After a ten hour bus ride from Quito we have arrived in Guayaquil on the Western Ecuadorian coast and are staying with the Miranda family who have shown us incredible hospitality. Carlos Miranda has been helping us find horses for the last four months and is the man who has arranged for us to train with the animals on his Aunt´s mountain hacienda to the East of Guayaquil. We have been finalising equipment and supplies with the help of the Mirandas before heading...

We have now arrived in Quito (without our luggage) but in good health. We are very slowly improving our Spanish and making arrangements for the start of the trek. We head down to Quayaquil on Tuesday and from there we will go to meet our horses.

Dear All, Thanks so much to all of you who made the Inca Ball quite so merry! As we said on the evening the ticket money itself only covered costs however the ball still managed to raise over £10,000 (from the charity auction)- which is frankly astonishing! Thank you all so so much for your generosity. If you enjoyed the evening but missed the chance to donate for whatever reason, or if you'd just like to help support our cause, then please visit the JustGivin...

Between us the preparations are steadily progressing. Spanish, whilst an easy language to start, suddenly seems to get rather more complicated! We have been helped and supported by many kind strangers and are now looking at horses in Ecuador. So while progress is inevitably steady it has been very good! The Long Riders' Guild have been an extremely helpful in providing advice, contacts and general information and we now have their official support. We are n...

Click here for a video that gives a glimpse of the work that Bruce Organisation does in Peru.