A couple of morning buses got me to Baños, everyone's favourite tourist town in Ecuador. It's situated spectacularly in a valley, surrounded by hills and mountains, well viewed (pic) from this path I climbed up. Baños is a centre for all sorts of activities, such as rafting or canyoning or horse-riding or having a beer at the top of hill climbs overlooking town.
'Baños' means 'Baths' in Spanish, and visiting here is a kind of informal addition to the trip to all the places in the world called 'Bath' I did with Rebecca in 1999–2000. (The website we did disappeared years ago, but has been archived on reocities.) Because, like Bath, Baños has several thermal spas in the town popular with locals. One of them (pic) is right next to a waterfall, which isn't great for those us with weak bladders.
Talking of which, 'Baños' also means 'Toilets' in Spanish, so it's a bit confusing in bus stations when you're trying to catch a bus there. Especially as there's also a bus company called 'Baños', some of whose buses go there and some don't , some of which have toilets on board and some of which don't. Anyway, after my walk up the hill, I relaxed with a soak in the baths of Baños (pic). I also chatted to a few locals, few of whom knew where England is or even what continent it's on, but all of whom knew that Ecuadorian international footballer Antonio Valencia plays for Manchester United.
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