Hello everyone!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

So we are still in Quito - tonight is our last night! We have had an jam-packed week or so here...

We have spent a couple days looking around the Centro Histórico (the Old Town) which is where the main plaza is as well as LOTS of old churches... and when I say LOTS, I mean like 30+!!!! We made it to 3... and I think we saw the best selection :) We went to La Catedral (cathedral) which was pretty impressive... I think I already wrote about it?? Then another day, we had a church morning and went first to La Compañia de Jesus which is quite a sight - over 7 tonnes of gold leaf was used... literally every wall and ceiling is COVERED... and then we went to the oldest church, which was pretty interesting as there was an intense misa (mass) going on... there were people getting their water blessed and all... I won't lie, I felt a little out of place!!

We went to Ciudad Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World City) on Monday which is where the equator goes through... so we could just jump from one hemisphere to the other in the blink of an eye... ha! It was a kind of weird place though, set up almost like a little city but it was deserted so had an eerie feeling... interesting nonetheless and mighty fun adventure on the bus - the kind you get on to go back to where you are meant to be and then it turns out you have no freaking idea where you are...

Thursday we had a quiet day, I got a new tattoo in the morning (well I say morning because my appt was for 10.30am... but with all the god only knows what he was doing mucking around, it was more like afternoon!!!) and then we had a nap in preparation for a big NYE... I wont lie, we were semi-disappointed... we had expectations!!!! We had a super fun night, but there were not many people out... we had been warned by a crazy American bookstore owner that there would be looting and flyers handed out with drugs on them and all sorts... nothing of the kind!! And we sadly missed what we were most looking forward to - the burning of the paper-stuffed life-size dolls!!! grrrr..... oh well, like Amiee always tells me, you have to leave something to come back for! :)

Today we went to the Otavalo markets and did some shopping! yaaay! We had been looking forward to it all week - they are the oldest markets on the continent (date back to Incan times...) and apparently the biggest, but I think thats debatable! It was a 5.30am start for us and a bus ride where the stupid little ratbag attendant forgot to tell us where to get off and we went straight past and had to get a bus back there!! Then we got to the markets, had a yummy breakfast and got in to the shopping... we made some nice purchases... but we got all market-ed out and headed home in the early afternoon!

So tomorrow we begin our journey south... we're both really looking forward to getting on the road again :)

Love to everyone, bestest wishes for a wonderful new year xoxox