Up and down Ecuador

It was cold. And cloudy. But beautiful! Still, I can't wait to reach the sun, the beach, the heat, so my trip through Ecuador was short and sweet.
Started out with a couple of days in Quito - the second highest capital in the world (2850 m) and apparently the most dangerous of all cities I am visiting on this trip (with the exception of Mexico City, maybe).

I survived without damage (except for a cold) and went on a 3-day-tour to the volcanoes of the Central Highlands - not before visiting the touristic equator of Ecuador.

First challenge was to climb up to the glacier of the Cotopaxi, Ecuador's second highest peak, in a hail storm. The glacier lies at 5100 m, so one could say, I climbed the Kilimanjaro (hehe).
A day of horse-riding and a visit to the stunning volcano crater lake Quilotoa completed the tour.

I thought I might improve my poor surfing skills in the surfer´s mekka Montañita, but somehow I hardly saw the daylight (and this was not only due to constant dark clouds).

To cure my resaca I went to the spa town of Baños, where I first cycled along the route of the waterfalls and afterwards fried my sore muscles in boiling hot thermal pools.

From now on my direction will be exclusively North - Columbia it is for the next few weeks!

Ecuador