Around the World in as long as it takes.

We jumped on the Bus from Banos to RioBamba and after a short, but bumpy hour and a half we pulled up in RioBamba.

The Bus dropped us off by a Roundabout at the top end of town... which meant we had to jump in a cab to our hostel.

We stayed at the Hostel Oasis...which the Taxi driver knew where it was.. which made a nice change.. and having booked in we decided to talk a short stroll around the city.

As we wondered around the city (the old colonial buildings were everywhere and there seemed to be a plaza on every corner (so to speak)... a bit different to Banos that´s for sure!

We asked around about tours to Chimborazo, and after some discussions with various operators.. we were recommended a guide by one of the hotels. The Hotel phoned the Guide (Joel) and literally and as if by magic he appeared at the hotel ready to meet his prospective guests for the following day.

We payed half the total (cheap at $40 for the 2 of us for a private tour!) and then headed back to the hostel via a pizza place as we had a TV in the room and decided to make the most of it.... Pizza, Pepsi and crap TV..... Great !

Joel picked us up as arranged at 7:30am outside the hostel.

His pick up was new and he spoke Spanish.. which meant the whole day was to be spent flicking through the Spanish phrase book for those illusive little words we couldn´t remember....

Joel was a pleasent soul and very talkative.... which at 7:30 am.... wasn´t exactly what Steph and I had in mind... Steph having taken the back seat so she could hide away and not have to talk pigeon Spanish for an hour or so up to the Mountain !

We continued up towards the Mountain and the Mist was heavy in the air... the higher we got... the heavier it seemed to get.

However... luckily for us Joel was on Hand and joking around he bet me that he´d be able to clear the mist so we could see the summit !!!

The Bet was on !

Stupid Welsh Man !!!!

Like a practiced conjurer.... Joel clapped his hands... started to sing and then as if by magic (or a well honed trick) he blew the mist away and the summit suddenly appeared above us !

The Man was a Magician !!!

Either that or a frequent visitor at this time of the day

So here we had it... the Highest Mountain in the world.....

well....

If you were to measure from the Centre of the Earth to the summit of Chimborazo... it´d be further away than both Evertest and K2.

However, unfortunately for it (and Ecuador)... the sea level bulges at the Equator... therefore... it´s not as high above sea level as the it´s 2 more famous mountain Brothers in the Himalayas.

Unlucky, but still Impressive I can tell you !!!

Joel dropped us off at the First Refugio (a meer 4,800 Metres above Sea Level) and then we headed up towards Refugio Edward Whymper a further 200 metres higher at 5000 metres above sea level!

On the way up you pass the graves of climbers and people who have died on the mountain. This was a bit of a downer as the most recent were a couple of germans in 2003.

It once again reminded us how dangerous and yet beautiful Mountains can be ! And in this respect, Ecuador had it´s fair share!

Luckily for us we´re fairly acclimatised to this altitude malarky and after a short half hour walk we arrived to a Locked Refugio.

The Obligatory Welsh Flag Shot was taken with the Help of Joel and even the Mountain cooperated a little bit by clearing up for us

It was nice and luckily for us the Refugio caretaker (not too happy to be there we thought) turned up (begrudgingly) and opened up for us... no coffees or anything though were to be had... so having taken some shots of the mountain we headed down once again!

We arrived at the lower refugio to be welcomed by the Entire Ecuadorian Mountain Elite Brigade and their artillary (or so it seemed !)

We worried for a wee while and contemplated returning back up the mountain and claiming sanctuary at the Higher Refugio.... but we didn´t and wondered into the Refugio.

Here the Soldiers were all having cups of Coca Tea and chatting happily !

Their Tanks were outside and having chatted to the Captain and shared a cigarette we managed to convince him to let Steph up into one of the tanks for a quick photo !

Classic !!!

In a tank at 4,800 metres !!! Not many people can claim that one I tell you !

We headed back to RioBamba, via some local villages(And Wildlife!), where Joel seemed to know almost everyone... or so he made out

Once in RioBamba, we popped to the train station and bought our tickets for :

"The DEVILS Nose Train ride"

oooohhhhhhhh.......

What a dissapointment this turned out to be !

