It?s now one week into my trip, well 8 days technically speaking, and I?m writing from an interent caf?n Cuenca. Cuenca is a pretty large, one million people, colonial city in Ecuador; it was orginially an Inca settlement but obviously was rebuilt post the invasion by the Spanish. I would love to tell you all the details of everything that I?ve done but so many amazing things have happened since I arrived your going to have to do with a bullet point summary!Day1: Quito I arrive in Quito on day 0 and stayed in a very swish hotel in the new town, it was amazing to go from a London hotel to an Ecuadorean hotel, everything from the pineapple juice when I arrived to waffles at breakfast was just amazing! I was really nervous about the next day and decided to burry myself in Harry Potter, managed to finish the book! So proper day one arrived, had a nice long lie and made my way across town to the joining hotel, I was really impressed to have a single room and the staff were really friendly, a little nervous because I didn?t meet any GAP people but decided to go for a wander around the city for a few hours to pass the time, finally met a couple, Katy and Richard who were on the trip and discovered there was a meeting the next morning to discuss the trip. Day 2: Also QuitoSo once again a little nervous about meeting the group, went down for the morning meeting and there they all were, our leader Vanessa is possibly the most friendly person on earth. She gave us a nice introduction about the part of the trip she would be running i.e. the first 36 days up to La Paz. The rest of the group seemed really nice and we decided to stick together for the first day heading for the Museum of the Central Bank of Ecuador. Turns out it waslittle long winded but had lots of very cool contemporary stuff.From there we took a cab up to the Cable car to get some amazing views of the city, there are some photos but it?s hard to really get a sense of the city. First off, the city is built in a valley surrounded by mountains, it?s long and it hard to get a sense of how big it really is. They have an airport which is right in the middle of the town. Very odd in itself, more so when you see planes land and take off almost touching the houses! The other really odd thing about Quito is the fact that it?s so high, up the mountains it was really very cold and it rarely felt warm, but then again you?re so close to the Equator you have to be really careful not to get sun burn.Back in the main centre we went to look around the old town, it?s actually a world heritage site and has many colonial buildings had hundred of churches and convents. So stunning arcutecture especially the Basilica with it?s crazy gothic style and weird animal gargoyle type things. Get to know you meal in the evening rounded off the day. Day 3: Heading to the Jungle LodgeWe flew to Coca, what used to be a small jungle outpost for coca trading but is now a major hub for oil workers heading for the jungle and of course tourists heading fro one of the many lodges. The flight took less that 30 minutes and from the plane a short bus ride took us to the dock where a motorized canoe picked us up and took us two hours down river, they gave us a packed lunch for the trip, a strange tuna sandwich and a whole fresh pomegranate!, it may have looked like frog spawn but it tasted great!The motorized canoe dropped us at another dock where we walked for 15 mins until we got to a smaller hand driven canoe that took us another 15 mins up to the lodge. It looked beautiful, set in the middle of a perfect jungle, La Slava stood elegantly on slits rising out of a lagoon. We were greeted with cocktails and nibbles and issued with wellies of the purpose of walking in the jungle. Se were shown to our cabins, again stilted structures with thatched roofs but very comfortable and clean.OK I?ve run out of time so will try to write as soon as possible. In short:

Day 4: Long trek in the Jungle for 8 hours followed by caymen spotting from a canoe

Day 5: More trekking, canoe around lagoon, butterflies, piranha fishing, lots of monkeys and then some drinking!

Day 6: Back to Quito and a bus to Ba? celebrating Peruvian independence

Day 7: 4 hrs up a volcanoes to see smoke for 30 seconds before the clouds came in, great feeling of accomplishment!

Day 8: Long bus ride to Cuenca

Day 9: Looking around the city museum, shrunken heads and a big cathedral!