Ecuador Summer 2009: Canyoning in Banos

This had to be one of the best adventures yet. Claire, Rachel and I went canyoning, which is basically rapelling down waterfalls. However, getting to the cascades was probably the worst part. Keeping in mind that we had already spent 4 hours horseback riding this morning, our climb to the first waterfall was a little tiring. We walked, okay...climbed for 25 minutes. This was no easy task as it was very steep, hard to walk... and the best part was that we had these sweet, less than Converse shoes on. Who says you need fancy stuff to do this? For a good laugh, just take a look at us!!! OMG!

Sunshine and Ranger keepin' things light

Rachel & Claire...lookin' good in fancy wetsuits!

Climbing...the worst part

Claire, Angel, y yo

Stopped for a few pictures, really we just needed to catch our breath. Angel was our guide, our ONLY guide. He was awesome....and cute too! We were a little nervous at first. His directions were, of course, in Spanish and even Rachel and Claire could hardly understand him. When we're supposed to attach our own ropes, know where to go....well, yeah, it might be a good idea to make sure we understand him. Nonetheless, we go on.

It was amazing how he was able to work the ropes by himself...and get the three of us down safe and sound. First cascade...20 meters. Second was 25m, third was 30m and the last was 18m. By the time we got to the last one, it was pretty much dark. It was 6PM and the canopy of trees made it especially dark. Too bad I didn't have my camera. We could only take one (Rachel's) because Angel took the pictures. The funniest pictures would have been of us being pushed down the last cascade. We didn't know what the heck was up. Angel gave each of us a little pep talk, told us to think of all the bad in our lives and by the time we got down, we'd be "cleansed". What we didn't know was that we were going to be pushed down, in the dark, and into a pool. Good thing we had our diapers on! Holy (*#$*& ! It was getting cold by now. And if that wasn't enough...there was one more drop off and yet one more pool to plop into. We all made a big splash, had great fun and if we weren't so darn tired we would have spent the night dancing with our guide and his friend.