Banos was great. The rafting we did was class, down some grade 3 and 3+ rapids. There was quite a bit of falling out of the boat, although some might have been on purpose.

We had planned to get some cuy for dinner that evening, but we can only guess that the cuy restaurant is only open Saturdays cause it wasn't open Sunday or Monday. So no guinea pig. Yet. Instead we got a three course meal plus coffee for a grand total of $10 each - can't argue with those kind of prices.

We took a bike trip the next day, which is where some of the photos come from, out to Pailon del Diablo, one of the bigger waterfalls in the region (there are lots). It was massive and we got pretty wet, but that may also have been because of the rain!

Then it was off to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. A nice, short three and a half hours on a bus took us to an altitude of over 2800m. We stayed in a decent hostel, The Secret Garden, which had a class view of the city from it's rooftop terrace. Quito, like Banos, is set into the mountains, although it's massive by comparison. It also a place that no-one has spoken positively to us about, but that we really enjoyed. It's far nicer than Lima, which is the only other major city we can compare it too.

One of the main aims of going to Quito was to climb a volcano, called Cotopaxi, which is the world's highest active volcano. One of the tour operators recommended we climb Ruca Pichincha (a mountain overlooking Quito) as practice and to see how we would handle the altitude. So off we went.

A cable car takes you to 4100m, and from there you get to see loads of the city, and it's great to see planes taking off from above for a change. From there, we climbed. It wasn't easy, as the lack of oxygen meant we took frequent breaks, but we eventually got to a place you could call 'the top', after about three hours. It wasn't the highest point, but we could see over the mountain to the other side, and at about 4600m it was roughly 100m from the top (which was a bit too difficult for us to navigate). So, mission accomplished. Cotopaxi here we come!

The next day we were off to conquer Cotopaxi. All 5897m of it. The trip started at about 9am leaving Quito, and we arrived in the National Park car park at about 2pm, fully geared up in goofy trousers and as many layers as possible. After a short hike to the refuge (at 4800m) the altitude sickness hit me. It wasn't nice, not too dissimilar from a bad hangover, giving me a big headache and nausea. But it was onto the snow, for some crampon and ice axe training. Then some dinner, and off to bed - at 6pm! It's been a while since I went to bed at that time!

In fairness, it wasn't that bad going to bed early cause the altitude and the little bit if climbing we did does tire you out. But we didn't stay asleep for long - outside a fierce wind was raging. It sounded like it could take the refuge roof off! Little did we know when we were woken at midnight that the wind would be the ruin of us.

We set off at about 1am. It didn't take long for most of our clothes and bags to be covered in ice, but we weren't cold, even when we stopped for breaks. Thank you North Face! The wind was really strong and even with crampons on it would occasionally knock me off my feet. After nearly three hours of climbing, out guides said with the wind it would take another six to reach the top. We were in shock - a normal climb is supposed to takes five and a half hours. That news pretty much killed any hopes we had of seeing the sunrise, and we turned back, defeated men, having reached about 5500m, to be back in our sleeping bags by 5am. Cotopaxi beat us. But it also beat everyone else - no one managed to reach the summit that night.

The next day we took a trip to Mitad del Mundo, a monument marking the equator (even though it's actually off by 300m). After taking some good photos, we were on our way to country number three - Colombia!

We couldn't get a direct bus, so two buses, two taxis and 17 hours later we arrived in Cali. It is hot here - around 30 degrees. Sweating coming out of the shower stuff. Clever people that we are, we went for breakfast and exploring this morning from about 11-2 - and I lost a few pounds in sweat!