An entry from Clayton (WoW!)

Well, things have just kept rolling since Dawn last filled you in. We did some hiking on our own around Banos which was challanging, insitefull, and several other appropriate adjectives. The trail begins pretty simply at the end of a Banos city road. Pretty much immediately the trail turns to a 40 degree slope and continues up about 250m of vertical. To get to the first viewpointtook almost an hour. The view of Banos were great, but what was truely amazing was that people lived and farmed on the sheer slope. With no proper roads they have to haul everything in by foot or by burro. We talked to a group of kids of ages about 4 to 10 who made the hour long trek each way to school every day. Tough kids!

The following day we headed out for a 3 day adventure in the jungle. It was an interesting experiece for sure. I got to play with a monkey! No not that kind of monkey, a chikchicho, a small monkey native to the area. I felt bad for the poor bugger, though he was free to run about as he wished (like a cat or dog unfenced) he had astring tied around him which the children of the house liked to carry/throw him by. He was small enough to fit in my hand so he didn'tstand much of a chance with a 4 year old boy.

Our guide, Angel, took us hiking every day to investigated the flora and fawna of the forrest. Mostly it was and eplination of medicinal plants, but we also saw ants, spiders, snakes, frogs and lots of birds. All hikes ofcourse ended in beautiful waterfalls.

The last night wewent on ahike looking for caymans (like a small crocidile). We didn't find any then but it was fun none the less. Somewhat less exciting was finding out the next day that they actually capture the caymas elsewhere in the jungle then transport them back to this lagoon so they can be seen by tourists. Also that night we visited the home of an indiginous community who had a shop of intresting handicrafts and a paticularly morbid collection of animal furs (jaguar, sloth, monkies, giant anteater, as well as many fish). I gotta say, I was pretty horrified when I first saw it. It made me feel better that none of those things could be sold to tourists. The explination we were given (I don't know how accurate it is) was that most of the animals had been killed by indiginous communities deep in the jungle for food. Those people then sold the skins to this vendor to make some extra money.

The trip ended with a stunning view of the jungle and looming in the distance the Andes.

We travelled to Riobamba after the jungl to take the train some ofthe way to our next destination. The train was definately more fuin than the bus. The famous Nariz del Diablo trian route provided some stunning and sometimes frightning views. At one point the train actually derailed. Yepp, it derailed, but no worries we were going slow. It took only half an hour for them to get the engine back on the tracks, and once it was on it just pulled the cars through the dirt untill they hopped back on. This was all before 'the hard part'. Didn't exactly instill confidence as we slithered allong the rough edge of a cliff. But we made it safely. A 5 hour bus ride later and we arrived in Cuenca. Today is the celebration of Cuencas independence so we plan to partake in the fiesta tonight.