BIG DECISIONS - Van Life in Ecuador S5:E4

BIG DECISIONS - Van Life in Ecuador S5:E4

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good morning guys we are taking a short drive  to somewhere pretty cool and relaxing or maybe i   should say hot and relaxing so we're going to take  you all along with us for this fun journey today   to get there is about 45 minutes we're driving  through some pretty mountains surrounded by farm   country it's just really a pretty part of ecuador  but i also want to give you a good news update   if you've been following along you know we are  waiting on our new inverter to get shipped from   the united states the latest tracking says it has  left the facility of the airport here in ecuador   so it has cleared customs and it is on the way to  us so we think maybe three more days so two things   number one the inverter has kind of crippled us  more than we kind of thought in advance and you   know we carry some spare parts in hindsight we're  going to be on the lookout for a backup inverter   because it was quite expensive to ship and the  second thing is this is the second episode in a   couple weeks where snow and i are actually color  coordinated and i just want to let you guys know   it was not planned but here we are looking  like twins all right let's go have some fun we're getting closer and one thing is  for sure we are off of the main roads   and we're going through some rural ecuador uh  in some small little towns we're almost there so one thing that has been true since we  entered mexico and came all the way through   central america and into colombia and now ecuador  every small town no matter how small no matter how   big whether it's a city has a town center and  there is a park and they usually keep it nice   and clean and there's going to be a coffee shop  and a church right there every single time even   this little town out here in the middle of these  cane fields had a very nice little town square   as we get closer to the area of the hot  springs we see signs for several little   hot springs resorts we have a certain one  we're headed to because hans recommended it   and it's on i overlander but we're passing  lots of interesting little restaurants   and we just passed a candy shop and the guy looked  like he was literally out there making some candy   and also sold lots of little floaties and stuff  so i would say we're getting really close now okay here's the scoop we can park right here  so it's seven dollars you go down the hill down   there and along the river she said there's like  21 pools i only saw a few a lot of them are full   um there's a restaurant there  the restaurant here is closed   restaurant the hotel that we can use we can stay  the night no problem so in essence you know hans   is 14 or 12 a night for two people it's 14  a night here and we get access to the pool   nice so i felt the water they're all different  temperatures so we're in good shape let's do it   so first things first i'm hungry kurt's  always hungry i went up to this little   restaurant and checked it out it looks like  actually a really nice restaurant up here   and the hot springs are pretty cool and  then they have this little gift here gift   store here there's a few little gift shops  they've got all sorts of little inflatables   and things like that supposedly this place gets  pretty busy on the weekend fortunately we're not   going to be here for that but still kind of a  unique little place so let's go grab some lunch so one of the things that we've learned about  ecuador is the prices vary quite a bit so if we're   in more of like a local style restaurant where  they have typical food usually the prices seem   to be about two to four dollars for a meal but  when you kind of get into the little nicer places   that are more westernized or americanized  you actually start to see american prices   so you can see here a hamburger and  french fries looks like it's a double   cheeseburger with eggs everything is 12.  but anyway the food looks delicious here   all right we just got a pitcher of lemonada which  has become our favorite thankfully they do have   ecuador and then they just sat some little snacks  what are these little bugs no they're not bugs i   think they're those fat corn kernels we saw  i think they call them mote m-o-t-e but they   haven't cooked them they've heated them up like we  would do popcorn i think maybe like they're deep   fried or something when you bite into them there  is a popcorn flavor without a doubt but they're   soft right yeah they're not hard well they're  maybe like a peanut you like them i do like them all right americano de  sauno huevos revolto's queso   snow what'd you get croissant we're  splitting a breakfast there you go   and the coffee was served a little unusual if  you can see it's instant coffee grounds but they   brought out a thermos of warm milk or cream and  so you mix it in there how is the tastes coffee all right guys we had our little breakfast snack   now we are bathing souped up and we are  headed in time for some hot spring soaking so we have heard we have not confirmed   y'all can tell us if we're right or  wrong but arko iris or evis means rainbow   all right we just got here and we've got a little  hose showing us around host is showing us around oh look at all these pools this is like private   there are 17 17 pools do you  own this this is cut okay perfect you can go this way but that is one of my  favorites going in all right snow's going in here   guys so they have 17 pools here supposedly with  all different temperatures of water this one's   pretty hot nellie told us this one is the perfect  one they got these little private stalls over here   how's the temperatures now it's uh  it's gonna be a little hot for you   it's perfect for me but i think if you sit up on  the edge and just put your feet in you'll be good   so there you go while she