As you would expect from a town called "Baños" there was a lot of water around, which meant there was a lot of fun to be had, as well as little relaxation in the thermal pools. I arrived in Baños after spending a few days in Quito after my amazing Galapagos experience, and I met up with Jacky who I had met on my boat so that we could have a few days of fun together before she started her journey home.

The beginning of our stay was pretty relaxed as we hit the hot springs conveniently located next to a beautiful waterfall, and went for hot stone full body massages. Once that was done, the action could begin and we set about finding a reputable and reasonably-priced agency to do some rafting and canyoning. We were also going to hire a buggy and take it up the road to Puyo and visit various waterfalls and other touristy bits and pieces, but then it started raining and we decided that a death trap in the rain would probably be the end of us.

Our rafting trip was in the morning and we had a really good guide, and we even had a safety kayaker, helmets, life vests and shoes... the first signs of health and safety I've seen in a long time. This was the best rafting that I've done over here, probably because it was the highest grade! In the middle of our rafting experience we also stopped off in an adjacent pool into which we plummeted for a swim around, waterfall massage and floating down in a chain. The whole time we were told to keep our helmets and life vests on, which together with our full wetsuits and excited temperaments made us look like we had just arrived on the special bus, much to the entertainment of the locals going for a paddle in their swimsuits!

In the afternoon we went canyoning, which over here seems to just equate to abseiling down waterfalls rather than having any cave action/variety. Once again we were decked out in an array of safety equipment, and although I didn't think it was possible we looked even more sexy than we had done in the morning. I immediately did not like the guide that we had, I don't even know what his name was as I don't think he introduced himself at all. His English was terrible and if I actually wanted to understand what he was saying I asked him to tell me in Spanish as he made a lot more sense. My clumsy side was in full force during this activity as I managed to slip down the rocks on the practice run that was alongside a waterfall, and then did pretty much the same thing with the full force of a waterfall crashing over my head - I was very glad for the helmet at this point! My left hand, which was wrapped around my rope got stuck in a little crevice in the rocks and I could not get it out. There was no way I could get back onto my feet because of the pressure of the water, and as I was stuck I couldn't get down! The guide wanted me to let go of my rope so that I could be lowered down by his safety rope, but as it was stuck along with my hand inside the rocks there wasn't a whole lot I could do, plus I don't think I would voluntarily leave my life in his hands as I did not trust him one iota! Fortunately the water didn't knock me unconscious and I eventually managed to work my way out.

The next waterfall was one where the moron guide lowered us down forwards like a slide in the most jerky fashion imagineable. This probably would've been a lot more enjoyable had my left arm - the one I broke a couple of years ago, and then clattered at Machu Picchu - not been in a lot of pain from the previous waterfall. The final waterfall was more of a free ascent abseil and was higher up... this was what I was really looking forward to. However, I had to give it a miss as I still could not grip with my left hand and my arm was aching like crazy - gutted. On the walk there the guide just berated me for not letting go of my rope straight away on the first waterfall so he could lower me down. I got really angry with him and tried to explain what had happened, but he was not interested in listening to a word I had to say, or seeing if I was ok. He is definitely not a people person, and definitely in the wrong job!

Other than the slightly disasterous "canyoning" experiene I had a great time in the gorgeously set Baños. Jacky managed to sample a bit of cuy (guinea pig) before leaving, and we had a fantastic pizza at a restaurant called Mama Fanny, which amused us rather more than it should have done. If I was into trekking/could be bothered with more walking, then this would be a great place to do it, but as it happens it is also a great place to get a massage and relax.