Pailon del Diablo - The Devil's Cauldron - in Baños, Ecuador
Whilst here at Spiral UK we focus on building the most beautiful, functional staircases for homes and businesses, it is always inspiring to see impressive feats of staircase engineering elsewhere – especially in bizarre or challenging locations.
This inspiration series will feature some of the most stunning, weird and wonderful staircases from around the world, the stories behind them, and the information you need to go and visit them (where possible).
Extreme Views
The Devil’s Cauldron, known locally as Pailon del Diablo, is a natural landmark and waterfall in Baños, Ecuador. It’s located near the village of Rio Verde which is approximately a two hour hike away via a dedicated trail path including a pedestrian bridge which passes in front of the falls.
Whilst the waterfall itself isn’t the biggest, at only 80 metres or 262 feet tall, it is exceptionally powerful due to the massive amounts of water that are compressed into a narrow channel before exploding over a ledge into the valley below.
The force of the water creates a churning bowl beneath the drop, where the water swirls around in a bowl before running out through a channel creating a second drop – it’s from this spectacle that the landmark gets its name.
The staircase was created to allow tourists to view it safely, and includes steep stairs as well as a crawl-through cavern taking walkers out onto a platform directly in the path of the waterfall’s spray.
It’s believed that the staircase was constructed in 1854, and whilst they are well constructed and very solid (being carved from the rock face) they are always wet and therefore can be very slippery – so caution is advised if you decide to pay a visit!
