Alpacas in the foreground of Chimborroza - Ecuador's highest peak at 20,700 feet (6,310 m

Banos is a fabulous town, we hired bikes for $4 a day and rode 40 km down a huge Andean valley past waterfalls. We stopped to take a $1 cable car high over the brown rapids to a spectacular waterfall and walked over a rickety footbridge back. Our ride ended where the valley opened out between Andean hills and a vast valley floor of braided streams and low lush green bush stretched into the misty distance. It really looked like how I imagined the headwaters of the Amazon would. We saw a bull fight that evening and the following day Mag, Nick and I discovered the hot baths and spent a morning plunging into chilly pools followed by steaming hot ones. The brief moments of relaxation were well deserved as we had also hiked 4 hours up to watch the active volcano, Tungurahua, sending tones of ash and smoke high above the cloud tops.

Still on the tourist trail we headed to Riobamba and rode on top of the infamous train to Alausi and down the Devils Nose. Scads of other tourists made the competition for a good position on the roof tough. The bun fight was well worth it - the landscape changes before you as the train clatters through farmland, valleys and along teetering cliff sides. The devils nose was so steep that it felt as though the train was flying past the mountain. We returned to Alausi, there having to face up to saying goodbye to Graeme, our #1 shipmate for the last three months. He caught various things to Argentina and then onto New Zealand. Nick, Mag and I doubled back to Pina Colada via Guyaquil to recoup for our next overland trip to Peru.