Not really big fans of Riobamba.

The high point of an otherwise grim day was opening an e mail refering to the antics in the house of Hubbard!

We stayed in the Hotel de Estation in Riobamba. To cut a long story short, a passport, round the world flight tickets, cash card and spending money for the Galapagos were removed from their hiding place in the room - probably by the cleaner. We had to visit 3 police stations, and still got no sense from the police. In the first station the police officer stood behind his desk and laughed at us. The guy he had in custody shouted directions in Spanish to help us find a different police station, as we were left standing outside in the street. At a different station we were given a lift in the police jeep. We hoped back to the hotel, where perhaps they would make some investigations? No. They tooks us to an internet cafe where the manager helped us type a loss report for the insurance company. The police then disappeared. Their job was done. What a shambles.

Thankfully we don´t have to go back to Quito for the embassy, they will sort out all the paper work for a new passport in Guayaquil, and it will be ready when we return from the Galapagos. A brilliant service - makes you pleased to be English at times like this. The interesting bit will be in getting a new visa stamp in the new passport. You must have one in order to leave the country, and the Ecuadorian bureaucracy are responsible for that. Uh oh.

Guayaquil is hot, hot, HOT. It is essentially coastal, and today we travelled for 5 hours on a bus, leaving behind fresh mountain air, views of snow capped mountains and perilious hair pin bends. By the end of the journey the land was flat, the air damp and we were surrounded, in the countryside, by paddy fields. Did you know that they grow rice here?

Ecuador is a country of such stark contrasts - really a small country with every type of eco system and environment.