Baños is gorgeous. Picture a small, friendly town surrounded by mountains, steep cliffs, clouds and waterfalls. It's so nice to see a place that respects the nature surrounding it, instead of destroying it. Totally picturesque.

I made it to Markus' hostel and luckily for me, he happened to walk right up the street the moment I arrived. We went for lunch at the market and for once the meal actually came with a decent salad (beet root!!). After that we wandered round the city and saw a small waterfall right on the edge of town by the thermal baths.

After that the hostel receptionist was back and I was able to get accommodation at the same hostel as Markus. Having walked past a bunch of spas, a massage was in order for my afternoon activities. For $25 I got a one hour, properly professional massage at a really nice spa. #hardlife

I met up with Markus after my massage and we headed out to the thermal baths. The temperature was excellent but unfortunately they only had the small pool open and it soon became overcrowded. At the point where you're almost constantly getting jostled, the baths are no longer relaxing. Next to the baths was a cute little carnival which we walked through. At this point I treated Markus and I to chocolate covered strawberries and thus began our dessert dinner. We had intended to stop at the mini market and cook at the hostel, however more than halfway back we still hadn't seen one and decided on ice cream instead. I'm not even ashamed to admit my dinner for the night consisted of a sundae, a Nutella crepe and hot chips.

The hostel while on the edge of town and includes walking up a steep f*** off hill, is really nice. It's quite small so there aren't too many people staying there, it's properly clean and it has great facilities. Because its a bit smaller and not in the centre of town, I had an excellent nights sleep, the first proper sleep I've had since the night I finished Machu Picchu.

On my second day in Baños, Markus took me took this huge, amazing cascada (waterfall). Starting to really take budgeting seriously (don't worry mum, I have plenty of money left - just keeping more of an eye on it than I have been) we asked about a taxi but it would have cost $20. No way Jose. So we found a public bus for the much more reasonable price of 25c which took us pretty close and then took a second bus for 50c. The walk up to the waterfall was really nice, being surrounded by nature and not hearing the usual everyday urban sounds of life. The part closest to the waterfall was more like caving, requiring me to crouch down and make like a spider. That certainly took me back to my cadet days. Once at the waterfall you can climb down and up. The up takes you right under the waterfall and includes getting quite wet, but it was well worth it. And the down gives you a great view of the waterfall and down steam where it meets the main river. It was really, really beautiful. After that we had lunch and crossed a rickety jungle bridge (just like the movies) which takes you to more stunning views of the jungle and waterfall.

Once back in town, I took a couple of hours to myself to wander round central Baños. I amused myself for a little while going into the local artesan shops and asking prices for the same items and seeing how much they tried to overcharge me for being a 'dumb gringo'. Then I walked past a spa and a massage was far too tempting. Cue one hour later and I'd had a massage and facial for only $30, blows me away. I'm ruined for Australian prices.

Having bought dinner ingredients earlier, I went back to the hostel and cooked a veggie pasta - hello carrots, mushrooms, onions, capsicum and tomato. Heavenly.

After dinner I bumped into a girl who had been at our Quito hostel as well. We went to check out the thermal baths, which were crowded again so we opted to have dessert instead. By the time we had dessert and Sarah had pizza we'd missed the window for entering the thermal baths and headed back to the hostel and talked politics an pop culture.

And now sadly my time in Baños is over. Back to Quito for one night and then tomorrow I fly to Central America. I'm mourning the end of South America but the exiting prospects of Central and North America remain.

Places I must visit upon my imminent return to South America...
1 Valparaíso, Chile
2 San Pedro, Chile
3 Barriloche, Argentina
4 El Boson, Argentina
5 Montevideo, Uruguay
6 Igúazu Falls, Argentina/Brazil
7 Columbia
8 Brazil