Volcanos and waterfalls

We left our lodge by canoe again, and drove up through the Andes by another route, passing many gorges, and stopping for photos in the valley of the waterfalls. We walked down steeply for 20 mins to look at one crashing down through a narrow gorge. There was a swing bridge over so we wobbled over the chasm and back. Then it was a hot, steep steep climb back to the bus.

2 minutes later the guide said "anyone for a cable car ride? Only if you are insured!" We stopped where I thought we would be taking a picture of lovely big waterfall on the other side of a deep gorge. Fabien said to go quickly with him - and 6 of us went for a ride in a small metal cage which zoomed on cables over to the other side 500 metres across high above the river and beside a waterfall. There are many such structures in these steep gorges where any other access across for locals wouldn't be possible, It was great fun, like being on a zip wire.

The next bit if excitement was on reaching Banos, where we'd been supposed to stay, but the volcano Tangurahua was erupting at regular intervals so FO advice was not to stay in the town. Unusually, the view of the volcano was clear, - it is often covered in cloud - so just as we stopped to photograph the steam billowing out, it suddenly erupted, throwing out a huge ash cloud., which is the other half of the blip. We had an hour to explore the town after being instructed to run to the bridge if there was a sudden major explosion.

Our alternative accommodation was in a beautiful hacienda high up in the hills near Patate, with a stunning, but safe, view of the volcano.

What a great day!