3:30am and the alarm is going off for what is an unpleasantly early start.  

Why?

We are off to a new country, Ecuador and this involves the 5:30 flight from Iquitos to Lima, then Lima to Guayquil

Anytime later and we would need to stay in Lima overnight, so super early start it is.

There is no way to put a positive slant on getting up at this ungodly hour, it is brutal, but, you just have to get on with it and hope everything goes to plan.

Unfortunately it didn't take too long before our plan had the potential of being in tatters and given how early it was, this was not good.

When we checked in at the airport we were told that we couldn't fly into Ecuador without confirmation of an onward flight.

From an immigration put of view this is bullshit, however when it comes to airlines making up their own rules, this is somewhat of a problem.

We had heard of this rule previously and online there are numerous examples of people being refused flights because of this exact reason.

We argued our case for a long time, but we're getting nowhere.   

Basically the jobsworth at the check in desk is simply filling answers to questions from a drop down menu and needs to enter the details.

The real reason is that it is all about money.

It doesn't cost the airlines anything extra in normal circumstances, however in the unlikely event of our future deportation, they would be liable to pick up the bill.

So to quickly recap, it is half four in the morning, we are in, what is now a very busy, small airport, there is a massive queue behind us and we have been told that we can't fly into Ecuador because we don't have future flights booked out of the country.

Not ones for giving up, we manage to reach a compromise, where we will fly to Lima, collect our bags and deal with it there.

This isn't a huge compromise on our part as there is a fairly long, stopover and surely we can come up with some sort of solution.

What was the solution?

Simple, we would make a fake flight confirmation for our onward travel.

So that is what I did.

We managed to convince ourselves that we would get away with it and all the person on the check in desk in Lima wanted was something to type into their computer. 

We were still nervous though, what if the jobsworth in Iquitos had added some comments on about what happened, were we committing a crime etc. So understandably it was slightly nerve racking, standing at the desk, showing our confirmation details from the mobile.

Did it work?

Course it did, was a total piece of piss.

By early afternoon we were landing in Ecuador and in a new country with new problems.

Josè Joaquìn de Olmedo airport serves Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city , with a population of 2 1/4 million and it is the principle port of entry for the majority of the country's imports and exports. 

Apparently the heat, dirt and danger put off most tourists from visiting in the past and to be honest Ecuador was not somewhere we planned to visit at all, however times change and here we are with an open mind.

The place is certainly hot, but not a lot of dirt is evident and following a easy taxi ride into the downtown district we arrive at our hotel for the next two nights.

The hotel is a really good location and our driver says as much when we arrive, right across the road from iguana park and the cathedral.

Not only that, we have the Malecòn, two blocks away and loads of shops on our doorstep.

The streets are busy, loads of people out and about, there is a slight edge to the atmosphere, loads of characters selling their wares, definitely slightly dodgy, however not necessarily enough to be overly concerned about.

We had headed out with the principle task of finding chips and pizza.

Not chips in the chippy shop sense, chips for our phones, SIM cards, they call them chips here.

We got some, easy enough, although as always could have been easier and we headed of for Pizza, it was Edith's turn to choose.

It didn't take long before we found ourselves sitting in a famous pizza chain restaurant, relaxing, waiting on our food and enjoying a beer.

Then in the blink of an eye of a couple of people arrived at our table and were standing over us, bang in the middle of our personal space.  

The were agitated, angry, manic, they had a paper in their hands and waved it in our faces furiously.

What were they after? Money?

Who knows?

I simply said "no thank you, not now" in Spanish and as quickly as they had arrived, they had left.

It was all very strange. The pictures they were showing us had deformed/injured babies on them and were not nice and not the sort of thing you wanted waved at you in a restaurant.

Then Edith pipes up says "that man took mummy's phone".

WTF like a man possessed and with the speed of Colin Jackson out of his blocks, I made a B-Line after them towards the door.

I quickly caught them up as clearly they thought sauntering out to avoid suspicion was the best strategy and although their distraction technique was effective and most of us were indeed distracted, however they had failed to take into account the eagle eye of Edith.

I caught them up and blocked the door and it is safe to say that I was going fucking tonto, shouting thieves and for the police. 

I was actually saying "rober and policia", however it kind of means the same thing and they got my point.

It all went pretty fast at this point, all a bit of a blur, but, I do recall snatching the phone and bits of paper out the blokes hand and continue to shout and scream in his face, as the whole restaurant, watched on.

It then all moved onto the street as I followed them out the door, screaming at the down the street, hoping one of the many city centre cops, we had seen early, would arrive on the scene and take then off to the jail.

I was distracted in the midst of this by the noise from the door of the restaurant, opening with a clattering, the thing nearly came of its hinges.

Flying out the door, like a soldier into battle, came Jessica, charged up, raging, I don't think I have ever seen her like this.

This was very serious though, I genuinely don't think I have seen her looking like this before, she went charging up the block with look of 'mon tae fuck' and this wasn't 'pavement dancing' this was more like a full scale 'Jacobite charge'.

As she pelted up the street, she slipped, she didn't fall though, like a true trooper, she rided out the slip, like she was surfing or something.

This all happened really fast and it wasn't until she finally answered my shouts, looked back and clocked her phone, that she turned around and walked back.

We reentered the restaurant, me clutching the phone, aloft, like some sort of trophy, Jessica following behind, slightly out of breath.

There was a sense of pride as our follow diners were offering a recognisery nod of the head.  

