Banjos and Cuenca

Been a while since the last post, apologies. Starting from where I left off, we went out for an italian meal in Banjos, I felt I had recovered a bit and managed to keep down a couple of slices of pizza. Corry was on the cerveza - lucky sod. Didnt have much of an eventful night and I was a bit buggered so hit the sack while a few people chilled out on the roof of the motel with some cerveza and vino. Woke up feeling much better and declared myself fit. Me and Corry went and hired a 4 wheel, 2 seat offride buggy capable of about 70-80km an hour. Everyone else hired push bikes - muppets. We hit the main highway in the buggy, would never be allowed in NZ. Drove off back down the valley road towards the waterfalls. Stopped at one and took a pretty loose open-air teleferico (cable car) across a ravine for a pretty stunning view of a waterfall as well as the valley up to Banjos. Only $1 US dollar too! Set off again in the buggy and cruised down to the bottom of the valley. Corry was driving at this stage and decided it would be a good idea to turn around down someones driveway, got chased by their (rather rabid looking) dog - he got pretty close too. Anyway, we boosted off back onto the highway, was reasonably slow going back up the valley and we got passed by all manner of vehicles, some very dodgy manoeuvres taking place, including overtaking by big trucks on blind corners. On the way back we passed the others coming the other way on their bikes, massive battlers all of them. We had a bit of time up our sleeve so we decided to take a few side rides. Found a couple of good off road tracks, probably private roads but who gives a rats arse, we were leaving soon. One time we actually ended up on someones front door step which was taking the piss probably a bit too far. Some pretty interesting side streets in Banjos, interesting street art, buildings, and generally Ecuadorians mucking around not up to much. Can see why there is a bit of poverty as a lot of them stand around looking around most of the time. Drove around Banjos a bit and got lost, couldnt find the place to return the buggy so went back to the hostel and waited for them to come get us. They eventually did and after that we went white water rafting with a bunch of ppl from the group. Was pretty epic white water in some places, few dodgy moments but was also quite relaxing in between. Both of us were towards the front of the boat so got some good views of the rapids we ploughed through. Had a long van trip back to Banjos but our raft guide cranked up some tunes in the front which made it more bearable. Deserved a hot shower back at the hostel then went out for dinner, I had an ordinary Pad Thai but felt pretty good again so me and Corry and most of the tour group went out for a bit. Had a couple of beers then cruised home. Next day got up early and went hiking up to the volcano with Diego and a bunch of the girls from the group. Some stunning views of Banjos and then took a truck up a cobbled road to a spot where we had some awesome views of the Banjos volcano. The spot had a treehouse with a swing that swung out over the valley so took plenty of photos there. Really cool place. Walked all the way back down the hill to the hostel, some pretty epic yarns about which super power you would most rather have on the way. Then went canyoning with Corry and Aussie Tim from our group. Was awesome - basically you are abseiling down waterfalls, we did about four waterfalls which were 10-20m high then the last one was about 50m high. Some superb photos taken and was quite a buzz doing the last one. Rode in the back of the truck on the way back, deserved another hot shower then went out for a really good dinner of local cuisine right under the foot of the volcano at a nice restaurant. Everyone in a good mood so we all decided on having a massive night. Plenty of cerveza, rum, long island iced teas... Played fuzball and pool against the locals and some germans who were real good guys and met a kiwi girl who was travelling through south america on her way back home - really sweet girl. Diego our guide then took us across the road to a discoteca (dance club) and we showed the locals a few new moves, some pretty classic times there and a whole lot of ridiculous dance moves were pulled out of the bag, the robot featured strongly... Bit of a struggle getting up the next day and had a long bus ride to Cuenca to deal with. not a hugely eventful ride from memory and everyone was glad to arrive in Cuenca. Cuenca is Ecuadors third biggest city and I really loved it, had an old town feel to it with lots of original architecture, really beautiful. Tiny one way streets all around the city too, a really wonderful place. Got in quite late so grabbed a quick dinner then walked around the inner city for a while at night, felt very safe in Cuenca and really liked it as I say. Had a pretty sweet hostel too. Woke up the next day and it was my birthday. Diego bought me some vegemite for breakfast which was a nice taste of home. After breakfast we did a walking tour around the city. Went to a cathedral, UNESCO listed heritage site (I will come back to this place later) which was right next to the main square. Then to the flower market, roses for 20 cents and heaps of ppl selling other cheaps flowers which the girls and Corry all loved. Next we hit up a local fruit market and tried a lot of Ecuadorian fruits which were delicious. Following that we had a tour of the Panama hat factory which makes the authentic version of panama hats. I bought 4 hats with postage back home for 100 US, very cheap. Some really cool panama hats there, we then went to the museum and saw shrunken heads before heading to an Australian restaurant for lunch. After that we went up to 4000m above sea level to a beautiful national park at the base of the Andes. Reminded me a bit of the south island, some stunning scenery and even got up close with a few llamas. It was then time for dinner, went out to a really nice restaurant, lots of balloons and streamers for my birthday. I got a card signed by everyone and a birthday cake too. The real present was 6 sky rockets from Diego tho, bloody awesome (though not sure how legal). Went out to the main square to set them off, the first one flew into the UNESCO cathedral I mentioned earlier, about 3 storeys up into one of their outer chambers with no windows, and blew up with a massive bang, couldnt have aimed it better/worse if I´d tried. Was pretty loose but we sent off the other 5 anyway. Then went out for drinks, I got pretty plastered and didnt by a drink all night, all manner of tequila, iced tea, cerveza, cuba libre etc. Then hit up a club for a few hours, some massive dancing taking place, was an absolute blast, again intrepid tour group dominated dance floor and danced like absolute clowns. Very good times, so mint to spend my birthday overseas and in Cuenca especially, very good memories and plenty of classic photos for evidence. Drunken stumble home to bed and then a very early start for a bus ride to the border, will update with more soon on the border, Mancora, Trujillo/Huanchaco and Lima... gotta pack now as we´re leaving for Pisco today!