I'm in Ecuador right now (inflation 8.2%, female life expectancy 74.86, home of the world cup's and UNICEF ambassador Ulises de la Cruz) and the capital Quito (elevation 2850m and twinned with Buxton, England). More specifically I write from my favourite internet cafe of my trip so far 'Net Flanders' in the Mariscal area. This area of the city rivals Thamel in Kathmandu for touristicness given the huge number of hostels, restaurants, bars, internet places and the option buying of chocolate brownies (unfortunately though it was a disappointing brownie experience).

You may or may not have noticed that of late I have developed a possibly unhealthy habit of writing in lists, overusing (and probably misusing) brackets, and adding lots of PS' on the end of my ramblings. I have no intention of stopping.

Having been in Ecuador a week now the things that have made the biggest impression on me have been as follows;

- The green man light on some of the pedestrian crossings is animated! I have been purposely taking a certain route to the park to go jogging that involves using one such crossing so I can see the green man. The animation is not entirely dissimilar to the Michaeal Palin extended leg action in the ministry of silly walks sketch.

- I like the pork pie style hats that the indigenous population wear here and I fully intend on getting one.

- Fitted bed sheets have made their way to ecuador after being distinctly absent in Venezuela and parts of colombia (much to my annoyance) meaning I can finally wake up in the morning not lying directly on the mattress.

- The national dish here is cuy which mean guinea pig in spanish. I haven't met anyone yet (ecuadorian or otherwise) who doesn't think that it is absolutely terrible.

- I have been able to watch Match of the Day here. Somehow a dodgy irish pub can get BBC on the internet (by the way if you are reading this on monday 21st april in england - after a wet start in the south things should brighten up a bit later on and by the afternoon there may even be sunny spells, maximum temp 15).

- It is with considerable relief I can report I have finally been able to buy shower gel and do not any longer have to piss around with soap when showering. That may not sound like a big deal but anyone who has had Sky and then cancelled their subscription and subsequently been subjected to terrestrial channels only will know how I felt.

- It's quite cold here and the altitude is noticeable when you are running or walking briskly. The need to breath deeply is particularly testing when local busses pass close due to think black smoke that comes from their rear.

- The touristic area attracts some undesirable types after dark and numerous people I have met have been relieved of their wallets on the streets. One of the girls from our group had her purse snatched but managed to get it back after getting the bloke in a headlock, a bloke at the hostel got beaten up in a nightclub toilet for his wallet, and another got mugged twice in the same night by the same mugger. I have had no problems so far though and don't anticipate any looking as hard as I do. I phoned home the other day and my mother's advice is to stay in my hotel room and not go out at all, ever.

- They use the US dollar here after their economy went mental a few years back and they switched currencies. This is makes things much simpler than the previous two countries where things were thousands to the pound and the exchange rates shifted dramatically at a moments notice. I am considering growing my hair like the bloke on the back of the $10 note.

- I've found a hotel with proper pillows. Given the horrible pillows I have had to contend with on this trip up to now I would with the benefit of hindsight have considered bring my one from home with me (hand plucked Siberian goose down).

We've ended up in Ecuador after the last blog from Colombia. The general consensus is that Colombia was fantastic and a great place to visit. Although it hardly has the best reputation it was clear that the place has been cleaned up a bit and seems to be of little danger to the visitor. The cities and towns all have a heavy police presence and nobody I travelled with or met seemed to have any trouble. After Cartagena on the north coast we flew back down to the capital Bogota and travelled on by bus to a small town called Villa de Lleva (probably spelt incorrectly) for a few days to wander around admiring the old buildings and do a spot of mountain biking in the surrounding hills. Colin the Crocodile was re-inflated for the first time for a couple of weeks for a night out on the town but only really served to agitate the local dog population more than I was comfortable with and his latino dancing at a local late night venue certainly left a lot to be desired.

The itinerary of the tour had to change a bit as the airport we were due to fly to near the border in Ecuador had been closed down. This meant that we instead flew directly to Quito from Bogota.

Given our earlier than expected arrival in Quito it gave me the opportunity to have a full week in the city. Myself and a few of the others in the group decided to sign up for some spanish lessons given that we were all travelling on in south america in one guise or another. A poor Ecuadorian lady called Martha was lumbered with me for the week and seemed to be as unenthusiastic as me a lot of the time, however the little bit I've picked up will be very useful over the coming weeks. The tour I have been on since Rio in Brazil comes to an end here in Quito (at least it is where I get off as the truck continues right back round to Brazil again) so I'll be bidding farewell to people I've been travelling with for 3 months and it'll be a bit strange without them. I will at least get some respite on taunts about my burgeoning waistline from tour leader Digga and roomate Anders, hardly innocent parties themselves I hasten to add. Worringly I went jeans shopping the other day and whilst trying some on realised that there was no option but to buy a 34" waist. This is the first time I have had anything other than a 32" since the aftermarth of university, these are dark days indeed. I join up with a new group on Monday for a tour with a company called GAP Adventures south through Ecudaor, Peru, and finishing in La Paz in Bolivia at the end of May.

We went to an Ecuadorian football league match today, Liga v Barcelona (the ecuadorian version, although same club badge!). Liga won 1-0 with a belter from 25.7 yards after 67 minutes. I made the following observations;

- There was a tank outside the ground, presumably to assist with crowd control (although possibly not, this is south america after all)

- Inexplicably, despite the tank there was a complete lack of effective crowd control before the match resulting in a less than comfortable crush (only in south america do the people completely ignore the authorities even when they have a armoured vehicle at their disposal).

- Radio controlled cars appeared on the pitch at half time

- The players shot from all free kicks within the oppostion's half irrespective of position
(Can anyone remember the name of that mid nineties Bulgarian centre back with the beard that used to shot from the half way line? I want to look him up on youtube).

- One of the managers was sent off for arguing with the ref and was escorted down the tunnel by a dozen riot police.

- There was a complete absence of long hopeful balls forward (I'm not sure if this is due to their preferred style of play or the lack of John Fashanu's in Ecuador that could make something from such passes).

- The players throw themselves on the floor with gay abandon.

- The general quality of the football was poor.

- The ice creams on sale in the ground did not come with a 'Extreme Cold - could stick to your to tongue and hurt' warning.

- Around 12% of ecuadorian football fans have a 'short on top, sides, and front with curly mullet at the back which jiggles around amusingly at the slightest movement' haircut. I'm now highly disappointed I forgot to take a picture of one.

PS - I sent the photo I got with the anaconda in to The Times website and got in their travel 'smugshots of the week' section. I reckon I should have won though really.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/template/2.0-0/element/pictureGalleryPopup.jsp?id=3705156&&offset=0&§ionName=TravelTravelImages&randnum=1208364366089