Okay, so it's not as bad as the title suggests. Quito Old Town is really, really pretty and has some beautiful churches (including one covered entirely in 26kt gold leaf on the inside) etc. But life at 2,900 metres above sea level is tough on the lungs... especially when you've got a cold (as both of us do).

We had a lovely first day, wandering around the town, popping into churches, going to a rubbish museum - the highlight of which being some incredibly 'graphic' representations of crucifixion etc (the conquistadors really wanted to scare the indigenous people to convert them). Much of the architecture in the Old Town is beautiful, and our hostel is really friendly and positioned with a glorious view of town. Shame, though, about the rock hard bed which meant no sleep for Suzie and the feeble showers.

On our second day, we chilled out in the morning and headed to the 'Middle of the Earth' - the Equator - in the afternoon. Let's be clear, the original equator attraction is rubbish. Probably the worst tourist attraction either of us has ever been to. Pathetic. But tucked away down the road is the 'real equator' as determined by GPS, and that's lots more fun. It looked really odd as we approached with lots of weird and wonderful thing dotted around apparently randomly (see shrunken head picture). A fab guide took us around, explaining all the sights and telling us about indigenous peoples of Ecuador and, most importantly, showing us the effects of being right on the equator. So we saw water draining straight down when on the line, then draining clockwise and anti-clockwise either side. We found that we were all less strong on the equator. But the highlight, of course, was balancing an egg on a nail! Well, Andrew managed it and has the certificate to prove it.

Third day started early with a knock on the door at 7am from Eduardo who was there to take us to Cotopaxi volcano. Yep, we hadn't expected him until 7.30. He drove us in his jeep down to Cotopaxi and up to his refugia at 4,000 metres altitude. On the way, he had given us the choice (in Spanish) of hiking and abseiling or going up to the glacier ¨on some form of transport I can't translate¨ as Andrew translated it. We chose the glacier. After some melon and great coffee, we set out... and immediately saw that the unknown transport had four legs and a saddle. Despite the fact that Suzie has only once ever sat on - not ridden - a horse (Peppermint, at age 6) and Andrew has never ridden any animal whatsoever, we boldly mounted our steeds and set off further up the mountain. We rode through unique volcanic landscapes until we arrived at the base camp (4,800 metres - you would stay there when attempting to climb right to the summit), tethered our mounts and continued on foot. It was very hard going, walking up sheer slopes of volcanic sand (S:¨it's hard enough walking on sand on a beach never mind this high on a 45 degree slope!¨) but well worth it. The horse ride was great too, albeit slightly terrifying on the way back as we traversed ridges with a width of less than 2 metres where the horses seemed to enjoy walking right on the edge! And, of course, we are now rather saddle sore - we have to plan how we sit down very, very carefully. To be expected given that we were in the saddle for three hours in total!

Eduardo gave us a great lunch afterwards - more food than even we could eat - and on the way home we saw Condors. Most people go up the north face of Cotopaxi, but we were on the south - it's really peaceful and the service from Eduardo was top notch. Look up http://www.cotopaxicarasur.com/ if you go.

QUITO HIGHLIGHTS:
- Shoe shine boys on every corner
- Ladies in indigenous dress peddling wares
- Buses belching out foul black exhaust fumes every few metres (as if there wasn't little enough oxygen up here already - Suzie taking inhaler lots)
- No care for road rules at all (eg: running red lights, bus lanes free-for-all, even one-way streets mean little)
- Cheap food! Three course lunch with fresh juice for $1.50!
- Hot and sunny in the day, cold at night.
- Tried to buy decongestant (Lemsip, anything!) but chemist couldn't sell it because all cold and flu remedies have been made prescription-only to prevent Swine Flu (yes, to stop the spread, they make it more difficult to get well. Brilliant.)
- They don't do museums very well. They're just rooms with 'stuff' in, with no information ( in Spanish or English) that could mean anything.
- We won't say that everyone here is short - that would be cruel. But never before have we noticed that we are the tallest people alive!
- They love sweet stuff here - especially ice cream.

Peru next.

PS: Andrew now wants to withdraw anything that may be perceived as negative in this blog as he has just found Ecuadorean tablet at a stall in the street! This possibly makes Ecuador the only country in the world other than Scotland to make the brittle sugary treat. Still not as good as Grannie's obviously.