Otavalo and Mitad Del Mundo

Today was an extremely relaxing day and a good way to wind down our trip before leaving for home tomorrow. This morning, we woke up in Otavalo bright and early after getting a much needed 8 hours of sleep. We got some breakfast and hit the world famous Otavalo Mercado. This market is centered in the main city plaza, but then spreads out onto the neighboring streets quite far away from the plaza. There are many merchants selling a variety of goods including arts and crafts, al paca clothing, tapestries, food, spices, etc.

We had a couple of hours to get the flavor of the place and do some shopping. Everything starts out at a set price, and you have to bargain your way into a decent deal for it. I bought a few items for my girlfriend, but none for myself, since I sort of hate shopping for myself. Nonetheless, it was quite fun and very interesting to see all the people running around making their livings.

The afternoon was spent in Mitad Del Mundo, which is nothing more than a small set of shops, restaurants, and a monument on the equator. It was nice to be there, but not much entertainment aside from watching the people try to hold up the world on top of the monument.

There was a planetarium there and we did see a show, completely in Spanish, about the universe and our solar system, but I promptly fell asleep for almost the whole 45 minutes of it. Also of interest was the equator insectatorium, because your equator is just not complete without one. They had a variety of huge bugs including the rhinocerous beatle which was more like a baby chihuahua than a bug. Some of the visitors opted to get photos with the bugs on their shirts. I just bailed.

Tonight, we are in Quito for one last evening in the best city in Ecuador before our flight leaves this place at 6 am tomorrow

Quito Fun

We woke up in our same hostel Loro Verde again today and headed out for a day of fun in Quito. The goal was to hit all the sites that we wanted to see before 5 pm which is when many of them close down to tourists. By the end of the day, I think that we were all "churched out" and were pretty much done with Old Town in Quito.

The first stop was the Basilica. This is certainly the most spectacular site in Quito. It is a huge church at one end of the Old Town and overlooks the city. The interior is quite glamorous for a cement building, and the fun part is climbing up to the very tip of the bell tower and heading outside with not even a railing in front of you. It's a very very long way to the top and seemingly longer to the bottom when looking down. Of course, I did this alone since I don't think Ravi could hack the climb, but it was well worth the experience and the view of the whole town.

Plaza Grande is the main plaza in the center of town. During the night time, the churches around the area look amazing, and during the day, the place is always packed with people. It was a great people watching opportunity and Ravi had a chance to take hundreds of shots of "people with character".

We also checked out the Virgin Mary Statue on a small hill called the Panecillo which was across Old Town from the Basilica. You have a great view of the city from the top, and are pretty much at eye level to the top of the Basilica.

We also checked out the Palace of the Governor. The line to get in it was ridiculous and the tour was not that great, but it was still quite a fun place to be.... right in the center of politics in Ecuador.

Cotopaxi

Yesterday, our main adventure was Cotopaxi. We started from Latacunga after seeing the town a little bit and found the park by 1 pm. There is a semi decent dirt road that leads into the park from the south.

The park really doesn't have a whole lot to do. There is a museum as the first stopping point, a lagoon, and of course the major attraction is the volcano, which is a gigantic feature on the seemingly flat area that surrounds it. The volcano extended into the clouds at first but later in the day we caught a couple of glimpses of the top, full of ice and snow. You can take a car to a very high point on the mountain where many tourists start their climb to the top. I opted for a shorter version which was about 45 minutes of walking to a refuge on the mountain where people usually spend the night to get aclimatized. Since the mountain is so high, the second that you start moving, you start breathing like you almost just drowned. That made it a very hard hike but the view from the top was amazing. You can see the whole valley below and the long dirt road down.

On the way out of the park, we took the northern entrance which was pretty crazy. It was about 2 hours of a pretty terrible dirt road, made a little more precarious by the fact that our Chevy Spark had about 4 inches of clearance. There was one point where there was a gap in the road and two small wooden planks used to get cars across, but they were washed out and had a curb of about a foot or so to get onto them. We built a ramp out of rocks to get onto the boards so that we could get over the gap. At this point in the trip, we had already done 30 km on the dirt road so there was no turning back. We had to forge forward, not knowing what to expect. Luckily, everything else was less precarious.

