a lot more activity

Hey all,

have a bit to catch up with. I started Friday with a relaxing morning, lie in, journal writing and massage in the hotel, which wasnt as relaxing as I had hoped for!! I got my back massage and a few knots worked but also got a bum massage which was just weird!!! So I told them to get back to my shoulders!!

In the afternoon, matt and I want climbing with Paulo from yesterday and his mate Oscar. Matt was already wrecked having just got back from White Water Rafting, and it was also his first time climbing outside. The site we were at was just stunning, the rock face was 100m high with a raging torrent of water going through a gorge in the middle. It was about 3 when we got down there so the sun was still high. We were only climbing about 50m up so Paulo set up the top rope first- by freeclimbing up and clipping in to a bolt in the middle!! Crazy man and Oscar was the same, we found out that they were ex- Ecuadorian champion climbers. I climbed forst then Matt, the first route wasn{t that hard, maybe 5a. The difficut bit was climbing in very hot sun on basalt rock, which has no friction and heats up in the sun pretty quick!! Matt had it a bit harder obviously though he got to the top no bother. Then I did the second route, maybe 5b. It was a tricky start involving a few leaps of faith and slippery feet, and then it was alright til I got to the crux halfway up. I was stuck there for ages!!! Finally managed to crawl my way over it, and straight to the top. I was knackered when I got down again took me awhile to get my breath and feeling back into my fingertips!!! Matt tried it but his arms were dead from the morning so had to back-off. I tried a third route 20mind later but had no power whatsoever in my arms!! It was great though, we were well pleased wit ourselves!! Have some brilliant photos but will have to wait!!

Went to the hot baths after to relax the muscles, they were about 42degees so didnt stay for long or we would have boiled ourselves. Then we went out to dinner and onto the Jack Rock Cafe to pay up to the guides. It was a really good night, a good few cuba libres, a long pool session with Oscar and his friends, and then onto the lepreachan bar for dancing after!! We thought it would be terribly cheesy but it was actually a really good bar, half outsde with a bonfire, brilliant music and a great atmosphere!! Paulo knew eveyone so he got us all a free shot- a flaming combination of tequila, orange jiuce and something blue. We had to drink it throuhg a straw to avoid the flames at the top and it was disgusting!!

We went upstairs after where somene kept buying cuba libres (or possibly free from the barman) and we danced til 4 in the morning. We got some great salsa lessons, and were passed around from one guy to the next for a dance!! Good fun!!

We managed to make it back to the hostal, and had 2hours sleep before we had to get up for the long ride to Cuenca. It took 12hours, awful. I was still drunk when we got up so slept for a good bit and themn drank about a litre of water in 2hours, and didnt need to pee for most of the journey!! Stopped at the ingapirca ruins for an hour for a quick tour, cant remember much it was freezing up there and we wanted to keep moving!! they were cool to see though. we finally made it to Cuence at 9 last night and slept so well!!

today we mostly shopped for food for the next three days, camping at Punta Sal in Peru. Leaving Ecuador already!! I know i will be back though, at least to banos!!!

xxx
Orla

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