1 Tracy + 13 Chileans and The Strangest Place I Was Hit On

Being a single female and having travelled a lot in Latin America you get used to being hit on, a lot. The guys on the street will yell out Hermosa, preciosa, princessa, guapa, the list goes on. Its can get rather irritating but at the same time you don’t hear a peep from men in Canada and the names aren’t too bad but the worst is “Ssssst!” or “psssst, psssst!” like they are calling an animal its very degrading. Do they think, “psst pssst!” will actually work on a girl? What are you supposed to reply to that? In my head I’m thinking, “Pssst you!”
I thought I had experienced it all with the ridiculous comments but that was until I got to Banos, Ecuador. Banos is a beautiful town in the middle of Ecuador. It’s a mountainous region with a cool climate. The town is surrounded by massive waterfalls and you can take several types of tours on the Waterfall route to see them. It’s also known for extreme sports such a swing bridge jumping, Quad, motor and mountain biking as well as rafting. There are also numerous spas and places to enjoy the hot springs from the active volcano on the outskirts of the city. At times you can actually hear the volcano erupting.
I ended up getting off the bus and tagging along with six Chilean university students, all 19 year old boys. They were fun to hang out with and bearable but later on they were joined by 7 other friends. Tracy with 13 good looking Chileans all to herself, at first I thought I was in heaven. I was completely wrong. Nineteen year old boys are a lot different than nineteen year old girls, they literally are boys. I went quad biking with them and watch as the boys played with their toys, spinning in the dirt and trying to pull tricks, they were being completely destructive. The last straw was when the 13 of them lined up on the highway and pulled their bare asses out to the oncoming traffic.
I had enough so decided to ditch them and go on a Routa de las Cascadas tour on my own. I rode on the Chiva (a funny looking truck more so a famous Colombian mode of transportation) with a really nice Danish couple and their baby. The tour was nice and picturesque passing the beautiful cascading waterfalls. We arrived at a bridge over the river where you could pay to jump off the 60 meter high bridge to the rock laden valley below attached to a swing rope. I am not a fan of heights at all but I love adrenaline so I was very tempted. No one else was going to do it so I didn’t pipe up that was until an Argentinean in the back of the Chiva decided to go for it. Then the Danish father got the nerve. I had never done this before and would have never in Canada but I was in Ecuador so I thought, “when in Rome!” I decided to jump strapped to the guide. I figured if I die then he will die with me. As well I knew I wouldn’t have been able to make that first step off the bridge. It took forever for me to let go of the bridge I was shaking like crazy. Eventually I let go and he pushed off, I screamed my lungs out. It was scary as hell but amazing.
As the initial jump progressed into gentle swings back and forth, this young Ecuadorian guy looked at me and told me I was beautiful. He then asked where I was from and continued the ridiculous comments and pick up lines. I couldn’t believe it. I was attached to a rope and him swinging off a 60 meter high bridge and I had to listen to this. There was no escape. This can’t be happening, here of all
places! They never do miss an opportunity do they? At least I didn’t have to hear psssst psssst, but I did feel like telling him to psssst off!