Central Highlands of Ecuador

After we returned form the Galapagos my parents and I spent another four days together in Quito. Quito is a great jumping off point for many of the adventure cities in northern Ecuador. 

The first day back we went to Mitad del Mundo, or the middle of the world, which is the equator and where the longitude is zero. The second day was spent riding the TeleferiQo up to the top of Quito for a hike and a look out from 4100+ meters. It's amazing to see how big Quito actually is. On the third day we went out to Mindo, which is about 2 hours away and in the cloud forests. Here we did zip lining and hiked to and swam in a few waterfalls. On our last day together we went to the market in Otovalo so Mom and Dad could stock up on some cheep Ecuadorian goods. 

I then took the bus to Latacunga for the night and then woke up early to travel to Laguna Quilotoa, a beautiful crater lake in the middle of the mountains. I hiked around the rim and down to the lake before I caught another two busses to Banos. 

Banos is the adventure capital of Ecuador and I definitely took advantage of all it had to offer during my three days there, going for a 60 km bike ride through the mountains packed with waterfalls, hiking some amazing trails, visiting the thermal baths that the town was named for and white water rafting. 

I am now in the little pacific surf town of Montanita soaking up the sun before I head back into the mountains.