So, today is our last full day in Ecuador. Tomorrow we cross the border into Peru and have our first night of camping on the beach. Hopefully no rain. We left Banos yesterday morning after a relaxing night prior in the lovely hot springs. We stopped mid afternoon at the Ingapirca ruins, which are the most important Inca ruins in Ecuador. They weren't very big but was a good introduction to the many more sites we are going to see. When they did their stonework, they didn't need to use mortar or anything, they polished the stones so they fit perfectly.

We arrived in Cuenca about 5.30pm and the town was like a ghost town. Everything was shut. We went for a walk and managed to find an open restaurant and had one of the best meals yet. Afterwards 4 of us girls headed back to the hotel and had a bit of a girls night doing our nails in front of the TV.

Today we went to the Panama Hat museum to see how they make these hats. Most people assume they come from Panama but they are actually from Ecuador. They are called Panama hats because they were shipped thru the Panama canal. I had no intention of buying one, but as always my intentions failed. I bought the hat I'm wearing in the picture for the grand sum of $30. They showed us the different quality of hats and the prices can range from $12 - $500. They are all hand made. We spent the rest of the day wandering around the city, shopping and trying to change my crappy US dollar notes for good ones as the rest of South America are fussy with notes and won't accept them if they have the smallest of tears in them.