After the hike I decided to high-tail it to Ecuador. It was a long and grueling adventure, and all-in-all I spent 48 hours seated on busses over 5 days. It worked out to be really cheap though, and relatively simple… I have just a few minor remarks really.

On this bus, we were nearly squashed between a sheer cliff and a massive tanker. Our driver attempted to overtake the tanker, which in turn attempted to overtake the tanker in front of it, without looking. I leapt out of my seat as the cliff ripped into the mirror and tore through the side of the bus that I was seated on. Luckily we stopped in time, and the police weren’t far away.

The Colombia-Ecuador border. Night bus through Colombia, arriving at the border town in the morning. Taxi to the bridge, get a stamp, walk across the bridge, get another stamp. Taxi to the next town on the Ecuadorian side. Bus into Quito. About $40 from Cali to Quito, as opposed to taking one bus the entire way which would have cost $75.

Ecuador is much cheaper than Colombia in several respects, but the most welcome is the bus fares. It costs about $1 an hour here, very light on the wallet.