Sunday was the final day of our eight day tour of the Galapagos, and mostly all I can still stay is "wow." Seriously, wow. It's that or 'effing bloody marvelous', language allowed on account how freakin' awesome that was. Did small blog write ups for most of the days, but they don't really do it justice. Nor do the innumerable pictures I took, which I haven't had a chance to upload yet, mostly. Seriously, I'm kind of stuck on where to start. There are some places in the world that are on the 'to see' lists of most travellers, stuff like the Pyramids of Giza, Macchu picchua, the Taj Mahal, Great Wall of China, etc. A lot of these places are overhyped and overtouristed. The Great Wall of China I visited. The part we saw was ... read more

Sorry, I've been amiss in making entries. Have been busy and internet is terrible here. Day 4 First day on Isabela Island, the largest in the archipelago, and one of the youngest islands, less than a million years old. Today was less boating, more driving... Got off in the harbour to drive to the Wall of Tears, a depressing prison camp where the convicts where dumped on the island and forced to build their own prison out of lava rocks. Fun. Sadly, the route was closed due to a 'tortoise incident'- a tour bus accidentally ran over one of the tortoises, so the route had just been changed to pedestrian only. So, we went to the Sierra Negra volcano crater first, a semi-active crater, and the second largest crater in the world. Isabela's an inhabited island ... read more

Today we arrived in one of the moere remote islands, Genovesa, known for its massive bird colonies. The island is crescent shaped, the bay (called Darwin Bay, despite the fact he never visited) being the sunken part of an ancient collapsed caldera. Very visually stunning. After breakfast, we walked around for quite some time. The sheer numbers of the birds was breathtaking -15000+ great frigate birds alone on the island, and a great deal of red-footed and Nazca boobies, all of which were insanely unafraid of people. There is a set distance of 1 metre away from any of the animals, but they were far more likely to 'break the rules', so to speak. Several wandered near us, out simple curiosity. Some of the most stunning are the male frigate birds, who squawk and inflate the ... read more

Had fun at the Otavalo market today, got some nice stuff, including some jewlery and a warm alpaca sweater! Huuge artisan market, great selection and prices ( though of course you have to bargain!) Took long than expected to get there, and the market closed early as it was raining ( didn't get many pictures, either) but still loads of fun shopping. Going to Galapagos tomorrow, crazy excited! No internet, so next update won't be until the 13 or 14. Off to go stare at boobies (blue footed ones, of course!) and other interesting animals. Can't wait!... read more

Sunday we headed to Banos, a sleepy mountain town, and the jumping off point to a jungle tour. Had a bit of a misadventure getting here-the main bus station was closed for repairs, so we had to take two extra buses to get to another one! Were helped by a pint size lady (barely up to my shoulder in 3inch heel), who, when thanked, merely shrugged and said 'but we have to help each other, or where would we be?' Nice old fashioned manners down here. The final bus took about three hours, complete with wih snack vendours hoppin on and off, a guy tryin to sell a herbal supplement that seemed capable of curing everything from cancer to stress and bladder problems. In-bus entertainment started with music ranging from spanish pop to what can only ... read more