As the build up we have to first note that the Ecuadorian drivers are the worst, most impatient drivers we have encountered in South America. Firstly they all drive relatively good cars, mainly 4x4's with a lot of power. The buses and trucks drive like a bat out of hell and road signs, road etiquette and oncoming traffic are merely illusions of ones imagination. Sundays being the worst where there is a culture of BBQ lunches and copious amounts of alcohol as a prerequisite to getting in the drivers seat of your car. Now the setting has been explained we continue…..

     On one of these river access points about 100m past a blind bend, we were turning left down into a river access point. James had slowed to almost a stop with his indicator on and then proceeded to turn. Half way across the oncoming lane…. BANG… to the front left fender of the landrover as a small pick up truck bounced off Lodzi and careered into the left hand side ditch, narrowly missing a concrete electricity pole, blowing a tyre and coming to a rest in the ditch.

     After figuring out what had just happened the usual stuff ensued….. a lot of swearing and the locals not speaking a word of English. Blaming the gringos for driving like idiots! After some ranting and raving a lone policeman arrived with a scrap piece of A5 paper and starting taking details and statements. At this stage the local driver was very quiet and the father took responsibility as he was the driver!!! So they swapped drivers!! The younger we believe had been drinking.

     The damage to the landrover was they had ripped the steel bumper with the force, pushed the bull bar in a tad denting the front fender and pushing the front body work about 2cms to the right. The damage to their chevvie pick up - well our bumper had gone into the side of his vehicle like a tin opener. The photo has become one of our favourites.

     After an hour of arguing they asked if we would like to settle by paying the joker USD1000 for his repairs. Like hell. Another 3 policemen then arrived, a bit more senior and asked us the same question. Like hell. Things were not going well. The old "driver" was a local and knew every-one. The local crowd was growing by the minute and 2 gringos were not looking like they would come out on top. At this stage we pointed out to the senior policeman that the guy had tried to overtake on a solid yellow line- fortunately prohibited in Ecuador (I guess only in the case of an accident). The police called the old joker aside and after a bit of whispering they still thought the gringos should pay. Luckily a young local American guy showed up who was helping with the rafting and started arguing our case in Spanish. Nope it was still our fault and the gringos should pay. Mmm now what.

     Ecuadorian law is that regardless of whose fault it is, if the drivers cannot settle at the scene, the police impound the cars and the case goes to court in about a month's time. At this point an Ecuadorian guy we had met briefly in the morning and spoke to us about our trip and spoke perfect English arrived and asked if he could help. The police agreed the local was at fault, even the local agreed he was at fault but felt we should still pay. After a heated discussion where all the locals were accusing him of treason to Ecuadorian people for helping gringos he settled the issue in 10min. We left agreeing sorting out our own problems. We took Armando's details as he lived in Quito and invited them out to dinner when we get there.

     A little shaken up we continued our afternoon drive west high up into the mountains to Papallacta. A thermal bath resort set high in the mountains and nearly always surrounded by cloud. A gorgeous setting. After spending 4 hours soaking in the hot baths we camped just outside the main gate much to the guard's amusement. Back into the hot pools first thing in the morning we soaked for another 2 hours before packing up and heading for Quito.

     Arriving in major cities is always a nerve wracking experience…but the rain shower did not help things. We eventually found our destination near the airport - Hotel Savoy, a huge yellow building which is known to most overlanders for its big car park and cheap camping. Kerry checked us in and looked bedraggled enough for the little old lady owner to take pity on us and offer us an ensuite double room with cable TV for USD15 a night. What a bargain. We then lived it up in luxury for the next 3 nights much to the disgust of the hotel receptionist.

     We needed a bit of work to Lodzi at a highly recommended Landrover mechanic whose yard was full of old series Landys. Very cool. We also visited a few malls where it was a change to immerse ourselves in western culture momentarily.

     As promised we organised dinner with Armando and his girlfriend and during a lovely evening he dropped in the conversation that he was recently made vice-minister of economics in Ecuador and apologised that he needed to leave for a quick meeting and his chauffer was waiting outside. Elsa his girlfriend then gave us a night time tour of the city which was excellent. They were such a lovely couple; we plan on meeting up with them again soon.

     Our next destination was Otavalo, arguably South Americas biggest and most colourful indigenous market. En route we visited Mitad Del Mundo where there is a museum as you cross the equator. Here we had a great afternoon testing the water down a plug hole among other things. Yes we saw for real that on the equator water goes straight down, 2 metres south and it goes clockwise, 2 metres north and it goes anticlockwise. We also balanced an egg on the head of a nail. The best factor of all is that you weigh just over 2 pounds less on the equator. Excellent.

     After finding our hostel to camp in the mountains near Otavalo, we visited the market on its busiest day - Saturday. A very touristy but thoroughly enjoyable day later and we were the proud owners of another 2 new colourful hammocks and a colourful table cloth. We steered clear of the art as Ernesto is still making us feel guilty.

     The following morning we spoke to a taxi driver who mentioned that instead of backtracking to Quito down the motorway, why didn't we take a back road detour through the mountains to Mindo which was our next destination, west of Quito. Never backing down from a challenge we set off into the mountains in search of this detour. After a full day driving through some beautiful scenery, culminating in a hairpin mountain descent downhill we finally arrived in the cloud forest paradise of Mindo. Against our better judgement we drove on a Sunday and on more than 5 occasions were forced off the road by buses overtaking on blind corners and passing 2 accidents. We will no longer drive on a Sunday period!!!!

     Mindo is a beautiful little town famous for its bird watching, over 400 species identified in one small valley. Most amazing is over 40 species of humming birds!!! We settled in to a nice little camp spot beside a river belonging to an expensive hotel. On our 3rd day in Mindo we travelled to some local waterfalls which was a 2 hour hike from the car park but very popular for their cliff jumps. James did the 4m, 11m and 12m jump and would have done more jumps if he had not valued his family jewels. Kerry after much persuasion managed the 4m jump. Whoooaaaa.

     Many of the hostels and restaurants in Mindo have little nectar feeders and we spent hours watching the hundreds of humming birds visiting the feeders and attempting to catch them mid-hover. Nigh impossible but we got a few goodies.