El Bambu Mindo

... the waterfalls. Being the weekend there were LOTS of Ecuadorian tourists, who all gave us pitying looks as they drove past in cars, leaving us to taste their dirt. It was a longer walk than we anticipated (uphill as it always seems to be). Eventually - after a couple of hours - one guy stopped and insisted on giving us a lift the rest of the way. Unfortunately he took us past the place we wanted to stop and dropped us much further away. Visited the ...

... hopefully blending in with our own yellow shirts.

On Friday we got Bilbo (the bike!) out of customs, an experience made much more pleasant by Linda, our Panalpina contact and Vanessa the customs agent! Took about 3 hrs of mainly waiting while all the security officials had their pictures taken with the bike, a woman even appeared out of nowhere with small child who was quickly placed on Bilbo for a photo!

Other good things, drinking coke from old ...

... the same vessel (a simple sink with metal legs) and moved it 1.5 m on either side of the equator as well right on the equatorial line. It´s true - water spins clockwise in the southern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere. and sstraight down on the equatorial line. Very cool.

Did you know that there are only 2 mountains that stand on ...

... difference, as she has demonstrated. She built a lodge on her property to accommodate birders and her volunteers. When we arrived, we thought we would be joining a group of mist netters, but we were the only volunteers there, so we had to work independently. It was a steep learning curve for me. the handling of the birds was fine, but extraction is a whole new ball game. This is also the first time we have handled tiny hummingbirds; the poor things ...

... main parts, the modern new town and the historic old town. Firstly we decided to check out the new town and its bars and restaurants, its not too often you get to sit in a bar and have a proper drink so we had to take advantage... happy hour mojito cocktails went down a treat... then we spotted a British bar with pool tables so time to practice our pool ...

... practicing it in rest**aunts. I eat many meals a day h**e. Usually 4 large meals a day, i think i need to actually buy some do it yourself food instead of eating out. Just had to get it out of my system for a few days.. its just so cheap!

One of the guys i spoke to at the police station was from new j**sey. He had been living h**e for 5 years and his wife was just beat up by a black man. He looked like he was from a gang, and from what i could ...

... now to put the rest of our deposit for our galapagos trip. We found a deal and are going to go to GALAPAGOS!!!! yay! We´re so excited. Can´t wait to snorkel & see the wildlife there. This trip has been so much about wildlife so far.. there really are some amazing creatures here. The ATM´s only let you take out small amounts per day, so it is taking us forever to pay the travel agency. Anyways, until next time - miss everyone. Love Michelle & Russ

... I won´t bored you with the remainder of the week but suffice to say it mostly involved weilding a machete and hacking the forest to bits (at this is the point I refer you back to my earlier comment about ´conservation´. Where´s the bit where we plant trees and stuff? I spent the whole week chopping things down).

By the end of the week our dorm room was beginning to take on a certain aroma which wasn´t all that pleasant so.....

Nanegal, Pichincha, Ecuador lturnbull

... to je jeji posledni hodinka, ale ani Ja jsem si nebyl moc jisty. Kdyby nas taxikar zavezl do nejake ulicky a nechal nas tam tak neprezijeme ani 2 minuty. Ale vsechno dopadlo dobre, taxikar nas vysadil primo pred hostelem a my jsme byli konecne ¨doma¨. Oba dva unaveni jsme spali az do rana. Rano jsme si dali prijemnou snidani na strese hostelu s vyhledem na mesto a stravili prijemnou hodinu povidanim s dalsimi hosty, samozdrejme v anglictine. Na hostelu je ...

... we celebrated with the traditional plate of rice...... no more, just rice!!!!! I felt like she should have showered me with it as they do when the bride and groom leave the wedding. She didnt, so I upturned the plate on my head, scoffed at her all too familiar "what the ****" expression.....and like that I was gone. From here the direction would be south....familiar territory would greet me....... I was happy to leave...... Mindo scores...but only slightly......