Baños, Ecuador 🇪🇨 

I woke up with a bit of a funny tummy, and it is raining. I am thinking the bike ride is going to be a wash out, but we agree to read for an hour or so to see if it clears up. There is a great spot at the hostel with two hammocks that we can laze in. It is Justin’s last day so I am hoping it isn’t a write off.

By 11am it had cleared up enough for us to grab the bikes and set off, I am pretty sluggish but this route is perfect as the 16km is mostly downhill. It is called the Waterfalls route as it tracks a river with three waterfalls. We pass Cascada Agoyan, then Cascada Manto de la Novia and both feature zip lines or suchlike with multiple companies, it is fun to watch the chiva tours or party buses as I would call them moving on the adventure tour.

The ride is mainly on road unless there is a cycle route around one of the tunnels. Our last stop is Cascada Pailón del Diablo or Devil’s cauldron, this waterfall is best viewed by hiking down to see it. It is immensely powerful and it’s always fun to get close enough for a thunderous spray. The hike back up isn’t nice but once at the top we can load our bikes and ourselves into a truck for a bumpy lift back to town.

We drop the bikes back and stroll to a cafe.  I manage a camomile tea whilst Justin wolfs down a corn muffin topped with cheese and a coffee.  A restful afternoon and I am feeling much better as we head out for dinner. I can’t believe this is Justin’s last night before he starts the trip home. We order red wine to toast a great trip and I play it safe with chicken and rice. Unfortunately my stomach reminds me it is sick about half way in, which puts a dampener on our celebrations.