Another local bus two hours north across the equator to Otavalo - home of the most famous market in the whole of South America! Arrive after dark and checked into our strange little room more akin to a garden shed at the bottom of the garden before heading out for dinner. Settled into a cosy local joint for a shared meat feast platter and a bottle of vino. Up bright and early, we roamed the market for hours taking pictures and checking prices...before the shopp...

Hopped on a quick bus ride back south to check out the famous Mama Negra festival in a somewhat sad looking town. Despite our initial fears, the festival turned out to be a great party! Perched on the pavement with hardly any other gringos in sight, we watched one of the strangest parades we have ever seen! Highlights included men dressed as women brandishing whips who attacked the crowd, men carrying huge pig carcasses on their backs with bottles of booze and ...

Settled into our lovely room in Plantos y Blancos hostel and hit the thermals springs. Spent a good few hours pickling ourselves in the outdoor pools including the super scalding pool which was so hot you could only stand to be in it for a few minutes and even then had to keep completely still for fear of burnage. This was followed by a sudden dip in the icy cold plunge pool! After a few times, we got quite expert at it and were in and out like veritable yo-yos. ...

Leaving the hat thief of Cuenca we caught the bus to Riobamba, home of the famous Devils Nose railway. The town itself is nothing special or exciting but we obligingly checked out some churches before queuing for our rail tickets. The train ride down the 'Nariz del Diablo' is down some pretty hair raising switchbacks which have been cut into the mountain...and to make it even more exciting slash irresponsibly dangerous all the tourists get to ride on the roof! ...

Living up to its name as the country's prettiest city, Cuenca is like Cusco but without the hordes of snap happy tourists (ourselves included!). Cue lots of sunny plazas, ornate churches and architecture splendour. Checked into our lovely hostel with a fab courtyard garden and homecooked bread for breakfast and headed out to explore the sights. Spent an age visiting a panana hat factory watching how they are made and shaped - it takes a day for a normal hat t...