Los Baños

Hello All, These past days have been quite wholesome here in Ecuador. First off, we started classes this past Wednesday. I thought it would be hard to get back into the academic mood but I actually found it to be easy. My professor grew up in Ecuador and is very knowledgeable about the tropics, as he is teaching us Tropical Ecology. So far our classes are filled with in depth discussions and lectures, this Tuesday we will be going on a hike up a local mountain, which can be seen, from our beautiful campus (see photos if posted).
This past weekend a bunch of us from the program decided to take a little vacation and travel to Baños, Ecuador, which is a small tourist town located at the foot of an active volcano. We left early Saturday morning by taking a taxi to the bus terminal. The bus ride was about 3.5 hours but I was able to speak with some of the Ecuadorian locals about how beautiful their country was. We arrived in Baños during the early afternoon and found a hostel at the center of town. Walking down the main street we were spoken to by many tour operators until we found a reasonably priced one, and so we decided to go white water rafting while there was still light. The guides were very high energy and the rapids were huge. After rafting at about 9pm we hitched a ride to the top of one of the mountains for a view of the glowing volcano. Once we arrived at the viewpoint we were engulfed by a thick cloud, where vision was very minimal. Defeated by nature we decided to head down the mountain and fall asleep after the long active day.
The next morning we all decided to wake up before sunrise and visit the hot spring baths for a relaxing view. The baths were located at the foot of a large waterfall where small showers were set up for a taste of both extreme temperatures. The spring was very hot and the waterfall was very cold, both we very refreshing. Once again we were defeated by nature when the clouds blocked any possible sunrise view. After a short nap we all piled onto the bus and headed back to Quito. I would very much like to return to Baños so that I can try out rope jumping and to enjoy the various hikes around the area.
I hope to get some more photos posted soon but the internet is once again quite problematic.