ARRIVAL IN CUENCA Apologies for the delay in this update, and to those who attempted to view our photos over the last few days and only had red crosses to look at. We´ve tried to fix it but internet technology is lacking here in Cuenca, uploading is a laborious process but hopefully we´ve managed to now get a few on board. The trek since we left Bucay has taken many new turns, but we have now officially arrived in Cuenca. After being kindly looked after by ...

We´ve come through 48hrs of rain, catastrophies with the horses´ "Easy"Boots, and more rain to make it the 90kms to the large town of Bucay. The boots, it turns out, do not work so well in the rain and rub at the horses´heels. After relatively frustrating progress in our first two days we hatched a plan to wrap the heels in protective bandage, refit the "Easy"Boots, and attempt the 2000m vertical descent to Bucay. We would then shoe the hor...

ALL BEING WELL, THE TEAM AIMS TO BEGIN THEIR VOYAGE this Saturday 21st February. The training is nearly over; the months of preparation, the nights spent in comfy, dry beds, hot meals, mains power, warm showers, clean clothes, are all to be cast into the past. For the next five months Phil Sutton, Nick Warner and Ed Lines are to brave some of the most hazardous elements of the Southern Hemisphere. With their five horses (Pajarito, Capricho, Rocio, Gansa and Noah...

A lot has happened since the last blog entry and the final horse has now arrived. Susannah has named him Noah (due to the fact that it rains every day and he will hopefully take us safely to La Paz!) He is loving his new life away from the jungle and was quite overwhelmed with the amount of food he has recieved. He has settled into our training regime but he has yet to bond with the other horses. Susannah has now returned to the UK but she has been a massive help...

We have now completed our first week of training in the mountains of San Miguel at 2,300 meters. We have four of the five horses on the training regime now - varied exercise between one to six hours per day. Having expected to be applying liberal amounts of Sudocrem at the stage we have all been mightily impressed by the power and comfort of the South American criollo pony. The Miranda´s have continued to be incredibly helpful; Carlos oversaw the first day of t...