Greetings from Equador

Hi all!

Well has been a busy time as usual since last blog and we are now in Equador have spent the last 2 nigths in Quito and today we moved to about an hour away to a town near Cotopaxi mountain which we hope to summit on Friday at just shy of 6000m! We spent 5 nigths in taganga the last village I did the blog from. we had a lovely room there with our own balcony and hammock overlooking hte bay. The beach itself wasnt very nice, made Greystones seem like the sandiest beachin the world but the village itself had some lovely restaurants and a nice vibe. The storms continued every night and were truly the noisiest and most dramatic thunder and lightening I have ever experienced. On the second night the electricity cut so for 2 days we showered , toileted nad lived by candlelight and ate in the restaurants that had gas cooking facilities! it was a bit exciting but the noise of the generators around the town mixed with the4 ongoing local music did cause some sleepless nights!

From taganga we took a day trip by boast to some of the neighbouring beaches which were empty for the most part andmuch prettier with cleaner water and did some snorkelling and then we walked over ht eheadland anothe day to visit a more local beach which again was stony but had the entertainment of the local wome who spend the day alternating between sitting in the cafe chatting and then going for a dip fully clothed. This laong with the ice-cream seller who wheeled his ice cream cart up and down the beach actually in the water (see pic when I get them up!) kept us entertained for the day! Our last day in this area we packed up our bags and got a bus to Santa Marta where we had to hunt for an ATM (as the one on Taganga wasnt working cus powercut) and luckily found one as we werent sure how we were going to pay for anything ! Then we got the bus to Tayrona National Park where we planned to spend the night in a hammock. The bus journey itself was an experience. Most bus drivers in Columbia decorate their own bus so there is an array of tacky memorabilia to look at along with listening to the very loud music they play. In some ways you feel like youre in a night club. (They actually do have buses in cartagena that are party buses and you get on abd drink and dance for the night as they drive around the city!)Anyway eventually arrived at the park entrance where we then got a jeep 5k in and began the 1 hour walk through the forest to get to the beach. I wasnt feeling great that morning think it might have been the night befores fish soup so the idea of sleeping in a hammock for the night in a forest / beach area wasnt exciting me too much - lets just say the motilium and immodium were close at hand!
about an hour later and very hot and sticky we arrvied at hte first beacha and reserved ahammock with mossie net - very fancy and made our way to the next beach. The beaches are really beautiful and the water so clear , exactly what you would imagin the Carribbean Sea to look like but unfortunately the clouds came in and my diarrohea didnt go away! So we made an team decision to play the sick card and try get a refund on our hammocks and make our way back to Taganga and hope our room was still available. Luckily my face of pain and running off to go to the toilet mid conversation persuaded them that I wasnt faking and we got our refund and even got attention form the park nurse who having asked me the symptoms spooned some pink liquid into me and some tablet with instructions to take the next one in 8 hours. then we had to tackle the walk back tot he park entrance. No one is allowed in or out of the park after 5 pm so we were under a bit of time pressure. Anyway made it safely back to the entrance and eventually back tot he comfort of a proper bed and bathroom!

Next day we bused it back to Cartagena and spent another 2 nights there . The Miss Cartagena festival 2009 was in full swing but between tiredness from crappy nights sleep and my bug we werent able to make the most of it. Not feeling 100% I wasnt overly impressed when enroute to to dinner that night I got a handfull of flour shoved in my face mid trying to say dont you dare so in my mouth, hair and all over my face. having treated myslef to toner and moisturiser that evening to buck myslef up it formed a nice paste on my face! Poor Jo did very well not to laugh at me as she told me the next day if I hadnt been felling sick I would also have thoguht it was quite funny!! The next day we went to the parades and watched an array of amazingly colourful and vibrant dancers and then the beauty queens dance their way along on top of floats - all very entertaining. I will get videos and pics up asap to give a better impression of the mayhem. The thing to do is buy spray foam, corn flour and blue flour and throw it all over everyone (including the police!) This is followed by putting blue paint on your hands and trying to make a hand print on any unsuspecting person as they walk by. Needless to say we came home from the parade wet and blue and white and full of flour!!

Next day we headed for the airport and caught our fligth to Bogota and then connecting one to Quito. The second flight was with AeroGal (the Galapagos airline) - one of the most pleasant flights Ive ver been on, unfortunately it was only just over an hour , would have liked to stay on for longer! We were served champagne upon boarding and then hot towels and a lovely meal including mints when getting off the plane. We also had full personal entertainment on our seats in front so amused ourselves and kept our brains up to pace with a few rounds of 'Who wants to be a millionaire'! Beside us we had a very friendly lady from Columbia who lives half in Bogota and half in Quito. 5 minutes into he fligth we had her friends name whos a travel agent and could organise tours for us and her mobile number and we were to call her when we settled in . we also had a list of all the highlights of Equador we should visit!

Wed settled into our hostel about an hour and were adjusting to the altitude on our double bed each and fresh roses in room! (Flower market is HUGE in Equador cus of volcanic soil and roses are huge export and you can buy 24 for 2 dollars!) Anyway next thing theres a knock on our door and its Tulia (our frind form the plane) .She was going to give the hostel a call that night to give us the number of the travel aganet friend but the number I gave her for the hostel was wrong so remembering the name of the hostel and the street she had driven upand down the very long street until she found our hostel just to give us the number - bless! So here she is with her maid at our door (they were on thier way home form the supermarket shop!) and she told us we were to call her the next eveing and we would do something.

Quito is beautiful and full of life , the people are very friendly and look very similar to the people of Peru for the most part. We spent the dayfinalisign our climbing trip and organising our Galapagos cruise and then shopping for things we needed for climbing and trekking. Then we were picked up by Tulia nd her very mannerly and well educated 16 year old son Manuel and brought on a night time drive tour of the historic centre which is really beautriful. its probably the nicest city Ive seen ion South America. it has 52 churches - one for every week of the year but unfortunately most of them only open between 6 and 9 am! We tried to get into one that was open for a wedding but they told us we had to be part of the wedding party! The new trend in Quito is to get married at night as the city is noewly renovated and much saer nad nicer place to be this is the thing to do! So we saw a couple of weddings leaving churches at 9pm!

She took us walking then through the cobbled streets and we sampled some of the local hot drink for 50 c (bit like mulled wine) and stumbled upon a live show for free of local traditional dances . All in all a great night so we are going to meet up with her again in a couple of weeks when we will be back in Quito for thier Founders Day festival . In the meantime we are climbing a few volcanoes! Today we went ot the lagoon Quilotoa which is really beautiful , the top fo the old crator top is 4000m so we hiked in and out of that today. Tomorrow and the next day we have 2 more acclimatisation hikes and then a day off to rest the legs and gear up for our climb up Cotopaxi - the worlds highest active volcano! It hasnt wrupted for 114 years so its due to go again as they say it erupts every 100 years - lets hope its not when were there! We leave here on Thursday and climb half way up , then sleep adn get up at midnight to begin climb to summit whihc we should reach by sunset Friday morning! In the meantime we have to learn how to use harness, crampons and ice axes as seemingly we will need these! Anywa gotta go have a shower - seemingly there is hot water her (VERY exciting!!) and then choose from the delicious choice of buger, spaghetti or soup for our included dinner - hmm (not so great!) Promise as soon as I get tinme and free computer Ill get pics up, I know its more exciting to see what Im talking about! Love to all xoxoxo