The flight landed just about on time, and we could see Mt Cotapaxi on the way in. Its peak is the furthest land point from the centre of the Earth due to the Equatorial bulge. Dad met us and took us in a taxi to El Cafecito, a hostel run by Tony and Anna. We had breakfast of French toast with banana and honey, and coffee. We walked up the hill to the South American Explorers’ Club and met the administrators, Logan and Damaris. I read the noticeboard and some expedition reports. There was a notice to warn "Don’t go to the $*%#!$& club - a policeman’s son runs it - girl in jail over drugs - visit her if you can".

After a short walk we caught the bus to North Quito. It cost S/-150 (Sucres), which is about 5 pence, for a half hour journey. People were jumping on the bus to sell things as we went along. This included a juice extractor for S/-1000 (33p) which I bought.

We walked back through the market and parks. On the way we had to wait for a train to move which had stopped in the middle of the road. The small Indian children were dressed just like the adults, even to the extent of wearing Trilbies or bowler hats.

For lunch we had fried fish and rice with various salads and a bottle of beer. That cost S/-5500 each (£1.60). I had a haircut on the way back. I got chased into the barber's by a woman, which worried me a little. She turned out to be the owner and was called Margarita. She was a teacher of hairdressing and biology at a local school. I was taken into a special area in the shop, bumping my head on the low doorway on the way. There was no waiting for me! My hair was washed in a proper hairdresser's basin with a bucket and jug - twice. It was cut by the student hairdresser who seemed afraid to cut too much off. I said "Mas corto" about twelve times, but each time she only cut off another half millimetre. The teacher took over and managed to cut my hair to as decent length. Margarita’s husband is a lecturer in psychology at the university. The haircut cost S/-4000. I gave them S/-5000 (£1.70) with which they were absolutely delighted. Not bad for one hours work for 2 people!

Our next stop was the Magic Bean, which is another hostel and is run by Logan's brother, Bill. Whilst we had a snack and a coffee, we played two games of Cuarto:

Rules: form lines of 4 or squares of pieces with same characteristics.

When we got back to El Cafecito we met Tony, the landlord. He was born in Ottawa, had lived for 10 years in Manchester, and also in Marseilles. We asked him where we could go on a day tour, and he recommended Papallacta. He said it would be an experience to go by bus from Avenido 6 Deciembre. As things turned out, he was absolutely right!

We had dinner at La Chosa, which Dad had already recced. I had calves' foot, peanut and corn soup, followed by corn pancakes, beer and a marvelous fruit drink with cinnamon called chicha de morocho. The cost was S/-17000 each (£5.50).

We slept in a four bunk room which we shared with Daron from Israel. Dad got up at 2am to go to the toilet. His movements woke us all up to hear the noise from next door. Someone was bonking in there. It was also a four bunk room, which was shared by three girls and one man. I wondered what the other two girls were thinking while the row was going on. The girl in the act just couldn't keep quiet - "ah!" with every stroke, then a giggle and lots of whispers and "shh"s. After about twenty minutes there was a final, climactic, high-pitched "Oooooooh!", followed by a last, lower-pitched sigh of "Aah".