Quito, Ecuador: 364 kms (19856 kms)

We have finally arrived in the southern hemisphere and the wonderful surroundings of the Ecuadorian capital, Quito. And it seems that the further south we ride the more western life appears on the menu. Quito is a hotbed of civility with bars, cafes and restaurants in plentiful supply. We know this as we managed to land smack in the middle of New Town under the cover of darkness on a Saturday evening. We've also seen the sun for extended periods this Sunday, the first time in many weeks, and this has left a cheeky smile on both our faces.

Getting to Quito from Bogota has been yet another adventure. I managed to drop my bike again just shy of the border whilst negotiating a road under construction. The fall-down stakes now read more like a Tottenham away score, pre Harry Redknapp: (Stuart 6 - 3 Matt)! Whether Matt and I managed to miss or chose to ignore all the "work in progess" and "road closed" signs is up to the reader to decide. Nevertheless, to get out of our dilema we could've either riden 1 km back to the tarmac or negotiate the near vertical mud wall in front of us. We're obviously suffering from delusions of grandeur given our experiences off the black stuff so you can pretty much guess the outcome. In our favour, and from our initial point of entry, the mud did look a lot drier than in reality! Suffice to say, therefore, that carnage ensued and luckily for us the amused onlooking construction workers, who, like most people we seem to meet on this trip think we're of German extraction, were good sports and saw the funny side of our predicament assisting us both out of our silly mess, mine more tragic than Matt's. They even offered us coffee as a form of consolation for our stupidity. Ironically the road we were supposed to be on was less than 100m due north of where we found ourselves but riding the real road to the border wouldn't have been half as entertaining.

Once we finally made it to the Colombia/Ecuador border we were greeted by a lengthy queue, the pitfalls of crossing at a weekend. Four hours later we were across in to Ecuador and riding some of the best tarmac to date through some stunning countryside. Gone were the Colombian switchbacks we'd grown so accustomed to and in their place were lengthy curves of unimaginable fun. Both Matt and I have cornering down to a very fine art. At least we think we do. So engrossed was I in fact that I managed to ride straight through the equator without even knowing it, my first ever foray into the Southern hemisphere. Matt appears to pay more attention than I when riding and called me back for the photo oppurtunity attached. We have a few admin issues to attend to and the bikes could do with a bit of tender loving care so we're going to chill in Quito for a few days. What a trauma!