Points In Between

Memorable spots and images during our journies...

Baños
Baños is the quintessential tourist town, and for that reason, we stayed less than 24 hours. While nestled in mountains and mist, all these vistas had been surrendered to the tourist market. People worked, but didn’t seem to live here anymore.

Pulling taffy, and other concessions, for the tourists.

The main church had a placating homage to Volcun Tungurahua, which erupted in 1999.

Papallacta
On my first day in Quito, I sat in a bumpy combi ride for two hours and despaired as the temperatures dropped. Where was my tropical summer vacation? The way east from Quito crosses the highest paved point in Ecuador (4,100 meters) along the snow-capped peeks of the Eastern Cordillera. Past farms and mist and oil pipes we drove until reaching Papallacta and its termas—a watery paradise. The pools frequented by upper-class Quiteños are heated by volcanoes, and despite the freezing air, made me sweat.

Pepe, our combi driver, was a sweet, funny man. At Papallacta, he showed me which flowers could be ground into a traditional hallucagen (and swore he had never tired it!)

The bathing pools.