From Colombia to Quito

Too much to tell!! Internet access has been very sparse so I´ll try and tell as much as possible here now...

I´m currently in an internet cafe in Quito, Ecuador having travelled yesterday from Medellin in Colombia. Colombia was incredible... I arrived a couple of days before the project and we had the chance to stay in a typical country house in the mountains with Laura´s family before travelling into Medellin. The city is huge, around 3-4 million people and surrounded by mountains, so much so that we never saw sunset or sunrise... The problems there, although getting better, are terrible... we went to the place where pablo escobar grew up... the streets of prostitutes and drug dealers... I have seen some of the most incredible but also disturbing things in my life... a real experience...

From there we left yesterday for Quito and now we are going to book our trip to the rain forests of the amazon... we have found a great trip, close to the colombian border and we will return on Saturday to Quito. Apparently we´ll see fresh water dolphins, rare insects and reptiles.. and stay with indian tribes... I can´t wait.

Most important is I´m safe, having a lifetimes experience and have met some of the most amazing people... So I´ll check out on that note and I´ll be able to check back in when we get back on Saturday...

Back in England on Tuesday so I´ll try and contact but I´ll be jet lagged!! Anyway, I´ll keep in touch.

Ole Madrid

Well, I finally arrived in Madrid after cutting it very short. My train was delayed by over an hour and so by the time I actually found my gate in Heathrow I was the last one to board the flight! But I made it so all is good. I´m staying in the Hostel Ole, which is pretty nice, full of Australian and American travellers... so at least the language hasn´t been an issue so far!!

I slept for a long time last night after not sleeping at all on Monday so now I´m feeling quite fresh and ready to discover Madrid.

3 months later...

Almost three months since I typed here... this year is fast dissapearing. I guess the last few weeks have not been my best by any means, but slowly things are coming back together... concentration returning and work is almost back on track.

I don't really know what to say about the last few months, not much has happened although things keep moving forward which I think is a good sign. We have amazing projects coming together both that we are partners in and also those we're developing ourselves.

With e2000 we're currently working hard back at home trying to get some core funding to make sure that we have garaunteed salary instead of worrying from day to day whether there's enough money to pay the rent... but this will be sharply interupted by what is probably a trip of my lifetime when we go to colombia and ecuador - I leave in two weeks!!

"This week I have been mostly listening to..." Brothomstates, Muse, Philip Glass, Steve Reich and Thomas Newman.

I will try to use my blog when I'm away to keep people up to date, but I'm not sure what the internet connections are like in the amazon rainforests!