From the middle of the world to the end of the world

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Hola amigos

We´re all very happy because we now know which way the water goes down the plughole in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Yesterday we visited la Mitad del Mundo, the equator just north of Quito. We all stood with one foot in each hemisphere and did the touristy experiments, but it was all very interesting (and very hot).

On the way we picked up the new volunteers who will be working in the local communities with a company called Global Vision International, teaching the children who otherwise cannot get to school. It´s a wonderful thing they´re all doing, and it was good for us to see that their anxieties were the same as ours were two weeks ago.

A short postscript to Saturday´s birthday party report - the one who won the big prize of the I love New Zealand backpack in the pass the parcel, was Mamita Maria, 95 years old, who is now planning her first trip outside of Ecuador!

Diane and Rosemarie are the most popular of our group among the fleas, which we have now discovered are in the school bus which is used to take us around on our trips. It visits the local communities every day with the volunteers, and the children and animals climb around the van.

Tomorrow we´re off to the Mojanda Lakes up in the mountains, where we have been reliably informed, there have been sightings of UFO´s - wonder if they understand Spanish or English. One member of our host family saw one last year while camping out there.

Thanks for all the messages, it´s good to see that somebody is reading all this stuff! We´ll have another go with photos in the next couple of days. Going to meet the volunteers for a wee drop now ...

Love, GDRJ

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