Quickish Update Mk II

Hey folks. Well I'm just posting this to get the last few days out the way so the slate is clean. Why? Because tomorrow we fly out to the Galapagos and will spend 8 days on a boat sailing the islands. I can't wait! I'm pretty nervous about the sea-sickness (this being the roughest time of year for the seas around there), and considering I get sea-sick in the bath tub, and remembering my last excursion on a boat to sea, well right now my mind is in worry-mode.

To start us off - a sunset in Huanchaco, again!

Me at the Peruvian/Ecuadorian border crossing. There were a few pictures here representing anti drug squads who patrol the border. Peru is Latin America's second largest exporter of cocaine

Anyway, since my last update, we've arrived in Ecuador. From Trujillo, we took an 18 hour bus ride to Guayaquil (Ecuador's biggest city), which plenty of people recommended against. But we found it quite nice! Granted, it's not a top-ten desitination by any stretch, but the city has a bit of charm.

Guayaquil's lighthouse. Not sure if it's necessary as the city's on a fairly calm river.

View from the lighthouse

Guayaquil's redesigned waterfront. Loads of money has been spent on this place, and it's now quite safe

And again. That's Fran there

There's a park in the middle of the city that has the obvious wildlife, like squirrels, shitting pigeons and the like. What's a bit unusual is all the iguanas that are around there as well! Iguanas in a city park. Bizzare. There are even some tortoises in the pond, but the tame iguanas steal the show.

Iguanas find all sorts of places to rest. Like this tree

Or in a flower-bed

Little girl watches on as the boy starts pulling the animal's tail.

Portrait

Me and my new mate

We also stayed at one hell of a posh Guest House (La Casa de Romero if anyone's interested). Quite far out of town, but I guess when you have great accomodation, it adds a lot to your experience of a place.

From Guayaquil, we came to Quito, and we arrived last night. Today has been half admin (getting the tickets sorted, also laundry before the trip!) and half sight-seeing. I'll be back in Quito when I leave in a few weeks time (boo hoo!) so I'm not too fussed on seeing everything in one day. So I guess: more to come from Quito in a few weeks.

Inside Quito's gothic cathedral

Cathedral, another view

Anyway, like I said, this was a shortish update.
Remember we'll be away from the 'puter until next Saturday I reckon, so I'm unfortunately going to get even further behind in replies etc. Sorry dudes!

Before I go, there are two things I want to mention:

1. I've uploaded a video from the new underwater camera just to test my hosting site's functions and to see the quality. Here's the video. I tried compressing it before uploading, but it's still big. If anyone could please let me know what the image quality is like on your computer, plus how long it took to load, that'd be great. Hopefully I'll have some better videos to upload once the Galapagos is over and done with. (If you can't get HD on the video below, try this link)



2. My new Canadian friend Jen has sent me the coolest link:
Read between the lines, someone somewhere is preparing for the invasion. They don't want to panic us, but information like this is leaked for a reason. It's coming people. Stock up on food and ammo. And remember. Aim for the head.

Later
Adam