It was time to leave the barren desert of Peru and head into the green jungle of Ecuador. The border crossing was very easy...stand in one queue, get stamped out then stand in another queue and get stamped into the next country! It took a little bit of time to get the truck checked and so we all munched on a burger at 10am. The things you do when travelling! Once into Ecuador we immediately noticed the change in scenery, it is green everywhere you look. We travelled for the day until we reached the town of Cuenca.
Cuenca is famous for being the home of the Panama hat factory. Panama hats are the style that people like Johnny Depp and James Bond wear and so we were all excited to go and see the factory. We were shown the different stages of the hats which are weaved from dried palm. Although the best bit was the showroom where we spent a while trying on all the different types and colours! The most expensive panama hat was around $2,000 and that one was behind glass so we couldn't touch it.
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| Hats in process |
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| A lady weaving a Panama hat |
After the factory we went to yet another arts market. It is going to be strange buying things in shops when we get home and not being able to haggle the price! The most interesting part of the market though was in the middle where there were a load od ladies performing healing rituals. A few of our friends decided to have a shot and so sat down not really knowing what was going to happen. The ladies would chant whilst they did the healing. It would start with them hitting the person with a bouquet of herbs and flowers, then rubbing an egg over them before spitting a clear liquid down their tops. It was really interesting to watch even though we didn't fully undertsand the reason behind it.
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| Rubbing her with an egg |
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| Very cute lady |
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| The last game was in the dark which added another challenge! |
After a pretty relaxing morning wandering round the factory and market it was time for some adrenaline so we headed off into the middle of nowehere for some paintballing. We were all worried about how hot we were going to get under the overalls so went in shorts and t-shirts. However unlike the UK there were no overalls...only face masks and padding to cover our chests and backs. So after dealing with the fact that it was really going to hurt whenever we got hit we entered the arena in teams ready to play. Having never been paintballing before and being a woose over the pain Sarah managed to avoid being hit for the first two games which meant she soon became a target for everyone...regardless of which team. The two of us were put in opposing teams to start with which was fine until Sarah managed to hit Katie square in the head, just above her face mask and them followed by hitting her in the neck. After that game someone needed to switch teams which Sarah quickly volunteered meaning Katie was never able to get revenge. It was quickly forgotten when our team were named victorious after obliterating the opponents.
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| Pequeno Paraiso |
Having travelled further north towards the jungle we stopped for a couple of days in a little place called Rio Verde. We weren't able to stay in the nearby town of Banos due to the active volcano situated in the centre. We camped at a hostel called little paradise which is exactly what it turned out to be. It was only our group in the whole place and so we were able to take it over.
Katie's birthday was on our second day in Rio Verde. To celebrate we went canyoning which involved us jumping down waterfalls, zip-lining through the jungle and abseiling. We were fully kited out in wetsuits, life jackets and harnesses and even practiced abseiling down a tree before heading to the river. Right at the start we had a 7m waterfall jump that took Katie a while to brave up to actually jump but eventually the whole group managed it and we carried on clambering our way over all the rocks. After a couple hours in the water we headed back to the hostel for hot soup (which was greatly appreciated) before we went to Ecuador's 3rd largest waterfall. At the waterfall we were able to climb behind the water which meant we got drenched and because it was Katie's birthday everyone made sure she was completely soaked! Perhaps the best thing about this place was the proximity to a wee cafe run by a lovely lady called Mercedes. She is well known in the area for her empanadas ie. fried stuffed pastries, and over the three days that we were there we made sure to try almost every flavour, whether sweet or savoury, between us. As a birthday treat we tried a chocolate and banana stuffed one which was totally worth the calories.
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| Joe, Mercedes and James |
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| Behind the waterfall |
After days of deliberating over a theme for Katie's birthday we finally settled on a casino night. We dressed as fancy as a bunch of travellers can and proceeded to gamble the night away with a mixture of dominoes and bottle tops as chips. While Katie became steadily more drunk due to some cruelly designed birthday challenges (involving bug eating and swimming in the freezing cold plunge pool), Sarah departed her poker wisdom to Sophie and as a team annihilated the competition.
The next day we ventured into Banos, most of us secretly hoping that the volcano would erupt and we would have to be evacuated. Unfortunately it didn't, but the majority of the group did face another form of terror- swinging on a rope off a 100m bridge. Both of us have enough brains in our heads to know a bad idea when we see one, so we happily played the roles of photographer/motivator. Later we had an exciting ride back to Rio Verde...in a school bus. We managed to find the bus stop in Banos and, with a little effort, understood that the bus was headed towards our home so we jumped on. Only once we were standing on the bud did we realise that we were surrounded by kids in their uniform. We made it back though, and enjoyed a yummy bbq that evening.
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| Birthday shot from a belly button... |
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| Birthday girl and Ivana |
It was time to leave the barren desert of Peru and head into the green jungle of Ecuador. The border crossing was very easy...stand in one queue, get stamped out then stand in another queue and get stamped into the next country! It took a little bit of time to get the truck checked and so we all munched on a burger at 10am. The things you do when travelling! Once into Ecuador we immediately noticed the change in scenery, it is green everywhere you look. We travelled for the day until we reached the town of Cuenca. 
After the factory we went to yet another arts market. It is going to be strange buying things in shops when we get home and not being able to haggle the price! The most interesting part of the market though was in the middle where there were a load od ladies performing healing rituals. A few of our friends decided to have a shot and so sat down not really knowing what was going to happen. The ladies would chant whilst they did the healing. It would start with them hitting the person with a bouquet of herbs and flowers, then rubbing an egg over them before spitting a clear liquid down their tops. It was really interesting to watch even though we didn't fully undertsand the reason behind it.
The next day we ventured into Banos, most of us secretly hoping that the volcano would erupt and we would have to be evacuated. Unfortunately it didn't, but the majority of the group did face another form of terror- swinging on a rope off a 100m bridge. Both of us have enough brains in our heads to know a bad idea when we see one, so we happily played the roles of photographer/motivator. Later we had an exciting ride back to Rio Verde...in a school bus. We managed to find the bus stop in Banos and, with a little effort, understood that the bus was headed towards our home so we jumped on. Only once we were standing on the bud did we realise that we were surrounded by kids in their uniform. We made it back though, and enjoyed a yummy bbq that evening. 
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