Friday, February 4

Today was our last day in Baños. Andi and I thought it’d be fun for Tory and Aden to plan our activities for the day. So many of our travel days are spent doing things that Andi and I think would be fun or interesting for the family — why not let Tory and Aden be the decision makers for one day.

Together, Tory and Aden brainstormed a list of things to do and even wrote down a schedule for the day in 15 minutes increments. Their ideas included playing King’s Corner as a family, going out to lunch at the parriIlada (bbq) place down the street from the airbnb, and going to the coffee shop downtown to get a chocolate muffin. I suggested we go on an unofficial “food tour” in Baños and try some of the Ecuadorian foods & snacks we’ve been meaning to try. Tory and Aden liked that idea as well.

First, the kids set up a card game for us in the living room, complete with 4 cups of Sprite and tostados for a snack (tostados are popular in Ecuador — they are similar to Corn Nuts). We played a game of cards, and then decided we were all hungry for lunch. We decided to walk 15 minutes to downtown and sample some foods along the way.

Our first stop was an empanada shop. This was an item on Andi’s food bucket list. The shop also sold jugo de caña which is sugar cane juice — very popular in Ecuador, especially in Baños. Andi ordered a cheese empanada and a chicken empanada + a mandarin-flavored sugar cane juice for us all to share. The empanadas were amazing! A hot, flaky, buttery crust stuffed with melted cheese & chicken. Andi and I liked the sugar cane juice but Tory and Aden weren’t big fans.

Next, we stopped at a candy store along the way selling sugar cane taffy. This particular type of taffy is called melcocha and can only ben found in Baños. Each candy vendor has a large wooden hook mounted to the doorway of their shop. The person making taffy slings a heavy piece of taffy over the hook and pulls and stretches it to make it softer. The result is a long rope of taffy that’s flung onto the hook & then pulled and stretched over and over again. It’s really fun to watch them work! We stopped at the first taffy vendor we saw on the street to watch the taffy worker in action & the sweet older man gave us each a sample to try. The taffy has a unique taste and texture. Tory and Aden didn’t like it, but I thought it was pretty good. I liked that you could chew on it for a long time before it finally dissolved in your mouth. The taffy was super sticky though and is probably known to pull out some dental work!

I loved all the handmade Valentine’s Day chocolates displayed in candy shops around Baños.

After the taffy and sugar cane juice, Andi said he needed to get some real food in his belly. Tory threw up a stink because she said a chocolate muffin from Honey Coffee & Tea was next on the kids’ schedule, but Andi over-rode her. He picked a typical Ecuadorian restaurant that served almuerzo plates as well as “fast food” rotisserie chicken and fries.

Now, we went to Honey Coffee & Tea. We found a table with cozy chairs, ordered two herbal teas for Andi and I and a chocolate muffin for the kids & then played several rounds of War and King’s Corner. Honey Coffee & Tea is the perfect people-watching spot located right on the corner of two busy streets and across from the town’s main square/ park. As we sat in the cafe, we saw a walking funeral procession go by with pallbearers carrying a casket down the street and mourners dressed in black walking behind it carrying flowers. That was interesting to see.

It was that weird time of day again where it was too early to eat dinner, but too late to go back to the airbnb and then come back downtown again. Andi and I sat on a park bench in the town square while Tory and Aden ran around the park with some other kids. It started to rain, so even though none of us were very hungry yet, we decided to go the fondue restaurant in town that Tory and Aden picked out for dinner. We were the only people in the restaurant, but the service was so slow! We waited at our table for seemingly forever to get our order of cheese fondue with steak, bread and veggies. Andi and I couldn’t help to compare the quality of most traditional Educadorian restaurants compared to this more trendy eatery. Most of our meals have been quality home-cooking, fast & friendly service and quite cheap. The fondue was our most expensive dinner to date and the service was terrible. It made Tory and Aden happy though. They wanted to eat fondue on their “kids choice” day and that’s exactly what we did.

For dessert, we decided to skip the chocolate fondue as planned and get a sweet treat somewhere else with better service. We picked an ice cream shop downtown instead.

Cabs are so inexpensive that I don’t know why we’d even mess with having a car here. It cost us $2 to cab from downtown back to our airbnb that evening.

At home, I spent an hour packing our bags and doing one more load of laundry before we leave tomorrow. Baños has been the perfect town to “recoup” after spending a week in the Amazon. We really enjoyed the town & all there was to do here.

Saturday, February 5

We said good-bye to Baños today. Andi arranged for a private driver named Freddy to take us from Baños to Cuenca — a 7-hour drive south. Before we left, we walked to the hotel/spa located next to our airbnb for breakfast. For $5 each, we ate a complete breakfast with coffee, hot chocolate, fruit, yogurt, granola, eggs, ham and bread. It was perfect. It’s nice having a kitchen of our own while traveling, but Andi and I have questioned multiple times why we’d spend the time and money to cook for ourselves when it is so cheap to eat out in restaurants here. And bonus — everyone gets what they want this way.

Freddy, our driver, arrived to the airbnb at 9:00am to pick us up. I was dreading the long car ride to Cuenca today because we’ve been carsick every single time we’ve driven anywhere here in Ecuador. It’s not because the roads are in bad condition either; it’s because people drive so fast and reckless. Right away, Freddy seemed to be different. For one, he drove a nicer car with better suspension which helped. He also drove more slowly and made lots of stops along the way so we could get out of the car, stretch our legs and get some fresh air.

The drive south from Baños to Cuenca was beautiful. Lots of rolling hills and farms along the way. We made a stop for Freddy’s favorite ice cream bars called La Avenlina and also grabbed coffee and snacks at a local gas station.

Who knew access to toilet paper was going to be such an issue in Ecuador?! I’ve resorted to carrying a stash in my purse now because most public restrooms do not have it, you have to pay for it, or it’s located on the outside of the bathroom and I forget to grab some before going in to use the toilet. So annoying.

For lunch, we stopped in a small town called Chunchi at a small Ecuadorian restaurant for almuerzo lunches. Nothing special — just the standard soup & grilled chicken served with rice, beans and a fried plantain. And juice, of course. Ecuadorians love their juice!

Freddy was a great conversationalist during our day spent with him. He spoke very good English and told us all about the history and culture of various towns we passed. In the end, the drive to Cuenca was a smooth and enjoyable one. I felt for him because it was a very long day of driving and not all of it was easy. A large stretch of the drive between Alausi and Canar was very foggy and at high altitude.

We arrived in Cuenca around 5:00pm and checked into our new airbnb for the week. Andi found a beautiful two-bedroom, two bathroom apartment unit for us. The owners gave us a great list of restaurants and things to do in the area.

Tonight, we were all tired after a long day of driving so Andi and Tory walked down the street to a local place called Martina’s Pizzeria. We ate delicious wood-fired pizza for dinner and then called it a night.