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Another early morning as I wanted to cycle the road to the waterfalls and still make it to Quito at a reasonable time.
By 8am I was getting the bikes from the shop, having had breakfast, checked out and paid my bill. Once we were equipped with our helmets, a map, tyre pump and lock we were on our way!
The plan was to cycle 18km to the village of Rio Verde, looking at the waterfalls on the way and finishing at the Pailon de Diablo waterfalls and then put our bikes in a truck and get a lift back to Baños.
We enjoyed the ride a lot! It was mainly downhill, with some small uphill sections. At times there were long dark tunnels but the majority of these had alternate paths around the outside for bikes to use. One problem was the combination of all the rain the day before plus the lack of mudguards on our bikes meant we got a perfect mud spray line up our backs!
We came to the first large waterfall, which was actually two waterfalls together - one with black grey volcanic water, the other white water. There was a cable car going from one bank to the other and also a zip line. Jaclyn splashed out and paid the $10 to do the zip line. I wasn't so sure so I just took photos for her!
We contined along the way, passing smaller waterfalls and taking photos. About 15 mins out of Rio Verde the cycle path that bypassed the tunnel was blocked and so we had no choice but to go through it. It wasn't too long but it was dark and very wet. We tried to stick as close to the right as we could but it was very muddy and there were constant showers of water from the roof. By the time we emerged on the other side we both had mud splattered all over our clothes and faces!
We made it to Rio Verde, found a place to park our bikes and started the downhill hike to the Pailon de Diablo waterfalls. We paid $1.50 to be allowed to walk up, alongside and behind the waterfall. It was spectacular but very wet. We were alongside it at first and to go higher and behind we had to crawl under a rock overhang and scramble our way up. Once at the top you could see the curtain of water gushing down just a metre in front of you - amazing. We scrambled back down and then crossed a suspension bridge to get a "bigger picture" view of the falls.
After ascending out of the canyon we found a truck that would take us back to Baños for $2 per person, but he wanted to wait for two more people so he had a total of four. We didn't see many other cyclists and as I wanted to have lunch before heading to Quito I offered to pay the extra $4 so we could leave straight away. Our bikes were put in the pickup and we climbed in and sat on wooden benches for the journey home.
Once the bikes were returned we went back to our favourite restaurant, Casa Hood, for a final Baños lunch.
I returned to the hostel, picked up my bag ad made my way to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Quito. Unfortunately when I got there is was quite chaotic and the next available bus wasn't for 1.5hrs. After a 3.5hr bus ride and crazy fast taxi journey I arrived at my hostal in Quito by 8pm. I'd read that heading out at night in this part of Quito wasn't overly safe (unless you take a taxi) so before leaving Baños I stocked up on some snacky things for dinner and decided to have a quiet one. Andrew was due to arrive in the middle of the night from Lima so I looked forward to a full day exploring with him tomorrow.
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