Team 2 (prize for a better name): Freddie, India, Louise, Tom and Angus and Izzy at front

You will, I am sure, be thrilled to hear that we all arrived in one piece. The flight to Ecuador was, to put it mildly, long and quite an ordeal! A three O´Clock Heathrow start is never all that fun and the flight was uber long, coupled with lots of smelly people on the plane (I had the pleasure of sitting next to an old English man who at 6am was already drunk and smelling of stale smoke…fortunately this was only on the first flight to Madrid) and rather cramped seats and no TVs. BUT WE SURVIVED. And so did our bags.

We all clambered into the bus at the airport with our bags on top and arrived at our hostel hear in Quito. Expecting the very worst, I was pleasantly surprised by the fun and rather quirky place we are staying at. Very colourful, with running water, linen and flushing loos….what more could you ask for?!

I must pay tribute to Team 2 (there are 15 Leapers here in total- we’ve been split into two teams- ours being team 2!). We are made up of Angus (who is sitting over me and has assured me that he is going to be ´the glue which holds the group together´  and will always be ´kind and understanding…but knows when to crack the whip´ and is a constant lethario), Tom (who tells me that if God was on earth, he would be Tom Dryden), and three lovely ladies in the form of Izzy, India and Louise. Team 1 are very nice, as are cracking Kelly and Ariel (The Little Mermaid) our project leaders.

So after a leisurely lie in on the first morning, we woke up and had an ‘Ameicana’ breakfast which entailed a portion of bread, jam and scrambled eggs. MMMMM. Then we made our way over to The Leap´s office nearby and had a full on briefing with all the safety info, blah blah blah. And then we were given an insight into our three project phases. Fortunately Team 2 (we are trying to come up with a more original name…Los Blancos/ Gringos/ Little Mermaids/ Just Awesome have all been proposed but would welcome suggestions before we come to a decision) is going to the Amazon first, where I gather there is a miscreant monkey who steals everything. We are plotting a kidnap. Finally, we had a Spanish lesson (and being such a pro, I was in the advanced group) and have aa few more over the coming days. Our teacher gave us all the rudest words, so we are fully clued up. Berga, I gather, is pretty ´mal educado´and conjo is apparently normal and is synonymous with selfish.

View from the basilica, Old Town

Today has been a day full of cultural delights. After another americana breakfast, group 2 made its way to the old town of Quito (we are in the new town at the moment). I must say that the old town is far more authentic and beautiful, without western invasion such as McDonalds and KFC. Accompanied by the legendary Venessio (who I gather from Kelly I was his fav…how flattering), we strolled through some parks (which we were told are where ´novios y novias vienen los domingos´) and having spotted a little river running through the park, with some rowing boats, I suggested that we hire one. And we did. For the princely sum of $1.50 per boat for half an hour.

Row Row Row your boat...

We hired two and it was great fun – we just went around in circles for half an hour, much to the amusement of the locals and resulted in Angus jumping out and dragging us back in. Next was the Basillica. The stunning cathedral was located right at the top of Quito (Oxygen masks would have been nice) and we climbed up all the stairs to the top (with a little help from our friend the lift) and took in the panoramic views of Quito. I must pay particular tribute to Izzy and especially India who were EXTREMELY brave and after much reluctance, went to the top, despite fear of heights. I gather from India that she can now go back home contented, phewf.

Shopping for hats in Quito

...yet more shopping!

The Team 2 ladies at our Spanish School

After all the exertion, we went for lunch at a local dive. The food wasn´t tooooo bad, but didn´t look all that appetising. Unidentifiable animals were eaten. Having caught the bus (far superior to our very own in London….Boris take note), it was soon time for another Spanish class. All the past tenses were learned and it was topped off with a game of hangman. You would never guess which my word was (read previous post). Izzy and I went on an expedition to buy a mobile phone and having gotten lost in the many streets of Quito, we came back, armed with the coolest of phones (bricks which were probably sent from Envirofone several years ago) and now can call home/ anywhere for cheap, cheap, cheap.

The evening has been a lazy affair. The girls cooked us a scrummy pasta and since then we have been playing games and having DMCs and are getting psyched for going to el Ecuador (equator – of course), tomorrow.

So, that´s all for now folks.

Buenas noches.

Freddie