Day 74: Cuenca is a nice colonial city and we started our time in Cuenca by walking through the city, both the old town and the new town. The city is populated with ornate churches and cathedrals. Our first stop was to the best ice cream shop in the world! There was every type of flavoured ice cream for sale including guinea pig ice cream, pisco sour, pinacolada, sangria, beer and the Ecuadorian moonshine ice cream. Was amazing!! We then stopped off at the Panama hat factory where all the panama hats of south America are made and we made some purchases! Our next stop was a local artisan craft market where more hats and local crafts were purchased before going to a local milliner for more hats! This milliner lost his voice at 12 due to cancer but is the best milliner in the country and hand-makes fantastic hats. Duv of course couldn't resist! We made our way back through the old town stopping at both the old and new cathedral, both of which were very impressive. We went to a local restaurant before heading the wunderbar for a few cocktails. Day 75: Nine hour bus ride to Banos. Had a lovely meal in a Mexican restaurant that night while planning our new years eve antics. Day 76: New Years Eve. Up early to go shopping with Mark and Marcello for that nights festivities. There are loads of traditions here for New Years which we partook in! One of them is wearing yellow underwear on NYE to bring good luck in love for the following year. I purchased some yellow undies especially for the occasion! Another is taking your suitcase and running around the block with it on NYE - this will help bring lots of safe and fun travel for the following year. Filling your pockets with money on NYE will help you have enough money for the coming year. Another is eating 12 grapes coming up to 12 o clock (1 for each month of the year) will bring you good luck for the coming year. However the most fun one is burning an effigy on NYE. You can buy ready stuffed bodies and then you buy a face mask for this dummy. There were hundreds of different face masks, men, women, different coloured hair, with glasses, moustaches etc. Some people buy masks that resemble people they dislike so they can burn that person!!! The idea is that you pin a list of all the bad things of the previous year on the effigy and burn them away letting go of all the badness. It represents a fresh start for 2012. Our shopping spree consisted of grapes for everyone, moonshine, an effigy with a scary skull head and masks. Was mucho fun!! We also purchased fudge which was made in Banos. The streets were lined with people making fudge and selling sugar cane and its by-products (including moonshine). Later that day we went in search of the famous Banos hot baths. Unfortunately we weren't the only ones with this idea and the baths were packed but I went to the spa instead so all good!! We then took a trip up to the local active volcano where we watched the sun setting on 2011. No lava unfortunately but there were fantastic views of both the country side, the volcano and the city. New Years Eve dinner was in a Mediterranean restaurant beside the hotel and was lovely. Then on to the party! The 10 of us and our effigy took to the streets which was filled with other fantastic effigys and people ready to party. The first part of the night was spent on the main street, with a band playing at the top of the square creating a fantastic atmosphere.There was a competition for the best effigy and lots of karaoke stands on the main street as well as everyone drinking dancing and partying on the streets. There were lots of fireworks and fire crackers and sparklers. At 12 o clock there was a count down to the year and then the bonfires began. Everyone was burning their effigys and the streets were filled with burning bonfires. We had our grapes and made our wishes for the following year. So much fun. Then onto the Leprechaun bar for drinks into the very early hours. Was the best new years of my life. Happy New Year everyone! Day 77: Early morning bus ride to the jungle. The early morning part wasn't fun especially after the antics the night before!!. The jungle was the highlight of my trip so far. We arrived in Tena, the nearest town and Delphine (our Dad) and Edison (our brother) met us at the bus station where we drove an hour into the jungle to their home. Their house was where G Adventures started over 20 years ago when Delphine took his first group of tourists into his home. The family lived in the main house while we had separate wood huts and mosquito nets over our beds. Light was provided by candle light and was very rosemantic! Lunch was ready when we arrived, fab soup and then fish for mains. In the afternoon Edison brought us for a walk in the jungle to a spectacular view point with views of the Amazon jungle and the river. We got our first jungle lessons, learning all about the trees, plants and animals that live in the jungle including ants that nest in branches of trees, different edible berries, plants that can be used as jewellery and special mud which we used as a face mask. My skin never felt so sort after this treatment!! Dinner with the family before we met them all individually. Stella the mom is a teacher in the local school. Narissa is an 18 year old beautiful girl adopted by the family as her family were too poor to keep her. She is studying to be an electrician. Maria, 23 was studying in Tena to be an accountant. Another sister was studying to be a dentist in Quito. The eldest daughter had four kids and cooked for us all in the home. Her youngest son Jose Luis was the most beautiful kid I have ever come across, playing dancing and generally being mischievous!! Delphine, is the local Shaman in their jungle community as well as taking care of us and being our tour guide for the few days we were there. Delphine and Stella had an arranged marriage and first met each other in Tena with only a picture of each other! It all worked out well for them. Day 78: Pancakes for breakfast before starting our canyoning adventure through the jungle. Delphine painted various symbols on us and gave us head gear to protect us for our trip through the jungle. My symbol represented a female spirit in the jungle who was all powerful. I thought it was most