Apologies for the late first update, things have been pretty hectic to say the least since we first arrived in Quito. After our delayed 11 hour flight we were told that the spanish airline we were travelling with had not bothered to put our luggage on the same plane as us which was annoying to say the least. It was returned to us the next day though so all was good!

Quito was great fun, we met plenty of people who were travelling around south america and picked up a lot of advice quickly to calm the collective nerves that we had. The first hostel was a great meeting place which is just what we needed - we made good friends with 2 girls who had also not had their luggage from the flight! In Quito we visited both the new and old cities, the former being the busy, noisy modern centre and the latter having a slightly quieter atmosphere with some impressive colonial buildings & monuments. The stand out monument was the impressive cathedral that we walked around and went to the top of the bell tower. The health & safety standards were pretty lax with the very top platform in the tower consisting of girders and what can only be described as chicken wire (ok, I didn´t go upto that level - Ashley)! We also took a cable car upto the top of one of the surrounding mountains - Volcán Pichincha - and the views of Quito and the surrounding landscape were immense (pictures to follow shortly).

After Quito we headed south for Baños, a picturesque little town sat in the centre of the Andes that is visited by tourists and popular with Ecuadorians from other regions on the weekends. The highlight was visiting the outdoor thermal baths in the evening, sitting under the stars in these baking hot natural pools besides a waterfall. We also climbed up one of the nearby hills to a statue dedicated to the city where the view of the area was very good. Other things we did in Baños included visiting the local markets and watching the locals make and stretch a kind of toffee like sweet which is sold to Ecuadorians on the busy weekends (and of course, sampling it).

One thing we have discovered is that Ecuadorian bus drivers are all Lewis Hamilton wannabe´s, which can be quite scary when the condition of the roads winding high through the Andes is taken into account! All of the busses are quite old with insanely loose suspension and destroyed shock absorbers making them act like bouncy castles on the uneven roads - something that Ashley finds hysterical!