The jaunt from Quito to here was hard to say the least. We decided to save ourselves some Peso and hop on the public transport. On this occasion MASSIVE MISTAKE. OK we made it there bit it was killer. On our first train of the three part journey it became so crowded we were wedged and pushed all over the place, bearing in mind we were with lugging our bags with us. Separating us both from one end of the carriage to the other with nothing but blank stares and pushing from the locals, it wasn't pleasant. Paul eventually becomes pushed off the train with me still on it I had to barge my way through demanding to get off. Exiting the train at the wrong stop we pulled ourselves together and waited for a quiet train to get us to the next bus station. Luckily we only waited minutes. We had another three hour bus journey and a taxi till we make it to the coast.

We were told by others we'd met that we would love Banos from the off and they weren't wrong.

It is known as the "Gateway to the Amazon" as it the last big city still located in the mountains before reaching the jungle and other towns that are located in the Amazon river basin.

Banos is full of activities surrounding the small major tourist town. For reasonable prices you can mountain climb, adventure track, jungle jaunt, glide with the canopies, bike hire, as much hiking as you can handle and much more, there is so many amazing things to do in the surrounding areas you cannot get bored here. The town itself is small, packed with restaurants, souvenir shops, eating halls (with more guinea pig), there is even a massive water fall and hot springs pool seconds from the centre.

We found our hostel 'Erupcion' right in the town centre, we couldn't have wished for a better place. A hostel that's joint on to a small restaurant with terrace looking out over the centre of the town, perfect for a hot chocolate and a bit of people watching. This is the home of Google the hostel dog, every guest fell in love with this little pooch, always there to greet you for a bum scratch when you walk in from your days adventure. A slow moving, miserable looking dog but you can't help but love him.

Our room over-looked the main street of the town which was really noisy with the sound of hourly trumpets and parades. Banos is a very active town in so many ways. Musicians, pavement chalk artists, lots of yummy sweet vendors and this is all during the day at night there is so much more. You can party here or just stroll around in awe of such a great place.