After attempting to catch several buses that said they were going to Banos one eventually stopped and we headed south. By the time we arrived in Banos it was getting dark and was gloomy as I made my way to my hostel. The first night I was lucky and only had one other girl in the dorm - a young American who was volunteering at a school near Puyo.

I headed for dinner at Stray Dog which had been recommended by Bailey in Cotopaxi and had a good steak and chips - it had been a while. After this I booked to go rafting the next day and found two other people booking for the same trip so we talked for a while before I headed to bed.

The net day it was drizzling so I was gld to be rafting as I knew I would only get wetter! Along with the couple I met the night before there were also two Dutch girls, a German lad and an Argentinian lad. I was the only one who had been rafting before so was slightly less nervous. The river was only graded 3, 3+ and one 4 so less that the White Nile but it was flowing much quicker when we arrived.

The rapids were quite close together meaning the ride was full of action but definitely less terrifiying than some of the Nile - less paddling and in some ways more enjoyable for me. The other boat we were travelling with flipped at the firt rapid and we were determined to not do the same - and we succeeded.

By the end of the rafting we all had a great time and headed for our lunch before agreeing to meet in the evening for movie night at the hostel. In the end the movie turned out to be the latest episode of Game of Thrones so most of us just played/watched people playing pool instead.

The next morning it was sunny and as I didn't fancy the 18-60km bike ride along a main road to see the waterfalls I caught a local bus to the most impressive one - Pailon del Diablo. It was indeed impressive with plenty of water rushing out of a crack in the rocks into the valley below. The viewing balaconies allowed you to get very wet and close to the falls and made the long walk back up to the top of the valley bearable.

Back in town I went for lunch and ended up in the same cafe and the Dutch girls and a Danish girl I had met in both Secret Gardens. We agreed to met at 6 to go to the thermal baths together and I spent the afternoon doing admin and watching a film.

The thermal baths were not posh but at only $3 I didn't expect much. There were three pools - one freezing cold, one boiling hot and one just right - very much like the Three Bears porridge. We manged three rounds of cold, very hot, cold, just right before heading back to the hostel for our free supper and packing for our journeys the next day.