Scott returned later that night after stretching his 30-minute call home after he ran into Hugo on the street and they hit a local bar. A 50+ year-old 5' 2" local took offensive when Scott pointed at something near him. Hugo and the bartender had to restrain the very intoxicated from attempting to assault the much larger gringo.

The breakfast at Posada del Arte was excellent. Christian, the all-purpose waiter, busboy, receptionist and prep cook ran around like a ball of energy smiling all the time and refusing to let us fill our own cups of coffee. I usually waited until he had darted into the kitchen to refill my own mug.

I was running low on cash so I headed downtown to try my luck with ATMs attached to two of the large bank buildings. Unfortunately, the network must have been down, as neither would let me withdrawal money.

Scott, Steve and I wandered around town away from the usual collection of tourist stores and restaurants, and found a local food market. People were roasting pigs, selling live chickens and all kinds of vegetables we'd never seen before.

From Banos we headed east and further down the valley in the van. Huge waterfalls emptied into the Rio Pastaza and we stopped at a few overlooks.

On crossing one bridge we noticed someone had setup climbing gear as a huge swing anchored to another bridge right next to the first and a little higher. We got out to investigate and before long Scott was strapped into a harness and stepping out over the rails for a long swing.

At another stop we boarded a tram to reach the other side of the valley. On the other side there were small trout pools where you could catch your own lunch. We hiked by and down the valley crossing a small footbridge and reaching more trout pools. Here were a group of children catching trout and putting them into a bowl. Each time a trout flipped out of the bowl the children would screech and run around chasing down the errant trout.

We loaded into another tram to cross back to the road. And then drove further down the valley and we all hiked down near the river's edge to a pavilion and had lunch. Then we walked back up a trail to the Pailon del Diablo, a long spray of a waterfall emptying into a pool surrounded by rock cliffs on three sides. The force of the water echoed out past the small lookout we occupied and we could feel the power of the falls from where we stood.

Further down this side stream, we crossed a suspension bridge with a maximum of 5 people allowed at once. Then we turned around and walked back to the van for the return to Banos.

Scott, Steve, Travis, Hugo, Bob and I visited the San Martin Zoo in town. An annoying PA announcer called out to us ("Senior Turista") from the reptile section, so we ducked into the bird exhibits. The cages were within touching distance of the walkways, so I was able to take a few pictures with the camera lens between the chain-links.

A single condor was all the remained of the 4 or 5 Hugo said they had before. His cage seemed inadequate to house such a large bird. The mammal exhibit was a mixed bag: the monkeys seemed to be having a good time and enjoyed begging for food from all the visitors. However, most of the other animals seemed to be housed insufficiently. It was interesting to see a capybara, the world's largest rodent.