El Sapito Hostal (The Frog Hostal) Quito

... transfers from each border either side of Colombia and Ecuador but they're cheap and easy to do. I find it fascinating that a small river is the no-mans land of border crossings. Coming from an Island (Britain) we don't have borders (unless you count Wales and Scotland). No-one checked our bags and there was no
hassle going through so it was all ...

... Suspects. 500 Days Of Summer was the most hyped and award-winning but was definitely the least enjoyable.

Kaela watched 500 Days Of Summer, Julie And Julia and Office Space. She also continued her attempts to sleep, with mixed results. I tried to get her to take a sleeping pill when we left Auckland but foolishly she resisted. So she spent all our flights with moderate neck-pain, kinda groggy from being half asleep and kinda grumpy from ...

... a trifle nauseated from the boat so even I drifted off while I was reading a book.

The boat took us around to Post Office Bay, where in the days of old, whalers would leave letters and information for another person passing through to take to their loved ones. The tradition continues and so we left several postcards in the wooden post barrel with our addresses on them, so we’ll see if they make it home. The closest one we found left by somebody else was south of Sydney ...

... We found out later that this was in the lonely planet as the stragest scenic view of Quito. From here we could see the giant angle statue on the hill and the basillica that would be the last stop of the day. It was pretty cool, if not a little spiritually nerdy.

Next we walked down to the fully restored Calle de Rhonde, it is a cleaned up and more touristy version of what all of the streets in Quito would have looked like ...

... stand for 50 cents.

After leaving there we went looking for a bus to take us back to Quito. We were directed to another area of Siquilisi where we came across another market similar to the one we had just come from. The bus was about to leave so we didn't have time to explore. As we left on the bus we passed a fourth smaller market that appeared to be just closing, this market was selling livestock. We saw one truck stacked with cows ...

... for a bit, but then felt really sick later in the night. She still felt pretty ill this morning and is trying to sleep it off.
Meanwhile, I´ve just been meandering through the Old Town (hopefully not lost yet). The architecture here is pretty amazing, particularly some of the (numerous) churches. One church, apparently completed only 20 or so years ago, is a replica of Notre Dame, but instead of ...

... them to an "official money changer" and, even with my dodgy maths, managed to spot that he tried to cheat me out of $4! Cheeky tactic, but not working on me, I'm afraid!

I finally arrived at my hostel in Quito at about 11pm, almost 18 hours after I'd started my journey. I was absolutely exhausted but still managed to get up at a reasonable hour to begin my week of sloth watching Wimbledon! It's all over now but it's been bliss to get up every morning and watch some quality ...

... goodbye to people I've spent the last 6 months with. I've made some awesome friends and some will be moving to Melbourne for a few years so I'll get to see them again, and also when I travel the UK I'll see heaps of them there as well. And in a few days I'll be flying to Miami, partying it up with Shannon, going to Orlando, partying it up again with Shannon and a few people from my trip (it's Jay's birthday), and then partying it up in Vegas with Shannon. Hmmm, do you think we like to party?! - Hell yeah!

Well, i decided now was a good time to return to the farm to pack up my stuff and say farewell (again). The last few days at the farm have been fun... most people were ill so new volunteers were being sent away for at least a week to prevent them catching anything and they´re testing the water (water filter and chlorination machine are arriving soon). I didn´t escape unscathed but am now feeling better...i blame it squarely on the sheer monstrous size of the pie i ate on Damien`s birthday ...

... huge! They stretch their neck up and you can pet them. We work from 8-1 then we have a break where we can hang out and do whatever.. or we can go into town. Today I came into town by myself because russ was helping the vet hold down a baby ocelot (like a mini jaguar.) After a really bumpy ride in the back of a pickup truck, we arrived at Santa Martha Rescue Center early Monday morning. Our room is right next to the lion enclosure so we hear them growling all ...