Hola Mounties, and welcome back to another #MountMartes blog posts. Throughout this quarantine, I have been reminiscing on my time spent in Ecuador, and one of the best and most beautiful sights I saw was the Pailon del Diablo waterfall in Baños, Ecuador. We stopped here on our drive from the Amazon to Cuenca during the first week of our trip! It was one of the coolest experiences I had while in Ecuador. This waterfall is known for being one of the largest waterfalls, and it is one of the most popular attractions for tourists and locals. Pailon del Diablo means “Cauldron of the Devil,” and it is best seen from the top of a huge suspension bridge that you can use to get closer to this waterfall.

When we got to the waterfall site, we had a walking tour with views of rushing clear waters through some small rivers leading to the waterfall. We had to walk up a very steep path to reach the suspension bridge. The suspension bridge was one of the best things about this experience. It had people coming and going on it both ways, and it fell in the middle to the point where there were grips so that you did not slip. We came on a busy day, so there were a lot of people at this waterfall. Once we got over the suspension bridge, it was more of a walking trail leading to the closest part of the waterfall. We were so close to the waterfall that the water was splashing onto us the entire time. There were certain areas of the trail where you could get under and get completely drenched – we all sided against that option. Once at the closest point of the waterfall, you could see how fast the water was rushing down, and it was so much water that it only became transparent at the bottom. Where it landed looked like a lagoon because of the foaming waters. The pressure of the water was so high that it created such huge clouds of mist and water vapor that there was a rainbow touching from mountainside to mountainside. The rainbow was so close to us, and it made the scenery all the more beautiful. In the photo with the double rainbow, you can also see the many paths we took to get to the highest point where the suspension bridge was. This waterfall was so amazing and like nothing I had ever seen before.

From the top of the waterfall, we were able to have some of the best views I had seen in Ecuador, and the altitude was so high it felt like we were on top of the world. Although our time was cut short, I am so glad we were able to see so much while we were in Ecuador. Thanks for reading about this great memory and come back next week for another post.