Tuesday 10 September - Thursday 12 September Banos, Ecuador From Quito we headed three hours south by bus to the small but lively town of Banos, neatly nestled between the Pastaza River and Tungurahua volcano. Adventure tour companies abound here with loads of outdoor activities to keep one busy. After a night of resting up in our private dorm we hired mountain bikes and headed down the waterfall trail on the road to Puyo, our destination being the town of ...

Friday 6 September - Monday 9 September Quito and beyond, Ecuador Due to the continued strikes in Colombia we had no choice but to cut our time there short by a week and fly from Cali to Esmeraldas in Ecuador as the roads south of Cali were still being blocked by protesters. Unfortunately this meant we missed out on seeing the colourful jagged landscapes of the Tatacoa desert, the Valley of the Statues in San Augustin and the Cathedral that is built into a ...