A Day in Banos

Today was a day of fun in Banos. This is a wonderful little town way up in the mountains and surrounded by sheer cliffs, high mountains, and a bunch of waterfalls. The town is quite small and most of the activities involve getting out of the town and seeing the great views.


I managed to convince Ravi to do a hike to a statue of the Virgin Mary on the side of a mountain. It was about 600 steep steps up the trail to the statue, and in the thin air, this is already hard work. Ravi was definitely complaining something fierce by the time that we reached the top. But at the top, you have a nice view of Banos and can enjoy a strong breeze of cool fresh air.

Another point of interest we hit up was BellaVista, which is reachable by car. This is a much higher lookout point and you can see the entire area from above. On a clear day, you can also see the volcano overlooking the town, but unfortunately, we didn't actually get a clear day until we were driving away from the town. I do have a nice picture of the volcano from a bit farther away.

Jungle Tour from Tena

Today was great. We had a nice little hostel on the edge of town. It is a sparkling gem in the midst of all these less than fancy residences, and overlooks the nice town of Tena. We arrived last night at met someone from Columbia (actually he was British) and shared some good conversation, food, and drinks together.


Today, we were off to the rain forest for a jungle tour package that we signed up for. It included a close look at a family's home in a small village, a museum of artifacts from hunters and other native people in the area, and finally a zoo area of local animals. Everywhere, we met a bunch of volunteers, which seems to be a big part of this trip. It seems that volunteers from all over the world come to Ecuador to hang out for about 3 weeks at a time to be emerged into Ecuadorian life. They typically are involved in projects from rain forest regeneration, to wildlife rescue, to education and English/Spanish exchanges. A lot of them come to Ecuador with no Spanish, no knowledge of the place, and just a sense of adventure. It's a little strange, but I guess the country benefits a lot from the free labor.

Leaving Quito for the Rainforest

Yesterday, we made it back to Quito and checked into a nice hostel
called Loro Verde, which had a place to park the car that we rented
for the next week and free internet, which is pretty awesome.

The last few days on the Galapagos tour were pretty fun, however they
seemed to be pretty repetitive. With the new guests that came on the
boat, we got a lot of the same speeches about the animals. Even the
animals and activities were pretty much the same as the first 4 days.
We did get a chance to see some Galapagos Waved Albatross and some
very nice scenery including a blow hole on the cliffs of Espagnola.

So, it's quite cold in Quito, and I can definitely feel the altitude.
Ravi and I hiked around Old Town and looked at all the beautiful
churches in the area during the night time. When we get back to Quito
on Friday, we'll definitely be able to go inside them. Later we had
dinner at a great place called the Magic Bean and called it a night.
Well I am off to start my day.

Last three days of the tour

We are finally finished with the Galapagos boat cruise. I am sort of glad to be off the boat because I get to have my land legs back and things aren't moving around so much. I can't imagine how people stay on small boats for months at a time. A week was pretty good for me.


The last three days of the trip were a bit redundant. When I was looking at the tours, I thought that I really wanted to see Floreanna and Espanola islands, which we hit in the last couple days of the tour. But in retrospect, I think that the first few islands north of Santa Cruz has a lot more to offer in terms of wildlife and excitement. Plus, we were away from the main ports for more days at a time.


The last few days did give us a chance to see the Galapagos Waved Albatross, which is the smallest of the albatross birds in the world. They looked pretty magnificent, if not a bit clumsy on the ground.


Another neat place to be was a blow hole where the waves come crashing in and are redirected high in the air like a geyser. It was a serene place.

First four days in the Galapagos

Today, we made it to San Cristobal. It´s the fourth day of our Galapagos cruise and we are stopping in this town for pretty much the entire day. They switch off some of the passengers who only decided to stay for a couple of days and we´ll see a bunch of new people this afternoon after they get picked up from the airport.

