Despite some jobsworth at Santa Marta airport being determined not to allow us to board our flight due to a misunderstanding of immigration laws (on his part, worryingly), we said goodbye to Colombia and hello to Ecuador.

Quito lies in a valley at an altitude of 2,850m - the surrounding mountains are far higher, so the views during the airport approach are outstanding. Unfortunately the altitude meant a strong case of dizzy head for the first day or so. Grr.

All the guide books, and the hostel staff, are full of warnings about safety in the city. For the first time on this trip, we did feel a little uneasy as we went for a wander and dinner in the old town on the first evening, but I think that was mostly due to the warnings rather than reality. A city is a city, and particularly on the main streets Quito has a very visible police presence.

Day 1 we visited the old town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site - for good reason. There are some beautiful colonial buildings. The San Francisco church/monastery in particular was breathtaking. My response to walking into the ornate wooden church interior (the interior is wooden, not the church) was "F****** H***", which I'm sure is the reaction they were aiming for.

Day 2 we joined an Argentine/Polish couple on a tour. First stop was the cable car up Pichincha, one of the mountains (ex-volcanos) overlooking the city - to an altitude of 4,100m. That really did take my breath away, so we sampled our first taste of coca tea. It helped a bit and the views over the city and around were well worth the discomfort.

The other main stop of interest was the tourist Mecca that is La Mitad del Mundo, or the equator. Or rather near the equator as the calculations were a bit out way back when. A horrendous tourist village has been built around the monument which makes it all feel a bit tacky and fake. Still, ticked that box.

Day 3 saw us join a trip to mountain bike down the highest active volcano in the world, Cotopaxi. Now, this is not the highest active volcano in the world, but the guide claimed it was, as do various other sources, so let's pretend for the sake of dramatic effect. Starting at 4,500m (pass the oxygen please) we cycled some 40km through the amazing Cotopaxi national park. It was mostly a blue sky day and so we were treated to some fantastic views, I'll stick some photos up soon. The real downhill section was on a dirt road and so not too challenging, worse was the last 7km down a relatively steep cobbled road....

Day 4 - 6am alarm call for the flight to the Galapagos....