¡Hola Amigos! What a week we have had…we feel like we have done loads. Sat 20th May we got up early and after stretching our muscles after yesterday’s strenuous hike up Pinhincha we set out for the centre of the earth!!! (Well the equator) A little place called Mitel del Mundo. About 1hr30mins on the two different busses but we made it to middle earth!! A little touristy but worth the trip to say we have been. We stopped and had lunch at a little snack bar there before making our way back to collect our belongings and move on!! Bags on our backs, we made our way to the Terminal Autobus (bus station for those who are tired) which was our induction into the Ecuadorian transport system. We took our first tentative foot steps in side the  terminal where we were greeted by what seemed one hundred different salesman all trying to get our business by shouting at the same time…(imagine something like Wall Street or the London stock exchange but in Spanish) We muddled our way through eventually finding a bus with our destination on it, we paid up and duly hopped aboard Phew!!! Now bearing in mind that the buses notoriously run late we were surprised to find ourselves leaving on the dot of three o’clock right when we were meant to….a glance and a nod of approval at each other saw us leave the station. Little did we know that as we left the station very slowly more people boarded along with a couple of ´refreshment providers` followed by a couple more people followed by some more ´refreshment providers….this went on and on for the next half an hour or so we eventually got moving at a reasonable pace forty mins after leaving the terminal. ` Needless to say we arrived on time after some awesome driving, it didn’t matter if there was oncoming traffic or not we over took everything, anything and anyone that stood in our way…chevron corners, double lines in the centre of the road, single lane roads with three sometimes four abreast and the odd Police car none o it mattered as we made our way to Riobumba. We booked into our Hostel ´The Tren Dorado` just over road from the train station where we needed to buy tickets for our planned adventure the ´Nariz el Diablo` (the devils nose)On finding out they had all sold out we crashed out for we had an early start if we had any chance of a bus ticket to where the train ride was to be repeated. Sunday 21st We were awake at 5am ready to rock but we went no where as Hannah had a temperature of 39 degrees an we thought better of going any where with Han seeming to have a bout of the Flu coming on strong. After an eventful visit to the pharmacy Hannah dose herself up and I had a day of strolling around Riobumba checking on Han periodically through the day. No improvement. An early night and caught up on some sleep. Monday22nd  Han’s temperature had resumed normal service and we decided to have some breakfast and head of to Baños where we would spend a couple of days relaxing before returning to Riobumba on Tuesday night ready or the next devils nose ride on Wednesday. Another mad bus journey saw us arrive, past the active volcano Tungurahua which was puffing away, into Baños (Baths) which had a really nice feel to it. Nearly every door way in the first street we went down had shop owners making milcocha, which is a toffee type sweet which his stretched out by hand, almost like lassoing a wooden pegs in the main doorway in to the shop. This was quite a sight.We found a lovely hostel dumped our bags and headed straight for the locals hot baths at Piscinas Santa Clara. Five pools in total with three varying temperatures all heated by the volcano with the water murky from all the volcanic minerals. 2 hours of blissful relaxation watching the locals swim a much needed time out. Hannah starting to feel better now. We went out for a lovely meal at a café called Cafe Hood spoke to a few people on the phone and had an early night. Tuesday 23rd A 7am dip in ´La piscine de la Virgen` more volcanic hot pools before Breakfast at Café Brazil with Aaron a guy from London we met at the hostel…..shared a few laughs an stories over the most amazing fruit pancakes and smoothies before heading back to Riobumba to purchase our train tickets. The station opened to sell tickets at three pm but we again had no joy……we did manage to score bus tickets to Alausi (where the Devils nose begins) so all was not lost. We met a middle aged Canadian couple who were in the same boat as us who were from Whistler who were great fun and we swapped travel stories. We are continually amazed by the diversity of age range of the travelers we are meeting. A 5.30am start for breakfast tomorrow so another early night however my temperature is beginning to rise!!