Chimborazo was Fantastic Though so well worth paying for the day trip with Joel (Highly recommended also)

The following morning we were given a lift to the train station by the hostel owner (well his great great grand dad or similar it seemed in an equally old car)

We´d met two germans (Andrea and Reinhart) at our hostel and a Brazilian, Amy, who we´d met at the Refugio on Chimborazo the previous day all waiting for the train and we all boarded ready for the 7am departure.

Now unfortunately, because of 2 Japanese tourists who´d literally lost their heads whilst riding on the roof of the train (i.e. not paying attention!) we were no longer allowed to ride on the roof of the train !

Damn.... what a let down and to be honest.... the only point you´d be riding the train otherwise !

It was a pretty train ride to Alausi... however nothing special (I fell asleep) although the town of Alausi was pretty.

We headed for the Nariz (Nose) of the Devil and after a coupld of switchbacks down the mountain arrived at our final stop.... a ghost town / train station in the middle of nowhere!

Then....... we headed back up the track, back to Alausi !

Wow... what a ride... NOT !

Really think the Ecuadorian Tourist people need to find some way of letting the Gringos back on the roof...else word will get around and no one will bother.... I wouldn´t that´s for sure !

We jumped on a bus in Alausi, together with about 30 other Gringos and headed down to Cuenca.

We arrived in the evening at 8pm so jumped in a taxi and headed to our hotel in town (Hotel Milan)

It was nice and having checked in for a mere $7 each (including Agua Caliente.... hot Water and more importantly.... BREAKFAST !!!)

we were well chuffed with ourselves (Some things are too good to be true though.... as we found out later on!)

We went to sleep and tomorrow we´ll head out and about around Cuenca!

The view from our room was cool as it overlooked Plaza St Stephen (one of the main market Plazas) and also we found out that the Irish Girls were also in the hotel as we bumped into Caroline on the stairs the previous night !

Ben was also there from Hostel Revolution in Quito. So it was good to catch up with everyone.

Steph and I visited the Museo De Las Culturas Aborigines which had more pieces of Pottery than I think we´ve ever seen before in our lives.

We really liked it.. although the others weren´t too impressed!

We also visted the Museo Del Banco Central (Pumapungo) which had a fascinating exhibit of Shrunken Heads (or tsantsas) and also the remains of an Inca Citidel in it´s grounds.

It was a good museum, however, lacked something... not too sure what though !

ah well....

Today was Shopping day... since I had a hole in the knees of mine... and Steph didn´t like her American ones (The Cut was apparently bad!)

So to keep my life simple... I agreed to the purchase of 2 pairs (Mine being a cool pair of Dolce and Gabbana Copies.... $15 and Stephs being a bit more at $25... I got the better deal I reckon though

Quite liked Cuenca and enjoyed the night life and just walking the streets, which is refreshing after Quito I can tell you !!!

We headed for Loja the following day, and racked up in a cheapy hotel (Hostel londres) which was basic to say the least.

However it was safe and the following day we caught the bus from Loja over the border to Peru (Via Macara)

This route was absolutely fine and having walked over the bridge and the border into Peru we headed to Piura, where we decided to immediately catch a bus down to Chiclayo where we´d start on our Temple Journey Around Peru....

I´ve been waiting years to see all the interesting temples and Cultures in Peru so here... finally... we were in Peru !!!!

The bus ride from Quito to Baños (about $3) took about 4 hours...... on bumpy roads!

We travelled there with Caroline (an irish girl we had met in Quito), it was her second time in Baños as her bag had been swiped the first she had arrived straight off the bus! This time everything was ok!

A little apprehensive that my spanglish telephone conversation the previous night had not been understood we turned up at Hostal Plantos y Blancos......... we had a room booked....... yeah!

A nice private room with our very own shower (definately agua caliente), how posh!

Carolines friends, Niamph and Sarah had bussed it to Baños the previous day and were already at the hostal.

That evening we sat upstairs on the outside patio to see a huge smoke plume puff it´s way upwards from Vulcan Tungurahua......... one of the most active Volcanoes in south america (if not the world)....... very reassuring for us at the base of the mountains!!??

We managed to create a little gang on the patio and proceeded to drink lots of cervezas, followed by lots of ron (rum) and cokes!!!!

