Day Thirty - Canyoning in Banos

This morning we got up for breakfast a bit earlier. We arrived at GeoTours where we we're doing our canyoning from just before 9am and got kitted out with all our stuff. Full body wetsuits, long sleeve wetsuit jacket, shoes and a helmet. For those who aren't aware, canyoning is essentially abseiling down high waterfalls.

We then got in a minibus with the rest of the group (about 12 of us in total) and drove with our guide to the waterfalls. Our guide was cool and funny and chatted us through some stuff on the bus, not sure if it settled my nerves or made them worse!!

Once at the start place, we had a safety talk where we practised all the manoeuvres we'd need for canyoning. Turns out, if you drop the rope, you will fall, so your life is kind of in your hands!!

We then had a ten minute walk up to the start of the trip, much steeper than anything we'd done before and a lot hotter too! Once at the top, our guide Thomas, got us all to sit under this gushing waterfall to 'acclimatise' ourselves to the water - damn it was cold!!

Brendan was the first to go down, it was only a baby one and it was awesome! I went next, trying to remember everything we'd learnt and not let go of my ropes! I was fine, I got to the bottom and I loved it!! We had another 5 to go! We had to bum shuffle along at some parts along slippery rocks and there was quite a bit of hanging around due to us being such a large group! On the second to last one, I was going first and it was a 24m high waterfall!! I started to go down and then Thomas held my ropes and told me to put my arms in the air!! This took a bit of persuasion on my end but I managed it, dangling 24m in the air above a huge raging waterfall!!

The last waterfall was a 2 person slide. Me and Brendan were clipped together and slide down a kamikaze type rock with little pools at the bottom of each drop. It was hilarious watching everyone come down, and also a little painful as we kept being jerked and dunked! At the bottom we all had a group photo, giggling at how gracefully everyone had come down the slide!

Back at the minibus, we changed and headed back to the town. In Banos, we had lunch included so went to this little cafe and had a hot chocolate and a ham and cheese sandwich which was very nice!

At the hostel, we showered and changed, and then I FaceTimed home and told them all about the canyoning! They were pleased I hadn't told them beforehand, not that there was really any risk! We had a snack of burritos in the hostel bar whilst checking out the photos that the canyoning tour had taken for us all.

We then went back to our room and started to watch The Revenant (which we rented weeks ago so had to watch before it ran out!). We got most of the way through before realising we had to go for dinner. Tonight it was risotto.

We bumped into a couple, Marie-Claire and Oliver that we had met in Montanita who were also staying at the same hostel, and had a couple of drinks with them. It was really nice to catch up with them both. We bailed early to go back to our room and watch the rest of the film - it's quite brutal!! We then had another early night ready for rafting in the morning!