13th - 14th September 2008: After a long day of travelling from Banos (but luckily no hangovers, we must have danced all the alcohol out of our systems) we arrive in the colonial city of Cuenca, the third largest city in Ecuador. Our hotel room is huge and we have a balcony with views over the city. We´re all tired so grab a quick meal before bed.

Naledi and I spend the day exploring the colonial centre of Cuenca - it´s sunday so there are lots of street markets including a huge flower market in one of the squares. There are alot of churches so we visit a few before heading off to the Panama hat museum, where we of course try on all variety of hats before deciding to purchase a couple of genuine panama hats for ourselves. Apparently the hats are so called because they were worn by workers building the panama canal, but they originated in Ecuador and one of the best places to buy one is here in Cuenca. After much deliberation I settle on a natural coloured hat with a brown swirly pattern, and the staff are very patient and accomodate all my requests for a smaller brim, a brown trim around the edge etc., until I am the proud owner of my very own bespoke panama hat! Naledi´s hat is yet to be moulded into the panama shape so once she´s chosen how she wants it finished we relax on their terrace to wait until it´s ready. In the evening we all relax in our huge room with drinks and snacks, we have a bit of a dance around our room but get old off for making too much noise!