Crossed the equator. Good to be back up north.

It was probably unfair on Ecuador to use it as a stepping stone to Colombia but we did stop for a few days on the way through, which is more generous than we were to Peru.  First stop was a little town called Baños, nestled in between mountains blanketed in lush green  cloud forest.  We'd planned to hike a little and enjoy the 60km descent by bike into the nearby rainforest.  However, due to some ongoing gastro problems we didn't make it very far; you'd possibly be forgiven for thinking Baños would be the ideal place for us given the circumstances, but the name refers to the natural spring baths and not the alternative translation!  We didn't even really feel like a dip but did try to push ourselves back to fitness a little by attempting a small climb to the mirador. To be fair it was pretty steep, but it nearly killed us and we couldn't believe we'd scampered up Ben Nevis only a couple of months ago; it was a sobering experience, even allowing for the
fact we were at twice the altitude of Britain's proudest peak.  Acknowledging we needed to take gradual steps back to health we enjoyed the view from the plaza (surrounded by brightly coloured inflatables, the thing to buy in Baños it seemed) and found the most delicious strawberry milkshake in a cool little cafe.  Despite not entirely making the most of Baños it was so good to be in fresh air and beautiful surroundings, shaking out the days and days of bus journeys.

After a couple of days' respite we hopped back on a bus, skirted round Quito, over the equator, and on to Otavalo.  Famous for its Saturday market, we arrived on Friday to find another town surrounded by mountain ridges and snow-capped volcanoes.  Next morning alas the view was hidden by clouds but no matter as all attention was taken by the vast expanse of market stalls, spilling, nay flooding out of the plaza way into the surrounding streets.  So off we set on a mission to buy some 'traditional artefacts'...and came back unburdoned by any 'ethnic tat' at all!  It was of course fascinating to see the array of goods on offer and the colour and vibrancy of the occasion; well worth the stop before we hopped over the border to Colombia.