Banos

Got a taxi from Cotopaxi to banos with 2 other couples.. Ozzie Fiona n Chris and English but moved to Oz Leah n Olly.
Banos has a good feeling about it. Reminded me a little of greek or spanish holiday resorts with all the bikes and quads parked up outside all the shops. Also everyone trying to sell you tours and stuff...

While seeing the sights of Banos on foot we come across people swinging off a bridge next thing you know Becs is up there and I'm filming it.....

Banos has many spa's and beauty places so obviously we had to sample the local back massages!! $15 dollars for a 30 min back and shoulders massage.. cant be bad!

Our day mountain biking... we joined our new friends on the road in hope to see the waterfalls banos is known for.

Most of the roads were downhill, with the occasional uphill struggle. we visited three amazing waterfalls, and saw some truely beautiful scenery.

for $1 dollar each some hippy man gave us a cable ride over the gorges, was just beauiful.
our final destination was the biggest and most powerful waterfalll i have ever seen (el diablo). on foot we walked over the man-made paths, over bridges, through tiny caves to reach the highest point. the water just crashing down on the rocks, - nothing would have survived its waves. we all got soaked taking photographs and then headed back for a rest before carryin on our trip.

As the sun began to shine a fantastic rainbow apeared over the waterfall, so beautiful.

our cycling was ended by once again more rain. Some random ecuadorian lady said she would give us and our 6 bikes a ride to ecuador for $12 dollars would never just accept a lift like that at home! -

That evening chris threw us a Rum party.....

before heading to an Argentinian restuarant for the largest amount of meat ever consumed by man. we had sausages, pork, ribs, chicken, beef as well as salad, potatoes 6 beers and a bottle of wine. so our idea not to consume alcohol over dinner to cut spending is not yet going to plan. having deciding that the bottle of rum prior to dinner was not enough the boys purchased another and things then got messy............. we said goodbye to our new friends as they were departing in the morning.

The next day Terry and I did some white water rafting -lots of fun.....

water very cold and wet. no sun - only terry could get sun burnt!!
check out the wet body suits and pin head helmets........

After water rafting we checked out the natural steam baths before catching the bus to Puerto Lopez for some beach action and whale watching....