Hostal Vamara Quito

... a late night dip in a natural hot bath under the moonlight and one of the towns many wateraflls. Sharing a hot bath with 60 sweaty strangers is quite an experience.

So before we sign off (yes we are well aware that this is getting far too long), we should probs mention that Ecuador has a lot of chair shops. All kinds of chairs. There are even shops dedicated solely to chairs with headrests. In fact under one of the city´s most beautiful buildings, The ...

We got on the bus from Banos to Quito at about 6, hoping to arrive in Quito late and go straight to the airport for the night... we had planned to get the 6.30, the last bus out, but arrived just as the 6 o clock was leaving so jumped on. This was a mistake!

Bearing in mind our lack of sleep from our rum night we had hoped to sleep a bit on the bus, but that wasnt to be, as a big group of drunk / drugged youths jumped on the bus after about an hour ...

... ev**ything, its s* relaxed. Anylu is a English / Spanish teach** which is brilliant f*r me learing. I´m getting bett** each day...p*c* a p*c* (little by little). Pedr* is v**y funny, he can als* speak english and thinks that saying ************* is the m*st hal*ri*us thing he has ev** heard! When its said in a thick Spanish accent I d* have t* agree.

Its been a while since I have traveled t* a c*unty like this and I f*rg*t all the daily rituals...turning ...

... be passing your time in a city. There was a really good Panaderia (bakery) at the end of the street though so they saw quite a lot of us. Delicious biscuits for something ridiculous like 30c. Yum.

We hummed and hawed a bit about where we were going to head to next but eventually decided on the coast in the hope of some sun. Three days in a rainy city will do that to you I suppose so we headed by night bus to Montanita on the coast.

... relation to the volunteers’ patterns of socialization and movement, and also in general how the community accepts volunteers and how the work and funding provided by the volunteers here are valued by the community. So I do also intend to make some interviews within at least my host family and maybe other’s as well, though at the moment through every day conversation with my host family I’m getting plenty of information. I guess my host family members have become what an ...

... work I am suposed to be doing with my life. It's a pretty amazing feeling when you follow God's call. We've also had the opporutnity to do visit some houses of the families from the centers. That was a very eye opening expeirnce. Many families live in concrete houses, with metal roofs that leak. They normally are one or two rooms, have no running water, and have around 8 people living in each. It's unbelievable that life can be lived so differently, even though the needs and desires ...

... ever.

After wearing ourselves out and hitting all the recommended places in our guide book and some additional winding streets besides we took a cab back for $5.00. It’s amazing how exhausting it can be climbing steep streets and touring churches when that’s all your doing and the altitude is kicking in!
Tomorrow we meet our group and head to the Galapagos Islands!!!

We arrived in quito around 7 and went through the airport pretty smoothly which was a relief. We ended up at this great little hostel in the downtown area which is also a cafe where alot of other travelers stay and people from around quito hang out too. we were pretty tired after our over 24 hours of traveling, but we had some delicious salsa and guac(of course i have to talk about ...

... ve bribed them with Farrero Roche's.

Milli and I will also be sent to Cotopaxi to work for a week there, which I'm thoroughly looking forward too, and this Saturday I will be doing a 7 hour shift at the Irish pub we have been frequenting, which is based in the new town (the hostel is in the UNESCO listed Old Town).

I've met some interesting people at this hostel; Remi, the head volunteer, is a Dutch born Australian who until two months ago was running a large hostel ...

... could register our arrival. Thinking (wrongly) that we already knew the way, we declined their services and fought our way through the chaos. It was one of those stressful situations that can sometimes (fleetingly) make you question the wisdom of placing yourself in a foreign country at the mercy of the locals. We trudged for ages through the sweaty, fly-blown and garbage-strewn streets looking for the police station, with our unwanted guide, a teenage boy, insisting that it had moved and ...