It was raining when we first arrived in Banos but we woke up the next day to glorious sunshine. We decided to make the most of this and took a four hour horse riding trek up into the hills around Banos. This was a great choice as it turned out to be great fun and we saw the spectacular mountainous scenery around Banos from a totally different perspective. We were really lucky to get a clear view of Tunguruha Volcano with a plume of smoke billowing from its summit. We stopped to explore some of the many streams with their sulphur coated rocks giving them a golden glow and saw the Rio Pastaza plunging through a narrow canyon and cascading out into a large and impressive lagoon. We felt like Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid at we rode through streams and climbed up the fascinating mountainous terrain. A brilliant day!
