From Sept 21st:

Again, another amazing weekend! We went to Baños, a town known for its tourism and awesome adventure activities. This weekend was the last one that the Ecology group had free to travel because from now on they are "researching" around Ecuador (aka sitting on the beach and hiking through the mountains). So there were about 21 of us in Baños, I think- a party of our own J.

We were up early on Saturday morning to go white-water rafting; everyone from our group went except for three, so we took up a lot of the 8 boats on the river. White-water rafting was probably one of the most fun things I have ever done- I can't wait to go again! Our guides were friendly and knowledgeable, and really made the trip so much more fun. We stopped halfway through to jump off a bridge and smallish cliffs, which was kind of terrifying but also awesome.

I was in a boat with three other BU girls, an older couple from New Zealand, and a guy our age from Switzerland. The older couple is spending 6 months backpacking through South America- they've already backpacked through the majority of countries around the world. They don't really work… he teaches English as a foreign language and she is a travel agent, so they say it works out. Talk about living the life!

The rafting expedition was $25 dollars each and it included lunch afterwards. After we hung out with the guides and other rafters for a bit longer, we headed back to the hostels to plan our next activity. We split up for the afternoon because there were so many different activity options, no one could agree. Six of us chose to go horseback riding, which was incredible. We had a guide lead us on a two-hour trip through the gorgeous mountain side; it really made me miss riding.

Later that night a few of us headed to the hot springs that Baños is famous for. We were not impressed, to say the least. There were only three pools, brownish in color thanks to the sulfur, and they were MOBBED. Not by tourists- we were actually some of the only ones. Apparently the locals love the baths too. We paid to get in, so of course we got our money's worth and soaked for a while, but Papallacta was definitely much better.

That night we went to a club called "The Leprechaun" (really the only hopping club in the town) and hung out with our rafting tour guides slash some of our rafting friends. Here is where I also lost my second phone in Quito, or had it stolen from me. Neither of which is fun, FYI. That ended my night a bit early because I was upset, but don't worry, I've gotten over it.

Sunday morning we were up early once more in order to go canyoning. This was again a smaller group, only 7 of us, but it was SO much fun. Canyoning involves rappelling/walking backwards down a waterfall. We used the same tour group as for rafting, and these guides were just as awesome. They really knew what they were doing, and they were supportive when we were terrified and nervously asking too mant questions. Because we didn't know what to expect and it was so nerve-wracking, it was all the more exhilarating when we successfully finished. We walked down 3 waterfalls, and finally got to just slide down a 100 foot gorgeous cliff sour rounded by waterfalls.

Another free lunch with thetour group topped it off and we caught a bus in order to be home in time for dinner.