Retirement Detectives

Driving the aptly named Route of the Volcanoes between Quito and the small town of Baños, you will pass 5 immense volcanoes, each taller than 15,500 feet.  Looming over the town of Baños is the threatening and active Volcan Tungurahua, which means 'little hell' in the local indigenous language. This volcano fuels the natural hot springs around town as well as a healthy industry of massages, steam baths, and mud facials.

800 years ago, one of Ecuador’s many volcanoes blew its top in a devastating explosion that spewed lava all the way to the Pacific ocean over 100 miles away. It left behind a spectacular crater lake that is now surrounded by small indigenous villages, very high altitude farms, and some of the prettiest countryside in Ecuador.