This made the decision to head out on the town very easy....... it was Halloween after all!

We chose the leprachaun bar, very fitting for the irish girls, and proceeded to get even more pished....... after a weird, unknown shot with tequilla and some other spirits, it was all downhill from there!

There was much dancing, drinking and stealing of the bar staffs hats going on (and maybe a little volunteer work behind the bar too!!!

As you can imagine the following day, for myself anyhow, was much of a write off!!!!!!!!

We did manage to visit the cementary that was very elaborate. Lots of people were painting the tombs and laying flowers. They were all very proud and getting ready for All Souls Day the following day.

A fairly quiet night with a little gang of us heading out for a bite to eat.... It was an ok restaurant but a little tainted by the fact that a guy from the hostal (central american) received his meal for free after suggesting the restuarant in the first place..... we didn´t go there again or accept the guys invitations again!

There wasn´t any problems, however, when someone that´s supposed to be part of the gang and a fellow traveller, gets their meal for free from the owner as their Spanish is much better than anyone elses.... We don´t like it. It helps cement the idea of "Them and Us"

The following day was All Souls Day and we headed up to the cementary again to see flowers being sold, old men in their sunday best and lots of people just milling around. It was all very interesting as to how fond of their deceased relatives South Americans are. Kids would be climing on the grave stones and people would be talking about stories of how "Old Uncle Xavier did this and that ..... etc."

A Good Eye Opener for the both of us!

It was a gorgeous day, no clouds for a change, so we headed along a path in search of a better look at our smoking volcano!

The walk up was great as we passed a few farm houses, children playing and chickens running across the path. Unfortunately, by the time we made the Mirador, there were a few clouds hanging around the top of the volcano but the constant plume of smoke was still clearly visible.... cool but scary...... we were in a really bad place if it were to blow big style....... yikes!!!

A little later we decided to hire bikes and head off for an easyish ride for a couple of hours. The bikes seemed too much effort so back in town a few of us grabbed quad bikes and headed up to Bellavista lookout and beyond for some great views over Baños. It was so green and lush out here!

That night we had dinner at a really nice mexican restuarant, Poncho Villa on the main drag in Banos, with the irish girls. Fajitas and plenty of vino mmmmm.

During the night there was a huge thunder and lightening storm, so loud it shook the room. Having been shaken up I decided to check there was no major erruption happening..... everything seemed fine. Mr Williams was happily snoring all through the storm! The next day we were told that constant volcanic activity causes the huge storms! Something to do with the ash in the air collecting the humidity.... or something like that!

After a rainy start it turned out into a beautifull day and so Alan and myself had a quad bike between us (I had the easy part of being a passenger) and rode along the ruta de cascadas towards the pailon diablo waterfall!

The route was very pretty, right on the edge of a canyon.

The unnerving part however was the 4 or 5 pitch black tunnels that we had to ride through......... with a little flimsy light on the quad. Glad Mr Williams was driving, I just hung on for dear life!!

Later we had a meal at Casa Hood (Cafe hood also nice for lunch), it was very tasty but full of gringos!

We did see some Coy (Guinea Pig) for sale on our way back... but we were already full so thought it wrong to try some on a full stomach

It was a nice early start the next day and after breakfast on the patio we headed to the Geotours. We were about to go white water rafting!!!! It was a good deal for $30 each for a half day, that actually ended at 4pm after an almuerzo (set lunch).

The fact that there was a family from guayaquil (the largest city in Ecuador and situated on the West Coast) who included three young girls, in another raft doing the exact same route as we were doing, kind of made us feel less brave!

How we good we all looked in our gear !!!! NOT !!!! Alan decided to take the pictures so as to not be in any of them... bugger !

Our guide decided that Alan, two of the irish girls and myself were up for getting soaked and after asking us if we could swim made us flip the boat (sneakily telling Alan and Caroline to jump to mine and Niamhs side of the raft).

Somehow I ended up underneath the raft !!!

Alan saw a little hand appear from under the boat and yanked it bringing me bouncing to the surface.

We were all safe and sound, soaked and laughing very loadly! Our guide, not being satisfied with only a single soaking, proceeded to get us stuck on a rock....... Caroline and Alan fell out ha ha!

