We arrived in Banos earlier then expected. After a short break we headed out to the GeoTours agency to book our activities.

I decided on white water rafting (2nd time this trip after doing it in Pucon, Chile) and hiring an ATV for a guided tour to a volcano lookout.  Total cost $55 USD!

Had a quick look round town after and got myself a new memory card and power adaptor (as Ecuador uses 2 flat prongs). 

Only a few days previous the volcano had been active covering the town in ash, so the guy serving me looked quite odd and was weaing a dust mask! The ATMs also had plastic sheets covering the front of them and you could see the black dust all around.

That night we ate & had drinks at the hotel ... I was STILL trying to recover from my cold.

The next morning we were picked up at 9am for white water rafting and taken to a river about 45 minutes away.

The river was high and moving fast. An overcast day and cold but only sleeveless wetsuits were given to us!  Fortunately the adrenalin and paddling kept us warm though, so no problem!

Our guide was Jesus from Melbourne!  Never got a chance to ask what he was doing there but was definitely an local Ecuadorian with a thick acent.

Rapids were class 3 bordering on class 4 - kinda tame but still had us screaming in parts!  No drops like Pucon but rapids that had us rocking and nearly tipping ... There was also a constant fireworks sounding noise that we found out was the rocks moving along the floor of the river!

We all survived unscathed bar one of the guys who accidentally received an oar in the face and a cut nose during our last high five with the oars, when one girl got a bit over enthusiastic!

After the rafting we were taken for lunch at a nearby town. One group of Portugese guys from another boat didn't turn up til we were leaving - we later found out their guide & driver took them to a strip club, they say against there will!

That afternoon the ATV riding was cancelled due to the rain, so took the opportunity to burn my memory cards onto CD ready to send home and do some more research on Costa Rica.  

That night we went for dinner near the hotel and as my cold was still bad skipped the one drink all were saying they were going for afterwards ... They ended up having a huge one so felt like I missed out but guess I'm not going to get better if I keep trying to do everything!

The next morning I went to the hot springs by myself.  As soon as I got there the locals at the pool approached me asking me lots of questions in Spanish ... Their ages ranged from say late 40s to probably 70s and were all checking me out, flirting and laughing!

I did my best to understand them and chat with them ... Leaning in to hear clearly what they were saying, one said he wanted to kiss me so moved away very quickly and threw in a few good humoured gestures to ensure they understood I wasnt interested!

Fortunately that fella had to head off not long after and the oldest fella coaxed me into heading off to the hottest pool with him... It all felt a bit awkward as i was the only younger girl there and only westerner so all eyes on me!  

The old fella also showed me the open air showers beside the pool that  that are fed directly from the waterfall behind the springs, very cold but perfect to cool off in after bathing in the hottest pool.

I went after him as there was two but when he finishes he decided to stop beside me and stare me up & down giving me compliments in Spanish! So embarrassing, very wrong but had to laugh! It seems they never get too old to dish out the machismo way in Latin America! 

I managed to escape the baths and headed off to my massage appointment just down the street.  The massage was fantastic - dearer then Cusco at $21 USD but still damn cheap by our standards.

Went quad biking later in the afternoon (I know, why relax first then adventure?) with a few of the others from our group to the volcano lookout. It also served as the volcano observation point with a man and his family living there. The man showed us some amazing photos from the 1999 eruption and our guides translated for us the info he shared.

After there we stopped for coffee at a cafe overlooking the Banos town, and then home before it got too dark.  Didn't realise I could have got the trail bike and quad was fun but gutless so wish I'd got that and also need the practice riding!

That night we had dinner at the hotel. The girl who lost her passport arrived - she was able to get her temporary passport from the Australian consulate in Lima in 24 hours.

After dinner we boarded a converted truck to take us to some lookouts to see the volcano at night. Apparently you can see lava glowing but due to the clouds we only went to another lookout to see the town then back. I was wondering though if it was all a rort and there is never anything to see?  As usual they didn't have change for mine and another girls $5 (cost was $2), then 'forgot' to give us change when we asked later & the drivers told us the owner had gone home already & we'd have to go find him in town for a refund the next day.  The other girl awaiting the refund spoke good spanish so spent about 15 minutes arguing with the drivers about it before they finally ave us money ... It's the principle even if only for $3 each!

I was keen to head out for a drink but everyone was hungover from the previous night!

I ended up having a restless night with Insomnia, (I'm guessing from the over the counter pseudoephedrine!) and sleeping for only 2.5 hours and waking up to find I'd been sleep talking and yelling out to my room mate "Hey guys! Don't leave me!", and her asking if all was ok!

I'd been dreaming we'd gone to the Amazon and they'd forgotten me upstairs in a tree house!  Pretty funny and of course they ribbed me the next day for it!

The next morning was our 2 buses to get to the Amazon.  We also said goodbye to another couple so our group is now 12 total.