Day Twenty Nine - Casa del Arbol

We were up this morning for breakfast just before nine. The 'free' breakfast consisted of a crossaint with butter and jam and some coffee or tea, so we paid an extra dollar for some fried eggs!

My online banking had been playing up for a few days, not allowing me to transfer money or pay for anything online so I sent off a swift email to the bank whilst we were faffing in our room. We'd spoken to a couple we'd met in Montanita who were also in Banos and they were heading up to the Casa del Arbol this morning. We were going to go with them, but they decided to get the bus, and feeling adventurous me and Brendan wanted to trek it.

Casa del Arbol translates to 'Tree House'. This treehouse is at the top of a hill, with a swing hanging off one of the branches, supposedly swinging you hundred of feet in the air. The treehouse itself is a weather station for Banos (but from my experience it couldn't be less accurate if it tried!!).

After checking out of our dorm room, we left our big backpacks by the reception desk (super secure...) and sorted out one bag which we (Brendan) would carry up to the swing for us!

The sun was shining and it was a really nice day! We started off, checking the route with a lady from reception in our hostel (thankfully this one was amazingly helpful and friendly!) after we left the road, we stopped to apply suncream and take some shots of the views along the way - Brendan popped his lense cap off his camera and it flew into a dense grass with a tree fallen across it, that was fun to try and find!!

It was quite a steep walk to begin with. The path was mud and stone up to the first bellavista. We definitely wondered why we'd decided to trek it!! At this viewpoint, we had the most amazing view of the whole of Banos! The cloud seemed to be closing it a bit so we rapidly continued.

The path turned slightly thinner and muddier. At some points we were unsure whether we were still on the path or simple trekking through the middle of the rainforest!! We went wrong at one point so thank god we had our MapsMe app - most amazing app you can use without internet access, highly recommended!! Brendan chose this moment to warn me about stepping on and angering snakes!

We hit the road and then walked along it for a while, coming to a smaller 'swing at the end of the world'. We continued down a cobbled road towards a spa which looked really posh and relaxing! Here we went up behind it back onto the muddy track!

Further up the path, already a bit weary of snakes, the path was literally a mud slide with fallen over trees blocking the way. All of a sudden we heard this loud tapping from above us (there were high mud walls enclosing the path) and a tonne of soil fell down just behind Brendan. We honestly thought that a dog had just fallen down onto the path and was coming after us, which certainly made us speed up and arrive at the road a bit faster!

We walked along the road for a bit and arrived at some farmland with huge plastic tents erected all over the landscape. The road turned into a track and then again back into a narrow path. At one point we had to sneak silently past a farm building where there was a dog hanging around. Thankfully he didn't see us, but I was quite worried he'd catch up and run at us! This was the final stretch now. We stopped at various viewpoints to see the volcano in the background, but still no sign of the swing and the treehouse. Right at the very end we joined road again and made the final slog up to the top.

It was very beautiful, the sun had stayed out for us and it was warm. We had arrived around 1:30, just before the next busload so it was also relatively quiet and empty.

We took it in turns to have a go on the swing. I'd love to say that it was exhilarating and super high up, but truth it, it's a very good camera angle and the most you'd do if you fell was sprain an ankle! There is also a safety clip on the front so really no risk at all!! Nevertheless it was an awesome feeling swinging up over the trees and seeing the volcano and the beautiful view beyond!

We had a toastie each which were actually very tasty and some water. After this we had another quick go on the swings, as well as this rubbish little zip wire nearby that was more effort than it was worth! We walked up the top of the treehouse which for me was a bit hairy, and got yet another amazing view!

We got a taxi back down as we'd missed a bus and the next one was over an hour away! It was quite a nice journey, but I'm so glad we hiked it up because the walk itself was just as impressive as the swing. We'd left it a bit late to walk back however, and anyway we were both quite exhausted!

Back at the hostel, we checked back into our private room - it was very nice, a double bed and a single bed incase me and Brendan fell out!! We chilled out for a couple of hours, had a shower and relaxed after our busy morning! We headed into town to book some activities for the next couple of days, Canyoning and White Water Rafting!!

We headed to the bar for a couple of drinks. On Monday-Wednesday, they hostel do free dinners, and seeing as we had just spent a substantial part of our budget on the Galapagos, this sounded great to us! We had some pasta pesto which was not too bad at all, however we did have to wait until 9pm!

We headed straight back to our room afterwards and almost immediately fell asleep! Midway through the night, Brendan wasn't feeling great so he actually got up and moved into the single bed - knew it would come in handy!!