Our last stop in Ecuador was a tiny town called Mindo, nestled in a cloud forest with around 4500 people living there. The town was just built up along one main road, surrounded by rivers and hills! Really nice to look around, the clouds are always rolling over the trees and hillside. Only downside, as expected with a rainforest, is the rain that comes down a lot of the time! We found a nice little guesthouse made up of 5 or 6 wooden cabins, a bit like the ones ...

Nice couple of days in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. We hadn't herd great things from people who had been to the city, just that there wasn't much going on but it turned out to be a great place. Found a nice hostel, decent facilities and rooms and it was near the old town which was the nicest part of town. The first day we took a trip to the 'Middle of the Earth'. The equator runs through Ecuador and as Quito is the highest point along the whole equator, its cl...

Great few days in Banos! A small town that's built up in between 2 mountains, one of which is an active volcano! I think one of the last eruptions was about 2006 (from what I've seen around town on a poster) and when it does begin to spew lava, even if it's not a full eruption, you can take a night visit to the top to see the red lava. Everyone we'd met on the trip that had been here loved the town. Laid back feeling with loads of adventure activities to do! We ...

The much anticipated Galápagos arrived and we took the first plane in months over to the islands... Normally blogs are a bit shorter but this was worth a day by day addition! Day 1: Pitched up in Santa Cruz... Almost stayed in a really nice hostel but ended up with a smelly fan room, standard! Visited the Charles Darwin research centre where giant tortoises are bred and some info on the islands is listed. Charles Darwin being the Godfather of the Galápagos! ...

After leaving Montanita we moved about 3 hours or so along the coast to one of the biggest cities in Ecuador called Guayaquil. Not a very picturesque city but it was just a stop over for a couple of days before flying to Galápagos! First major bonus was being able to sleep without the pounding music of Montanita! The music was fine when you're out but any quiet(ish) nights (although few and far between) and ear plugs were needed! The hostel in Guayaquil was nic...