Right, we´re now in Cuenca, Ecuador, after completing another loooong day of travel.  We´ve learnt some useful things, including the following:
Always have food and water - managed this well
Know where you´re going before getting in the taxi, a long detour to the border and the somewhat involuntary donation to two Peruvian families (aka border scam) has reinforced this lesson :-)
Knowing how to ask for help in Spanish is incredibly useful
When you do ask for help Ecuadorians are very kind and will chase down the bus for you
Buses in Ecuador are flagged down by driving next to them and yelling the destination you want . . .

Ben says that it´s important to mention that we´ve just had our first proper meal since leaving NZ, who needs weightwatchers?

So all in all a pretty exciting start to our trip, but thanks to some helpful people, here we are in Cuenca.  Altitude is 2500m, so a bit puffy going up stairs, but so far no problems with altitude sickness, fingers crossed this continues.

We are planning to stay here for the next 2 and a bit weeks and learn some Spanish.  It´s very beautiful with lots of old buildings, Ben is dying to take photos but Í´ve meanly said that we need to find accommodation for tonight before anything else.  We´re going to walk to some likely sounding hostels now.