Getting Steamed in Banos Ecuador

Heading to Banos was a change of pace for traveling; while we loved the jungle tour, most people come to Banos for the spa treatments.

On our first day we had already taken advantage of the cheap massages and facials.

We had discovered the hostel jacuzzi but what really intrigued us was Hostal Chimeneas’ in-house steam baths.

The day was a bit cold and rainy and we weren’t brave enough to venture to the thermal pools in cold weather.

An hour long steam bath sounded perfect for a lazy afternoon but we realized that we had no idea what a steam bath entailed, it’s not simply sitting in a steamed room for an hour but jumping into a box of steam.

And that’s only the beginning, Veronica, from our hostel, timed us so that every five minutes we got out of our little box to wash ourselves down with ice cold water.

After 45 minutes of the hot/cold torture treatment, which Veronica seemed to enjoy a bit too much, she told us we just had one more left.

We jumped out of the steam bath one final time and she hosed us down for 5 minutes with more ice cold water.

Afterwards we moisturized and our skin was feeling rejuvenated after the torture treatment for a bargain price of $3.50 each.