Surprising Quito!

We were a little apprehensive about heading to Quito - we'd heard lots of scary reports about armed robberies and violent muggings, plus also the city is close to 3000m in altitude so the weather is changeable to say the least. However, we headed to the city as it was en route to Columbia (plus Tom was invited to attend an art festival) and we were pleasantly surprised by what we found. We stayed in a very homey hostel, whilst only down the road from allegedly 'the most dangerous road in South America', it was safe and cosy. It even had hot water in the kitchen which is a rarity in SA!!







We met a bunch of Aussies and studied hard at Espanol for a week and a half and cooked dinner together every night. Some of the best meals on our trip were created here - we even cooked a roast. Believe us, the food in SA is not something to shout about so home cooked meals are a blessing!!



At the weekend we headed to Mindo on hired mopeds with a couple of Aussies for a mammouth 260km round trip (thanks Josh and Jules!). Mindo was a beautiful little town set deep in the valley, with multi-coloured humingbrids, the best trout lunch and yummy chocolate brownies.



The journey there and back was the highlight though, Josh and Jules' moped conked it after 10 mins of driving, we then had to wait 40 mins for a new one, meanwhile we were gassed by car fumes and the most stinnkiest bin/sewerage juice, which had us all retching on the side of the road.


Broken down in Quito, waiting for our replacement moped. I must have loved that helmet as I hardly took it off!!

When we finally hit the open road we encountered huge steep dirt roads which had us off the bikes and pushing them. And the roads didn't improve - there were massive pot holes so it was a bone shaking ride for the first 5 hours!


Trekking up the hill as the moped could not handle the road conditions with 2 people on board!



On the return trip we were pulled over by the Police and Josh and Jules were threatened with jail for not carrying their drivers licenses. Thankfully a bit of my Spanish kicked into gear and I managed to get them out of the pickle. We found out later that the Police can throw you into jail for 4 days for this offence. Big relief. When we finally reached Quito we hit rush hour and got stuck in the fast lane of a 5 lane motorway in the dark, thanks to the schizophrenic GPS. We seriously thought that this trip might be our last as we hit speeds of 80km/hr. Lucky for us the gods were looking after us and we were saved from being pelted into the middle of the highway and run over by a truck. Memorable times!




The boys sampling the local 'bueno cafe'...which was not so bueno!


It was a snug fit on the moped and we were seriously aching after 12 hours spent on the bike










The smallest/youngest petrol attendant

Las Cascadas - Baños, Ecuador

Following our flight from Madrid we recuperated in the hostel pool in Guayaquil, it was 35 degrees so perfect weather for lounging. After a couple of days we headed to Baños, so called due to the numerous hot springs in the area. It's a small town in the Andes, however amazingly it's only 60km from the Amazon. We booked into the local escuela de Espanol for a week, 3 hour classes in the morning were then followed by a fabulous 3 course almuerzo (lunch) for less than $2.




Probably not one of our favourite lunches, it was a mystery chicken body-part soup - we found necks, feet and various organs in there...yum!



There's no shortage of things to do in Banos- we hired bikes along the 'ruta de las cascadas' a 22km bike ride (thankfully) downhill, alongside waterfalls and butterflies. We went on grade 3/4 rapids along the rather murky water that took us into the Amazon and I amusingly watched as Tom was catapulted into the water. Luckily for him there were no piranhas inhabiting this river! We also hiked around the mountains in search of the perfect view of the Volcano Tungurahua, an active Volcano that last erupted in May this year.














Looking stylish in wetsuits before getting drenched in the rapids


I love hostel rabbits!

Espana en Verano

We left Ecuador for a '5 week holiday within a holiday'(so lucky!). We were heading to the UK for my sister's wedding and Dad's 60th celebrations and as our flight flew direct to Madrid we thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to check out a bit of Espana and see if (our rather bad) Spanish could be understood by anyone!

Arriving into Madrid, Tom was asked by immigration if he was in the city to see the Pope, he politely said 'No', to which the officer replied 'Ah because there are many people from Malta here to see the Pope'. We were not aware that we had timed our trip during World Youth Week - there were 1000's of young pilgrims pounding the streets in 40 degree heat. One of the strangest sights was seeing young nun's playing guitars and dancing in the city - it was seriously like a scene from 'The Sound of Music'.




Tom in heaven at one of his fave places in Madrid, Museo de Jamon!

Barcelona was the next stop after a 2 day stint in Madrid. The sun was out and the summer vibe was flowing through the city. We lucked out and were in town for the Gracia fiesta, an awesome week long festival in the streets of a small district of Barcelona. Many of the streets were decorated by the residents with the mojito's freeflowing and salsa/swing moves rocking. We were there for the final night and were treated to a massive fireworks display in the streets- guys dressed up in cloaks attached gunpowder to giant stakes and twirled them around as they danced and weaved through crowds. Nothing like being showered by fire sparks!

















So our time in Barcelona before heading to Inglaterra was spent eating, drinking, taking in the sights, admiring the amazing architecture, catching up with Aussie pals and hitting the beach to watch the sunset with a beer in hand! Tenemos una buena vida!



























After all of the UK festivities, we flew back to Madrid and spent our last few days in Europa with my lovely cuz Sarah, Chucho and lickle Nikko!