Took the flight back to Guillaquil and sat next to an interesting individual who had turned from Navy Seal to professional poker player to field biologist conserving frogs (and was currently returning from a trip as an armed body guard!). From Guillaquil headed straight up the coast to find some quiet chill out time. Found it in Las Tunas, although trying to get hold of a decent board to rent was difficult. We spent most of our time in hammocks in our hostel, on the beach or eating a fresh beach-side lunch at 'Restaurant D'Jimmy'. From here took a series of buses into Quito, finally arriving at 5.30am. Thankfully a local lady showed us how to get the trolley bus once it got light and we headed across town to the Southern terminal finally arrive at Baños. This was another quiet little town up in the mountains where we took some more rest time (we were getting bored of all the buzzing about by this time). Our few days in Baños were spent walking in the hills, mooching around the town, eating and taking a dip in the thermal pools.

We took a couple of days to explore Quito. The most apparent contrast that stood out to us was that everywhere was gated for security. We headed for the old town and saw 3 churches/nunneries in 2 hours- a bit too keen for me! Walking around the old part of the city was interesting but by no means blew us away. So we caught a bus to the City of Otovalo via some stunning twisty mountain passes.

Otovalo is famous as having the largest market in South America. We did our usual trick of walking around for 2 hours fully laden in search of a suitable hostel, only to end up back where we started (or next door anyhow), in a relaxing place but with very thin walls! We visited a nearby town famed for its leather goods where we picked up a rather fine pair of cowboy boots! We completed our shopping list on market day in Otovalo filling our bags with hammocks, jumpers, panama hats and much more to add to our pack-horse posture.

We also took a 24 hour trip to Las Piscinas in the tropical cloud forest with another American pair. This really was a one-horse town, but we enjoyed the ride (and the thermal baths too).

We said goodbye to Otovalo and Ecuador and headed for the Colombian border a little apprehensive about what we might find. We found the warmest, friendliest people so appreciative of our desire to see their country. First stop Pasto where Jen discovered crepes, nutella and chocolate croissants. Our next stop was Popayan, which we thought would be a nice place to relax over the Easter weekend! Note to selves: Easter weekend in a festivities hotspot in an uber Catholic country- remember to book a room early! After much searching we eventually found a little guesthouse. The town hosted Colombia's main religious celebrations with day and night precessions lining very street carrying a multitude of Christs amongst a sea of candles. They were spectacular to watch, but occasionally it was good to escape up onto the hills. The highlight was definitely our visit to the orchid exhibition. Yes, that's right- flowers. There were some strange species on show and all very tranquil. Our plans changed just before we were due to bus it out of town when Puz Deadly found some 'cheap' flights straight to Bogata. After a little 'tete-a-tete' we boarded the plane!!!

Bogota was an interesting final destination for South America. While it has its obvious drawbacks during night time, the old city was nice to stroll around during the day. We met a couple of crazy ladies with whom we shared a cab up to the main view point over the city. A Yankie version of Mum & Liz we thought! Other notable highlights included a trip around the 'Bodies' exhibition, Jen having a trim with Frank although he was dressed as a she and our final travelling meal at the Mongolian BBQ restaurant where you select the ingredients and it is thrown together over a flame in front of you. After an epic struggle to bring our flights to Trinidad forward, having phoned just about every agent for COPA in South America, we finally boarded a plane via Panama to head for Port of Spain- our final fling!