After the incident with my money belt / passport, I was determined to hate Quito. It was an experience taking the trolley - it was so crowded, we were in pickpockets' heaven - we rode the 4 stops into the old city, money hidden in our bras, and hands tucked in our pockets clutching our cameras. The old city is very pretty, with its many beautiful churches and colourful colonial buildings lining the narrow streets. So despite my earlier prejudices, it was diffi...

James was right - I should set aside my worries over the stolen passport, and just make the most of my remaining journey, at least in Ecuador. We flew off first thing to Coca, a 30 minute flight on a 37-seater into this small Amazonian town. A motorised boat took us 100kms further in on the Rio Napo, a 2.5 hour journey. We then walked the jungle for another 15 minutes to catch a paddle boat to the La Selva Jungle Lodge, a beautifully rustic lodge perched on the l...

Banos is a small town in the middle of the highlands, bordered by rivers flowing through the canyons on the northern side, and forest covered mountains on the southern side of town. Kim and I went horseriding along one of the canyons - the views were beautiful, but it was a shame that it was such a wet day. Our horses were also particularly lazy and it took a lot of effort to get them to advance to a gallop - still it was very enjoyable. Unfortunately the day w...

It was a long, tiring journey crossing the Huaqillas border into Ecuador - with 3 bus changes before we arrived in Cuenca. The drive up the mountains was scenic, but also very scary as the driver seems to favour the accelerator round the bends - fortunately I was too engrossed in my book to have noticed, but the rest had commented about the white knuckle ride, being tossed into each others' laps as the bus rounded each corner. The historical center of Cuenca ...

It will be the last we will see of the beach for a while, and so I have made the most of the 2 days by lying on the deckchair, watching the surfers and kite surfers race across the waves, in between my various naps throughout the day. The water is way too cold for me to venture in further than getting my feet wet! I have not moved much further beyond the 100 m down the beach to the restaurant next door for my meals - it has been an entirely decadent 2 days!