gets in guys you  know what i'm going to do i'm exploring searching for a brighter day leaving yesterday behind looking forward is is finally feel alive in addition to the pools and all the beautiful  flowers they have these picnic tables down here   and i think down here i even saw some barbecue  grills they have showers and bathrooms and places   to snack and all that type of stuff  ah this place is really pretty nice   and it's nestled here in this valley  and so we have this little river running   beside us i don't know for sure as to  whether or not the river is the hot river but it's pretty nonetheless and you can  see down here they have the grill area   that i mentioned so there's a little bench so it  looks like there's little personal grills here and another big seating canopy seating  area i'm guessing this is for a small   event or maybe for a restaurant and  they have a soccer field down here   but a simple little place you can see right up  there up that hill is where the van is parked all   right we're gonna play a little game hot pool cool  pool the way this is designed this is the hottest   hot tub here which is pretty hot it's hard for  me to get in and then right next to us is super   cold like like ice river cold cool the idea is to  sit in this one and get nice and hot and then hop   in the next one and hang out and get chill and  do it back and forth it's supposed to be really   good for your circulation all right here i go i'm  getting out of the hospital into this cold hole and dally just got in here like she's super tough don't think my blood from freezing it's already  turning blue nelly's got me moving   to the other pool my time's up here so it's  time to get out of the cold and into the heat   now what i will tell you is this move is a lot  easier i can't even tell you're in hot water   at first so the transition actually  is like nothing it feels pretty good kurt is continuing his hot and cold treatment but  i went to find some shade because we are close to   the equator and even if it's not hot i promise  you it is easy to get a lot of sun down here   and i want to show you what  i found at this shady spot   it's the coolest use of recycling tires i have  ever seen look at this table and chair set   and i have sat in it guys it is super  comfy look at that how creative huh all right the next room to play  in is the steam room so it's   naturally steamed i just stepped into it  plugged my glasses up instantly i'm going all right see how the hot water comes down snow is turning into some kind of crazy  goat it's not true she's going up on   this lifeguard stand she's probably  about to get us kicked out of here   so what you guys might not  know when i was in high school   back in florida i was a lifeguard at a water park  four summers in a row so this feels natural all   right guys we've soaked we've hotted we've  cold we've relaxed we've looked at flowers   the heat of the day is here the sun is bright  i'm gonna go to the van check on the kitties   do a little relaxing there but the good news is  this place does not close until way after dark   so we'll be back all right so we're leaving the  hot springs walking video leaving the hot springs   walking back to the van this  nice lady's selling frutas ks she says it's a sweet fruit we're gonna try it  and show y'all what it looks like on the inside   one dollar no uno all right what did  we get ourselves into actually some   a new fruit we get to try i'm excited and we got  to help out a local so win-win let's go cut it   all right if you remember the restaurant was  closed earlier for lunch so we had a little snack   to hold us over but now we're headed up to the  restaurant to have a dinner early butt or lunch   but there's a couple restaurants up here there's a  fancy one in the hotel which you guys saw earlier   and then up the street there's a tipico restaurant  so once you guys in the comments tell us whether   you think snow is gonna pick the fancy one or the  typical one and we'll let you know in a minute   all right i'm gonna tell you  the decision wasn't easily made   we're walking up to the tipico restaurant to look  at the menu we already know what we have on the   other one and i even know what i'm gonna get on  the other one it looks like they have some steak   or chicken or hot dogs and french fries a  frittata the garbanzo the soup and the trucha   she's she's picking local she's picking typical  i like her style i can't i gotta be honest   do all right snow what'd you decide and why we  went with local i bypassed the fancy hotel   restaurant so we could get some local cuisine  and this is called sachitas with or salchitas are basically hot dogs i love hot dogs so this  works out good for me yeah and i got some sort   of meat the french fries and a salad as well so  i had really no idea what we're ordering but it   looks good and the entertainment is really awesome  the big surprise guys we had no idea it's nice i wanna run with you i wanna let go arms open wide with a life to call our own we can go anywhere where do we go i wanna chase down every dream we've had live every moment like it's gonna be our last turn away from fear anywhere where do we go from here it won't give way to the night we'll keep on  reaching reaching up to the sky all right so   it just looked so pretty with all the flowers  and the steam we lied we did take y'all with us   on this recent visit down to the hot springs it  was incredibly relaxing and much better at night   even though it was great in the daytime  but you may remember this afternoon   we bought this fruit from  the local lady for a dollar   and we kind of been eating all day so this  is kind of our little light evening snack   so hopefully that's good but she also which  you guys don't know is she also came back by   and brought us some oranges and so we're gonna  have a little fruit salad first we're going to   try this