Baños is most known for its Termas de la Virgen hot springs. So of course we had to go there. The original facility has several heated pools which are yellow-green from the chemicals in the water. In January, they added a second facility which has two hot pools with the yellow green water and several cold pools and 3 water slides. People think of it as more of a water park which it is. We chose to go to that one because we had heard that the dressing rooms were better.
We paid a whopping $3 per head (how much is Trimble outside of Durango?) and rented cloth bathing caps for $1 each; they are required to keep the water cleaner.
The changing rooms, restrooms, and free lockers are nice and new but I think they could have invested a few hundred dollars more and put seats on the commodes and some hooks to hang things. Unlike Colombia where toilet seats are rare in public places, they are the norm in Ecuador. Except for a couple of bus stations, all commodes have had seats so I was quite surprised (and disappointed) to not see them here.
The heated pools were very hot even though we were told that they are hotter in the original facility. Dan went down the water slides twice but I had injured myself on the one in Durango so I opted not to go. Besides, the water on the slides and the pool where you land is cold. I was enjoying the hot water too much.
The view of the waterfall and mountain was outstanding from the pools. A nice way to end the afternoon that started with the waterfall tour in the morning.
After we changed we walked several blocks to the grocery store. Somewhere along the way my water shoes fell off my backpack (I guess I hadn’t secured the Velcro well enough. We back tracked but they were long gone. Someone got an almost new pair of shoes; I hope they like them more than I did. I never found them to be that comfortable anyway.