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Swimming in the Baños

From Riobamba, which was never more than a stopover, it was off to Guaranda, Ambato, and Baños, a circle of road around Chimborazo, the highest peak in Ecuador at over 6300m, the peak of which has the notable distinction of being the point on the Earth´s surface the farthest away from the Earth´s centre - Everest is higher when measured from sea level of course, but the earth bulges around the equator. Even the highway got to well over 4000m, pretty crazy.

Rule #1 of adapting to high altitude: don´t run up a hiking trail staircase to catch a bus. Trust me. The first 10 steps go alright, then aerobic metabolism takes over. That´s when you keel over, gasping for air.

Finally it was to Baños, with a short delay after I missed my stop and had to cross the highway to flag down a bus going the other way. Baños is the last stop heading east before you enter the Amazon basin - the town itself is a little resort town at 1800m, in a little idyllic valley, with a massive, and very active, volcano hanging over the town. In fact a few years ago it had a major eruption and the town had to be evacuated. So far, no pyroclastic flows, just a little steam.

Baños gets its name from the local hot springs coming out of the volcano - "Baños" seems to mean "baths" in spanish. Interestingly, as far as I can tell "Baños" also can mean "bathrooms" and "toilets".

Anyways, I´m off to my hostel, home of the "self-serve beer fridge" - just write down your room name and quantity and go right ahead. What a concept.