Hola amigos!

It´s been a very active time since we landed in Quito one month ago! We began our travels on the magical Galapagos Islands. They were truly beautiful and I don´t think either of us will ever forget them. We swam with penguins, sharks, turtles, sting rays, dolphins and my favourite, baby sealions! We saw the most spectacular landscapes matched by the most prehistoric animals on earth. We really did visit the origin of the origin of species.

After that we didn´t rest, but made our way straight into the Cuyabeno jungle. It was a very damp experience, but definitely worth it! We took a dugout canoe into the heart of the jungle in the depth of the night to try and catch some caiman - to my relief, they kept a safe distance! However, Giles did catch a piranha but I made him put it back! Giles also decided (as you can see in the picture) to go for a leisurely dip in a seemingly tranquil lake. We later found out that it was home to caiman, anacondas, electric eels and piranhas! Glad I stayed in the boat!

Next we visited some local towns near Quito. We went to the lovely market town of Otavalo and then made our way to the spa town of Baños. In Baños we decided to get active! We hired some bikes and went on a tour of the many waterfalls there and then decided to abseil down a few. The ´practise´ waterfall was 15 metres high, absolutely terrifying! I got to the bottom and burst into tears! Giles had a death wish and decided to tackle the 40 metre one. I thought our marriage was going to be short lived but luckily he survived to tell the tale!

After Baños we headed further south to Riobamba, where we caught the train to the ´Devil´s Nose´- aptly named! We rode on the roof for seven hours through every possible type of weather, before reaching the nose. We realised why it had been given this name when we were right at the mountain´s edge 300 metres above a rocky floor. Scary stuff but definitely recommend it!

We then took a bus to the beautiful historic city of Cuenca before flying to Peru, hereby ending our time in the lovely Ecuador.

Hasta luego chicos!

xx