That was our introduction to Guyaquil and the rest of the now beer fuelled meal had a focus of discussion more based on what we would have done, had we had to chase and catch the shifty couple, rather than what we were doing the following day.

We actually had a fairly good day planned out though. 

Our American friends, whom we had spent time at a farm for a couple of weeks in Southern Chile had contacted us.  It turns out that they are going to be in Guyaquil tomorrow, for one day and have suggested meeting up to visit Iguana Park. This is brilliant on two counts, firstly it is great to catch up and see them all again and secondly they are suggesting to meet up across the road from our hotel.

After the meal, we headed back to the hotel, super observant, ready for action.  Not that there was any, the city centre is full of people and like anywhere else in the world, the vast majority of people are good people.

What would be hard not to notice is abundance of people wearing football tops, everywhere you look you see the bright yellow of the Ecudorian, national team's top. 

There must be a match on and there is, it is world football's international qualifying break and it is no different in Ecuador.

I don't think I have seen so many people wearing strips in the street, back in Scotland you would probably need to visit Glasgow airport for the Benidorm flight to see such a concentration, where the people weren't on route to a match.

I was keen to try and catch the match on TV, however like always seems to be the case , it isn't on free TV, at the hotel, so I quickly forgot about it.

Later on I popped out to grab a couple of bottles of water and headed to a shop, I call it a shop but it was one of those places that, although a shop, just predominantly sells crisps and fizzy drinks.   

I had been there earlier and the owners seemed like nice people, friendly, service with a smile, that sort of stuff.

This time was a bit different, the same bloke that served, a couple of hours earlier, his persona had changed, he was grumpy, rude and had a look on his face that could be best described as a bulldog chewing a wasp. 

Not great, thankfully his wife stepped and took over, she seemed embarrassed by his behaviour, what had I done?

Nothing, is the answer.

The reason I know this is, they had a wee TV in the corner of the shop, the football was on, upon leaving I glanced up at the score.

Paraguay 1 - Ecuador 0

They had only played about 12 min, the must have been scored just before I arrived as the celebrations were still going on, seems like Scotland aren't the only team to kill the joy of their adoring public.

The next day was great, we found out what a Melecon is!

It's a promenade,  however in the case of Guyaquil it is along the banks of the Rio Guayas and a place where all the Guyaquileños can strut their stuff for the full 3km of what is a lovely walk.

The place is fenced off from the road, with security guarding the entrances, so there is considerably less chance that tourists like ourselves will be in a situation where we may/may not fall for distraction theft techniques.

They have managed to combine a combination of gardens, modern art, history, sculptures, viewing platforms, restaurants etc that really works and it is very tastefully done.

Their pièce de résistance, sits to north end of the Malecon and is a giant ferris wheel, sort of Guyaquil's equivalent to the London Eye.

Naturally, you gravitate towards it and that is what we did.

A big wheel is a big wheel and although not exactly a thrilling experience, it was nice all the same and the kids seem to get really enthused about that sort of thing.

As you reach the top, the birds eye is always fairly fascinating and from a personal point of view I love seeing all the boats out and about getting on with their daily business.

When you look away from the water there is hills surrounding the city and this can often be even more interesting.

Slums or luxury?

In South America it always seems to be one or the other. 

How does this happen naturally?

Who goes first?

Most likely slums and then the rich lot either buy the land and evict the tenants or perhaps develop land nobody wants.

I suspect the former, but at this present moment I am not going to think about the displacement and suffering that this undoubtedly caused.

Back to happy holidays.

As I said we have arranged to meet up with some of our fellow travels and this is great, familiar faces are amazing to see when you are on the other side of the world.

We are meeting to visit Iguana Park or Parque Seminario as it is officially known, or Parque Bolìvar as it is also known, or Parque Iguanas, as the locals know it.

Bolìvar or Simón Bolìvar is name that you see everywhere in South America, not just here.

There are streets all over South America named after him, even the road adjacent to the Malecón, that I just mentioned is officially called Malecón Simón Bolívar.

The bloke is absolutely everywhere, probably more famous throughout South America than Diego Maradona and Pele put together.

Who is Simón Bolívar?

This is something that I have wondered for a long time and probably should know, given that we have been in South America for 8 months.

As I said Simón Bolívar is everywhere or to give him his full name Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Palacios y Blanco, is everywhere.

By all accounts Simón seemed to really enjoy a good scrap with the Spanish and is credited with orchastrating victories over the Spaniards that won independence for Bolivia, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

On top of all this he personally wrote the Bolivian constitution and was rewarded by having the country name after him, what a guy.

My favourite quote about him had to be this though:

"He was an impulsive, passionate and restless character, with tremendous ambition and vision packed into a small body. "

Perhaps his drive was caused by small man syndrome.

So back to Parque Bolívar and it's fabulous inhabitant, iguanas everywhere.

They even seem to enjoy sunning themselves at the feet of Simón's horse at the imposing statue that is the centre piece to this small but very nice park, with people and iguanas lazing.

So we met up our friends and it was great, we just chilled, walked and even took in a wee visit to the cathedral.

It was very much short and sweet, however it was most enjoyable.

Tomorrow we are off to a new work away project, we are all really excited about it, we will be living on the beach, looking after dogs and doing a bit of cooking and cleaning.

Sounds full proof and perfect, just a four hour bus journey and we are getting picked up and driven the final leg.

Exciting times, what could go wrong?

Lorne