Ecuador

As many of you already know, I took a hiatus from work and spent a hunk of time traveling this summer.  Ecuador was the first international destination, after a few days in New Jersey preparing and visiting my family.

This trip was exciting for a number of reasons...

• This was my brother Kyle's first time out of the country.
• It was our first time traveling for more than a few days with one another.
• I hadn't ever been to South America before.
• I haven't ever spent an entire month in a single country on vacation.
• Ecuador is the most biodiverse country on the planet!
• ... a country where I don't know the language.

Mainland Ecuador

Our itinerary was pretty haphazard for the first 2 weeks.  We knew the second half of the trip would be well organized since we were booked on a tour of the Galapagos Islands, so we decided to wing the first 2 weeks on a day-by-day basis.

1. Quito - 1 Day
2. Machachi and Volcan Cotopaxi - 1 Day
3. Banos via Ambato - 3 Days
4. Tena - 1 Day
5. Coca - 2 Days
6. Rain forest (Panacocha Region) - 4 Days (full jungle gallery)
7. Quito - 1 Day

That doesn't add up to two weeks, I know.  We lost a few days traveling by bus on dirt roads, some of which were entirely destroyed by rain and mudslides.  In general, you lose lots of time traveling.  In fact, I think that once you decide to hop from one town to another, you automatically lose a day.

Here are a few of the better shots from the trip...

Check out the complete mainland gallery and the jungle gallery too.

Galapagos Islands

Kyle and I took a 15 day tour of the Galapagos Islands as part of our adventure.  The Galapagos were his idea, and I need to thank him again for picking such a cool place for our vacation.  I did some research and selected Galapagos Travel for the tour, which was the best decision... they were fabulous, and I can't recommend them enough.  If you're thinking about going, check them out and then ask me why I think they kick ass.

We lived on the Tip Top IV, a 120' motor yacht operated by Rolf Wittmer, for 2 weeks with 13 other passengers (and 9 crew).  Our tour guides were Martin (from the National Park Service) and Ron (from Galapagos Travel).  Ron and Martin were perfectly complimentary in their style, and it was definitely great having an extra person around to answer questions and share cool facts with us.  Note that most groups only have one tour guide per 16 passengers.

We were super busy, waking each day by 6 am and active until 6 pm (dinner time).  Over the course of two weeks we visited these places (which won't mean much unless you've been there):

1. Fly into Baltra, Sail to Santa Cruz - Baches Beach
2. Isabela - Horses to Sierra Negra Caldera
3. James (Santiago) - Sullivan Bay; Sombrero Chino
4. James (Santiago) - James Bay; Rabida
5. Santa Cruz - Cerro Dragon; North Seymour
6. Tower - Darwin Bay and Prince Philipe Steps
7. Circumnavigate Roca Redonda; Isabela - Punta Vincente Roca; Fernandina - Punta Espinoza
8. Islabela - Urbina Bay, Elizabeth Bay, and Las Marielas Islets
9. Floreana - Punta Cormorant, Post Office Bay, La Baronesa View Point
10. Espanola - Punta Suarez and Gartner Bay
11. Santa Cruz - Puerto Ayora (Charles Darwin Station)
12. Santa Cruz - De Roy Residence and Cliff Jumping at The Crack; Santa Fe
13. San Christobel - Cerro Brujo and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno; Kicker Rock
14. South Plaza; Circumnavigate Daphne Major; Bartolome (Pinnacle Rock)
15. Santa Cruz - Plaza Islets; Baltra - Flay back to the Mainland

There are tons of highlights.  In fact, each day something really cool would happen either on land or while snorkeling (we snorkeled once or twice each day).  On land, we saw all sorts of incredible animal behavior: courtship, mating, birth, death... the whole life cycle.  Under water, we swam with 3 species of sharks (including hammerheads), sea lions, sea horses, a 12' manta ray, schools of golden rays, several whales, and all kinds of reef fish.

The best thing is that it's all like high school biology class.  There are enough species to make it interesting, but not so many it's overwhelming.  In fact, after 2 weeks you can spot the subtle differences between the various critters (Darwin's Finches).  We learned all about endemic versus native versus non-native species and Adaptive Radiation.  And the timing was perfect: we just came out of the rain forest where it's almost impossible to visualize all of the interdependencies between the gazillion animal and plants species.  In the Galapagos, there are some islands/rocks which only have plant species numbering in the double digits.

We have tons of pictures.  Like more than 500.  Most are moderate at best (new camera and little photography skill mix fantastically, by the way).  Here are a few of the better ones.

Landscapes

Lava Close-Ups

Land and Air Animals

Plants

Under the Water

And of course, you will find the complete Galapagos gallery in the usual place, divided into land activities and snorkeling.