The past couple of days have been really fun. Each island is very different, and we haven´t seen too much of the same scenery except for the sea lions, which are absolutely everywhere.


The last island that we saw had us hiking around an area that was the nesting grounds of the blue footed boobies and frigate birds. The frigate birds look quite threatening, but they don´t disturb the baby blue footed boobies that are all over the ground. The boobies nest right on the ground and sometimes right in the middle of the trail. Tourists can get within feet of the babies and the mothers and you can watch them feeding.

Also, yesterday morning was pretty fun since we got a chance to see Galapagos penguins. We swam with them while snorkeling and also saw some of the gray masked boobies diving right in front of us for fish in in the area that we snorkeled. Snorkeling is a big part of this trip and although the water is quite cold, it is still pretty fun. Some of the islands have better snorkeling than other, and I usually pow around with a Brazilian guy I met named Peter. We have been lucky to have spotted two white tipped reef sharks, whereas the other people in our group haven´t spotted any sharks yet. Even Ravi is snorkeling like a champ these days. He started off pretty shaky, but is doing a lot better now and by the end of this trip, I´ll have him rady to scuba dive.

There are always a ton of things to take pictures of on the islands. Ravi has taken over 500 pictures I am sure, and even I have taken a few hundred so far. I am trying to capture some of the people in our group and things other than the animals, but most of my pictures of interest are the wildlife, particularly the marine iguanas and the sea lions. They seem to be the most fun. Ravi usually likes getting the birds in his shots with his extreme close up from is telephoto lens.


So far, the cruise is pretty excellent. We have seen some of the other boats and ours seems to be much nicer than the others.... except for the larger cruise ships that come in every once in a while. There is quite a lot of competition to get to the land and see the sites before those larger boats deboard, and a hundred people are suddenly on the trail taking pictures of everything. The good thing is that they don´t scare away any of the animals since the animals aren´t afraid of tourists.

Darwin Station and Santa Cruz

Today, we visited the Darwin station after flying to the Galapagos this morning. It was another 5 am morning to catch the plane, but I have a feeling that the cruise is going to allow for a lot of time to relax and to sleep.

We flew into Baltra island, which is pretty much just the airport. As soon as you get here, you realize that the Galapagos are a drastic change of any wildlife that I have ever seen before. The creatures here aren´t afraid of humans and the many lizards let you walk right up to them.

The best thing about today was seeing the largest tortoises I have ever seen before. We got some great pictures that I´ll post when I get the chance.

Itinerary

Sunday: Upon arrival to the airport, passengers will be met by our staff and transferred to the MILLENNIUM CATAMARAN.

Santa Cruz is the second largest island in the Galapagos. The small town of Puerto Ayora is the economic center of the archipelago, with the largest population of the 4 inhabited islands.

In Puerto Ayora, passengers will visit the Charles Darwin Research Station, which is also a tortoise breeding and rearing center, where tortoises of different subspecies are prepared for reintroduction to their natural habitats.

Monday: Santa Fé Island the vegetation of the island is characterized by the presence of the largest species of the giant opuntia cactus. Visitors will have a panga ride and do snorkeling.

Plazas Islands: two small islands just off east side of Santa Cruz Island. One on the main characteristics is its unusual vegetation comprised of Opuntia Cactuses and Sesuvium plants. This island is one of the best spots to see land iguanas and swallow tailed gulls. The cliffs of the southern shore are a magnificent observatory to see marine birds in their habitat.

Tuesday: Rabida, one of the special features of this island is its remarkable red color, which is a result of the high percentage of oxidized iron in the composition of the lava. Flamingoes and White-cheeked Pintail Ducks can be seen in a salt-water lagoon near the beach. In the saltbushes that encircle the lagoon, Brown Pelicans build their nests. It is rare to see the offspring of these birds elsewhere. Walking up to the southeastern part of the island, there is an observatory from which the startling red color of the beach and the rocks can be appreciated.