The Guide also through my camera (in waterproof case) to the other raft, it ended up in the water moving swiftly towards the rapids but was rescued! Hmmm

But he was a nice guy and watched out for us all the way down the river (which took some 2 hours!)

Later that evening Alan, myself and the irish girls headed to an Argentinian restuarant (directly behind the hostal) for a gorgeous steak and posh vino tinto. It was a little more expensive but really really tasty and the Chef was great value!

It was our last night in Baños and of course it wouldn´t be complete without a visit to the Leprachaun bar.

Not quite as drunken as the first night though .....ha ha!

Unfortunately the evenings were a little cloudy which meant the $3 trip to see the volcano errupting was a complete waste of time, so we didn´t bother. We had heard that it was rubbish anyway as you were really far away (although some people might prefer that)!

Well the next morning the irish girls left for Cuenca while Alan and myself headed off to Riobamba on an even bumpier bus ride!!

Que Risa (What a laugh en Espanol!).... we´re getting better by the day !

We´d booked to climb the mountain through Happy GRingo in Quito, who then sub booked us through a small little outfit around the corner called Condor Treck!

They were a decent enough looking outfit and having arrived there two guys who´d just returned from the mountain said it was great and the gear was all good!

This sealed it and so the next day, we´d head off early in the morning (having tested all our gear for the climb in the shop already)

It was a 2 hour drive to Cotopaxi National Park but a pretty one.

We dumped our bags and headed out with provisions for a four hour EASY walk to acclimatise, making climbing cotopaxi easier!!!???

The walk started at a lake and was very gradual towards the summit of Rumiñahui (4712m). It was all going so well, there were no problems with altitude and then suddenly thunder and lightening appeared in the distance. Ok carry on!

Just before reaching the top we had to quickly turn back as the thunder and lightening was much closer.

So we decided to walk down the mountain via a valley........ very sensible to walk high in open spaces during a lightening storm.

I don´t think I have ever walked so fast with my head down and thunder crashing right above!!!!

To put the cherry on the cake it hailed.......... HARD!!!

It took us an hour less than intended to race back down the mountain to the hostal. We arrived soaking wet and were glad of the huge open fire where we all huddled amongst the wet items of clothing draped eveywhere!!

After a very nice meal it was an early night.

The next morning we headed to the refugio at the base of Cotopaxi. It was an hour from the carpark with backpacks but fairly easy. We reached the refugio at 4800m.

After a few hours rest and plenty of coca tea (with no other side affects much to Alans dissapointment!) we hiked to the glacier for a wee practice session complete with crampons and icepicks!

The session went quite well, we felt quite comfortable with the ice and were raring to go!

Back at the refugio, which now had about 7 other climbers and 4 other guides, we had the obligitary spag bol, before TRYING to sleep for a few hours!

I´m not sure whether it was the excitement, apprehension or the altitude that induced insomnia but I hardly slept at all, Alan slept a little!

Cesar, our guide, woke us up at 11pm to get dressed in all the regalia and have some brekkie. Having breakfast at 11pm was weird to say the least but it was important to eat something!

12 midnight we stepped into our harness´ and headed off ............ to climb Cotopaxi!!!!!!

It had snowed heavily during our rest so we started off with a trek through a couple of inches of snow before even getting to the glacier.

Once at the glacier we were attached together with a rope (first Cesar, then me and finally Alan). We slipped the crampons on and stomped along the ice. It was a little tiring but bearable.... so far so good.

As we approached the sand (now snow) I managed to slip down a crevace (later finding out it was tiny BUT in the dark and with my frantic imagination it was a huge never ending drop AND I was going to die!!!!!) I didn´t die and with the help of Alan and Cesar pulling me back with the rope we plodded on.

Plodding was definately the style of choice for us both with the snow being extra soft!

We reached a small glacier as we plodded up the Volcano and it was a tricky maneouvre to get up and around it. This involved using our ice crampons much more than we´d done so before and sticking our toes into the ice to climb vertically up the ice !

This was getting dangerous!!!!!!

I was definately out of my comfort zone and I don´t think Alan was too far behind me.

