Ecuador is the second smallest country in South America. Positioned directly on the equator line, many will associate hot, humid and tropical weather with countries of such location, we however have experienced little else but constant rain since arriving here on Monday 3rd March.

The splattering sound of raindrops falling on the ground fills the air at this very precise moment, but at an elevation of 2850m above sea level, one can expect little else. With the cold aside, Quito is a truly spectacular city situated across a breathtaking Andean Valley and surrounded by numerous volcanic peaks.The city itself is split into two, the old town in the centre and the new town in the north. It is simply incredible how two parts of one city are worlds apart from one another. The new town is bustling with internet cafés, bars, clubs and restaurants, whereas the old town is a colonial masterpiece, filled with a variety of buildings ranging from churches, museums and government buildings to parks, plazas and hill side monuments.The architecture within the old town is simply magnificent, the detail within decorative elements is hypnotic and the spectrum of colours is enchanting. One could spend hours just walking down the narrow streets of the old town absorbing its colonial splendor. Although we had planned to stay in the old town, we were advised that the new town was a much safer alternative and hence we currently reside in the Mariscal area. Our "Hostal" is positioned on 6th December Avenue and is approximately a 5 minute walk away from all the bars and restaurants of the Mariscal area. It is clean, comfortable and most importantly, it is safe. Through conversation with Thomas (aka Troy) Stansfield , Sally Storer learned of our visit to Quito which coincidently corresponded with the first week of her three month stay. After meeting up at Mariscal´s top gringo hotspot "Papaya Net" on Tuesday, we have spent most afternoons exploring the city. This is with the exception of last Thursday and this Wednesday which was spent watching Spurs!Our most adventurous excursion was a visit to Mitad Del Mundo (middle of the world) which we visited (on the second attempt!) on Friday. Joined by Sally´s two student housemates, Hugo and Alex,we took the one hour bus ride to visit the site. Upon arrival we learned that there were several sites which claimed to have the latitude reading of 00º00'00", the most impressive of which was a 30m tall monument with each of its faces displaying their respective compass bearings. This monument was erected according to calculations performed by 17th century French explorers. Rather impressively they were less than 200m out.
A short walk away from the site was an educational facility within which the real equator line passes, as calculated by GPS. Although the facility mainly focused on the traditions and lifestyles of ancient Ecuadorian and Amazonian tribes, it was of course the equator line which ´Stole the show´. If the GPS reading was not enough, a demonstration of draining water swirling clockwise on the north side of the line and counter clockwise on the south was extremely convincing indeed. On Saturday (08/03) we joined a trip organised by Sally´s mentor. After a late night out, It was a struggle to meet at Mariscal Square for 7:30 , however we just about made it. First stop, Mitad Del Mundo! Although thankfully it was a different site to the two we had visited one day previous. The site itself was a stone paved monument and boasted great views of the mountains, although a lack of demonstrations of swirling water led me to believe that this site was not in fact on the equator line. After a brief and picturesque stop overlooking a lake, we arrived at Otavalo where we browsed around an indigenous craft market. This was quite an experience and I was rather relieved not to see one Nike tick or Puma emblem! Instead woolen jumpers, hats, gloves and socks were sold by most, in addition to various wooden carvings and local art. Further to a brief stop for lunch, we arrived at Reserva Ecológica Cotacachi-Cayapus. This was by far the highlight of the day.With a 200m deep freshwater lagoon surrounding dotted islands, many of us drew a likeness from a scene from Jurassic Park. I sadly report however that there was not one dinosaur in sight! Instead the natural beauty of the place struck us all rather speechless, with low level clouds completing the perfect landscape. We were taken on a boat ride around the lagoon, but I could not help but think what this site would have been like untouched as it certainly would have been 100 or so years ago. Nonetheless Cotacahi was amazing.On Sunday, we visited Quito´s newest tourist attraction, a multi-million dollar sky tram called TelefériQo. The cable car took us on a 1.25km ride ascending the flanks of Volcán Pichincha to the top of Cruz Loma. At first the hair raising ride bore little fruit, as heavy cloud surrounded us at the peak. It was also rather hard to breathe at an altitude of 4.1km and even harder to smoke a cigarette!

Whilst stood in the middle of a cloud it started hail, lightly at first and then rather violently.

The small cubes of ice fell through the sky, striking exposed skin like drawing pins. The weather caused clusters of cloud to move aside, revealing beneath a view which is hard to describe. Tainted by mist and broken cloud, there lay a city in the centre of the sky.Overlooking the old town, standing high on a hill in the northeastern sector stands the Gothic Basilicá del Voto Nacional. Built over several decades starting in 1926, the cathedral is an awesome sight. Its interior seemed to contain several pagan symbols, which i speculate relates to the Knights Templar. It is however the gothic towers which draw the visitors, us included. I had read that the climb was somewhat taxing, but nothing had prepared me for a rickety wooden plank, several spiraling staircases and a collection of iron ladders. This is not one for the faint hearted. Still the view was quite spectacular. We climbed both towers; well Hugo, Noodle and I did anyway. The Pictures will do all of the talking. Just as hair raising was climbing the bell tower of Monastery of Santa Catalina. After viewing some slightly morbid artwork, we were taken up the tower, under the bell and onto a 50cm wide platform. I call it a platform, but it was it was in fact just the roof, a wet and high one at that. The knees trembled big time, but once more the view made it totally worth it. After spending Wednesday watching Spurs and looking into jungle tours, we spent today visiting a museum displaying an art collection of Ecuador's most famous artist, Oswaldo Guayasamin. You may not recognise the name, but I am sure you will recognise his work.So that's what I have been up to since my last post, no where in South America seems to let you upload more than 5 pictures at once to facebook so as a result I have been sat here for nearly 2 hours. Thank you everyone for all of your messages, please keep them coming. Unlucky about last week Gary, from what I saw you guys were lucky to keep it down to 4!Hope this reaches you all well, and I hope you enjoy the pictures. x