5th - 7th September 2008: Mum and I have a relaxing morning before wandering around the market and buying ourselves pashminas, earrings and a panama hat for Dad. In the afternoon we head into the Old Town, I get hopelessly lost trying to navigate our way around the streets and get stressed that we´re heading totally the wrong way until we emerge into one of the main squares where we have coffee and a snack. It´s our last night together before Mum heads home tomorrow and I head into Ecuador with Naledi. Naledi arrived in Quito last night so we all meet at our hotel to head out for supper.

Wake up early and have breakfast with Mum before she catches her transfer and I wave her off and go to finish packing. Try to prepare myself for going back to lugging my own backpack around and not stopping in one place for longer than 3 nights! Today Naledi and I meet the group we´ll be travelling with for the next five weeks and we head out for dinner together.

Our last day in Quito and we head to a cable car which takes us up the mountain above Quito, to a height of around 4,000 metres. The view is great and we decide it will be good training for the upcoming Inca Trail so start walking up the hill, and after a gentle flight of steps we both end up with a stitch! We can definitely feel the effects of altitude and less oxygen so take it a bit easier and head back down to Quito for a huge lunch before packing to leave for the jungle tomorrow.