Hello again, it's been a whil I know but I haven't been near a computer for the past few days. I guess I should start with the flight in to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. It's worth mentioning because the city is high in the Andes and the airport sits in a vally in the suburbs. The problem is that as you approach the runway from the air, their is a big mountain in the way making a direct approach impossible for big aircraft. Instead they fly over the top of the city and spiral down into the airport. I must admit, it is probably the most nervous I have ever been in a plane, sitting in a Boeing 737 while it spirals towards the ground.

After a good nights sleep, I needed it, I did the stock standard tourist thing and went to Mitad del Munde (Middle of the World). Its a monument that was put in place around 80 years ago and marks the equator. In reality its a fairly tacky village based around the monument with tourist shops and a host of small musuems. While worth seeing, it wasn't the most spectacular thing I've ever seen. The irony of it is that because the monument was put in place before the advent of modern surveying techniques, it doesn't actually lie on the equator. Rather it's off by about 300m. So off I went next door to the solar Inti Ñan museum, which claims to have the real equator running through it. And they have the physics to prove it. Again the museum itself was a little tacky though did have a few Ecuadorian artifacts like a 10m long anaconda skin and a real shrunken head (amazing to see). But the real fun was in the experiments. The classic being water flushing down a sink and I'm here to tell you that the evidence is undeniable. On the equator line the water does not spin at all, it goes stright down the hole. 1m to the left and it spun in one direction, 1m to the right and it spun the other way. Amazing to look at, almost mind boggling to see. Other things were balancing on the equator, balancing an egg on a nail (now I haven't tried this not on the equator but I managed to balance it for the record) and strength tests. Apparently you are slightly weaker on the equator because you don't have the aid of directional gravity. I'm still not convinced on this one but for the record, my resistance to the weights were slightly less at the equator.

The next day I went to the volcano Cotopaxi. I can't remember for sure but I think it is the highest active volcano in the world. And in typical style I mountain biked down it. I've found that this is a great way to see the sites, much quicker than walking and if your going downhill, much easier. We didn't go to the top, you need crampons, an ice pick and a couple of days to do that but went as high as the weather would allow us to go on the road to base camp. Now let me say it was cold. Blowing a gale, the temperature was easily single figures, which was lucky because it meant there was no snow. Only a slight bit of rain, not enough to worry us. But as soon as we started riding the wind really started biting. It was great to see the volcano though. A typical conical shape, I appreciated it (and the surrounding rocks) through the geeky eyes of a geology student. Sometimes you have to appreciate the forces of nature, especially after I spent such a large chunk of my life studying it. It was a great ride though. As we descended the weather improved though the cloud never left the mountain so I never saw the whole thing (though I did when I left Quito on a clear day). It was great to ride through the national park as well, there were a couple of lakes and a wild horses.

On Saturday I woke up early and headed out to the Otavalo Markets. They are famous for there weaving abilities and the stuff is fairly cheap. After being to so many markets in South America it didn't seem like anything special. It's the quality of goods that's meant to separate it, it was bigger than most as well. I went with an Argentinian, which was great because he did all the haggling for me and was a lot better than I am at it, funnily enough his spanish was better than mine as well. He also convinced me to buy a panama hat for myself. The panama hat is what Ecuador is probably most famous for. The name is a bit of a misnomer because Ecuadorian milliners used to sell their wares at the Panama Canal after it first opened and soon the hats were associated with Panama and not Ecuador, they were all made in Ecuador though. They are made of straw and can be rolled up and put into your pocket for ease of transport only the reform their shape when taken out. It's quite impressive. So I look like a real tourist now anyway. All in all it was a relaxing day, though much of it was spent on the bus.

Sunday I strolled through the Old Town of Quito. It was quite a rich city in the colonial days and the Old Town is a stunning collection of old buildings wonderfully restored to make for a pleasant stroll. Interspersed amongst these are a number of grandiose churches set amongst their own squares but I've just about OD'ed on churches so I only went inside one. What was great was in just about every square there were performances with of Ecuadorian music, dancing and other entertainment. They had closed off all the Old Town to traffic so it was pedestrian only. The only problem was that being a Sunday, most of the shops were shuttered up giving any streets without people in it a real ghost town feel. I also ventured up the Panecillo, which means something like bread loaf, overlooking the city. All in all, with the exception of the Old Town district, Quito wasn't a brilliant destination. Some highlights but all in all, doesn't hold a candle to the likes of Cusco and Arequipa.

So I was about to head south on Monday but I made the last minute decision to join a couple of Dutch geologists I had met in going a lodge in the rainforests west of Quito. First though, we ventured to the Quito Basilica. Started bulding in the 19th century this church still hasn't been finished, giving it an unusual appearance. I know I said before that I was over visiting churches but this one had a difference that attracts the tourists. You are able to climb to the very top of the spires of the church. And sitting atop a hill they provide some of the best views of Quito. Well worth the effort, you geet to climb through the roof of the church and up above the bell tower. As promised the views were great and you could see the snow capped volcanoes in the background. We had a clear morning as well, making it even better. So in the afternoon, myself and the dutch geologists headed to a secluded lodge in the cloud forests near a small town of Puerto Quito with one simple plan, to do as little as possible. A great place to relax, the two storey lodge was made entirely of forest materials with hammocks hanging from the beams of the second floor. But amongst this it was really comfortable with hot water (a luxury in most parts of South America) and electricity (again a luxury in the more remote parts of the mountains). A really beautiful, peaceful place with a stream running past making for a great place to cool down from the humidity. Much of our time their was spent relaxing, doing little else other than lying in hammocks, drinking from freshly picked cocnuts and talking. We took a couple of short excursions. One was to a 40m high waterfall with a deep pool beneath it for some swimming. You could also climb up the cliffs behind the waterfall and sit directly below the cascades. Needless to say it hit with a fair bit of pressure but massaged the back quite nicely. A beautiful spot to spend the afternoon. Th next day we went out to a fruit farm near the lodge to see all the tropical fruit. It was bizzare to see how pineapples grow, I always figured they grew in trees like bananas or coconuts, but instead they grow on what look like small aloe vera plant with a pineapple sticking out the top. But there was an assortment of fruits from the coca trees (source of coca tea, which I love, and other products such as opium morphine and cocaine), cocoa plants (source of chocolate), cafe plants (you guessed it, source of coffee), huge oranges, grapefruits and other citrus fruit, bananas, coconuts and an assortment of crazy looking fruits I've never seen or heard of, some for medicinal and some for eating. It was great strolling through the plantations picking and eating all the fruits as we passed. One of the highlights of the lodge though was in the evenings when we made chocolate. Starting by roasting the cocoa beans in a pan, the beans were then shelled and ground into a coffee-like powder. Mixed with some water and juice of cane suger to sweeten and boiled to the consistency of chocolate, this formed the simplest form of chocolate. At 90% chocolate beans, this stuff was richer than any chocolate you will buy at the shops. The strongest dark chocolate is only 70% cocoa. But this wasn't the same as the chocolate in the shops either as that is fermented for about 8 days. Served on a plate with fruit and biscuits it was fantastic. All those chocoholics out there would have loved it. I certainly did.

After another night in Quito upon my return, bid the Dutch girls farewell (they head home on Saturday) and headed south. But more on that in the next post. Hope all is well with everyone. I'll be back in Peru after the weekend and a few days in Baños in Ecuador. Have Fun.

Cheers