Whistle-stop tour...

Oo my, I don’t know where to start!! We were going to set off to Puyo a week ago Sunday… but Paquita woke up feeling extremely nauseas – she immediately thought it was a problem with her heart so the trip was postponed whilst they went off to the hospital… I spent a very tense morning waiting for news which praise the Lord wasn’t bad!! It turns out Paquita was just suffering from vertigo (or so they say in spanish) and that the symptoms are the same – but the doctor ordered she stay in bed, rest, and do no traveling.. so we adapted to a new plan. Sunday we did nothing in the end, but Monday we took a trip to the Middle of the World which was very interesting, I got a certificate for managing to balance an egg on a nail – on the real line there is less gravity (or summat) so an egg can balance and there were other tests we did too to 'prove' it was the real middle of the world!… Tuesday we took a trip to Cotopaxi (Volcano of 5897m), one of the well-known attractions of Ecuador and we did our best do climb up… we managed to get to the refuge but it was hard work!!! Though I did it in 40mins!!! My bro in half an hour and my parents in an hour and 10… I really don’t have the adventurous spirit to go the whole way though – that’s quite a serious undertaking and one has to train!!!

Mis cumpleaños…
Wednesday 1st it was fiesta, fiesta, fiesta!!! We had good fun – Anne and I arranged some olla’s encantadas (the Ecuadorian version of a piñata, though it’s a wee round pot made of clay) which the kids enjoyed though it was abit manic!!! We also made them some wee party bags which they liked… my family really enjoyed getting to know Remar abit… they went off to eat and shop after the party and I stayed the rest of the day…. At about 3.30 we tried to get people together to share cake for my birthday and for Anne’s goodbye, but there was no-body around!! Though eventually we managed to round a few people up, then the ‘celebration’ began with Tati shoving my head in the cake!! (tradition here!) so then I cleaned myself off, cut up the cake and was JUST about to eat my slice when smack – Nellie smashed an egg on my head!! It was amusing but rather uncomfortable – cold and slimy!!! So then I popped in the shower to wash my hair!! Ivan, the husband of the couple who look after the boys home, it was his birthday too – and Nellie feeling particularly impish got him as he came up the stairs with an egg… poor guy, caught off guard… and he’d just cleaned himself off when up came Nellie again with a cake in her hands (laughing extremely impishly!! Oo she loved it!), and he tried to close himself into a room, but alas he got got!! It was easier for me coz I was fully expecting it and was prepared!! In the evening we had a wee birthday tea with Paquita and Armando then we (my family) went off to Jacchigua – a national ballet, which was awesome!! It’s all based on the indigenas cultures of Ecuador, and all the costumes are traditional – fantastically beautiful colours. It was abit expensive (though not English standard) but definitely worth it and a great birthday treat!!

Off we set…
So we decided to head off to Puyo in the Oriente (jungle, but really only just) on thursday without Paquita as she had a doctors appointment on friday (the plan was she would join us in Guayaquil on sat but as it turned out she got a cold and the doctor said she couldn’t travel – which was very disappointing for all!). along the 5hour route we stopped off looking at waterfalls – one awesomely powerful one called ‘Devil’s cauldron’ and which if you stand by the side of it with your shower gel, you could have a nice shower!!! We also took Ecuador’s longest and highest cable car across a gorge (500m long, 100m high) – to be honest when we first set off, my legs felt rather weak –and I felt real nervous – it’s a LONG way down!!! My dad was saying he was worried it would stop working and we’d be stuck there hanging over night!!! great thought to share!! Though the journey back across was far more enjoyable coz one had more trust in the wee basket!
We spent a day in Puyo - the morning we went white-water rafting on the River Pastaza, which was awesome though really not long enough – our guide said it was higher than usual coz it had rained, hard, ALL night long! I have to said that rafting is my one thrill-seeker outlet…45mins just wasn’t enough (although I ached enough afterwards!). In the afternoon we went to Jardin Botanico Las Orquideas – which was just utterly amazing. This guy has ‘grown’ it from scratch into a proper piece of jungle land, rescuing plants and trees from where the loggers cut down, it’s 25 years old and is just amazing… the size of some of the orchids you just would not believe, tiny, tiny, tiny!!! And what was really good after about a 45 minute wait outside (they lock the gates when there isn’t a spare guide coz people have been entering and stealing the plants), the owner arrived and he was our guide, which was the best!!

Coasting it…
On saturday we headed off to Guayaquil… long drive but beautiful scenery… unfortunately Chimborazo (another famous Ecuadorian Volcano) was largely covered by cloud!! Booo!! My dad was joking with Armando that he didn’t believe there were any high volcanoes/mountains in Ecuador coz they were always covered by cloud… We took a night time stroll on the Malecon (sea front) and went to see the famous slum which has been renovated and completely transformed into something beautiful… next we went up the coast to Puerto Lopez, where in the night we got woken up by a drunk singing outside who I thought when he woke me up was a mariachi band, Mexican, serenading – but my family informed me that no it was just a drunk singing out of tune! Hmmm…. On the way to Puerto Lopez, we stopped off at Montañita which is now becoming a surfing hotspot and my bro had fun trying to catch the waves – one day I’d like to have a lesson I reckon, maybe?! From there we continued up to Bahia, then the next day back to Quito. It was a mammoth trip but great to see it all – the biggest difference from Quito, or indeed the Sierra (highlands) or the Oriente (jungle) was the houses – a lot of people build their houses on stilts and they’re made out of wood – it’s really quite different…

Back in Quito…
So we got back into Quito and me back to my house at 8pm!!! Bit late… wednesday we did a wee bit of Quito sight-seeing and tried to sort out our hire car business, which is all a complete mess – basically the owner is taking us for a ride and charging $590 more than he should!!! So now we have a fight on our hands… it’s a good job I’m here and that I have Ecuadorian friends… coz apparently the owner has done this sort of thing before to foreigners but obviously when they return the cars, they generally leave the next day so there’s nothing they can do about him charging fraudulently but a-ha he’s come a cropper… watch this space to see if this thief gets his just desserts!!!

Nowt else to say, been back in Remar today - it has been a relief to get back to 'normality' after all that’s happened over the past 3 weeks!! It was great to have my family here, I hope they enjoyed themselves, though I’m pretty sure they’re leaving feeling more tired than when they came!
oo news on the baby, Tati and Diego have now offically adopted her so Valen (4) now has a wee sister!! The doctors decided not to operate you like i said in my urgent email coz they felt her wee body couldn't take a 3rd op!! so now she has to go for expensive tests each month for a year when they´ll reassess the situ and try to operate then!

Well i reckon that's enuff for this week’s waffling!! Oodles of love