31st-1st September After another sleep in an airport we finally arrived in Santa Marta. Our hostel was really nice like a mini hotel with a pool, restaurant, kitchen and bar area. We didn't do much on the 31st as we were very tired from our night in the airport. Santa Marta was not a very exciting town and I was keen to get me PADI completed. We sussed out Taganga and watched the very boring 3 hour video but it was in an air conditioned room which is neede...

23rd- 30st August We had a relatively short journey from Tena to Quito, only 6 hours and after missing our first bus stop we got off in the middle of a dual carriageway, crossed over a bridge and hailed a taxi. For the next week we are staying with Lorene, Marbelita and Juan-Luis. We found the house quite easily and immediately felt at home with Lorene. There were three other travellers staying in the house with us, Alex, Edward and Romana. Although they sp...

19th-23rd August We got to Tena around lunch time and I stepped out of the bus and was immediately sweating, it was so hot. I was wearing my denim skirt with leggings, I was boiling, so whilst I was waiting for James to come out of the bus I whipped the leggings off. To my horror my skirt also came down which was a hilarious treat for a group of lads waiting for a bus. They didn't stop wolf whistling until we left the station, it was so embarrassing! We fou...

16th-18th August In the morning we met up with the Swiss girls and shared a taxi to the bus terminal, which was lucky for us as we didn't realise there were two bus terminals and we were going to walk to the closest one. When we arrived (around 10 minutes later) we got shoved on a bus to Ambato and were told to change there for Banos. I was so pleased we had to move buses as there was a drunk pervert standing over me for the whole journey and kept whispering '...

13th-15th August We were up early and caught a bus to Zumbahua and from there had to get a camoniesta (pick-up truck) to Quilotoa as there are no buses. It was a fun but windy ride and we were holding on the whole way. The locals seemed to stand perfectly still without holding on and with no problems. It was a short walk to the crater edge and the view was fantastic. It looked like a huge spaceship had crashed landed onto a mountain range and is now filled ...