Baños de Agua Santa is located at the foot of the active volcano, Tungurahua. (throat of fire). This is part of the Andes Mountain range which runs through South America. Ecuador is home to 84 volcanoes, 27 active.

The picturesque, mountainous village of Banos has waterfalls and thermal springs filled with healing mineral water. The church uses the water in their ceremonies. Connie, Jeff and I took full advantage of all that healing. It was packed with people and you could see the younger women helping the elders do their stretches in the hot water.

We noticed leprechaun bars, shamrocks and elves throughout this village. No one could tell us why there was such a fairy influence until our driver picked us up to go to Quito. Evidently Bob Dylan had come through in the 60’s and there is of course a lot of plant medicines in these parts. Bob was interested in the psychedelic mushrooms and the san pedro cactus (related to peyote). He must have had a big influence as people started seeing and being with the fairies, elves and leprechauns of Banos. Sometimes the young women would blame the chuzalongo that she may have met on a trail for her impending pregnancy.

We booked an all day expedition into the jungle with Polo, our guide. He picked us up early from our awesome hotel: La Posada del Arte. We went two hours into the Amazon basin stopping at waterfalls and an animal sanctuary, then to eat tilapia at Restaurant Nico.

The best part was this amazing hike to Cascada Hola Vida. A waterfall where the shamans come to do ceremonies for the community. Polo showed us all the bizarre trees and plants and pointed out the healing properties of many. He said during covid, the indigenous people used ginger and sugarcane rum to keep the virus away. And no one got sick in this region.

Next stop was a community that demonstrated native traditions and included us in face painting with the red dye from the achote plant. The children taught us a dance around the fire and we got to hit a target with a blow dart. There was a pretty cute monkey running around and he became interested in the flower in my hair and I did kind of initiate with him. He bit me on the shoulder and he had been eating that red plant so I thought I was bleeding but alas, all was well. I will not come home with monkey pox!

We went canoeing down the Puyo River, saw some cool birds and over to see a cacao farm where we roasted, peeled, and ground cocoa seeds and had the most amazing hot chocolate ever.

A really stellar day.

Next day, we had a little time to kill before our afternoon itinerary. Connie, Jeff and I decided to go for a quick hike up the mountain. It was maybe not very thought out and the incline was straight up. The three of us are in pretty good shape, but damn, I thought I was going to die. We were determined to keep going. Along the way we ran into a young gentleman who was practicing his violin up on the mountain. Very well dressed and not sweating at all like we were. It was pretty magical to have his sounds accompany us as we were winded and grunting up the mountain.

We came to a fork in the path and we took the road less traveled. BIG MISTAKE. Jeff was ahead and all of a sudden he said “DOG” and Connie turned around and walked quickly away. She has a healthy fear of dogs. This was a very ferocious pit bull and a hound behind him. Jeff turned around and walked slowly away as this dog acted like he was going to tear us apart. I talked to him like a child thinking he would not attack a sweet motherly voice. I did picture us in the hospital and it delaying us a lot. Finally, we got some distance. Never been that freaked out by a dog. We got the hell off that mountain and of course passed the oblivious violinist on the way.

A couple more things about this part of the trip…the soil is so fecund and you can see patches of different crops along the hills. The dirt is black. I saw some spraying and our guide said they just use a little pepper spray as pesticide. There is so much food everywhere.

He also told us about the economic crisis of 1999 when there was a bank holiday declared by the government. They froze the citizens deposits and the banks closed. The sucre currency was switched over to the US dollar due to inflation and external debts. Many businesses went under, people lost their jobs and it took many years to recover.

And shoutout to Connie and Jeff for including me on their adventures. We have a good system here. They are fabulous travel mates. Jeff is practical and has major common sense. Connie is the planner and history buff. I just add humor to the situation usually. We are the three amigos. ♥️