Hello from Quito! It{s been a long time since i{ve updated and so I have just come into a tinternet cafe whilst the girls get some more sleep. Incicdentally as I{m sure you can tell I have no idea what{s up with thes crazy Spanish keyboard!

After my last update we enjoyed our final few days in Surama. I went hunting and then cast net fishing with some of the guys. Hunting was a disatster as the guys I was with insisted on cutting a liner at the same time so we made so much noise! The girtls went back to the canopy walkway whilst Sydney and some of the guys went cast net fishing in a big puddle just off the road. I caught three or four fish, but only one decent one! WE went in bare foot so I cut my feet up a bit whilst the Amerindians are so used to it their feet are like rubber! The next night we had a big farewell in the village, a slap up meal and then a party with songs in our honour. I was given a bow and arrow made by Glendon and a matapee (cassava press) as a gift. Hopefully they made it back with the girls ok! We stopped dancing at about 1 and then I caught an hour and a half{s sleep before getting the minivan out to the crossing where we met the bus. I had a ticket but I was onlyl on the waiting list so the bus was ful. Luckily Tiger Woods (or Lawrence) let me sleep oin the floor next to the gearstick which wwas very dusty but quite comfortable, especially considering as the three other seatless passengers had to sit in the stairwell.I had to lie down everytime we saw a police car coming in case they got in trouble. I arrived into Georgetown in the afternoon and spent the next few days just getting used to city life again. That said georgetown is so small it can{t really count as a city. I took a minibus out to Parika and without realising it hired a boat for 60 pounds to visit a dutch fort and heritage museum on Forrt Island in the estuary of the Esquibo - which incidentally is 7 miles across at it{s widest point! THE museum was great fun apart from being asked by my guide if I was wealthy, single and had any babies in that order. That evening the girls arrived and we all went to sleep at about 12. The next day we wondered arounda bit, went for another amazing Chinese at Golden coast and I went to have a quick look around the new international hotel and I saw the cricket stadium from a distance. As with everything Guyana it{s going to be a mad rush for them to be completed, but the atmosphere on the Sunday night when the ceremony was shown on tv was pretty cool, people seem to be excited even though most of them can{t afford to go. On Sunday we went to Kaiteur falls and our pilot let me fly us there which was awesome. The falls themesleves are so impressive, they are the largest single drop falls in the world, and are home to the golden frog (only found there) which is the size of a finger nail and is 120times more deadly than cocaine to the touch! We also saw the famous Coq-of-the-rock which is an extremely rare bird, the males are an amazing red and the females are just plain brown, the males also dance to woo their partners which is pretty cool! Then we went on to the tiny village of Orinduk where we went swimming in the falls. We landed back in GT at about 6 and headed to Kareoke which was ....interesting. The next day I sent a parcel back to the UK, sorted things out in my room and went to meet someone at the High Commission and had a great conversation about Guyana and what{s going on at the moment.

I flew out of GT at 10 the next day and landed in Trinidad an hour later. I had to leave two huge bottles of vodka with customs overnight and then had to find a hotel. My taxi driver took me to a place called the Triple K complex. It was pretty comfy and I watched the west indies beat pakistan in the opening match. The next morning, my taxi driver (who was incredibly vulgar which was hilarious) forgot to pick me up so I took another taxi to the airport, checked in with AeroPostal and went through to pick up my vodka. I was then told I had to check that into the hold so I had to queue again, but the staff brought it round to the departure desk for me so that was a relief. We flew to Caracas where we touched down with possible the dodgiest landing I{ve ever had. The pilot manage to tilt the plane as we hit the deck so we were on half of the wheels, interesting! Caracas airport is amazing, incredibly smart and very clean and full of expensive boutques and western shops. That said passengers told me that the road to the airport has been broken for 2 and a half years and Chavez has other priorities, like giving oil to other countries! We flew to Bogota on Aviancia, the Colombian national airline who were amazing. At bogota we swopped onto a nother plane for Quito. This was where the fun started. I was sat in front of two american missionaries and an american businessman. For one of the missionaries it was her first flight. So of course as we flew through the mountains towards Quito we hit a storm which rocked us around a bit. Lightening was crashing all around and it was all a bit strange! Then one of the lights (luckily not the engline!) on the right wing was hit by lightening so it sparked and apparently was on fire so the staff were running everywhere, the plane was shaking and the missionaries were praying and singing songs to Jesus. I was just grinning really, I have no idea why it didn{t scare me, perhaps because crashing in Quito is better than being run down by an Astra in Haslemere, perhaps because Aviancia seemed to know what they were doing and the pilot mentioned nothing. That said we came into land incredibly fast and almost ran out of runway, we were met and followed after a short stop by a fire engine. Quite a day - but not the end of it, as I waited for my baggage it became quickly apparent that it wasn{t there! So I filed a form and headed through to meet the girls, who were late so I was spanish-ignorant, bagless and in Ecuador! As well as that it takes a bit of adjusting to the altitude so it was all a bit of a shock to the system. The girls turned up and we headed back to their hostel. Their dorm was lovely and I had a bunk bed last night. We{re staying in Gringo town which for me sucks. Suddenly there are tour operators everywhere and english people wearing indigenous gear. Not only that but we were opposite a skyscraper, there are plenty of cars and I have no concept of how big the city is, for the first time I experienced culture shock. To go from Georgetown, with it{s small spread and easily laid out block system, to a Spanish speaking metropolis is incredibly confusing, and the girls are all settle in after ten weeks so it{s very strange for me! I{m not sure I like it, I want to be back in a village again and to turn a corner without seeing an internet cafe or a hostel. They have traffic lights here! And hot water! And just so much more. Georgetown was so small that our chinese restaurant was opened by the prime minister and the president walks about for a pint sometimes. That said it is so cheap here which is a real relief, instead of spending 50plus dollars a day I can live on 20, budget here we come! The other thing is that it{s freezing here, especially in the mornings. In the day time it{s 19 degrees, in Georgetown we were alwasy over thirty and in the interior we pushed forty some days. It{s so odd not sweating anymore.

Anyway I should get back but the good news is that my bag has arrived, with my one fleece (badly packed by me!) and we{ve moved to a cool hostel which is 6 dollars a night. Today we{re doing the old town, poor Becca, i{m dragging her around for the second time! And hopefully the centre of the world! How touristy! And then tomorrow we{re going to Otavalo, this amazing market. The SUnday and Monday we{re going to a national park with a huge volcano. It{s called Cotapaxi I think. And then on Tuesday we move out to Riobamba to catch a train towards the peruvian border! Till next time...