Between Colombia and Peru, this country is often skipped or rushed by travellers, and yet it has so many points of interest. In the north, Otavalo hosts one of the biggest live animal market (Mercado de Animales) of South America, quite unusual enough to be seen. Its capital Quito, with its old colonial style is quite impressive and is a nice place to spend a few days to acclimatise with the altitude(2,800 meters above sea level) before heading to Cotopaxi. Hiking up to the refuge of the latter is quite a challenge (near 5000 meters), one of my shortest but most difficult hikes of South America… The Quilotoa loop with its small villages and green laguna is also famous amongst backpackers; usually looped in 3 days, I teamed up with a German guy I met in a hostel to hike around in 2 days, you know, for the challenge! 🙂 Baños (de Agua Santa) with its Casa De Arbol (the swing at the “end of the world”), its waterfalls explorable by bike and its hot springs is home for a lot of cool adventures too.

Then, Darwin’s place, the Galapagos! The most amazing place on Earth if you’re into wildlife: the animals are so respected, they don’t fear tourists as they get close to them (‘do not touch’ is mostly respected by all). There: sea lions, flamingoes, iguanas, sea turtles, giant 100-year tortoises, sharks, rays and many many fishes and birds are about everywhere on the islands. I had 8 days, which was a little too short for a cruise, so I focused on the 3 main islands: Santa Cruz, Isabela and San Cristobal, doing excursions here and there.