Ecuador is a country where the adrenaline can pump through your body almost 24 hours a day. You can enjoy beach, big cities, volcanoes, jungle and desert within these 24 hours and I have never been more surprised about a country. Knowing I was unable to enjoy any of it, I still worked hard for Ecuador to keep me in the country - just for a few more days.

Ecuador is a country where I, upon entry, planned on staying not more than 10 days. Unfortunately I spent a few days too many in Quito, but the last 3 days I spent in a small town called Baños. The name of the town actually translates "toilets", but I can’t deny that my impression of the place was far from it. I knew nothing of the town upon arrival, I didn’t get a lot of information as I stayed there, but I sure do want to know and experience more of the surroundings in writing moment.

Situated at the very bottom of a very active volcano, basically in a hole in the ground, I couldn’t imagine a more vulnerable city to the force of nature. Not more than 1,5 years ago, a violent eruption of a volcano, that casts its shadow over the city, threatened the whole city. Little did I know, that it was possible to take trips up in the mountains to still see the lights of the squirting lava and little did I know that the scenery was so spectacular. During my few days, I didn’t as much as see a tiny fiery spawn of the inner earth, but the idea of it being there, lit my fire. Unfortunately - not literally.

Ecuador is a country where the volcanoes rule. Never have I seen an area more threatened by or more formed by the earths inner forces. In this country it seems that the people lives in constant harmony with these sinister mountains and they actually name municipalities after them. After spending a few days in the backyard of one of the natures true Goliath, I must admit that my focus were the one erupting a little over a year ago, and Chimborazo - a snowcapped stratovolcano with the altitude of 6310, and considering the placement of it, it is in fact the "highest point" on this earth.

5 minutes after arriving in Baños, I were offered to sign up for adventures. Baños is located between high mountains on every side and it is natural to do every kind of more or less extreme sports here: canyoning, rafting, mountainbiking, trekking, climbing and my favorite: climbing volcanoes. As I really didn’t want to climb a volcano alone, I signed up for rafting the next day.

The rafting was excellent. 21 km of rafting with a total difference in altitude of 700 meters made it worth while. Even though I also managed to get ripped off on this trip, every penny of it was well spent. After the rafting, I learned that the other participants only paid $25 - I paid $30. But even though I spent $5 more than the others, I still had the same amount of fun as them. Fighting the river in the slipstream of last years eruption, just added spice to the trip. It must be the best rafting I have ever done. Not that I have done a lot of them, but I have done a fair share. The river was not as big as it could have been, only level 3+, and I guess that I would have no problems taking the river on at one level higher. It all depends on the crew, but with a more experienced crew, I would love to do that trip again.

The same day involved renting Quads as well. These are four wheeled motorcycles and can involve a lot of fun. Because I wanted to have one with manual gear, I had to get one from another company than the others. Just because of that, I had to (again) pay more than the others, but in return I got a quad with a defect battery. I only had to start it once by using its build in starting feature - after that, I had to run with it to start it every time. How is that for a deal? Did I mention I have been ripped off a couple of times before?

Apart from these activities, I have done a lot of admiring of the country. It would be absolutely out of place to say that this so far is my favorite country. I am ashamed that I didn’t plan or spend more time here. I am angry over not attempting to climb some of the magnificent volcanoes in this very biodiverse country. I had the chance and I ruled it out. When passing through the country, I literally closed my eyes because never before have I been more visually tempted. Snowcapped volcano on one side of the bus, jaguars covered in rainforest on the other side and right in the middle, my urge to explore - yet out of time. Ecuador has it all - the beaches on the Pacific coast, volcanoes past 6000 meters of altitude, jungle, desert and big cities. I definitely will go back. I need to reach the summit of Chimborazo. I know it is possible - I just need to climb some other peaks first. It will be my next goal.

I know nothing of Ecuador still. I went through the country with my mouth open for 13 days. I regret not spending more time there. I regret almost beating up a sexually confused individual. I regret almost ruining the armrests of the many buses I rode with. I regret hanging out with too many gringos, even some actually made a positive impression.