Hoping to get the 9am bus to Quito I headed off in the rain to the bus station in Banos. Getting to the bus station in plenty of time I found that the 9am bus had crashed so won't be going.... I confidently booked on the next bus out at 9.35am. We headed out of town on time only to hit a trafic jam just by the "Welcome to Banos" sign which we sat in for over half an hour while another traffic accident was cleared up. This did not appear to be my day for transport.

Arriving in the southern most bus terminal in Quito I now had to get to the most northernly - a 1 hour $20 taxi ride away. I then had 2 hours to wait at an uninspiring bus station for the last bus of the day to Mindo. Luckily this bus trip went off without a hitch and after some false starts I found my way to my hostel (Casa de Cecilia) in Mindo. My luck seemed to have changed as I was able to upgrade to a single room from my 5 bed dorm for only $1 - sold! My room was tiny but charming with a comfy bed and the sound of the river to lull me to sleep.

The next day I headed next door to the chocolate tour where I learn loads about the chocolate process - the fruit around the beans tastes like lychee and the trees have 1000s of flowers coming from everywhere even the trunk and are pollenated by midges. The tur ended with chocolate tasting - 7 different varieties of dark chocolate, chocolate tea made from the shells of the bean, 100% chocolate liquid that dries your month unless you add sugar and an amazing chocolate brownie.

Next I headed to the Butterfly farm which looked a short stroll from town - this turned out to be a 4km walk - a 8km round trip. The farm was interesting but not really anything I hadn't seen before. After this long walk I was ready for lunch then a relax in a hammock back at my hostel. In the evening I went out for an amazing pizza - the best I have had since I have been away. My night's sleep was disturbed by a massive rain storm that lasted hours - not good as I had a 8 hour bus ride ahead that night to the Amazon.

The next morning I headed out of town with my luggage to visit Mindo Lindo where I sat and watched squirrels and hummingbirds feeding feet in front of me. Walking back to the main road I ended up catching the Mindo bus back to Quito and shared a taxi back to Secret Garden hostel where I couaght up on stuff hile waiting for my bus to the Amazon at 11.20pm!