The Galapagos

The Galapagos are hard to describe because they are so unique. Dianne and I had a couple of days on our own doing day tours before taking a spectacular 4 day boat cruise. The boat that we were on was 5 star luxury and on solidified our backpacker plus status. We did not want to leave the ship.
I will post about each day but the highlight of course is the incredible wildlife. Swimming and playing with sea lions , the aquatic life , seeing sharks ( Dianne's very close up) , penguins and the vast array of birds including the boobies are just a few of the amazing things that happened in the Galapagos.
Our first couple of days we did day trips to Santa Fe and Isabela islands. Santa Fe was a snorkelling wonder. Lots of fish and sea lions and this is where Dianne saw her big sharks while we were playing with sea lions.

  

Equador - Quito

A very long day of flights landed us in Quito the capital of Equador. Another large city with a very distinctive old area and new area. Old is beautiful and full of heritage and new is restaurants and hotels. This really was the stop to try and book our trip to the Galapagos. We did take a day trip out to see an volcano crater lake. The best part was that you can ride donkeys back up after you walk down.