appropriate! We trekked, abseiled, repelled, climbed, fell through the jungle for the next four hours visiting and climbing up and down four different waterfalls. Was amazing . After lunch and a siesta, Delphine brought us for a walk into the jungle where he shared all the secrets of the jungle with us. Was magical. As a shaman he knew all the plants in the jungle and their medicinal, poison or hallucinogenic properties. We saw plants that were used to cure prostate and breast cancer, plants used to cure diabetes, plants used to increase fertility, plants that could be used as contraceptives, plants to regulate a woman's menstrual cycle, plants which could be broken down and used as string, plants use as jungle herbs such as garlic and lemongrass, as well as plants which can be used to treat allergies, disinfectants and plants used as hallucinogens - the famous jungle juice. We then went panning for gold. Was amazing. After panning though a lot of rocks we found a few grams of gold. Was very cool! Delphine also showed us how to climb trees jungle style. Although we all tried none of us succeeded! After dinner the family put on a show for us to explain some of the jungle traditions to us. The first was a shaman ritual where the shaman showed us how he would cleanse and heal a sick person. Eveline volunteered as the patient. He used jungle leaves which he shook over Eveline while meditating and then he "swept" away the badness with the leaves. He used special jungle perfume which he sprayed over the leaves and over Eveline to cleanse her. The second show was a marriage ceremony. As a shaman, Delphine also conducted the marriage ceremonies in the community. I was the bride and Duv was the groom. We danced and sang and the owner of the house played music. Traditionally the wedding party would go on for three to four days. The women of the house would usually make chica (local jungle beer) and enough food to feed everyone for a few days. Local music would be played. The men and women sit on separate sides of the room and the men ask the women to dance. When the women dance they let their hair down and try and hit the men with their long hair. The men try and dodge the hair!! Was very interesting. A few beers, a local cigar for Duv and a sing song before bed Day 79: Due to a massive rain, thunder and lightening storm the night before which carried on into the day our morning activities were postponed. Instead the family taught us to make bracelets and use the blow gun which they use to hunt animals. We then walked to the local school where Stella works and brought gifts to the school which consisted mostly of food. Stella is the only teacher in the school and there were only four students in the school, out of an average six or seven. Stella explained that the number of students were dropping as parents were keeping their children at home to help with the manual work. This obviously is to the detriment of the local community and education of the community. The kids were lovely and they sang us songs, did a dance for us and played football with us. The school was actually funded by G Adventures and it was good to see their profits being put to good use! After lunch we visited an orchid farm where we saw some of the most amazing flowers and plants as well as some cool parrots! We then visited the local pools in the river which was lovely, cool and scenic. Dinner with the family again before bed. Day 80: Up early for brekkie before presenting the family with a small token of our appreciation and getting pics before heading off the Quito for the last part of our tour. The jungle was amazing. The family were even better. The jungle was definitely a highlight of my trip. Todays bus problem was a landslide which meant we had to return to Banos by way of detour in order to get to Quito. The last group meal of the trip was to a Mongolian BBQ restaurant where we had all you can eat and all you can drink cocktails for $17. As you can imagine it turned into a messy night but a night to remember all the same. Was a great ending to my three months in South America. Day 82: Early morning trip to the equator, an hour outside Quito. I always imagined the equator to be a line drawn in the middle of a sandy desert. Maybe with a stone plaque or something marking the midpoint of the world. It wasn't. The equator is located in a suburb of Quito surrounded by residential and retail units. There is a museum and exhibition where a guide shows you some typical Ecuadorian cultural stuff and then you stand on the equator - a red line painted on the ground. Quito means "middle of the world" and that is exactly what this point is. We did some very cool tests to prove we were on the equator including a water test which showed no rotation going down the plughole at the equator, anticlockwise one meter north of the equator and clockwise one meter south of the equator. It's cool to say I visited the middle of the world though! Later we did a city tour around the old city in Quito. Some of the churches are amazing and we visited a few of these. The old city is very pretty with lots of cool squares and old colonial building. We purchased some organic coffee and chocolate made out of local coca beans from the amazon before the rain storm forced us indoors and back to our hotel. Quito was the end of my three month South American journey. It was amazing and I would recommend this trip to anyone. Highlights for me included Iguazu Falls, Patagonia, Bolivia (what an amazing beautiful country), my family homestay on Lake Titicaca, Machu Picchu and my Amazon Jungle Experience. Three months was not enough to explore everything. I feel a lifetime wouldn't be enough time. Every town/country (and bus ride!) was different and had so much to offer. The people are amazing. Their culture and traditions are so unique. I just hope that the indigenous communities and all natives keep their culture and traditions. It would be such a shame to loose such a rich and important part of their culture due to globalisation and "Americanism". Personally for me, group travel with G adventures was the perfect choice. I made friends for life, had fantastic knowledgeable guides and got to experience things I only ever dreamed of. Goodbye South America.