Quito is another city the guide book warned about, especially at night time. And we did see first-hand the after effects of a mugging and the poor young Aussie bloke who was the victim could barely open one of his eyes or move his jaw. This put a damper on our night time escapades and instead we made the most of the days, exploring "Old town" with its many churches, museums and the Presidential palace. Ecuador's President Rafael Correa seems to be quite popular w...

After chatting to a fellow traveller who had just been to Galapagos and a travel agent in Montanita, we decided to island hop rather than take a cruise. In Oz, when I had enquired about cruises, I was quoted $3,000 for a 6 day cruise on an economy boat. Although once on the islands, it is possible to get 6 day cruises for closer to $1,500, I think island hopping is a better option because: 1) the cruises are on a regimented timeline and from what we saw, seemed t...

From Guayaquil airport, we took two buses, rammed full, with people standing in the aisles, a spanish movie blaring and the second of which was slowing down (NB. not stopping) every couple of hundred meters to drop-off or pick-up locals, to reach our next destination - Montanita! With no accomodation and everything seemingly booked-up online, we were a bit nervous to be arriving so late at night, but just before we walked into the throng of people in one of the a...