Baños- sorry written without the accent throughout! Sun 29th Jan- Tues 14 Feb So after my Mum left I returned to Latacunga to see my friends there and to make my next plans. I had been considering taking Spanish lessons and this seemed a good time to do them so I got them organised and headed to Banos on Sunday 29th January, ready to start on the Monday, luckily for me I was able to organise them last minute so I could start straight away. It helped to give m...

Mum and I had 2 days in Quito before she was flying home so we spent a day in and around the old town. The first thing we did was go the see the changing of the guards which happens every Monday at 11am. The President and Vice President were out on the balcony of the presidential palace to watch it and it was really interesting to see how excited and enthusiastic the people were to see the President. He waved to them and seemed to be really loved by the people, a...

Spent Saturday (21st) at the Otavalo markets- my third time visiting the markets (second time this trip) but this time I could shop as Mum could take things home for me! I was good though and didn't buy too much for myself, but did take the chance to buy gifts for the family as there are such lovely things here and as I said Mum could take it home. We started the day with a visit to the animal market then wandered around the normal market. Here in Ecuador people ...

Better late than never!! Mon 16th-Fri 20th Jan On Monday 16th we needed to travel between Latacunga and Lago Agrio so we first got a bus to Quito (1.5 hrs) then a bus to Lago Agrio. Luckily the buses arrived and left from the same terminal so it was an easy connection. They even gave us a pack of crackers and an orange juice for the journey! The bus left at around midday and took about 7 hours. The journey wasn't bad, despite the fact we have done too many lon...

Week Mon 9/1- Sun 15/1 Vilcabamba We spent a lovely few days in Vilcabamba (at 1500m), a very chilled out village in the south of Ecuador, situated in the "valley of longevity" as people ling long lives there. It is surrounded by beautiful countryside and there are walking possibilities and horse riding trips in offer. We ended up not doing much whilst in Vilcabamba as Mum wasn't well- luckily it was an ideal place to relax in. We enjoyed the weather ...