we are alive!!!

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Hello to everyone!!!!! We are sorry its been such a while..but we literally have been stuck in the sticks with no form of communication and most of the time no electricity..the only day we got into a town ,was the day of the elections and convenientaly the electricity went off that day for the whole region...i have my suspicions!!!!

Anyway let me go back to the beginning and tell you about our journey here. In true keri and pete stylee we started off really well...when in a tired rush to get to the airport at Madrid, we left behind our most important pack with all and i mean all our travel documents. Somebody in Madrid is currently probably tracking our every moment and fantasising about the details of our travel insurance!!!

The journey on the plane took 12 hours, fortunately aided by pete asking for a seat with lots of leg room, to which they duly abided. I think this was helped by the fact that everyone else was from Ecuador and with no offence to Ecuadorians ...they seem to be very short, at least on average 6 inches shorter than Pete.

The flight was a total contrast to a European flight..very loud, children running around everywhere, playing hide and seek. We travelled with Airmadrid which is a budget airline...which was proved when after waiting for 10 hours for some food, we were rewarded with a cheese and cracker. I think we´ll take supplies on the way back.

On arrival, we arrived though the usual airport checkout to what seemed like a full on party...big families, lots of balloons, flags, singing...pete and I slipped by quietly, half hoping in the crowd that somewhere there would be a balloon for us, alas no.

After that we had to wait for 6 hours for the next leg of our journey, at the bus station...a little bit salubrious at midnight. We decided to keep still and just sit for 6 hours, a perfect time for some people watching. It became pretty obvious immediatley that Ecuadorians are really resourceful folk...everybody is an entrepreneur! Jackets opened up to reveal classy watches, ladies with homemade hot chocolate in saucepans, small children polishing shoes for the equivalent of about 5 pence.

Finally got onto overnight bus, which was supposed to take 8 hours to get to out destination, but actually took 6...boy do those bus drivers know how to drive!. The whole journey is just curves and bumps...imagine those scenes from US car chases where they are flying down the streets of San Francisco and transfer that to a 6 hour journey over mountains, with big drops at the side, on roads that don´t really exist, with big holes and ravines in them.

A ferry ride later and then a taxi to our destination. Rio Muchacho exists about 16 kms´s from Canoa a beachy resort, but the last 6 kms is up a dust track, that winds up and down, through rivers. If it rains here its impossible tom get here by car or truck and everyone has to walk or ride a horse. or mule. So here we are guys...the adventure is about to begin....

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