Hey all....

Trips still going well... and don´t worry we wont get swine flu!

Right a bit of a update on whats been going on.. had a amazing BBQ like i said in Banos we went Mountain biking the next day which was lots of fun. We have got together a massive group, there were about 10 of us! On the cycle we went to a waerfall where you could walk behind.. but it involved a scramble through a small tunnel which you had to crawl through.. was quite funny! (luckily i wore my cycling helmet). That night we had a sample of ecuadorian night life.. which invovled a very empty bar playing cheesy music with 2 gay guys dancing.. im sure there is better. Felt a bit worse for wear as we had to get up early (7ish) for canyoning! It was loads of fun, it involves absailing down 20m waterfalls.. don´t worry we survived it.. we can now tick off one extreme sport! The wetsuits were slightly worse for wear and we had funny ecuadorian guides called Angel and Carlos who called everyone baby girl. seemed to be limited english.. ´don´t panic baby girl´ :s

Anyway we set off to Riobamba that afternoon for the Devils nose train ride! Sounds exciting .. however bit of a let down! It used to be a old steam train which ran from Riobamba through the Andes then zig zigs down a cliff to the ´devils nose´ you used to be able to sit on the roof for the entire journey.. which would have been amazig. However unfortionalty a couple of months ago some stupid people stood up and rumour says got decapitated :( therfore your not allowed to ride on the top anymore! To add to that thne old train wasnt running and there had been a landslide so we had to get a 6am bus to the next town .. 2 hours away .. then get on what looked like a school bus on tracks with an American saga tour group ( who all pushed in front) for a expensive ride .. which had nice views but wasn´t really worth it.. we tried to make the most out of it! (it would have been better if the old steam train was working)

From Riobamba we jumped on a bus to Cuence - the home of the Panama hat.. a really nice little town.. had some tasty meals there.. trying to get anything other than rice and soup wherever possible.. We managed to spend hours and hours in the hat musuem/shop (to Simon´s fustration) I bought my self a Panama hat which is pretty cool. Our Australian friend we have een travelling with managed to buy 7!! They are alot cheaper here than anywhere else.. however its going to be a bit of mission travelling with them. We got the guy to make them perfectly.. trim the brim to the right size and change the bands etc.. custom made!

The big group is splitting up now and we made a spontanious decision to follow a couple of people to Montanita a big party surf town.. should be lots of fun. We felt we needed a bit more time in Ecuador .. and i can´t say no to a bit of sun and surf !

See you later Alligator

x