We successfully negotiated the ice ridge and continued to plod ever upwards through the increasingly slippery and soft snow!

We were really tired (me especially) so Cesar made a tiny ledge to sit on and rest. Plunging the ice picks into the snow and wrapping the ropes tightly around them made it more secure..... kind of !?!

It was a short break and onwards again. Cesar did mention at this point that this kind of snow often caused avalanches..... very reassuring.

One of the guys a little further infront of us came past us as they had decided to turn back, deciding it was too hard.

Hmm ??????????

A little further on I was completely shattered again (Alan not far from it also) and needed another precarious rest on the edge of a volcano.

It was at this point 5400m up that we decided enough was enough and to turn back. I was gutted to say the least (we both were).

Descending the mountain was by no means easy.... harder in some ways.

Alan had the difficult part of leading the way as it was a complete reverse. The snow was just as hard to negotiate on the way down.

It was great fun as we hit the ice patch again, Alan handled it pretty well on 2 feet but I had to resort to all fours......... practically abseiling on the rope. Very attractive!

We made it back to the glacier and over the huge (not) crevace.

We even made it back to the refugio where we unloaded our gear and climbed back into our sleeping bags........ defeated!

In the morning we found that nobody had made it to the summit that night and that only one french guy had made it further than us, having to terminate the climb just 90m from the top due to the dangerous conditions!

After a coca tea we made our descent to the carpark where we were driven back to Quito.

We were completely shattered. I felt a mixture of failure and pride as we had tried so very hard.

Maybe we had bitten off a little more than we could chew this time.

Cotopaxi was yet to be beaten and possibly, for us amateurs anyway, a Volcano too far !!!

After arriving at Baltra airport on San Cristobal island on our direct flight from Quito (Which took about 3 hours) we were immediately seperated from our $100 entrance fee EACH! This is for the initial park entry fee... and combined with the minimum $350 flight ticket tab meant everyone... well unless you´re ecuadorian.... shells out $450 before you even set foot out of the airport!

It was then a free for all as we all crammed onto a free bus to the ferry.

The ferry journey was short but it took longer as everyone piled their bags, boxes, cases, new TV´s etc. precariously on top of the boat before we left the dock!

The water did look gorgeous and so clear though.

We then all shoved ourselves onto a bus to Puerto Ayora, the main town on the island.

Squashed at the back with 4 kiwis the bus took about 1 hour down to the other end of the island, where we were to start our Galapagos adventure proper!

In Puerto Ayora we headed straight to Hotel Espana where we managed to bargain the senora down to $25 for a room..... apparently the extra cost was because it had aqua caliente ("Hot Water...... ???")

After dumping our bags we headed straight out and bumped into the kiwis from the bus, Katie, Hamish, Paul and Bryce.

Puerto Ayora is a different world to Quito.

It was so slow paced and within a few hours af arriving we had already seen sea lions, iguanas, pelicans and brightly coloured sally lightfoot crabs!

A little research was made as to what to do in the next couple of days before meeting up with the guys for a few cervezas and some food at one of the cool little kiosks on Charles Binford.

The kiosks seemed full of locals and we chose a busy one called 'Williams' (But of course!!! ,)

The atmosphere was lovely and the food was delicious.... although I did feel a little silly asking for the menu to find out that there were only 3 dishes ON the menu.

Chicken and rice, prawns and rice or fish and rice!!

Alan, myself and Bryce chose the prawns, which were delicious!!

The next day we decided to head for Isabella island for a few days and found a 3 day, 2 night deal that worked out cheaper than doing everything ourselves!

So early that afternoon we caught the bouncy little ferry to Puerto Villami, Isabella. It took 2.5 hours.

Apparently en route a manta ray jumped out of the water but I woke to everybodies 'oohs' and 'ahhs' and missed everything!

We had to take another smaller boat to the jetty at Puerto Villami as the water was too shallow for the ferry, myself and the 4 kiwis left Alan to catch the second small boat with 6 backpacks to carry ha ha!

On the jetty we found Dario, our guide on Isabella, who dropped us off at our hotel.

The Hotel Brisas Del Mar must have been very surprised with the uncontained excitement, of six bacpackers, at the sight of private rooms with private hot showers AND a TV, even though there were only 2 channels and all in spanish!!!!

