Casa del Arbol

Casa del Arbol

Baños, Tungurahua, Ecuador

Ecuador-Galápagos 2018

9 February 2018

Baños, Ecuador is tourist central for adventurous travelers as there are numerous activities and excursions involving whitewater, mountain biking, hiking, repelling down waterfalls, eating guinea pig "cuy", etc. Among all of the choices, there are many "must-do" activities. Casa del Arbor is one. 

When researching Casa del Arbol, you pretty much see the same three pictures usually just with different people. I will be posting my version of the same pictures but will also try to include more about the experience.

Casa del Arbol is the name of the treehouse that has two swings on each side of it. The location offers great views of Tungurahua Volcano, especially when it is erupting. Tungurahua is an active volcano but was dormant in my time there. They have equipment in this area to monitor the volcano's activity. Its last major eruption was in February 2014. As I went close to sunset, I at least had some color in the sky.

Getting to Casa del Arbol

Just find a way to go up from the main part of Baños. You could find a tour group, take a bus, rent a car, take a cab, bike or walk if that sounds fun to you, or use a motorcycle. Since most of my time in mainland Ecuador I had the DR650, I obviously rode the bike up to the legendary swing. The roads aren't terrible. It's paved for a good part and then it gets to be more like cobblestone. I parked where I saw other vehicles and was surprised no one came up to me asking for coins to pay for the small space I was taking up. 

The area was commercialized, color me surprised. To my benefit though, I really did need to use the restroom, and the guy at the restaurant let me use it without prior purchase of anything. As expected he tried to get me to buy something as I finished, and I had already decided that I needed to try Canelazo Volcanico. Canelazo is delicious, and I'm sure a volcano version tastes just the same just with a trendy title to it. They gave me one to go!

I then walked into a chaos of signs:

The first attraction I saw was in fact not Casa del Arbol. It was Columpio al Cielo. Someone might as well take advantage of the swing's popularity and also open up a similar attraction. I took the trail to the right to reach 'la original'.

This sign here tries to indicate that Columpio al Cielo is bigger and badder and better. I didn't go.

Casa del Arbol

Just keep following the signs until you reach a point where you give somebody money. Entrance is pretty cheap: ~$2.00 or something. Just make sure your pockets are always jingling with $1.00 coins when in Ecuador.

Now that I have cleared the chaos of signs I reached the main attraction. You can climb up into the treehouse and then stand in line on either side to swing. The right side had about 15 people in line, and the one on the left side had about 2. It was a difficult decision for me to pick a side.

My camera didn't have a charge hence the crappy pictures from my cheap smartphone in this entire post so I gave my phone to the girl in line after me to take some pictures while I swung.

Each side had someone to make sure you were securely buckled in and to push and stop you. While not the most secure in the world, you would have to try in order to slip out. And if you did somehow fall out, you're not going to fall 5,000 meters to your death - probably just about 10 meters to a broken wrist. The swing isn't exactly right off a cliff as all the pictures like to indicate.

I then tried to take pretty pictures of cool plants, but my phone sucks.

Here is the most boring zipline in the world. Yes there is great scenery, but it only goes over a grass field. I opted out of waiting in line for this one.

I walked around the entire property for about five minutes as I wanted to be back in town before it got dark. There was a nice little shaded picnic shelter and some more cool plants.

Resources

• Atlas Obscura: Swing at the End of the World
• Life in Ecuador: Casa del Arbol
• TripAdvisor: Casa del Arbol