I then promptly slept for the entire flight to Madrid. Wow, a whole 2 hours - that made me feel heaps better!! Grumpy? Me? Never! It was then a wonderous 11 hour flight where once again, I was unable to sleep. Instead I managed to watch Date Night without the sound and then Nanny McPhee (the second one I think) with the sound (I shouldn't have bothered with the sound!!). At least two young people were sick during the flight, the Iberia staff were typically rude throughout and the food was sub-standard. We did manage to hear the football score from the pilot though, which was a nice touch. Viva Espana and all that.Arrival into Quito was an anti-climax with no lovely views of the mountains due to thick cloud and torrential rain. Oh, and everybody clapped when we landed. Why do they do that? Do they not realise that it is supposed to happen like that?? There was then the moment when we thought Iberia had managed to lose 7 bags, only to discover them discarded on the floor on the other side of the luggage hall. Thankfully our airport pick-up was waiting and on hand to help me as I was carrying my bag, my hand luggage and the rucksack of one of the pukers. Me very strong. Like ox. Thanks boys.
Anyway, I am spending far too long describing what is really quite meaningless in the grand scheme of things as I'm sure it is Ecuador you wish to hear about, rather than my gripes with air travel. So...
The first couple of days it was all about getting used to the altitude - Quito is not horrendously high, about 2,800m I think, but enough to make you out of breath quite quickly when you try and walk briskly uphill. Unfortunately there are quite a few stupid members of my group so getting things done seemed to take forever. This meant no sightseeing for us except for a visit to El Mitad del Mundo (the equator) where it rained like I have never seen rain before (well, this trip anyway) and we all got very wet and cold. It is quite amusing that the monument and the line are actually about 240m out (according to the guide book) from the actual equator. Genius.
Saturday we left Quito, which was a shame as I was becoming rather fond of the hotel/brothel we had found ourselves in! The two women/men/women/I don't bloody know what they were that were working out of there were becoming a little scarey, especially when they started winking at the kids. (I feel I should call them kids here, just to emphasize the creepiness of the situation.) Anyway, we left Quito and headed to Tena on the edge of the Amazon rainforest. We lost over 2,000m in altitude and gained about 20 degrees in temperature and 80% in humidity. That was a shock to the system. The teacher with the school became very ill and spent the afternoon and evening throwing up (typically this was the first time we had to share a room!). I spent the evening tip-toeing around so as not to wake him from his fitful feverish sleep. Thank goodness for wi-fi - at least I could check my Facebook ;)
From Tena it was off into the jungle for a true Amazon experience. Well, truish. We did have beds (albeit not that comfortable). And flushing toilets. And we were only 20m from the road. But it was a jungle experience of sorts. The group were impressed so I guess that's what counts. It's not my holiday after all (and don't I bloody know it!!).
No, I mustn't knock it, it was a great couple of days. The food was amazing - well, the teacher and I thoroughly enjoyed it anyway, the hammocks were very comfortable and the two dogs (named Colin and Colin by the teacher, even though one was female) were very amusing. The female Colin even accompanied us on our epic gorge walk - we were very impressed with her dexterity and fearless attitude. Put most of the kids to shame! 
We got our faces painted with tribal markings, we wore headbands made from palm leaves, we ate lemon ants (actually, I didn't eat any - been there, done that before), we swam in a jungle pool, we climbed a waterfall, we learned all about the medicinal, and sometimes halucinagenic, qualities of some plants, we wore wellies... what more could one need for a well-rounded jungle experience? I know, learning to make bird noises. Hmmm. A couple of minutes listening to 13 teenagers attempt to make a bird noise through their hands would have been bearable, a whole afternoon of it was enough to drive me to murder. Almost.
Our jungle experience sadly ended this morning and today was spent white water rafting and getting eaten by sandflies. The rafting was great, the sandflies not so. The river was quite low which was disappointing but, once again, I guess it's not my holiday and the group had a ball so that's what counts. It is now 0130 and I am writing this blog in an effort to exhaust myself so that I might fall asleep without scratching myself raw. It's all mind over matter apparently. Yeah, right!So that's me, at the end of week one of this Ecuadorian adventure with the most gullible of gullible students in my charge (seriously, they believe absolutely anything!). The day after tomorrow we are off to walk around, yes, around and not up, Cotapaxi, so I will endeavour to update this blog on my return. Ciao for now xxx
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