Today we planned a return visit to the resort town of Banos, but this time approaching it along the Pastaza river valley from the East. It made for a leisurely day of driving as the round trip only racked up 75 miles. Starting in humid tropical conditions at 3000 ft in Puyo the road winds its way along the Northern wall of the Pastaza valley above the cliffs of the lower gorge and eventually climbs out of the tropical vegetation as it nears Banos at just under 6000 ft. It is an impressive road, a number of dripping tunnels and lots of tight turns. Also a number of places where it is taking a lot of hard work to keep the road from being swept from the mountain side by slides and rock falls. There are a number of narrow side roads that enable tourists with smaller vehicles than ours to visit local villages, water falls and other attractions. There were quite a few tourists, both young and old, riding bikes along the 12 km section of the road into Banos.
Banos was much quieter today than on our last visit. It seems that it is really only a tourists resort at weekends. Many of the souvenir and candy stores were closed and, thankfully, there were only a few dozen people at the baths we chose to visit. At first glance the water of the thermal bath was a bit off-putting, as it is a yellow color. But from what I could make out of the sign showing the mineral content that color is natural. We spent a nice hour or so alternatively soaking in one of the two hot pools, dunking under a cold natural spring shower and absorbing some sun. In the process I got a little sun-burned - did not realize until much later in the day.
The place we chose to camp at was quite a surprise - another one - with a very impressive pool area, restaurant, tenting area, beauty spa, and an impressive jungle walk with a variety of monkeys, a wild cat (related to the jaguar), snakes, small crocodile like creatures, and colonies of soldier ants carrying pieces of leaves all over the place. We spent almost two hours on the jungle walk with a couple of the guides - one with the information and the other with some English. Then we had a pleasant evening camping in the parking lot. Pleasant temperature, no insects - though we have the effects of yesterdays bites - relatively quiet, and a starry night.
Camping
Ecoparque Monte Selva just west of Puyo on the road to Banos. There were small billboard adds for this place at regular intervals along the Banos road so we decided to give it a try. A large slightly rough stone parking lot with toilets and cold showers, no security but not visible from the road. They did not charge us to park overnight, only for the facilities of the park that we used. In the end we paid $15, had a tour of their jungle walk, used the swimming pool and gave a few tips.
