Ecuadorian Adventures...

I've set up another blog should you be interested... of the times in Ecuador. More personal notes than anything but if you fancy a read feel free:

adsinecuador.blogspot.com

I will try to add bits and peices if I get the time but since arriving home things have gotten crazy!

Hot springs, social movements and videotape...

Well, the Ecuadorians won the football 2-0 which was an incredible result! But even more incredible was the fiesta that followed here, with car horns beeping just minutes after the final whistle and the gathering of thousands of yellow shirted supporters everywhere... A really incredible experience!

Today we will go into the mountains to see some hot springs and visit our friends, the whole of Quito is surrounded by volcanoes and the hot springs are apparently amazing and quite untouched by the tourists as they´re quite secluded and unknown. Tomorrow we begin our crazy 28 hour journey back to Newcastle, but before that we´re going to visit a famous Ecuadorian film maker who played a part in the recent social movement that ousted the president here last month. We really came here at the right time for our work as the movements of the people have led to real political change, something I think is almost un-heard of in Europe and the Western world... really interesting stuff... we will make some interviews and get video of the social centre so we should have something to show soon after we get back.

Viva Ecuador!!

We´re currently sitting watching Ecuador play Argentina in the World Cup Qualifying competition, and its funny how much of a liking I´ve developed for this country. The people are wonderful, peaceful, helpful and happy... I really hope they win!!

We´re meeting our friends this evening and then tomorrow we will relax ready for a meeting with a famous film maker on Monday and then head home at lunch time... which will be a crazy trip, setting off about 4pm and arriving back in newcastle about 24 hours later! So much to tell...

Pictures in the Jungle

I´ve uploaded a number of pictures to MySpace on MSN so you can see for yourself some of the things we did...

http://spaces.msn.com/members/adscom/

Click on the link then the name of the gallery on the right hand side and you can see the gallery in full... some are a bit blurred but it was hard to have a steady hand when worrying about the next creepy crawly to land on you!!

Jungle is Massive...!!!

I´m back where I started, in the same seat in the same internet cafe in Quito... but I´ve had the most amazing experience in the last five days... one I will for sure never forget. I have made a lot of notes about what we did and saw and there is way too much to write here, but as a flavour...

The camp was a 12 hour bus journey away, followed by a 3 hour trip down river on a motorised canoe... through the depths of the rain forest, to our little camp, a series of small huts with a bathroom hut and shower. There was of course no electricity and all the water was cold, the weather rapidly changing between torential rainfall to blue skies and red hot sunshine. We did many activities, nature hunting for snakes, spiders, monkeys and too many beautiful birds, as well as a night walk (one of the scariest things ever!!), piranha fishing and meeting the indigenous tribes...

Something really incredible! Anyway, I will tell you all about it on my return. We have now 2 days in Quito before returning on Tuesday, everything is fantastic but I also can´t wait to get home to family, friends and some clean clothes!!