I was so lucky. Because the charging problem wasn't fixed I had to come back to Guayaquil from Machala, so I wasn't in Peru in the immediate vicinity of the epicentre of last night's Richter 7 earthquake. All it did was just shake my G&T around a bit.It turns out that both my regulators were duds (Law of Sod, clause 35), as established by the local Bosch agent, who astonishingly was able to supply a replacement. So tomorrow I can really go back to Peru at last (please, please).

The policemen here are rather glamorous, especially the ladies, and very helpful. Two chaps in flak jackets happily jumpstarted the bike for me in Machala from their shiny new Land Cruiser. They're mostly armed with machine pistols, unlike the numerous security guards whose weapon of choice is a very short-barrelled pump-action shotgun. I'll call you Sir, then, shall I?

Road block protest near Machala, Ecuador

It's all go here. I encountered the contestants for World Banana Queen at my hotel in Machala; Miss Colombia won, according to this morning's paper, but I have to question why there were contestants from Germany and Canada, which to my knowledge aren't banana-growing countries.