Tall Mountains, Deep Gorges and Spectacular Waterfalls of Tungurahua (Baños)
Once outside of Quito, the scenery changes rapidly, gray concrete gives way to lush green rainforests blanketing unbelievable landscapes
Baños de Agua Santa is a city also known as "Gateway to the Amazon", as it's the last major city one must pass before leaving the Andes and entering the hot and humid jungle of the Amazon River basin. Turns out it's pretty hot here on the Equator after all, just you leave the mountains and feel free to start sweating.
Baños is built on the northern foothills of the Tungurahua volcano which puts it at risk to repeat the fate of Armero and in fact in 1999, all 17000+ residents were forced to evacuate the city for weeks.
Overhanging Rio Pastanza, Baños is one of the most popular tourist points of interest in Ecuador due to its astounding natural beauty (it is home to more than 60 waterfalls) and its plethora of available adventure sports and attractions. Locals and visitors alike enjoy rafting, kayaking, canyoning, bridge jumping, hiking, biking and horseback riding. And I did exactly none of that. Except a bit of biking, which took me down the valley, outside of the city in eastern direction, all the way to the confluence with Rio Verde to the massive waterfall Cascada El Pailón del Diablo.
Next day I decided to take a look at the area from above, that is from one of the mountains around. No shortage of those, obviously, but any mountaintop requires some effort to reach it. Or to pay for the transport like tourists do, which is way too easy to be an attractive option. And besides, those 2 bucks may be spent better.
Took me way longer than expected, but in the end I reached the top, La Casa del Arbol, featuring multiple swings that seem to be popular on this mountain. I counted 3 principal places where you can swing back and forth above the abyss, with different grades of extreme.
Fun fact: while it's clearly warmer than Quito, weather forecasts somehow are horribly wrong about the temperatures in this city. They were showing values from 2 to 6 degrees C but in reality it never falls below 10, I'm quite sure.
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Definitely the environments or mountain landscapes are the maximum: the height, the rivers or mountain streams that never lack, its temperature, its very special vegetation, its people who normally transmit much peace, much tranquility, their drinks; in conclusion, for me they are the preferred place to rest; Well, when can I do it.
The landscape of Venezuela around the Andes mountain range is very similar to the mountain area of Colombia and Ecuador; Of course, Colombia with that particularity that has three mountain systems belonging to the Andes mountain range, which has facilitated , over the years, the ideal hiding place for the guerrillas ("guerrilla": a group composed of armed civilians who do not they belong to the regular army corps of a given nation and generally fight attacking the enemy through the methodology of surprise and skirmishes).
... The last eruption of the Tungurahua volcano was on Wednesday, March 2, 2016; Here I leave a short video of that eruption:
This volcano exceeding 5,000 meters in height, the inhabitants of the area know it as the devil's cave and that is why it constantly throws fire and smoke from its entrails. The natives and mestizos of this area the Tungurahua volcano is a malevolent and infernal demon; for the indigenous Tungurahuenses and Chimboracenses it is a goddess, but she punishes the creatures of her domains -when she is with courage- with the manure of her eruptive evacuations.
The Tungurahua volcano from Ambato.
The truth is that I would not like to live near this volcano.
Greetings.
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Amazing place!
wau espectacular, excelente fotos , lugar hermoso.
The large centre image of the structure covered in moss is really eye catching and the landscapes are just beautiful ! Great post 👍🏼
Waterfalls are always a spectacular sight. It is a pity that the weather was not sunny and there was no rainbow. Recently I was in Vietnam and watched a beautiful and powerful waterfall with rainbows.
Weather's a bitch, yeah
Great comment! We, too, are angry with the weather when we go to a beautiful place, but there is no sun )))
It seems that you enjoyed it very much !! I am glad to read your post and see your photos beautiful landscapes Thanks for sharing
great waterfalls and fantastic photographer. upvote and follow
Hello, beautiful place, the photos were excellent and with a good angle, greetings @nameless-berk
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