Cotopaxi... did reveal itself for about 15minutes. *

Day trip visit to Cotopaxi Volcano (6000+m high) national park. Seventy km south of Quito... lots of clouds today. *

Armel and Adrian riding the empty (of cars) streets of Quito. *

The small and very friendly village of Machalilla. We were able to sleep in complete confidance on the beach and at 8pm the prawn fishermen came in and sold us what we needed to make our very own prawn ceviche. *

The food in coastal equador is excellent and picked up exactly where Peru left off. We enjoyed this crab soup as an entree with a secudo of fish ceviche for only $1.50 I was in seafood heaven. *

Adrian forgot his helmet. But in La Libertad we managed to find one that matched his shirt for only $8. *

Unfortunately in this game the bull is always the looser. *

The Plaza de San Fransico in Quito with very ominous clouds. We are back in the Andes and at 2800m. *

Gwendal jumping accross to the northern hemisphere and to the second half of the journey!!!! *

By luck or bad luck as you may feel we caught the big bull fight in Quito with the best matadors in south america. It was hot and I wish I had bought one of these hats. *

The Antipodes Expeditions posse on the Equador coast. *

Tania dancing her way from one hemisphere to another. Our latitude is 00.00'00" *

The stilt house shanty town just east of Guayaquil. *

Workers grafting the Cacao 51 plant onto the stalk of the more hardy native Equadorian plant. This way they get year round yeild with a very resistant root system that will allow the plant to live up to 100 years. *

Adrian and Greg enjoying Equador's "ruta del Sol". We spent most of our time right next to the ocean and travelled through a very interesting transition of dry and very humid climates. Sometimes twice in a day. *

In Guayaquil we were very happy to greet my friend Adrian McCardle and his brother Greg as Antipodes Expeditions riders for ten days in Equador. *

We visited a Hacienda (large farm) in southern Equador which in my eyes qualifies as the "land of chocolate" half the plantation is cacao trees. We were able to visit and see how they are collected and made ready for processing. I was most amazed to learn that the cacao almonds that are found in the large pod are surrounded by a very sweet and tasty pulp that can be eaten. But unfortunately does not taste like chocolate. *

Our second night in Equador was in Pasaje at the cuerpo de bomberos (fire department). Who let us string up our hamacks in their empty hall for the night. However it was a sleepless night as it was the fiesta of Nossa Señora de la Luz. There were 5 stages and music until 6 in the morning being played very very loud. As it is hot and humid here the hall had no windows and the sound reverberated very well off the walls, floor and tin roof. *