Snapshot of Quito

Its been a busy few days in Quito!! We arrived in the hostel after 15 long hours of travelling to find that reception was on the 5th Floor (obviously no lift and 2 heavy rucksacks!!). What kind of eejit would put reception up there!! Well when we arrived at the top the answer was clear - what a view!!!

As we mentioned before, we headed out as soon as we landed, to experience the Quito nite life and the next day headed to see the famous Mittad del Mundo - which to be honest is not really the centre of the world just a point on the equator!! So a bit of a Gringo (spanish for tourist) gimmick! Oh well we have the pic!!So our first big day of adventure was yesterday when we headed with a gang of backpackers from the hostel to the 3rd highest volcano in the world, Cotopaxi! It was a tough but amazing day with all four seasons experienced!!! We arrived early in the morning and made the trek up to the base of the glacier at 4810m. We were really lucky as a group as no-one suffered any serious side effects from the altitude but it definitely made climbing pretty hard!! We could only climb in 5min bursts and then rest for 5!! On the way up we had hail stones and when we arrived at the lunch lodge we could hear thunder and lightning!

After a mighty feed and great craic with the gang we came out for the descent and the place was covered in snow!!! The guide said that he hadnt seen snow like it for 4yrs!!! So we put on every layer we had and started the descent!!

When we reached the lower grounds the snow was nowhere in sight and so we cycled the final 20km downhill. The sun came out and the views were amazing and so we had to take off every layer that we had put on only 1hr before!! It was a great finish to a great day :o)

There are some more pics on facebook and for those of you who are not in that world here is the link for you to access the album...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=322088&id=815160759&l=05f6e76a62

We´ve added a new page on the blog called the Rolling Stone - click on the link on the right hand column...

Touch Down in Quito

Arrived safely in Quito. Got upgraded 2 1st class on quito flight and it was AMAZING!!!! Got as much food and drink as we wanted and free wash bags with lots of cool stuff!!!! The seats reclined and massaged! It was clear we wer the only upgraders!!

Back down to earth in the hostel. Basic room but grand and cold dribble 4 shower! But it has an amazing roof top terrace bar on 5th floor with class views of the city and the mountains.

Met Leanne and Paul 2 Dubs and went 2 La Metidad del Mundo today with them, which is where the Equator line runs through.

Spanish classes booked for tomorrow so that we can try and kick start the learning before we head of on our first tour on Sat.

Sorry no pics the Internet connection is way too slow!!!!!

October madness!!!!!

We have been very busy so far this month especially during the weekends.

The first weekend was the royal Belgian’s (& 1 Italian!!!) visit.We showed them a sample of the beautiful spots in Ireland.The weather was on our side for the most part. It was a marathon of a weekend as we packed so much into it. Everybody enjoyed the weekend which was the main thing. I must say one of the highlights for me was the pint of Guinness we had in the Guinness Brewery on the last day (I know, I am betraying the murph’s!). It was a great finish to what was a fab weekend. Thanks to them all for coming over and mum has said the door of our home (B&B) is always open!!!!

With little time to recover, it was straight into the weekend of Michaela’s combined birthday (did I mention she turned 29!!!) & going away party!!! The craic was only mighty and I am still not sure how so many family and friends fitted into the house. A good sign of a party is the state of the place the next morning and let’s just say we had to do shifts to get the house back into order!! Thanks to everybody for giving Mic & me a great send off and looking forward to the home coming party, it will have to better it, a tall order!!! …at least you have 10 months to prepare ;o)

The next weekend started a bit early. We had a family dinner at the cliff house hotel in Ardmore. The setting of the hotel was lovely and the food matched it. Then we headed out to catch up with all my friends on the Friday night in the Long Valley. Good nights craic was had and it was great to catch up with all the gang that weren’t able to make the Trio's birthday party, which has to be said was also a classic.

Cheers to everybody for the best wishes, presents and the lucky stones!!!! Hopefully the blog will keep you all up to date and let me know all of your gossip!!!

Kick off is just around the corner now and our first stop is Ecuador. We fly into Quito, spend the first few days chilling out before we head off on a tour which includes an overland section picking up the highlights followed by a 10 day tour of the Galapagos Islands which we are both really looking forward to (especially the turtles & the blue bobbies!!!)

Well the party was fantastic - the hats were fab, the cake was yummy and the craic was great!! Thanks everyone for their pressies - all the money will def come in handy and we will keep you updated on how we spend it!! And thanks to the girls for their travel essentials, day pack and t-shirts :o) All the angels and irish charms are hanging of my rucksack ready to go :o) 

Some pics of the event!!! Dont actually have any of myself and Tom!!!

Leaving Party Part I - Hat/Wig Party - Sat 9th Oct at Mics House!