So this will be my last blog from Quito. We pack up the truck and head out at 9.30am this morning. All ready to go, sort of. Yesterday I checked into the tour hotel and met Lill, one of the other girls on the tour and when I mentioned I was heading out to the equator she joined me. The equator monument is quite huge but is in a complex full of tourist souvenir shops and restaurants. We took the mandatory photo and even a local jumped in with the two 'gringos' an...

I've had a quiet couple of days in Quito, after the excitement of the Galapagos. Was a bit of a let down actually, returning to the grey skies of Quito and having to wear a jacket again. Tuesday morning before I checked out of the hotel, I walked to a lookout over the valley of Gualapo and then decided to walk down to the church and have a look. Good workout for the bum that was for sure, especially when I walked all the way back up again. I didn't go inside the...

I have officially finished my spanish classes and had my last meal with the family today at lunch. This afternoon I got a taxi into Quito and joined my tour for the Galapagos. We had a meeting to go over the next week and I found out that our boat has been changed from a 'tourist superior' to luxurious catamaran. Apparently the boat that Intrepid used to use sunk in July and they now use the Archipel. Good for me. After our meeting we headed into the old city and...

So today in Spanish we started with past tense. Oh fun, more conjugation, just what I wanted.... Last week we worked on how to put sentences together and in what order. I have to forget everything I know in English because otherwise it just confuses me and doesn't make sense but I'm getting there. After I did my last blog, I headed home and I went for a walk with Mariana, the kids and a neighbour. I thought it would be for an hour or so. 3 hours later we are sti...

So I'm into my second week now of trying to learn Spanish. Some days I do OK and others just want to make me scream. Think I'm getting it when all of a sudden I find out there is 2 words for saying you know something, depending on what you know....URGH or the verb 'to go' is IR but if I'm saying 'I go...' I have to say 'Yo voy'. It doesn't look or sound like IR but that is the way it is. LOL So apart from spanish doing my head in I had a nice weekend. Saturday a...