Ecuador: from city to mountains

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We arrived into Quito, our first stop in Ecuador. The capital city has the perfect balance of the beautiful old town; with its narrow cobbled streets and imposing churches and the modern and efficient new town; with its city bicycle scheme and grand Hilton hotel. Not to mention a huge park inbetween the two areas thats possibly the best free playground Ive ever seen.

We spent three nights in Quito, wandering around the town enjoying the sunny but cool climate and the luxury hostel that $25 can buy. Although they use the US dollar, Ecuador is still extremely affordable with cheap food and cheap petrol, meaning cheap buses (You pay around $7 for a 7 hour night bus).

We also took the opportunity to embrace the Latin American spirit and put our English rhythm to the test through a Salsa dance class. Our hip shaking, green haired teacher was brilliant and was also highly amused by Stus additional improvised arm-flaring moves. We´re not quite Ricky Martin but I think with enough Mojitos and some Latin beats we could feel like we are.

We left Quito, now with the ticking clock of only a few weeks of travel left and knowing that we have to plan our route somewhat, we headed for Banos. Banos is a little town, lying below the Tungurahua Volcano and surrounded by green hills and mountains - it really is quite beautiful. I guess because of this, its very popular with tourists of all kinds, offering a whole variety of tours. Its streets are also full of stalls selling its famous chewy Taffy- its a miracle that the town is not full of children with black teeth!

We have enjoyed a few days here in Banos, walking along some of the paths in the surrounding hills, passing bridges over fast moving rivers with impressive waterfalls cascading down the cliff side. We also embarked on the 60K bikeride to the nearby town of Puyo, which is thankfully mostly downhill - meaning a lot of fun free wheeling. However, unfortunately for us we spent most of our ride with the wind and rain in our faces and by the time we stopped for lunch we had puddles in our shoes. Thankfully we managed to hitch a ride with a friendly local guy back to Banos and threw the bikes in the back of his truck.

We are, as I write, waiting for our night bus to take us towards the coast. So our Ecuador journey continues from city, to mountains, to sea.

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