We spent practically the whole day on the bus going to Baños, a town in the middle of Ecuador hemmed in by luxuriant green peaks, blessed with steaming thermal baths and adorned by a beautiful waterfall. Nearby was the volcano Tungurahua whose last major eruptions were in 2006 (when 7 people died) and 2008 when Baños was evacuated. Unfortunately, when we got there it was raining and the volcano was covered in cloud which lasted our entire visit.

Baños is an active town boasting of various sports to be enjoyed. We chose white water rafting. After convincing several people in our group, we managed to get a full boat of 6. The rapids were 3+ to 4+ with the option of continuing on to a full day which included two grade 5`s, the highest you could legally go down. The river was fast and white, just as it should be. Two of our group were nervous about falling out as they were not good swimmers, but the morning went well with no one getting a dunking though there were some good jolts and plenty of water splashing in to give us a good wetting. The scenery down the river was beautiful too with lush jungle overhangs and steep mountain sides.

By the end of the morning, Phil and Dawn, the two most nervous agreed to go and complete the course. First as we were not allowed to raft down it, we had to walk around a grade 6 waterfall over slippery rocks whilst the boat floated down (guided by rope). This was seriously the hardest part of the whole day and petrified me! I hate slippy rocks. With the boat safely over we were back in and ready to tackle 2 grade 5s where if you fell out on the first, there was no chance of getting you back in before the next one. With this in mind, we nervously set off.

We completed the first one no problem but on the second the boat nearly flipped and everyone was out of the boat including the guide. All that is except me! How I stayed in I will never know, but at least it meant I could help haul the others back in. Everyone was a bit shocked, but the fact that no one was hurt boosted their confidence somewhat. We completed the rest of the course in high spirits. It was awesome and an amazing day out. I had finally done a grade 5 rapid. Yes!

After we got back 4 of us hired some buggies to zoom around in. The boys the night before had hired ATVs and were raving about it so I agreed to go. Unfortunately, Phil and I lost the other two before we reached the course, and carried on past without realising it. We headed down the same road which had taken us to the white water course, running along the edge of the mountain. It afforded beautiful views but not the same as driving over a course made to delight buggy drivers. Shame!

Baños was awesome fun. Definitely a highlight.