10 minutes later we were picked up and taken to the tortoise breeding centre where we saw tortoises ranging from tiny babies up to the senoir citizens of the islands being all of 90 year olds., Although they can live up to 150 years old!

Then it was a quick trip to the flamingo lagoon (to see 5 flamingoes in the distance... very exciting) before walking through the laid back town centre to Lobos, Darios' restuarant, on the end of a pier surrounded by a gorgeous beach!

The Bar was every Surfers dream we reckon... a bar at the end of a pier surrounded by pristine waters, Gorgeous beaches and of course stunning Surf!

We had very nice chicken with..... um..... rice (of course) and washed it down with a few beers.

It was during our meal that Dario informed us that from June to September was American tourist season,
November to January was European tourist season while at the moment we were in 'little people' season!

Well its comforting to know what we are!!!

After dinner we felt like another beer so stumbled into a wee bar on the way back to the hotel.

The guy made us lots of free popcorn as we listened to Bob Marley.

This is the life!!!!

The next day we were woken at about 5 am to the chants of the "Galapagos army" as they jogged around the sandy town..... hmmmm!

After our boiled eggs, ham and cheese toasties for breakfast we were all raring to go and heading to the base of Volcan Negro, that had errupted as recently as 2002.

While waiting for the horses we all visited the most bizarre (and very clean) flushing toilet..... out in the middle of a field literally half way up a mountain all on it´s own! Very Cool!

Alans horse was a little feisty young stallion called 'Pony', he ran off to the front and more or less stayed there all of the time up the volcano and coming back.

As Alans hat fell off he stopped Pony to dismount, Pony didn't like stopping and reared up a few times before running off into the bushes!

Very funny for everyone apart from Alan.

Pony and Alan soon resumed their pole position.

My horse was quite happy amongst the horses AND amongst the dust!!!

The crater was huge and is apparently the second largest in the world. At the top we dismounted the horses and went for a wee walk onto the volcano and the 5 year old lava flows.... cool (well they were by now anyway )

The ride back down was a little faster and I even got to gallop at the dege of the crater.... cool. Much of the rest of the time we were trotting, getting very very dusty.

Alan and Pony were a good ten minutes in front... of course!

At the end I looked like I had been down the mines but still laughing!!

We jumped back into the minibus for the trip back down the Volcano and on the way down Bryce suddenly spotted a Hawk perched on the side of the road. The van reversed a little bit and surprisingly... it didn´t move!

We all got out of the van... and it still didn´t move!

We all started taking pictures and .... it turned around as if to question what all the fuss was about!

This place is great and the animals make it tall the better!

After a much needed shower back at the hotel we all geared up for a snorkel in a shallow bay.

The water was cold but the snorkelling was great as we were surrounded by at least 8 white tip reef sharks, a stingray and numerous colourfull fish. Just before getting out we had two sea lions playing around us!

On the way back we saw marine iguanas and blue footed boobies, that crashed into the rocks as they tried to fly off... clumsy buggers!

That night at Lobos it was fish, mmmm.

Of course we had to go for another cerveza, popcorn and more Bob Marley at our favourite local!

It was an early start again the next day, ready for the ferry at 5.30am.

We arrived back in Puerto Ayora nice and early, dumped our bags at Hotel Espana and went for breakfast.

A little later we walked to Bahia Tortuga (turltle bay).

The 30 minute trail led out onto a gorgeous white sandy beach with turquoise sea and huge marine iguanas splashing around!

There were a large group of turtles bobbing around close to shore, waiting for nightfall to climb up the beach to nest (but unfortunately the beach closed at 6 pm and there were no tours to view the spectacle).

As we walked along the beach we reached a sheltered bay where a blue footed boobie posed nicely for a photo. We met the other guys, knee deep in the calm water surrounded by white tip reef sharks and the odd low flying pelican!

Later on we all met up for a cheeky cerveza and a chicken.... and rice..... on Charles Binford.

It was another earlish start as we were at the dive centre at 7.30am only to learn that (as it had been a full moon last night) the tides had been bigger than expected and the boat was beached!?

9.30am we left on the now un-beached boat. It was about a two hour boat ride to the dive site of Seymor Norte.

