Hola

Today I leave Ecuador for the Galaps. I've had about a day and a bit here after travelling 11 hours up to Quito, Ecuador's capital, from Santiago.

I arrived the first day reasonably tired so went straight to the hotel and had a power nap. After about two hours, Jon, my travelling buddy, arrived and we chatted before I met some of the others in my tour group and went out for dinner at a traditional Ecuadorian restaruant.

Yesterday, a few of us hired two private cars to drive us out of Quito into the Ecuadorian countryside. We visited markets and other tourist stops in Otavalo before heading to Cotachochi, which is famous for leather products and then up to the lake nearby for lunch. The countryside was amazing, very mountainous and green, but the pollution was somehow still a problem. By the time we got back, we felt like we'd all been sucking on exhaust pipes.

When we got back, we joined up with the rest of our tour group and group leader as yesterday was officially Day 1 of our tour. We all headed to old town via public bus, which was an interesting experience as it was crowded and we had to squeeze on and were constantly watching our pockets. We wondered around old town for a while, seeing several catherdrals and churchs, the main square and the presidents palace. We returned from old town and went out to dinner. I retired early as a series of early starts had me pretty beat.

As for our tour group, we have:
Me + Jon (Perth + Pom)
Zoe + Alex (Perth ladies)
Bill (Gold Coast)
Gabriel (Brisbane)
Linda + Andrew (Sydney)
Sybylla (Sydney)
Margaret (Wales)
Brad + Nat (Vancouver)
Katrine (Washington DC)
Aaron (Vancouver).

Well, that's Ecuador (Quito anyway). Off to the Galapagos, can't wait.

Hope all is well back home.

Dave