Much to Ant's relief and Emlyn's disappointment we didnt run into any guerillas on the Columbian-Ecuador route (I'm somewhat in between, it would be an exciting experience but not sure if its worth risking my life for nor our parents' bank balance as they'd be the ones paying the ransom!) Our apoligies for not leaving a message sooner, hope none of you were worried we'd been kidnapped! So, parents you can breath a sigh of relief and hold on to your money for a bit longer, as we are out of Colombia safe and sound, now are in Ecuador after walking across the boarder in Tulcan (yay! another stamp to our collection!). We were with a chinese man from Korea, his passport was crammed with stamps, very worldly travelled and finally someone with more stamps in his passport than Emlyn! Breakfast before setting off, Ant found he was already missing the Colombian coffee after being served this funny coloured drink! We travelled to Ibarra in a shared taxi: it was early morning and FREEZING! I was hoping that it would be hot since its so near the Equator line, but as we were up in the mountains its a lot colder. Passing through the Equator line to Ecuador's capital, Quito, didnt have any effect as we'd hoped, (the toilets still flushed the same way and in case you're wondering it wasn't Ant that came up with the silly notion it was me, ops!). Quito is an amazing city, our favourite so far, the night life is amazing on our first night we went to a really cool bar with live music, the band was obviously inspired by Bob Marley as the lead singer was an amazing resemblance to the Man himself!The music was really good, even Emlyn and Ant who were right next to the speakers managed to wiggle along to the music! Next day Ant dragged us out of bed to set off to Otavalo. Otavalo has a Saturday Market, the most important in South America, and we were lucky to be in the right place at the right time to attend. The journey to Otavalo wasnt without entertainment. As we'd got up rather early we took a little nap in our seats on the coach, the quiet of the bus was soon interrupted with Emlyn jumping up and shouting at the men in the seat behind him. I got up to see what all the commercial was about, it turned out that Emlyn had caught one of the men under the seat stealing from his rucksack. To say that Emlyn was furious is a bit tame, he looked as if he was going to beat them up! (Ant was oblivious to the whole thing as he was napping peacefully in the next seat until I woke him up!). The bus stopped and all the passengers were incredibly helpful and kind, luckily the police were just passing and stopped to see what was going on. After searching the man's bags it was discovered that Emlyn's bag wasnt the only bag they'd raided. Some other poor tourist's cameras and money were found in their bags. To arrest the men, it meant Emlyn had to go with them to the police station to sign a statement, determined to have them arrested he went off with the police whilst me and Ant continued the journey to Otavalo. The Market was AMAZING! Absolutly massive! So many things to buy and look at, traditional crafts, woolen clothes and no time to eat. Ant set off haggling with the market sellers, and I went off to look around. Unfortunately my guilty conscience kicks in when I tried to haggle: I'm just too nice to rip the local people off unlike Ant! Having found Emlyn, we were entertained with a small parade with people dressed up in traditional dance clothes. After more haggling, Ant couldnt resist buying 3 wooden calvings despite them being too heavy to carry around in his backpack! Back to Quito for another night (told you it was our favourite place so far!). Again the next morning Ant woke up early to go to the post office to send off the wooden calvings back home but as it was sunday everything was closed. We set off on another journey, this time it went without hiccup, to the Mitad del Mudo (the Middle of the World, the Equotor line!). Hopping back and forth between the hemispheres wasnt the sensation the Lonely Planet book claimed, but we took loads of cool photos and there was live music also a dance preformance which we watched in the sun with a cold icy beer! We accidentally got the wrong bus back to Quito, a worthwhile accident which took us up to the statue of the Angel,Virgin Maria. Ant decided to stay in Quito one more night to post his wooden calvings, so me and Emlyn set off for a 2 hour drive to Latcunga where the magnificent Vocan Cotopaxi,a snow capped mountain. We in our daze left our tent on the bus (we'd brought it in Quito), Emlyn tried to go after the bus in the taxi but proved to be impossible, we're in for a telling-off from Ant when he arrives this afternoon! Early this morning (VERY early!) I went upstairs to the roof top of the hotel to see the famous Vocan Cotopaxi but in the morning fog i couldnt see anything, by the time Emlyn got up the fog has cleared and we had a wonderful view of the snow-capped mountain. We will be off to Banos tonight (for those of you who know Spanish, yes, its REALLY called Banos! Banos means "Toilets" in English!) I'm really looking forward to the hot baths warmed by the Volcano! Keep leaving messages we enjoy hearing about what's been going with each one of you! Adios! B xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx