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26th June 2013 - early breakfast and then off to start my canyoning adventure. Meet at the tour companies office and got fitted for the wetsuit, Wetsuit jacket, shoes and helmet. There are 3 other people joining me and we have two guides with us which is a great ratio. Drove out to Rio Blanco about 15 minutes out of Banos. There we changed into the westsuits, had out harness fitted and then went through all the safety and technique. Having the two guides and then all the Pre explanations that they did helped to make me feel really safe. We had to climb, it more of a scramble uphill to the the top of the canyon. It was a tiny little path and often was a stream that we followed for 15 minutes before stopping for a break and admire the scenery before the final 10 minutes uphill.
Once at the top it was right into we were connected to the ropes and started to proprelle down the face of small waterfall, maybe 20 m down and then you climb across the rocks and slide down another waterfall for a few meter. Then there was a larger powerful waterfall that we faced. It was over 30 meter and narrow so the water was moving with a lot of force. Managed to get down but with water crashing over you trying to feel somewere to put our feet and then try and hold the rope to slowly relsear your way down while water is pouring over your face was a challenge. The next fall they set up a quick rope zip line which was a step drop at a crazy vertical angle. Again you clip yourself on the ropes and then go over the edge backwards and after 3 step you jump away from the wall and glide down the ropes to the base. After the zip line yesterday knew rough what to expect but the steep descent and backwards was a different feeling. Slide down another fall. The water is really cold and by the end my feet were numb which made the last couple waterfalls extra difficult to go down as you have to use your feet for so much of your stability of the rock faces. It was close to 3 hours by the time we were all at the bottom of the canyon. Very cold and tired with sore knees and a few bruises and knocks but overall excitement and proud of our efforts. Walked the ten minutes along to the small shack that we had used for changing back into clothes and then headed into town. Late Lunch at a small cafe around for the tour office was included so enjoyed that with the others before heading back to the hostel for a hot shower.
Felt really good to have some warm dry clothes and then headed back to office with my uSb to get the photos the guides had taken during the day.
Spent some time loading and doing photo management and resting at the hostel. Headed into town for a shop and enjoyed some pancakes at a cafe suggested to me by others at the hostel. Wasn't as good as they seemed to be describing but the Ecuador chocolate bars they had for sale were delicious. Is nice to have some good chocolate finally in south America. So far have only found crappy chocolate and with some much production of cocoa was starting to get disappointed. Back to the hostel via a couple of shops include buying snacks for the bus tomorrow. The hostel lost power for a bit so sat around in the common room with candles and some of the other guests while we waited for dinner to be ready. There are over a dozen people at the hostel now so enjoyed our spaghetti dinner.
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