Travel blog: Banos, Ingapirca and Cuenca

Rhian Nicholson has swapped the bright lights of London for a three month journey across South America from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast. Here is her third blog entry:

Imagine being fed hallucinogenic drugs before being buried alive in a foetal position with ten other women in a deep circular pit.

Send a cold shiver down your spine per chance?

No, this isn't the latest traveller horror story to emerge from Ecuador (that's still very much armed robbery) but an old burial ritual for the Canari tribe when one of their
princesses left this world for the afterlife.

The Canari/Inca site of Ingapirca, where the two tribes intermarried after the Incas took control of the settlement as they expanded their empire north, lays claim to being Ecaudor's best, and to be fair only, ruins.

It now requires a certain amount of effort to imagine the town in its heyday, when 300 villagers used to share their tiny huts with a small army of guinea pigs.

Since then the infamous Spanish conquistadors have been through looting in their search for gold and people from nearby villages have nicked the stones to build their own houses.

Still, for non-scientifically minded people like me, it's hard not to admire the Inca's sun temple, built over many years to show the timings of the solstices and equinoxes based on when the light hits small alcoves.

The Canaris, on the other hand, relied on holes cut into rocks and filled with water from which they could work out dates and times – which was probably far more reliable than a cheap wrist watch from an Ecuadorian market stall.

Now, as then, a herd of alpacas roam through the village - although admittedly now they are more of a tourist attraction than a sacred symbol.

As far as macabre draws go though, the shrunken heads in the Central Bank museum in Cuenca are best viewed on an empty stomach.

Thankfully Ecuadorian law has now banned the practice of cutting off your enemy's head, sewing their mouth shut and pouring in acids to shrink it down to half its normal size.

Previously though, it seemed to be a pretty popular way of exacting revenge on those who killed off your nearest and dearest among the local tribes. Nice.

A more palatable distraction was definitely the cocktails - with the best mojitos in South America so far coming from small atmospheric bar in Cuenca called El Cafecito.

For the bargain price of $2.40 (about £1.30) you can easily spend an evening destroying a few liver cells - especially with a generous happy hour offering two-for-one cocktails...

Unfortunately it's true that hangovers are worse at altitude.

The town, however, is one of the gems of Ecuador. Its elegant colonial-style buildings come complete with flower-strewn balconies, ice cream parlours on every street and a general air of relaxed affluence.

All this has secured Cuenca's position as a Unesco World Heritage site and almost seem to bring a little piece of Italy to South America - even down to the crazy drivers who think road signs are there for decoration.

The adventure sports haven of Baños, on the other hand, is exactly what you'd expect from a Ecuadorian town - in desperate need of a lick of paint and a fair bit of road resurfacing but buzzing with life as hawkers swamp you getting off the bus and market stalls are laden with everything from sugar cane juice to good old roast guinea pig.

Indeed there's something about the sight of about 20 of these seemingly genetically-modifed rodents piled on top of a bbq with their claws still poking out and their gasping mouths revealing a few pointy teeth.

Sadly, 20 years of vegetarianism prevented me from actually tasting one but I'm reliably informed the meat tastes something between chicken and rabbit.

The town's famous hot springs, however, are a bit of a let down. Set in the shadow of a gushing waterfall and surrounded by volcanic peaks - one in particular called Volcan Tungurahua which has been puffing out large amounts of smoke since the late 1990s – you'd expect it to be a relaxing place to revive your aching muscles after a few uncomfortably long bus rides.

In reality though, it's more like a leisure centre during the school holidays with teenagers dive-bombing in off the side, disturbingly yellowish water and a host of dead bugs determined to float towards your head.

Just as wet but more relaxing was the Pailon del Diablo, reputedly one of the top ten waterfalls in the world and sending up enough spray from it's rocky splash pool to soak anyone within a 20 metre radius.

Baños may be better known for canyoning and white water rafting but running away from the manky, parasite-ridden dogs that prowl its' streets offers just as much adrenaline and exercise.

Some of these mutts seem to have perfected the knack of spotting you from 500 metres and then stalking you until you're forced to unleash a verbal onslaught or throw stones that narrowly miss their heads.

Ok, the RSPCA may not approve but it's a better option than having them sink their yellowing teeth into your leg. Maybe those rabies shots would have been a good idea...

Rhian Nicholson