I'd like to say that the bus to Latacunga on Monday, being only 2 hours long, was easy and uneventful. Once we got on it was, but therein lied the excitement! As we got to the station in Banos the bus was about to leave and so we all threw our bags and were then ushered into the office a few yards away. Not really thinking, we all quickly went and bought our tickets only to turn around to find that the bus was no longer there!!

In that one moment the lot of us stood there frozen and a million and one thoughts flew through my head. In a bit of a panic we looked around and finally figured out that all that had happened was that the bus had switched bays!

The rest of the day we sorted ourselves out in Latacunga and booked on trips for the next two days after negotiating a decent group discount!

So on Tuesday we set off on our day trip up the Cotopaxi volcano. At the start of the day, after bashing my head on the roof in the back of the car due to the bumpy road and then literally not being able to see your hand in front of your face, let alone a frickin 5897m high volcano, we wondered if the trip was gonna be worthwhile!

Thankfully the clouds moved really quickly and soon parted to reveal the volcano, which we then reached via a rickety 4x4 ride so far up and then the hardest hour and a half hike of my life-having to fight against what the guide Francisco admitted was the strongest winds he himself had ever seen. Slowly climbing the steep slope as the wind whipped up small stones and dust and blew them in your face was a struggle but a screaming bladder gave me added incentive to be the first to the top!

After lunch in the refuge we were then all up for carrying on a bit further to 5000m to the glacier on the volcano slope. By this time we were well above the level of the clouds and it was an absolutely brilliant feeling stood there on the glacier, and made the struggle up there worthwhile!

The excitement wasn't finished there though as when we all got back to the car the engine wouldn't start so some of us got out whilst the driver looked underneath. To our horror the car then started rolling down the hill towards the edge of the cliff, with Claire and all our bags in the back and no driver! I'd like to think my desperate attempt to haul back on the sliding door helped a little, but to be fair the guides moved like lightening and somehow dived back inside the car despite it moving pretty quickly!!

It was a brilliant day and after a welcome shower we went out for tea and I had the local speciality chocchura, which was a strange combination of pork, friend pork skin, crackling, popcorn, plantain, roast potatoes, nuts and sweet empanadas -it was amazing!!

Wednesday was another day trip, this time with all 5 of us and to the Quilatoa volcano, which has Ecuadors most famous lake in the crater. The lake was very impressive and as the clouds moved quickly overhead the colour of it changed with the movements in front of the sun.

So after a busy couple of days in Latacunga and a good work out on the legs we headed to Quito on Wednesday evening pretty excited, and we arrived at our hostel in style with us all piled in the back of a pick up truck sat on our bags whizzing past traffic whilst holding on for dear life!!