Hola, long time no speak eh!!!! Quito Well i have just spent the last week doing some of the most amazing stuff!! After another long flight (including a change in Cost Rica) to Equador i arrived in the new town at my hostel. I'm not quite sure what i was expecting but i was happily surprised it wasnt too daunting (although i met a girl on the plane who was doing 8 countries of south america on her own=and didnt speak spanish which i could never do). No one speaks english here so you really do have to make yourself learn which is good, i'm managing to get by alright. Uno cervaza pour favour!! (a beer please for those of you who dont know). I can imagine if you came to a place like this to learn the language you'd pick it up in no time. Anyway, i met my tour group that evening and spent the first day there with 4 of the others seeing statues, churches... We took a cable car up to a very high mountain but could only hack it for a few minutes as the air was very thin so we felt pretty ill. We met a man and his 5yr old son who offered to give the 5 of us a lift back (it was raining) in his pick up so there was all 7 of us squashed onto 2 seats=a good bonding excersise we found!! Was very funny tho. That night the whole tour group went to a salsa club and had lessons so now we think we're all pros. Otavalo The next day we were introduced to our truck (its called kinda=as in surprise), and took a drive up to the equator, how cool, i stood literally in the middle of the earth. They actually have 2 equator lines, the first one was put down many years ago and recently when the checked it with GPS they realised it was in the wrong place=oopps!! We were shown experiments to prove it was the center. One testing strength, because of gravity you lose weight, so to the side of the equator i tried to pull down one of the boys hands clasped together over his head, it was really hard. But we then stood on the line and tried again and it was really easy=equal forces or something. There were more experiments but i shant waffle. After another drive we got to otavalo which has the most authentic markets in equador. The people were dressed in traditional clothes and were selling some beautifull things. I bought 3 scarves for a pound each, soooo cheap here. That night we had a BBQ and ate cuy (guinea pig) guess what, tasted like chicken, the skin was kinda tough tho=Yuk!!!! The day after that we had a very long (8 hrs) and a very bumpy drive to our next destination stopping off for lunch at some natural volcanic hot springs so of course we all had a dip surrounded my mountains, the water was like getting into a bath so was very lovely. Missuahulli This village is just outside the jungle and has wild monkeys. They're crafty little things who chase you down the street and try to steal your bags so you do have to watch out. They managed to get one of our big water bottles and empty it=thanks for that!! They were still cute though. Jungle It took about 1 1/2 hrs on a canoe boat to get to our lodges, there are no roads going into it so you can imagine it was very remote and miles away from any modern life. Our huts were right on the river with our own little beach when the water goes down. They were pretty basic wooden huts with big gaps everywhere so plenty of late night visitors in the form of spiders, cockroaches, mosquitos...we had mosi nets thank goodness so nothing could fall on my head (worse fear!!) We were taken on walks by one of the locals who showed us basically how to live off of the jungle. He explained what all the trees and plants and flowers did. Its really amazing how much of it you can use in the way of food, medicines, drugs, detergants to wash clothes, dyes etc. I tried lemon tree ants (yes ants) which were actually quite nice, just a burst of citrus taste like sweets. They even have a hard fruit shell to use as a hairbrush. To think of the way we all live and how these people are so self sufficient on the land that they live on is just plain crazy (no weekly shop at tescos for them, arnt you jealous dad!). We were fed all of these jungle foods for dinner=delicious!! One afternoon we were taken to visit the Shamen, he is considered a very wise man who heals people with spritual powers. Steve (aussie guy on my tour) had a bad tummy so the Shamen performed this healing ritual which involved a lot of chanting, blowing smoke on his head, brushing him with leaves and sucking at his head! Steve woke up the next day feeling like a new man so maybe it really does work. Being here definately makes me have more of an interest in alternative medicines. After visiting the shamen we got into rubber rings and tubed our way back to the lodge, so funny, vannesa couldnt paddle her way onto the beach because of the current so she flew past and had to be rescued by the boat. The boat does stand by just in case this happens so its not dangerous at all. That evening after dinner, we took the boats out again for a bit of a drift in the dark, well in the pitch black but it was nice just to listen to nature. That was our last night there so they lit us a bonfire on the beach and made us jungle juice (alcoholic drink made from the friuts and plants around=very sweet=could only have a few sips). We also had Bob Marleys (shot made of 5 different types of alcohol, lit on fire and drunk through a straw) which had very funny effects on some people, namely our tour leader and driver!!!!!!!! We ended up having cartwheel competitions on the beach=i won the bronze!! Yesterday we went panning for gold (only tiny flecks found) and were taken to another little villiage where we could watch the locals make pottery and wood carvings (mum, you would have loved this bit). After that we just had another bumpy drive (when i say bumpy i mean rise out of your seat and hit your head on the roof bumpy) to another lodge on the river just outside of a town called Tena. Today is a chill out day to relax on the hammocks and catch up on some sleep, some of us have gone white water rafting but i want to save that for New Zealand. Tomorrow we travel down to Rio Verde to go camping which i'm sure will be interesting and after that we go to Banos where i hope i will be able to put some pictures up for you. Untill then trust that i am still having a fantastic time (everyone on the tour is really nice by the way=13 of us, mixture of ages, all either british, aussie and theres one girl from new zealand). Love to you all (((((((((lots of hugs)))))))))))) and kisses xxxxxxxxxxxxx