Bev and Paul

Yesterday we survived the Devil´s nose train ride from Rio Bamba to Alaussi, it was awesome. Most of the way we were watched by the local children because everybody buys lollipops to throw to them. We spent a small fortune on lollies, as you throw them the children come from everywhere to collect them. The train climbs up through the mountains on the narrowest tracks I have ever seen and crosses some bridges which I would think twice about walking over. When we got to the devils nose the drop to the side of the train must have been about 300 feet straight down. We did have one minor mishap, there was a landslide and a rock landed on Bev ( don´t worry it was only about the size of an egg and made of pumice ... read more

We left Quito early yesterday morning and set off for Mindo which is in the Cloud Forest. We stopped on the way to visit an Orchid reserve and had a walk through the sub tropical rainforest where we saw some lizards and birds. We then made our way to Mindo Gardens which is the lodge where we stayed right next the Mindo river, which was about 6 kilometers from the nearest village along a dirt track. We had lunch in the restaurant whilst watching a selection of Hummingbirds feeding just outside the window. In the afternoon we went to a Butterfly breeding centre and saw Butterflies at all stages of development. Later on we visited another cafe where we saw some different species of Hummingbirds and a Parrot. Today we were woken at 5.30 am to ... read more

Unfortunately we are unable to add any photos at the moment but we should be able to in a few days time. Today we visited the old town of Quito. Some of the buildings are from the 15th century and are still standing after surviving several major earthquakes. We drove to the highest point of the town for some spectacular views. We had the afternoon free and managed to visit a local park where there were some paintings and local crafts for sale. We visited the main shopping centre which would put the quadrant to shame. This evening we went to a restaurant where they had some traditional music and dancing. Tomorrow we are up again at 7.00am, after breakfast we leave Quito and make our way to Mindo, which is in the cloud forest. On ... read more

Arrived in Quito 1 hour late, not bad after 21 hours travelling. Flight okay, met the rest of our group at the airport, 10 of us in total we are the youngest!! Hotel very impressive views over a valley looking at a snow covered mountain. Just had a very nice bowl of Chilli and now looking forward to a good nights sleep before getting up at seven tomorrow morning. Looks like being a very busy 3 weeks. We'll try to upload some photos tomorrow.... read more