The day began in sunshine as we meandered along the mountain road in search of waterfalls and a monkey sanctuary. As we came around one side of the mountain it began to rain and the lower the altitude the heavier the rain – ah yes that’s why it’s called a rainforest!
We drove down into Puyo (about 60k east) with our first sight of the Amazon sprawling out below. With a bit of expert navigation we found the not very well publicized Paseo Los Monos, a sanctuary for monkeys who have fallen foul of hunters and deforestation.
Here we saw Cappuchins, spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys and woolly monkeys. Some lived in large natural enclosures with overhead tunnels running around the sanctuary. Some like the very clever cappuchin Newton preferred to roam around freely having worked out how to dig his way out at an early age.
The squirrel monkeys tended just to wander freely as you can see. The cappuchin above is a hand reared baby, he has a large enclosure but is pressed against the cage wire as he was trying to get our attention. He lives with this baby squirrel monkey and we spent ages watching them play like 2 siblings squabbling over the same piece of wood.
My favourite photo is Pepito the Coati, it looks like he is trapped in some nightmare cage but it’s part of the network of tunnels that run around the sanctuary. This one is open at the end so he can come and go as he pleases but this is his favourite sleeping spot.
On the road back up the mountain we hit torrential rain. We stopped at the viewpoint where the Rio Pastaza suddenly widens out as it meets the Rio Muyu. 
The road up to Banos is punctuated by a series of tunnels blasted out of the rock. We entered one of the longest ones in pouring tropical rain and came out the other side in bright sunshine, like a magic portal.
Pailon del Diablo (devils cauldron) is the most impressive of the waterfalls here. 1200 (I counted on the march back up!) footsteps down then a climb through narrow tunnels to see the falls and receive a power shower for free.
Here are the links for the videos we made.
The visit includes a walk across a rickety swing bridge for the bargain price of $2 per person.
Now onto Geoff’s favorite part of the day, a trip across the gorge in a metal basket running on 2 cables powered by an old car engine and a couple of dodgy batteries. He couldn’t quite let go of his inner engineer as we swung above the gorge. Lots of pictures to show the marvel of Ecuadorean ingenuity and safety standards.
Click here for cable car ecuadorean style
Cara was still full of energy so we sent her across the gorge on a zip line. Here she is – Cara in action
Meanwhile i soaked up the afternoon sun with my new friend.
Volcan Tungurahua showed himself for a beautiful photo on the way to the hot springs at El Salado where we enjoyed the steaming hot water and some banter with the locals in the chilly mountain river.
Pirate Travels 