We donned our 7mm wetsuits and after a little weight test rolled in.

I mis-judged my weights and struggled to sink (I must have the floatiest bum) but eventually did!

The dive was very challenging with strong currents but so rewarding. As soon as we descended a sea lion was playing around with Alan who equally kept the sea lion entertained I think!

We saw hammerhead sharks, white tip reef sharks, sting rays, eels, puffer fish and numerous schools of colourful fish!

After the first dive we were all tired but went in again for another dive. I put another 2 kgs on my weight belt but was still a bit light!

The aqautic life was even better, this time we saw a green turtle, eagle rays and even a big galapagos shark (I think the guide was even more excited at seeing this than us). It was a bit of a struggle though due to strong currents and I went floating calmly off at one stage, Alan managed to grab me and we made it back to the other two divers!

We had to grab the rocks to pull ourselves along (something that fellow divers know you shouldn't make a habit of.... especially when there are stone fish around)! Alan cut his finger on one of the rocks...... the white tip reef sharks were quite friendly then!!!!!

All in all it was the most challenging but most rewarding dive I have done yet!

That evening we had a few farewell cervezas (as the kiwis were leaving on a tour boat tomorrow) and a fish and RICE supper at Williams!!!

Alan and myself did a little asking around, the following morning, for deals on boat trips and day trips! We decided the boat trips that were offered were a little expensive and we had seen so much already, what else could $1000 give us? We were interested in some other day trips but they were full at the momento so we could try again tomorrow!!???

We gave up for now and headed for the Charles Darwin centre, a short walk from town. After a little interprative centre we walked to the tortoise enclosure, similar to the breeding centre on isabella, but this time we could walk amongst the giant tortoise.... cool!

This is also the home of Lonesome George, the last tortoise of his species. He did have two chicas fighting for his attention but alas he doesn't fancy any of them..... he is probably 100 years old!

The centre also had land iguanas.

The following day we found a tourist office that had trips for the following 2 days so we proceeded to change our flights for a few days later at the Tame office in Puerto Ayora. This was very quick and free.

We changed the flights back 5 minutes later when the senorita at the tourist office informed us that the trips may not go...... like I have already said we had seen a lot already so didn't need to waste any time and spend any more money!!

After this palava we decided to rent bikes (with dodgy seats and pedals) and grabbed a taxi to Santa Rosa where we cycled down a dirt track in search of El Chato tortoise reserve, where we could spot tortoise in the wild!

Along the track we spotted a wild tortoise and about hundred metres we spotted a lonesome bull in the middle of the path, yeah he wasn't too keen on us so eventually he won..... we turned back.

After the initial slog on the dirt track it was all down hill to Bellavista, where the lava tunnels were. The lady let us have a few minutes rest, and some free bananas, before handing us a torch and letting us wander off into the lava tunnel ourselves.

The tunnels were about 700m long and incredibly dark as the small lights only came on halfway into the tunnel. I decided I was keeping the torch..... didn't trust Mr Williams with the torch as last time we were in a similar situation he turned the torch off and left me!!!!

It was then another downhill ride back to Puerto Ayora. Many locals said hello while we were cycling.... not many gringos hire bikes..... we are the tight arses!!!!

Just 2 kms out of town we spotted a tortoise plodding along the side of the road, with all the traffic whizzing past ha ha.

Just 2 kms....... we had cycled about 20kms to spot a bloody wild tortoise!!!!!!

Back in Puerto Ayora we dropped the bikes back to the hire shop which doubled up as the towns lavanderia! We then had yummy icecream and chocolate cake!!!

Later that evening we treated ourselves to a really nice meal (the restuarant was full of gringos but the food was good)!

Our final day in the Galapagos was spent crammed onto buses, ferries and running for the departure desk at the airport. It was a complete shambles but good fun..... we realised that ecuadorians will push, pull and knock you out the way for the chance of a better seat..... I think we gave them as good as they got...ish!!!

So it was Adios Los Galapagos........ what a magical place!!!!!

Hostel Revolution is right inbetween Quito Old Town and Quito New Town.

It´s handy as the Bus runs right outside into both towns (so to speak) and the owner is an Aussie and all the people in the hostel tend towards the independent traveller (which is great for gleaning information about what and where to go next!)

