Heyyy, so we arrivd in Quito after a four hour bus journey. Gem and I grabbed the two front seats with extra leg room...big mistake. The bus made loads of stops and people just sat in our extra leg room space, which was not THAT big! Two kids actually fell asleep there, with their legs under our seats, and a woman and her child sat on the arm of the chair and used me as a back rest. Very claustraphobic, we were relieved to arrive in Quito.

When we arrived we went tstraight on an orientation walk and went for a snack at The Magic Bean, but it ended up being dinner as nobody could wait, we were all so hungry. We ate a lovely healthy meal but it was only early so Todd wanted to meet for drinks later. Gem, Dirk, Marielle, Athena, Todd and I went for drinks in the square later, but everything was really expensive so we Gem and I stuck to the soft drinks while Todd and Athena had the worst Martini I've´ever tasted in my life. We then trekked around looking for a party Todd had heard about but when we finally found the place it was shut. Gem and I gave up and went back to bed, so Todd and Athena walked us home before going out to find somewhere with a bit of life.

Got up reasonably early the next morning as we were going on an overnight stay to Otavalo, the big famous market town in Ecuador. We caught a short bus and walked from the station in Otraval to our hotel (which certain members of the group were less than impressed about). The hotel was great and we both had a double bed each again. Seriously, we´re gonna be so used to this, we´re not sure how we´re ever going to go back to 12 bed dorm rooms! We had a brief orientaion walk before going for lunch, and then Gem and I spent the afternoon looking around the markets for hours, buying a few things for ourselves and for presents, and trying our best to resist buying very impractical things (such as marble knifes which we´d never get through customs - Gem) and things we knew we couldn´t afford. We pretty much exhausted ourselves with the shopping and retired to our rooms to watch Stardust.

The next morning, most of the group (the good ones) decided to visit the Cuicocha volcano. It's an active volcano, which can´t erupt because of the huge lake in the crater (see the picture) so you can see bubbles in the lake from the sulpher in the volcano. We got a boat around the islands in the middle of the lake, and it was really strange to think we were IN the crater of a volcano. It was really beautiful and the water was so blue. We got back to the centre of Otavalo in time to catch a minibus back to Quito. We were visiting the equator that afternoon, busy day.

We got another minibus to the equator. There is a museum based around it, where we had loads of fun taking pictures of us at the sign that read The Centre Of the World, and ones of us with a leg in the North and one in the South. We also did lots of experiments on the line, such as testing our strength, (which is non-existant on the line, and was very embarassing) and trying to keep our balance, and walk in a straight line (imoossible as you et pulled from both sides!) We watched water swirling down a plug hole...in the North, the water swirls clockwise, in the South, anti-clockwise, and on the equator...it just doesn´t swirl. The most fun we had though, was trying to balance a raw egg on the head of a nail which is possible because of the Centrifugal forces (or something like that). It was really hard, and me and em were the only ones in the group to manage it...obviously :p... and we got certificates!

That night we went for our last meal with the group at a lovely restaurant. It had really strange decor, and a tree growing through the floor and roof! We thn went for one last Tucan style night out. We actually went to a club called "mad" and girls got in free, but Todd got him and Dave in free somehow. Then when we got inside, drinks were free, all drinks. We thought it was going to end at some point but no...all drinks free, all night. That really is "mad".

The tour was now over so we had nothing arranged to do the next day, even though most of the group were stil around. Gem and I went for a leisurely brekkie at the magic bean before seeing Dirk and Marielle off, and then went to explore the old town, taking lovely pictures of the basillica and exploring their markets. We then met the remaining members of the group for a very emotional dinner at a mongolian bbq (which was very fun) and wandered back to the hotel to say our goodbyes in the hotel lobby. We said very teary goodbyes to Todd and Athena and promised to see them in London...whereas certain members of the group just wandered off to their rooms. We had to be up for half three, as we flew so early, so got into bed and slept, feeling very strange. Sad to say bye to some really good friends that we´ve made, but very excited to be back on our own being independant again. Cuba here we come!