Woke up this morning excited for our morning activity of canyoning. The company came to pick us up and brought us to their office, where we were supplied with wet suits, helmets, watershoes, and harnesses.

Turns out we had a private tour! We hopped in the truck to take us up to the waterfalls. After a short training session…

we started the fun!

We climbed up to the top of the first waterfall and then rappelled down. The water was surprisingly strong, but we both made it!

The second waterfall was a little easier, again a rappell down.

The third waterfall was a big (controlled) slide down to the bottom.

The fourth waterfall was the largest at 160 feet tall. This was a  “surprise” to us regarding how we would descend. Alejandro went first. He got ready, and then he disappeared. Cassie still wasn’t sure exactly what happened, but got in her ready stance as well. On the count of 3, the guide basically let us go into a freefall. It was amazing! We actually ended up behind the waterfall.

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After our canyoning adventure, we headed back to the hostel and made some lunch, then walked to the bus station to catch a bus to Latacunga. We arrived there around 4, and we were greeted by a parade (seemingly related to recycling and taking care of the environment). Most of the costumes were made of different kinds of plastic.

After checking into our hotel, we walked around town for a bit, stopping to try cerezas and gooseberries with lime and salt.

Both were pretty sour, but Alejandro really liked the cerezas. For dinner, we had seco de chivo at a local place with a chicken soup for a starter. To finish off the night, we had a few more of the quail eggs that we tried for the first time in Cuenca. We went back to the hotel and packed our things to head out on the Quilotoa loop tomorrow.