The day after the San Pedro we spent relaxing in Vilcabamba. As a happy side note, the restaurants had their table rights reinstated; they were now allowed to each have a total of two tables on the sidewalk, but as many chairs as their little hearts desired. It wasn't perfect, but it was a compromise that they were settling for. The next day we headed to the airport in Loja to catch our flight up to Quito. Internal flights were fairly inexpensive and we were feeling pretty done in by the long distance buses at this point, so with a little persuasion and another tranquilizer, onto the plane I went.

We were settled into our hotel in Quito by lunch time and were on a mission. We were running out of time and were determined to see as much of the city as we could in one day so we could get out in good conscience. We walked for hours, exploring and taking pictures. It was a surprisingly nice place to be, but by the end of the day we felt satisfied and ready to move on, so we woke up early yet again and headed to the bus station. We were heading south to a city called Banos to soak in the thermals and check out a little bit of the Amazon before heading home. It was supposedly a three hour trip and that was acceptable- hah, yeah right.

The journey took just over five and a half hours as we stopped at every corner and town trying to fill the empty seats, and then squish people into every inch of standing room, too. As I've mentioned before, this habit had become VERY annoying. We just wanted to get there! We took turns being angry and trying to calm each other down. Dair's temper would start to flare up, but when I realized that my cell phone was now missing, and he watched me literally kick the driver's assistant in frustration, he changed his tack and did what he could to keep me from exploding. This was no easy feat I might add.

By the time we got off the bus we were both cranky and snitty, but having now spent over six weeks basically living on top of each other, we knew exactly what do to; he stuffed me with chocolate as promptly as he could, and I in turn drowned him in beer- problem almost solved. That's when I decided that this moment was worthy of a photograph. Yup, you guessed it!! Not only had my cell phone disappeared, but apparently some time after that so did both of our cameras! Our bag was literally between Dair's feet for the entire journey, yet they somehow managed to crawl under the seat and slip things out without either of us noticing. Needless to say we were upset and had certainly learned a lesson. More chocolate, more beer and a crappy disposable camera- what else could we do?

While it's true that Banos is a beautiful place, we couldn't have felt more like walking dollar signs if we'd actually painted ourselves green. It was exhausting, and caused Dair to start speaking in this odd gobbledy-goop sort of language that had people scratching their heads. We booked a one day jungle trip through the city of Puyo. It was beautiful. We played with some monkeys and walked through some rivers. Dair ate some ants, and we swam in a waterfall. We took a canoe ride down the Pastaza River that required an awful lot of bailing on my part. We spent a lot of time being serenaded by six young Chilean girls who thought that singing cheesy pop songs was the best way to pass a van ride. It wasn't quite what I had dreamed about, but at least I'd gotten a taste of the jungle. That would have to be good enough for this trip; poor planning and a lack of yellow fever vaccinations had made any other decision unwise.

The next day we finally soaked in the thermal baths. It was wonderful, but all day I was hearing thunder and waiting for the rain to start. Aha, it turned out to not be thunder at all. Apparently the volcano was angry and erupting regularly. That explained the noise! So that night we took a little tour to watch it spit. Sadly there were a lot of clouds, but the odd moments that the skies cleared up, we had a fabulous view of fire exploding out of the mountain that towered over Banos. Fascinating and terrifying all at the same time, but a great spectacle to behold nonetheless.

I think I'll stop there to avoid yet another lengthy novel. I will say that there are only three more days left for me to talk about, and I think I'll draw it out into yet another posting. Now for a much deserved glass of wine. Later lovelies :)