The journey to Cuenca was our most difficult so far due to protests taking place in Ecuador along the Pan American Highway. To start at the beginning we left Bańos in mid morning aiming to get to Cuenca. To do this we had to change buses in a town about an hour down the road, this first part of this journey went fine. Arriving in the second town to change buses we realised we had missed the connection we had expected to get, this lead to us having to wait for ov...

We took the early bus out of Quito so we arrived in Bańos by lunchtime. We booked in to a Hostel called Plantas y Blancas which had a really nice rooftop terrace and steam baths. Our room wasn't quite ready when we arrived but it didn't affect us too much as we wanted to head straight out for lunch. I wasn't quite sure what to make of Bańos as the only other times I had seen the word was when it was pointing to the toilet. Thankfully Bańos was a really pleas...

We arrived in Quito in the late afternoon having come from the Galapagos Islands via Guayaquil. We had been recommended somewhere to stay by the Hell's Angels on the Galapagos. They mentioned it was reasonably priced, in a safe area and had Wi-Fi. Upon landing we hopped in a taxi and headed for the hostel. On arrival we were told the price was twice what we were expecting, they had charged the Hell's Angels per person even though they all had double rooms. Afte...

The journey to the Galapagos was a very easy one. We got up relatively early and made our way directly to the airport. We had to have our bags checked for items prohibited to be taken to the islands as well as pay an airport departure tax. Once done we were able to check in and within a couple of hours we were in the air. Once in the air the airline treated us very well as in the 1 ¼ hour flight they gave us a drink and some breakfast. On arrival on the Galapa...

We arrived in Guayaquil after a torturous journey with American Airlines. After all the problems we had encountered ever since checking in at San Jose airport we were pleased to finally arrive in Ecuador to start the South American leg of our journey. We had chosen to fly in to Guayaquil rather than Quito as from there we could catch a direct flight to the Galapagos a few days later. We arrived late in the evening so headed straight to our hostel and to bed. Th...