nu house boutique hotel Quito

... built an eco lodge there. For $25USD a night (steep for Ecuador) you get a room, all meals and free use of mountain bikes and some other things. Will be good to get out to some remote areas and just kick back for a day or two, ride a bike and get some Andean air!

Footnote: Nearly tossed the blogs in. Probably some things you shouldnt write about when your parents are reading these things, but in the end I think things will be ok. As I said, if your in India you eat curry ...

... sit on the plane in silence for 40 minutes until we took off for the final leg to Quito.

After all this flying and going through 2 day times (one in Oz and one in South America) I felt as if I´d spent 48 hours flying instead of the 26 hours the journey actually took. Quito airport was relatively easy to pass through, apart from a lack of interest in anyone´s bags (they all piled up at the end of the belt & fell off onto the ...

... we journeyed north. After two long hours on a few buses, we arrived in Middle Earth. No, wait, make that the Middle of the World. Ciudad Mitad del Mundo, to be exact.

Many decades ago, the government built a monument here on the equator, and as it turned out to be a fairly popular destination with both tourists and locals, a little town/theme park sprung up around it. This includes lots of shops and ...

... called ’El Lechero’ that had become locally famous as having powers to heal ailments upon touching is base. Normally, we wouldn’t get caught up in such a thing, but it we had to practically walk around it to get where we were going, so why not stop and see it? Besides, Andy was still suffering from a case of ‘Welcome to Ecuador’ diarrhea and it probably couldn’t hurt. We followed some signs pointing the way and double checked with a few locals to make sure ...

... mit Führ**.
Zum Abschluss fuhren wir noch zum "Mitad del Mundo", dem Denkmal am Äquator. Ecuador hat seinen Namen ja nicht von ungefähr. Obwohl es sich noch mehr od** we***** in d** Stadt befindet, dau**te die Busfahrt wegen des starken V**kehrs, Umsteigens und Nicht-Auskennens welch** d** richtige Bus ist, rund 1,5 Stunden. Das Monument (ein Turm mit Museum innen drin) befindet sich auf dem Fleck an dem man ...

I left Barriloche, Argentina last Sunday night and finally got up to Quito early Saturday morning. Only one night, in Lima, did I sleep in a bed. All other nights were aboard buses. Lima was also the only place I was able to take a shower. An icy cold one at that. I would have given my first born for 3 minutes of warm water. I really felt for the Ecuadorian lady sitting next to me Friday night. I must have smelt like a Bonnaroo port a potty. I think that was ...

... closed and I struggled to sort anything out. I found one incredibly enthusiastic lady in a travel agency and she found me a good deal but I would have to wait until Monday (which isn´t part of the Easter holidays here) to find out if it was still available. So I enjoyed a Saturday and Sunday of doing absolutely nothing which has been a rarity on this trip. I managed to watch some football which was so great after not seeing any for ages. I ...

... 4:35isham 4030m, 3C 1st break - 5:10am (normally 1 hr to that point) Gain ridge, easy walking Cows 4500m Starts to ascend more steeply under NE face, soon into sand and some rock -3C 7amish Light winds Climb steeply past snow fields (hardpacked, rock bands overhead). About 4800m normally rope up. Skipped it Big headache Almost 5000m roped up. 8:15am Good hard scrambling, some rock moves, very sick. 5100m summit 8:45am, 3C

... went back to the Plaza, thinking about what the Dane had said. I told Michelle about the encounter, mentioning that I'd rather spend another night on a bus than stay in Tumbes judging by what I'd seen of it. We agreed that the best course of action was to get on a night bus to take us further south along the coast to the city of Trujillo. We also agreed that we should be extra careful with our possessions from now on.

Two hours later, whilst waiting for the bus, nearly everything of ...