Fragile X Pedition: From the middle of the world

Banos, ecuador. the village sits at the foot of tungurahua , a volcano, thats quiet right now, but always up for some red hot spewing. gonna find a way up it today. 2 years ago vacuation.

Aon Quito. Thnak you. i wish i could remember everyones names.

All fun and helpful at Aon Quito

I was welcomed with open arms and big smiles. Aon quito

{above photo at the equator}......... I rode out of Medellin, Colombia heading south with mike and willy. Mike from minnesota on a gorgeous ktm 950 and willy on his saucy bmw gs1200, all gadgets inclusive. Paul owner of the casa kiwi lead us out of town, which i am grateful for, that saved the habitual getting lost , sweaty and a tad stroppy. as soon as we were out of town the mountain roads took us , winding higher and higher. Passing through villages, built on the peaks. Sometimes above the clouds with the buzzards to keep us company and always a symbol of to be careful. i dont wanna be their grub. As night was near i managed to loose the boys and take the wrong road. I stayed in Anserma. a small town once again built on the edge of a mountain, beautiful and friendly. Realising the boys would be in santa rosa i managed to catch up with them blasting down to popayan. a colonial town celebrating haloween in gorey style. This is a part of the world that they say is a hotspot, due to guerilla activity. I saw nothing threatening or cold. just more freindly faces and good wishes. pasto is the town we needed as a last stop before the border with ecuador. 3000 metres up in the mist. willy had blasted off, leaving mike and myself to cut through the damp mountain mist into the early night. it was dificult. cold and vision was almost zero. we had to wait and just follow a cars rear lights. when that car disapeared , we`d have to wait and catch the next car. mike got disorientated at one point , stopped and didnt know whether he was unside down or not, which infected to me and we both dropped the bikes at a stand still. laughing our heads off laying on the wet tarmac. That night in pasto, scoffing chicken and rice mike had the horrendous realisation, with his head in his hands, that he had left all his papers, back at the previous nights hotel in popayan, under his matress. 150 miles back along a beautiful, difficult ride. All his legal in colombia papers everything. Alongside getting the bike nicked this is the worse thing that can happen. Alls rosy now though, we took a taxi back the next day, which took all day. Victor was our nutcase driver, who without fibbing, nearly got us meeting our maker more than 20 times, including just narrowly missing a donkey, who was wistfully standing around a corner in the middle of the night time road. i still cant guess how he managed to avoid that one. he just laughed all the close shaves off, in that , oh well, what will be will be way. I am a lucky man ! i dont take that for granted though !....... crossing the border was a breeze. 40 minutes. all the windows and offices needed all colse to each other. the only problem was trying to get these tequila supping nutters off of the bikes to let us out of colombia. all good fun. The clouds are down so far in ecuador. until today that is. the bluest of blue skies and visible volcanoes at last. The faces have changed now. the people smaller. indeginous ways, clothes , smells and foods. incredibly interesting just to sit and people watch. weathered faces telling so much. giggling kids , waving from the road shoulders. After a few stop overs in more beautiful towns and crossing the equator into the southern hemisphere and summer, i`ve landed in Quito. ecuadors heaving capital city. the easiest to navigate city i have visited so far. clean and stunning this place. many many euro tourists. all waiting to go off into their own adventures, mountain climbind, white water rafting, horse riding. all sorts. this is a hubb. Volcanos majestic overlooking the city. The last eruption, around 5 years ago. I have been spoiled by the Aon office here, as i was in medellin. Olvaro put me intouch with patricio rodriguez at the quito office. i visited them to day, to have a newspaper photographer waiting for me and an interview already set up the national paper named, Hoy. I was also warmly recieved by gustavo proano tola, alberto davalos b, alejandra garzan and all that work there. They all took time from their busy days to listen to my story and heartfeltly wished me sucess. My good luck hasnt changed yet. gustavos daughter diana. just so happens to work as a journalist, for the Hoy newspaper. She interviewed me over an hour, asking great questions. understanding fragile x syndrome. again no one has heard of FXS, but now they have. The article is released next wednesday. check it out at the website http://www.hoy.com.ec/ .. El comercio the national paper of ecuador interviewed me with high passion also. their article on the FXP will be released in their sunday supplement called Famlilia, 2 months from now. so keep an eye open for that one. also while doing that interview, a young lady from an organisation that helps families in need also interviewd me, so theres another article out there....... patricio is a motorcycle fantatic aswell. he has invited me to ride out on saturday with his friends, to ride some great roads and see more vistas, that i wouldnt have seen otherwise. Like in medellin i will never forget these peoples generosity, understanding and huge help. I have definatly fallen in love with south america ! i am pushed for time now. must get my skates on.....