound out everyday and it would begin to heal.

  

While I was in the clinic another tourist walked in with a dog bite. Maybe it’s something in the water. Either way the city needs a new anti-theft device. 

  

Baños is Ecuador’s adventure sport Mecca. One such activity: jumping off of bridges. 

 

But after my trauma I wasn’t feeling up for rafting, etc., so I went to the Cascada Pailón del Diablo (“Devil’s Bowl”). 

  

The waterfall was on the other side of the mountains from Baños — in the direction of the Amazon. Just one mountain and already the climate felt different.