Baños

Eager to experience some of the promised adventure, we hired mountain bikes and were off searching for some huge waterfalls. Along the way, we bumped into three Latino men also on a quest to find the falls – Julio (Colombian), Juanito (Ecuadorian) and Ariel (Argentinian). Finally, we found the monster and marveled at is glory, before clambering behind it for a close up and a quick wash.

 

Look ma, no hands!

Nice view Baños

Caving

Waterfall crew

 

Behind the waterfall

In front of the waterfall

Afterwards, we cycled for a bit more but soon tired and decided four hours was enough for our fragile bottoms. We hitched a lift back, leaving the boys to continue on their arduous quest. After a nice hot shower and a dinner of pasta slop, we found ourselves at the Stray Dog, filling our bellies with draught ale. After a solid two hours of waiting and worrying that we had been stood up, Julio, Juanito and Ariel made their appearance, looking like changed men. The bike ride nearly killed them. A few more bevvies later, we were ready to get our groove on at The Leprechaun. We soon realised how truly awful we are at salsa, but this didn’t stop us giving it a go.

In search of some more thrills, we decided to accompany the boys canyonying, AKA absailing down waterfalls. It turned out that canyoning requires slightly more talent than we first anticipated and Kat-the-klutz found this out the hard way, as she slipped and fell half way down. Unable to right herself due to the torrent of water cascasding down on her, she cautiously lowered herself to rejoin the group. Battered but not broken. Five waterfalls later, we felt like pros until we saw the guide coming front-first down a waterfall like something out of Mission Impossible, putting us back in our place. 

Canyon crew

Talented canyoner

Not-so-talented canyoner

Easy does it

Plop

Another night in the Stray Dog resulted in a plan forming for us to join Juan and Julio on their trip to the jungle!