The last stop on our Latin America adventure, Ecuador, has such a variety of climates and terrains. Upon arriving in Quito, our first task was to book our trip to the Galápagos Islands. This accomplished, we headed north to the quaint market town of Otovalo where the locals wear traditional clothes. After a long walk past the building that looks like a bird, up the hill guarded by small but vocal dogs, through the dense wood and across the farms next to the picturesque lake, we finally reached the Condor park just in time to see a flying display. Seeing the beautiful and majestic birds definitely made the hike worthwhile but we decided to take a taxi back to the hotel. Next day we drove to lake Mojanda and then hiked up Fuya Fuya, or "cloudy cloudy", mountain at 4280m, enjoying the inspiring views and during the climb Phant joined our guides in eating some grass! When we reached the summit it was cloudy, but while eating lunch the clouds parted and we saw beautiful views of the surrounding lakes and mountains. However, we didn't have much time to enjoy the vista as the clouds soon reformed. The trail down was much slippier than the one we came up, all of us having at least one fall, including our guide! Once we reached the bottom we got ready to cycle back down to Otovalo. We had a test ride and Suhanya noticed she didn't have any brake pads at the front, but fortunately there were at least some at the back. We donned our helmets and then commenced our descent down the cobbled road. It was rather bumpy and difficult to brake but the scenery was amazing. Suhanya's chain came off the gears but our guide managed to get it back on and she realised 6th gear was out of use. We arrived in Otovalo without further incident, but had sore hands from the shaking and having to continuously brake so hard. The following morning we went on a shopping spree in the market of Poncho square before heading back to Quito.

Next up: a day trip to Cotopaxi. We drove along the Avenue of Volcanos and when we arrived at the National Park our guide suggested we drink some coco tea to help with the altitude. Phant took his advice and, along with the others on the tour, bought a cup, drank it all and even chewed on a few leaves. We then continued driving up as far as we could before starting our hike to the glacier. It seemed like the tea didn't work its magic and Phant struggled on the walk up to the glacier, but he made it in the end and had fun sliding around on the snow and having a snowball fight with Suhanya. We descended back to the bus and then biked down to the lake at the bottom of the volcano. This time both bikes had working brakes so the ride was a much more enjoyable one.

Then it was on to the Galapagos where the dream of a lifetime became reality. We met our guide Angel at the airport and had a short bus journey to our boat, "The King of the Seas". We visited five different islands: Santa Cruz, Santa Fe, San Cristobal, Espanola and Floreana. The Galapagos Islands are home to some incredible scenery and copious amounts of wildlife are found roaming around entirely unperturbed by the alien tourists standing just a few feet from them. To name just a few of the creatures we saw, there were Giant tortoises, blue footed, red footed and nazca boobies, hawks, flamingos, penguins, marine and land iguanas. There was also plenty of marine life with sea lions, sharks, turtles, starfish and many colourful tropical fish. We went snorkelling every day and got to swim with sea lions and sharks which was an amazing experience. Phant seemed to turn into a sea lion on one occasion: spinning around in the water and playing with them. We went into two lava caves which were cool and enjoyed seeing the unique, otherworldly landscapes of these volcanic islands. An interesting sight on Floreana island is Post Office Bay where you leave a postcard and take another postcard, ideally from somewhere not far from where you live, to hand deliver. The crew on the boat and our guide were great and we had delicious food every day with great service and a couple of Jefferson's special cocktails! Our eight day cruise was filled with so many awesome experiences on both the land and in the sea.

After the Galapagos, we had a short stop in the large costal city of Guayquil where we walked along the Malecon 2000 before continuing on to the sleepy town of Alausi where you can get the tourist train to the Devil's Nose. We took the 8am train and stopped at a little station near the foot of the Devil's Nose and saw local men and women dancing. Phant joined in while Suhanya took photos!

Our next stop was Banos which is surrounded by beautiful mountains and volcanoes, one which had erupted only a few weeks earlier! We took a Chiva (party) bus up to a viewing point to see the city at night and hoped to get a glimpse of lava exploding from the volcano. Sadly, when we arrived the clouds were low and we couldn't see the volcano but we had a warm alcoholic drink while enjoying the view of the town. The following day we went white water rafting which was great fun. Our team name was "Anaconda" and Phant was the captain of the left side and no one fell in; the right side, however, was not so lucky with two poor souls going for a dip. We then had a relaxing afternoon at a thermal spa, each having a hot volcanic stone massage!

The last adventure on our trip was the Amazon where we missed our bus stop and ended up two hours away in another town. After getting another bus, and then making a short walk, we arrived at our lodge. The lodge was right by the Cuyabeno river and we had an open cabana on stilts complete with shower, double bed and our very own hammock. We went on boat trips along the river and had day and night walks exploring the rainforest. We saw monkeys, heads of dolphins, eyes of caimans, a baby anaconda, loads of weird insects and spiders including a tarantula in the dining area!

We then had a boat, bus, plane and taxi journey before arriving at our hotel near Quito airport for the last night of our amazing adventure!