The end of my time in Ecuador

Ecuador was a tricky country for me. The moment I arrived I was surrounded by lots of green banana trees for miles. I had hope of a fantastic time in the countryside.

I met some amazing people. From a couple that took me out for shopping, stunning cakes and fantastic vegetarian food in Quito to the amazing group of people on my Galapagos cruise.

I also met a lot of people I didn’t like. Taxi drivers were constantly trying to rip me off and usually succeeding. One even started driving away with my legs hanging out of the car as I demanded my change. I learnt it’s not worth getting into arguments for a few dollars. One boat taxi driver made the short list of guys that made me uncomfortable in South America. That’s always a concern for a solo female traveller and I was quite surprised how well I’d been left alone until Ecuador. That being said, these things could happen anywhere. It was just my time.

I saw some nice cities in Ecuador, but none blew me away. I had wanted to get out to the cloud forest, but illness put pay to that. I volunteered on the edge of the Amazon with some lovely animals, but I got sick there too. I managed to end up in hospital twice in a matter of 3 weeks with parasites and then also had an accident with a sea urchin in the Galapagos that resulted in a bunch of spikes in my foot, one of which I’m still trying to have removed (surgically). March was not my month of luck.

The Galapagos was a nice way to end to my time in Ecuador. While it wasn’t quite what I expected, it was still amazing and I would have always wished I’d gone there if I didn’t visit now. I saw some pretty cool animals and had a nice ‘holiday’ from my travels.

As I mentioned in my last post, next is Colombia. I’m getting tired and looking forward to heading to the USA and NZ, so I hope it keeps me excited!