Puerto Egas, the landing is on a black beach with eroded rock formations in the background. The trail crosses the dry interior, where the remains of a salt-mining enterprise can still be seen and then continues along the coast. Intertidal pools are home to a variety of invertebrate organism. Land iguanas are scattered around feeding on exposed algae while Oyster Catchers try to capture Sally Lightfoot Crabs. The lava and the black sand seem to catch fire and the animals acquire a surreal quality.

Wednesday: Bartolome is famous for its Pinnacle Rock, which is the most representative landmark of the Galapagos. Precariously walking on the rocks at the base of the Pinnacle Rock are Galapagos Penguins, the smallest species of penguin and the only one found north of the Equator. At the beach on the southern side, there are nesting sea turtles (in season), wading in the shallow water near the shore. White -tipped Reef Sharks patrol close to shore. The site is like a vulcanologic museum, an eruption site left untouched after the explosion. If it weren't for the small lava lizards scurrying around, the pioneer Mollugo plants, and the gravity, the visitor could be well walking on the surface of the moon.

North Seymour is also one of the islands uplifted by underground seismic activity. It is considered as one of the best places to see Blue-footed Boobies and admire their courtship dance. Magnificent frigate birds are also seen. At the interior of the island, one stumbles upon the biggest congregation of red pouches in Galapagos.

Thursday: Isla Lobos, a small islet at the north of San Cristobal. Here it is possible to see sea lions resting on the lava shores. The site is also the nesting place for blue footed boobies and frigates. Good possibilities for snorkeling.

La Galapaguera, at the highlands, in Cerro Colorado, where we can find Galapagos tortoises living in the wild; also we can enjoy a magnificent landscape.

Friday: Española, which is the southernmost island of the archipelago and because it is so isolated, has a high proportion of endemic fauna. Points to be visited on the Island are: Gardner Bay, offering a great possibility for the visitors to enjoy some beach time in the Galapagos. Here, the extroverted mockingbirds sit on top of visitor's hats, peck at their feet and investigate their belongings. Punta Suarez, is one of the most popular and attractive visits at the Galapagos. The quantity and variety of wildlife at this site are remarkable. When landing, young sea lions surf the breaking waves, while a few steps inland groups of the Española variety of iguanas bask in the sun. Further inland, masked and blue-footed boobies nest almost right on the trail, Galapagos doves peck around unaware of visitors and finches go about their business in the bushes. The trail continues toward the cliffs and the blowhole, a fissure in the lava where water spurts high in the air like a geyser. Also Swallow-tailed Gulls and Red-billed Tropicbirds can be seen. Further up the cliff, in an area of low-lying reefs, is the only place where the Waved Albatross nest.

Saturday: Floreana Island, an island with beautiful visitor’s sites and some strange stories. Here we visit Post Office Bay and its post box where sailors used to leave mail in the past, and is still in use today. Punta Cormorant is a greenish beach due of olivine crystals in the sand.

Sunday: Riding to the Highlands, will visit Rancho Primicias for lunch. Its greenery lush is a welcome contrast with the arid scenery of the smaller, lower islands.

Transfer to the airport for return flight with Aerogal at 12:45. The plane will land in Guayaquil around 15:30 to disembark passengers, continuing to Quito, arrival estimated at 16:45

Booked trip and ready to go

It is the night before I leave for Ecuador and the Galapagos and I am pretty excited about it. Today, I finished up with the reservations for the boat cruise that I am taking and the plans seem pretty much settled at least for the first week. There were a lot of options to choose from and we ended up getting a "last minute" deal for cruise. We'll be aboard the Millennium Catamaran as we travel in the Galapagos.

The tour itinerary looks like the one on this web page, but goes from Sunday through Sunday, so we are offset on the itinerary description on that page. I'll make another post with the itinerary.

The flight leaves at 6:15 tomorrow so it's off to bed.