We arrived in Quito at 5am in the morning and got a taxi to the Secret Garden hostel where we instantly fell asleep. We woke up at 9 for breakfast on the terrace and i was surprised to find an awesome view overlooking the city with volcanic mountains in the background. As we arrived in the dark we had no idea what the city was like so it was a welcome view!

Our first stop was Mundid del Mundo - or middle of the world aka the equator. We caught a taxi for the 30km journey out of town and first visited a view point overlooking a volcanic crater. The second stop was at the museum where the equator line is. We had a tour around with a group of other tourists and learnt a little bit about the different cultures that exist in south america before we visited the equator line itself. Of course we all took turns to pose for the touristy photo and once that task was completed we were shown sun dials and clocks that worked from the suns shadows. We were also shown the water going down the drains in different directions depending on the hemisphere, but this is just for show as you have to travel far north, or far south for the result of the Corealis effect to kick in.

After we saw a real shrunken human head that tribes in the Amazon use as necklaces to show the enemies that they have killed before we left to visit the old equator line.

The old equator line was 300m away and was (mis)calculated in the 1800´s. There is a large monument here though and more of a deal was made about this line even though it wasn´t correct. After a brief visit of some of the museums they had nearby it was time to turn around and head back to Quito.

We got dropped off at the bottom of the cable car and despite the rather cloudly looking sky bought a ticket to ride the 2.5km journey up the mountains. Once at the top we couldn´t help but laugh because we could see a grand total of around 20m before the clouds consumed everything. We bought a coffee and hoped the view cleared but after an hour there was no sign of the clouds clearing at all and so we started the descent back in the cable car.

Back in the middle of town we visited the old town, which is very colonial looking with different coloured houses. We walked around for a while taking in the scenery and atmosphere and popped into a restaurant for some food. By now the lack of sleep over the previous week was catching up though so we headed back for a siesta. In the evening we intended to have a few drinks in town after food. However, we managed a grand total of 20m to a restaurant opposite the hostel for food before retiring for the night!

Next morning i was up at 6am for the 9th time in 11 days ready to go to Cotapaxi. I was met by 2 American girls in the morning who were also taking part in the excurision. We were first ushered next door for an awesome breakfast before heading 2 hours out of town to Cotapaxi national park. The drive there was beautiful as we meandered between giant volcanos on either side.

After an hour or so we entered the national park and then continued to drive the 4 x 4 up the mountain to 4700m. From here it was time to get our hiking boots on as we were to ascend 350m to the start of the glaciers. The volcano itself was very impressive with bright green grass growing on the flanks. Above this was bright red lava rock before the brilliant white of the glacier topped off the coloured cone. The climb itself was easy but my ears were starting to feel the effects of jumping from -30m to +5000m in 3 days.

We got to the bottom of the glaciers after around an hour and a half and posed for some photos on the ice before starting the descend to the refugio where we stopped for a cup of hot chocolate. Once warmed up we continued the descent to the car park where it was time to get the bikes out.

We took it turns lingering at the back with the Go-Pro and started the descent down the flanks of the mountain. The road was gravel, and very bumpy but it was great fun and you could get some serious speed on the straights until ´the fear´kicked in and you felt you had to hit the brakes.

The scenery was awesome as we passed through volcanic rock, then different types of vegetation before finishing the ride at a lake at 4000m up. All to quickly it was time to get back in the 4 x 4 and head for Quito once more. Back in town I cleaned myself up and packed the bags ready for the journey to Otavalo later that night.

Mathilde arrived back an hour or so after me and we went out for a quick bit of food before contuining the journey. We had to get 2 local busses across town to the north of the city before we were met with an hour long queue for busses heading to Otavalo.

With few options and nothing around we bought a couple of beers from a nearby stall and drank the hour away until it was our turn to hit the road. The journey itself was only 3 hours and i slept for most of it. Mathilde however had had a few more beers for me and was in quite a bit of agony as there was no toilet on board - a rookie error!