Hola from my family in Quito. They have been incredibly hospitable and enthusiastic about showing me around their city, although sometimes it is a little overwhelming (and expensive! the way it works here.. if you go to visit somewhere with your family you pay for all of them!) But I wouldn´t want to be staying anywhere else. Not much women´s lib here though - Mariana does everything while the men of the house are waited on hand and foot! It will be interesting to see if it´s the same when I stay with a different family in Cuenca. Quito has been fascinating though and there are so many things to do and see here - have just taken a cable car to the top of one of the nearer (inactive) volcanos and the view over the city is spectacular - it is actually so much bigger than it feels when you are actually living here. We have also been to the authentic site of the Equator where I successfuly balanced an egg on the head of a nail (photo opportunity) and was tutored in how to prepare the Eduadorian speciality dish of guinea pig or ´cuy´. Haven´t tried it yet but it has to be done. The barbecued cow´s intestines actually weren´t bad! Another Quichua speciality - photo above. Next week I am spending a week in the jungle, several hours´ boat ride down the Amazon from Coca, so will almost certainly not be updating the blog. More soon x