stuff and see how it works and this  actually works out good guys because we can't   cook because our electrical system is still broken  how do you how do we cut this i have no idea   all right we'll cut this end off it's kind of got  the texture of aguayo banana i wonder if it is   oh so this might be someone advises to  just open it and scoop it out with a spoon   it definitely looks like a guava  banana this is just a different style   it's like the guayo banana insides if you  guys can see it and i think you can just   take a spoon and spoon this stuff out  that's what everybody told us last time so try the spoon and i'll taste it it's  good we are definitely eating all this guys   okay all right we're gonna scoop it into a bowl  add in a little bit of other fruit and that's   gonna be our non-cooking dinner so we got some  of that fresh fruit we've got the whatever it   is fruit guava banana and then we've got  the oranges and some bananas and then we   sprinkled a little walnut and some raisin and some  cinnamon in there so it almost kind of looks like   a rice pudding con texture it's a fruit salad  night guys i'm the chef so i have to taste it you won't like them all right that means i got to  turn this camera off and get in there quick guys   but the rest all right good morning everyone  we parked here next to this agua tarbalas   arco iris which means rainbow but it's  not a farm but they do have all sorts of   animal life cows pigs and horses  we've seen them bring through here   so and it's not the most level spot but i always  like to spot where we can take a nice walk   and where we have good views and that fits  the bill you could probably see we weren't   even exactly level but man the hot springs were  money it was a great way to start the morning   and yesterday when we went up here for lunch  i saw another sign for another one about 3 000   meters up 300 meters of the way but i'm gonna  go up and check out this other agua tamales   fan of that this bull got off his rope and  it's headed up the it just so happens this   bull is walking up the same road i am so i  got to be careful we don't have a running   with the bull scenes kind of have on a red  shirt so just got to be a little cautious   here that guy don't try to get me so here's a  sign i saw yesterday aguasavia spa 300 meters just followed the cow it looks  like we got some switchbacks here this big old bull's still leading the way i don't   know what i'm gonna do if  he turns around and stops   i can see the building up there but we're  gonna scratch this one there's a few other   agua turmoils along this road see if  we can't do a little adventuring today   so we can play in a different august  tamales so we found another one santa agua little guyenas and they're cool you can  see the entrance and we also found a place   to have breakfast so we're headed in here  to don francisco's to have a little desouna   so one of the things that we've found so far in  ecuador and i don't know if it's just this region   but when they bring you coffee it's the  freeze-dried instant coffee so you get the   hot water and you kind of mix your own coffee now  it's one valdez so that means it's from columbia   but it's been our experience that this  is typically not the best quality that   usually gets exported my standard i  gotta have some eggs for breakfast   and we also have some toasted bread with queso  so this morning we get a little egg sandwich kurt tells me he got the deluxe package  what's that kurt but it's ten dollars   each for this it was two dollars for  parking welcome to spa day number two   so we're at our second hot springs and you  can see that water flowing down the hill   right there that water is hot and the way this  happens guys is it is the the fluid and the rock   deep down in the earth like at a depth of 10  000 kilometers that's where the magmatic chamber   is for this hot springs outlet it interacts and  then there is a steam reservoir they say around   1500 to 2000 meters and that's where the heat  come from now what's cool about this is not   only are they able to do really awesome hot  springs for people to come visit like this   but this one itself the environmental impact  is it is able to do six milliwatts of power   that replaces the consumption of 800 000 barrels  of oil so not only do we get hot springs but they   use these things to create energy pretty cool  huh guys as always guys kurt is making friends kirby is it good is it cold bubbly all right two completely relaxing day at  these aguas termales it was just so tranquilo   something about hot springs but i have a question  for snow okay what was your favorite of the two   okay they're both very relaxing the water's  both clean it has a yellow tent at both of   them but it's clean water i like them both but i  think i have two reasons why i have my favorite   my favorite is the one from yesterday the first  reason is the flowers were amazing there they had   pretty flowers at the one today but yesterday's  flowers were off the chart and the one today   made you wear swim caps ah that's true yeah the  one yesterday you didn't have to wear them and   i didn't like that so yesterday's was my favorite  but they're both wonderful so the second one had   this totally like cold water and hot water coming  out right beside each other and i was able to get   up under there and massage my shoulders with  that cold water while standing in the hot water   so i really like that but i liked both places  equally yeah but anyway this is where we wind   her down right we'll see you guys in a few days  if you like this video be sure to subscribe to our   channel and hit that notification bell so you guys  know when we put out new videos and don't forget   you can always follow us over on instagram to  see what's going on in between videos cheers guys

2022-04-17 15:42

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