From our cosy hotel in Quito we get a taxi to the bus terminal through the bustling side streets of Quito. We pass through streets full of fruit, fruit piled up in small stores, in doorways, on sidewalks and on tables manned by old ladies. Fruit everywhere! So many bananas! Then we pass through a street home to a fish market - cane baskets full to overflowing with shrimps, octopus, clams, fish, and a giant marlin lying on the footpath. We pass through a street wh...

Well we've been back from the Galapagos Islands now for the best part of a week after our eight great days in the islands! We transferred from our hostal in Quito's old town to our tour hotel in the new town and took a big step up in luxury, but so it should have been too - Galapagos tours are not cheap! After a lengthy minivan-plane-plane-bus-ferry-bus process we arrived into the islands and got hugely excited at seeing a red crab on the rocks and a sea lion lo...

We get into Quito on time and though customs, no questions asked. Our bags are all ready waiting for us, what efficiency at Quito airport! Through customs and then we are in arrivals searching for our names from our hostal pick-up. Just after we begin to despair that we will have to find a taxi and bargin and then trust that our taxi driver will take us to the address we ask for, rather than to his aunt's sister's brother's place which has a really nice room, we ...