I returned to Quito for one more night before I left Ecuador and South America. By the time I had checked into my hostel and sorted myself out for the next day there was not much time to do much more of Quito. Another city to add to the list to return to!South America overall has been an incredible experience, very diverse, full of colour and some amazing people. It has whetted my appetite to return. I must however learn Spanish if I want to come back because her...

With a curious twist of fate I was off to visit one of the most remarkable islands that has changed modern science as we know it. Extremely hungover I had to get up at the crack of dawn to meet my group and fly to the Baltra island where our cruise would start. Touching down in the Galapagos we were greeted with warm muggy air, and perhaps one of the smallest airports I have seen this trip. With our luggage collected, we waited to greet our guide who was a local ...

Leaving the jungle far behind we headed to the capital of Ecuador, Quito. The bus had taken us the majority of the day to get there and we were greeted by a sprawling capital. The city was divided into the old colonial and the newer section more designed for tourists, and it was this latter area where our hotel was based. This was also the last city on my booked tour and our group would finally be going their separate ways after 55 days together, or more f...

We left the excitement of Baños to head to Tena, the base town for the jungle. Ever since I was little, the Amazon jungle has fascinated me and now I was actually going to get the chance to go. Whilst it would not be in the vast middle of the jungle or even in Brazil, it was still the Amazon jungle.The trip Gap had organised was to stay with a village tribe in the jungle. Our village was Machacuyacu, just on the edge of the jungle. Taxi trucks took us there. I ...

We spent practically the whole day on the bus going to Baños, a town in the middle of Ecuador hemmed in by luxuriant green peaks, blessed with steaming thermal baths and adorned by a beautiful waterfall. Nearby was the volcano Tungurahua whose last major eruptions were in 2006 (when 7 people died) and 2008 when Baños was evacuated. Unfortunately, when we got there it was raining and the volcano was covered in cloud which lasted our entire visit. Baños is an ...