One of the best things I've done

From the half dozen or so volunteer placements offered, I chose to work at a domestic violence shelter in Quito. Once there, the shelter staff decided to have me work with the children because of my teaching experience. It was frequently difficult work, but it wasn't hard to see how valuable it was for the children and the shelter as a whole. I really formed some relationships with the kids there. It was hard to leave.

The local volunteer foundation in Ecuador also offers a lot of fun opportunities to the volunteers, e.g. salsa classes (free), weekend excursions to different cities (reasonable fee), etc.

Quito is dangerous if you don't take sensible precautions, but it's a great city. And Ecuador as a whole is a beautiful country.