Pailon Del Diablo waterfall

Following the crazy bridge jumping, the other major stop on today's ride to Puyo was the Pailon Del Diablo waterfall (lit: "The Devil's Cauldron"). The waterfall that I canyoned through yesterday was big and impressive; but this one was the fiercest and the most concentrated stream of water that I've seen in my entire life. The name couldn't be more fitting: if the underworld had mountainous jungles and crystal-clear waterfalls, this is what they'd look like. The waterfall is so fierce, that the air is filled with misty spray for about 50m in all directions; and where it hits the pool at the bottom, it looks like a volcano spouting white lava. This is why my nickname for the Pailon Del Diablo is: "Christmas in hell".

Pailon Del Diablo falls, roaring down.

Hey everyone, it’s Christmas in hell!

The waterfall itself is a 1km walk from the road, so Patrick and I had to lock up our bikes and leave them by the road, and hike down the trail that leads to the lookout. Once you pay the $1 entry fee, you're on the platform, and looking at the roaring mass of water before you. Stay at the lookout too long, and you'll quickly find yourself wet all over, so great is the amount of thick misty spray in the air. There's also a suspension bridge a bit further down, over the river, from which you have a great view of the Pailon Del Diablo itself, as well as the smaller waterfalls that come just after it.

View of the falls from the bridge.

Once we'd finished going deaf and getting soaked at the waterfall, we made our arduous way back up to the road, along the same walking trail. Once back on track, we decided that we could definitely do with a large pepperoni pizza for lunch (at one of the restaurants by the roadside here), before continuing with our ride. Well-deserved, and it kept us going for the rest of the day.