Having spent a few days acclimatising to the altitude and getting Spanish lessons organised we decided to stay here for about three weeks (which co-incided with the Rugby World Cup)

We´ve decided to try and spend one month in each country as this should give us long enough to get a rough overview of the country itself, while also allowing us to visit quite a few in our six months down here.

We walked into New Town and went to a few Spanish schools to check out what the score was with regards to cost and what was available in terms of lessons.

Viva Verde had been recommended to us by Matt (The Hostel Owner) so we checked it out and then we also checked out Apu Inty Spanish School, which had been recommended to us by a british couple we´d met in the pub over the weekend.

We went to both and decided on Apu Inty as the Classes looked that much more professional and a bit more organised (With Hiensight... I (although Steph differs on this one) wish we´d selected Vida Verde)

Anyway, we started lessons and since the place was fully booked in the mornings had to opt for afternoon lessons... for the first week anyway.

We started lessons and we both suddenly realised how rubbish our Spanish actually was (me more so as I´d picked up a few bad habits etc. and also thought I was quite good anyway... WRONG !)

We started at 1pm and finished four hours later at 5. We were brain dead, although our lecturers were both nice and we both had high hopes for our Spanish Linguistics by the end of our two weeks.

Over the next 8 days we changed lecturers once, changed times to the mornings, learnt how to speak Spanish out of a book (literally in my case) and unfortunately the lessons really didn´t live up to what we were expecting.

We´ve spoken to others about their experiences and they range from good to average.

Problem being that I prefer to talk (No Shit Sherlock) however we reckon Steph got a lot out of the lessons as they gave her a lot more confidence in speaking and I have to be honest.... I did learn about 10 new words over the 2 weeks !!!!!!

The Lessons weren´t cheap either !

OK... you get a one to one with a lecturer.... however... my lecturers seemed to be intent on teaching me based on a pre defined schedule out of a book... to which I was damned if I was going to stick to it ! I´m paying for this after all... I´ll be fecked if you´re going to dictate to me how quickly I´m supposed to be learning!

i.e. Day 5 - Irregular Verbs
Day 13 - 3 rd person Conjunctive Plural Imperfect Subjugations...... What the...... F·ck !!!!!!!!! ARRGGGGHHHHHH

I don´t even know what those words mean in English.... nor Welsh for that matter !!!!

And why the hell is knowing all the endings for a single verb (i.e. to Run) going to help me over the next 6 months i.e. I run, you run, They run, We Run... Fucking hell... I can´t even rememebr the word "Run" Never mind the associated 52 endings !!!!!

Learning from a book..... not my way to go !

However, Steph seemed much better than me and managed to keep to the school Schedule... I on the other hand decided to have arguments with my lecturers about the meaningfulness of all this shite and that I purely wanted to know how to speak something useful... not something like "God lives in an Ice Tower...." Honestly... that was one of the examples.... to which I replied in Spanish.... "What is God ?"....

My Lecturer and I didn´t get on pretty much after that point ,)

The lessons were $6 per hour... so for 8 days at 4 hours a day for the two of us we spent $384

Feck me... see what I mean not Cheap !!!

But this was pretty much the going rate so what the heck.

In between the "lessons" we also toured around Quito itself.

The Museo Central was fantastic and had more pottery than I think I´ve ever seen in any museum anywhere else before. All Originals and well worth the $3 entry fee. There was also a gold room with some displays of ornamental jewellery from days gone by)

We also visited the Reptile Park where we saw about 70 different species of snake (all but one of which are indigenous to Ecuador!)

Quito is a nice enough City, however, there is crime here.. and you really needed to be on your toes in csome areas and at some times of teh day / night.

It´s not to say it´s totally unsafe, however, walking about with my SLR isn´t really a good idea, hence the lack of Photos of Quito City itself, walking around with a bag even gives a perspective thief something to grab... so whenever we wonder around... no bags (if possible!)

The People are nice enough, but it´s hard to switch off the hard exterior coating when people approach you, for whatever reason... which is unfortunate and hopefully something we´ll manage to shrug off as we progress around South America.

It is a big city after all !