Ecuador

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I arrived in Quito at about 9pm at night and was picked up and taken to the hostel. In fact there really isn't much to write as I literally stayed there one night, walked into town in the morning to change some money, then went to the bus station. I took the bus to Bahia which is on the coast. The bus took about 8 hours. When I got to Bahia I had had enough of travelling for one day, so I decided to stay in Bahia for the night. There was a Norwegian couple on the same bus, so we all went and checked into the nearest hotel and then went for dinner.

The following morning we all headed onto Canoa together, which took less than an hour. We had to get a boat over to San Vicente and then a taxi to Canoa.

12th March....
I've just written this entry only for the computer to go down and wipe it out. Bastardo!!!

I'm now in a place called Canoa and have been here for 10 days. Canoa is small beachside town, and I'm staying at a place called the Sundown Inn which is about 2 kilometres out of town. I´m studying Spanish here. So far it has been great and I've just finished my first week of lessons. I can´t believe how much I've learnt this week and how much I've improved. The school is really small with only 5 people studying here at the moment .. and most of them leave this week .. so hopefully a few new people turn up! It's really great value .. US$800 for 4 weeks, with room and 3 meals a day. It's a really good place to learn spanish as there aren't many distractions. So lots of time to study and chill out.

I've been trying to be healthy since I got here. I'm having a month off booze to give my liver a break! I was hoping to surf a lot when I was here .. but I couldn´t find a longboard in the town .. until today .. so I should be surfing everyday from now on.

I probably won't write much in this blog this month as there won't be a great deal to say .. as all I'll be doing is studying, surfing and chilling out....

1st April.....
I´ve just finished my month at school on the beach in canoa. I had a really nice chilled out month, and learnt a lot of spanish .. although I´m still not that good!! I was actually doing well in my lessons, but now I´m out of them I can see I´m still crap .. I´m much better after a glass or two of vino!!!

I managed to do the whole month without drinking ... a month off is definitely a record for me!!! I feel fantastic for it. On thursday which was my last day of classes I had a nice cold beer when watching the sunset, to celebrate! It gets great sunsets in Canoa. I can´t think of a better place to learn Spanish .. set on a beautiful beach with virtually no distractions. The place is run by a family, and they make you feel really welcome.

However really didn't do much in the way of surfing ... I think I got out there only 3 times .. so I'm still totally shite at that!!

On Friday I left Canoa and headed for Quito....

2nd April.....
After a day on the bus I arrived in Quito on Friday night. After a month of 30+ degrees .. it was a shock to get back to cold, wet Quito. Friday night I had some dinner at my hotel and went to bed. It´s not really safe to walk on the streets at night in Quito. On saturday morning I went to look around Quito Old City which is a world heritage site. It is full of old colonial buildings which are really picturesque. I had a nice wander round, then had lunch in the mariscal .. an area full of restaurants and hostels. In the afternoon I had a massage at the hotel before heading out to the airport. 24 hours in Quito was plenty.....

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Photos

Canoa Beach
shit place to spend a month studying then!!