The spas in Baños were lovely. We got chatting to a local who explained that we should be spending 5 mins in the hot water and two minutes in the cold baths. This was a bit of a shock to the system as the hot water was hotter than bath water which was heated from the volcano called Tungurahua next to the town, then after the hot spa came the freezing cold baths which had water which had run straight off the mountains! The lady who was teaching us the traditional way of ecuadorian bathing laughed a lot as our faces went bright red with shock and we were holding back little yelps when immersing ourselves in the cold/freezing water pools and showers! Still refreshing as it was, we took to ending the evening sat upstairs in the open air baths, a slightly more comfortable warmth and they had beautiful views of the waterfalls running down the mountains. All we needed was a glass of champagne in our hands and it would have been perfect! The next day we set out to go to Cuenca which was an all day drive which was made even longer as Cindy broke down again. We stopped for lunch for an hour as the crew worked on her, it then became a 5 hour long lunch. At 6 o'clock we then realised they had to get another part for the truck and so we all had to pile on to public transport to get to Cuenca. Luckily the Cuenca bus passed the road we were on, but the bumpy, dark ride of 4.5 hours was very very long. Arriving in Cuenca at 11o'clock pm we were knackered. Cindy and the crew were reunited with us the next day after a peaceful day wandering around the city of Cuenca and she is now better again. The next day we moved on to cross the border between Ecuador and Peru. I'd heard horrendous stories of how hard this would be, and of how this is one of the most corrupt borders which is really hard to cross. The police had been known to ask to empty the entire contents of the truck including peoples bags right down to inspecting their dirty laundry before they let trucks pass! For us it was really simplem no queues getting out passports stamped, and we went right on through which was a relief. In to Peru! We then moved on to a beach town called Punta Sal where were were camping on the sand. It was an interesting experience putting tents up in the dark, especially as the pegs didn't go in amazingly well in the sand. Well, I should rephrase that, they went in well, but they also came out well. I had dreams that night of the tent floating off in to the water and us waking up the other side of the beach. All was ok though. Camping was cool, weather was lovely and warm, water was a wonderful temperature for swimming and enjoyed the afternoon on beach. We had a beach BBQ in the evening before getting up at 5.30 thismorning to start our drive today. Scenery was a bit repetative to say the least as it's all desert along the Pan American Highway, basic houses scattered along the roadside and not much inbetween. Finally after a long drive we've just arrived at Huanchaca which again is on the beach. This time no camping involved and we've gone for a 3 star hotel complete with swimming pool and lovely rooms, which is only a stones throw from the beach.... It's a hard life! Think that's about it for my update, Besos Tilly x