So in Guayaquil we stayed in this really nice hostel, "dreamkapture," with an amazing free breakfast everyday that you stay, big clean rooms and they organised our Galapagos tour for which we will be forever greatful for.

However . . . I believed that travelers had a code and this code was broken in this hostel. Not remotely the hostels fault but that of the other guests. Went out for dinner when we returned from Galapagos and I received way too much food, so took the chicken away and put it in the fridge. Dreams of a roast chicken sandwich for lunch were quickly lost as I looked in the fridge the following day to discover all that was left was a mere leg that had no meat on it. For all those travelers out there it is so not cool stealing other peoples food, no matter how skint you are that person is in the same boat!!! Alas, with no chicken sandwich I had to make do with a corn on the cob and a vinager tasting slice of cheese that a women sold me on the bus - hardly the same.

So we were on the bus heading to Baños and we thinking how lucky we were, knowing that there were limited "direct" buses there we had been surprised when the guy had sold us a ticket for a direct one for only $9. And even confirming that it was a direct bus with the driver we thought that we had scored. We had not. For those who can´t speak spanish, Baños in south america means "toilet" and is also a place. So when the driver was shouting "baños" we assumed that he was telling us there was a toilet stop, not that if we wanted the place we needed to get off, especially since we were definetly not in Baños (the place).

Our "direct" bus was so not direct, so be aware of this when getting your ticket, that they will just say this and make you stand in the freezing cold for 30 minutes until another bus, from a different company comes pick you up. This happened to us, luckily I had told the other bus driver that we had a direct ticket and he gave us the dollar each that it cost us for the other one into where we were going.

So after our slight detour en route we made it there and booked into "Plantas and Blancos" which is recommened in the lonely planet. In the edition I have it is quoted at $5.50 a person, we had to pay $7.50 so you may find other hostels cheaper if you look around. This place was ok, but nothing to write home about - except that I am. oh well.

The three of us had different ideas of what would be fun here as there are many things available. For the adventurous folks out there, there is canoing, horse riding, rock climbing, bridge jumping just to name a few. For the tamer folk there are hot baths, massages and pretty waterfalls.

Emma booked herself a 4 hour horse riding trip for $30, I got myself a local map and climbed a mountain and Mez did nothing. So my trip to the mountain consisted of an early start and breakfast and the Bellavista (or the cross) which took me about 30 minutes to get to. Then it all went a bit wrong. Following the map may have been the easier option, but who wants to do that. There had been a sign post for Tuntún, which is a small village far up in the mountain, which I had full intentions of visiting, but I chose to follow another sign for the same thing which was located closer to the cross. I felt that this was the better option since I wouldn´t have to double back on myself to reach the other path.

This 2km walk up there, although steep and very grown over was a nice walk, with wonderful views of the city below and since I was walking alone, my pace was perfect for me. This path took my past the local church and school in Tuntún but I never made it to the centre, although I followed hundreds of signposts for it. Eventually giving up on that idea, I decided I would head for my next stop which was on the right of the mountain, whilst the cross and the village had been on the left.

In the end I needed to ask for directions of an old women with a machette. I discovered the use for the this later on, whilst I was walking down a makeshift path, the machette would have been handy then. Before I found the path though, I came across two girls who were more than happy to led me the right way to the Virgin, bless them and all the flowers they kept picking and giving to me.

So as I walked down this "path" I was rudely stopped, by none other than a donkey. Probably starved of affection it pushed my into a barbed wire fence, luckily I walked away with only a bruised ego that I had been run of the path by it.

The little girls had told me that if I followed the path I would be at the virgin in about 30 minutes. Either the 8 year old wasn´t aware how slowly I walk, how far away the virgin really was, or isn´t yet fully aware of the concept of time. Anyway it took me an hour, but I made it there, and man is it a sight. A sight for sore eyes that is. It is UGLY!! Glad it hadn´t been much effort lol.

After the walk, which took over all about 4 hours we all regrouped and went on a Chiva. This is a opensided bus that takes you to the waterfalls. This isn´t the only option to visit them. You can cycle, take a dunebuggy thing, hire a jeep or the Chiva. We opted for this since it was the cheaper option that didn´t involve excerise.

Costing us $8 everything was supposed to be included. Once again this was not the case. To do the cable car we would have had to pay a further $1.50 which we chose not to do, and to enter the park to see the biggest waterfall we all paid $1. The other waterfalls on the way were a bit pants really, except we all got out of the chiva and walked under one that apparently, if my spanish is correct I will get married soon. So Javi, you have been told lol.

We went back to the company and we got a $2.50 refund for the extras, so not all was lost, and apparently there had just been a mix up, or so she said. I would not recommend this bus, unless you are a teenagers just wanting to go on a party bus and get drunk for a couple of hours. Despite this,and you do want to go, don´t bother going through a company. It would be cheaper if you just went straight to Calle Espejo and pay the driver directly.

So our time in Baños came to an end, and we have just got of the bus in Cuenca. Now that was a bus journey, but I´ll save that for the next blog.