Hotel: Velotrek Hotel (Baku, Azerbaijan) $30 Visa on arrival: $40 $1 USD = 4700 Azeri Manat We decided to head to the airport early this morning for our 10:30 AM flight to Baku. We hailed a cab from the hotel, but we were only able to talk him down to 1200 roubles (the books say 900 is best). This seemed a bit excessive as we were already on the road to the airport, but all 4 of us crammed into the LADA as it was raining and we didn't feel like walking to Beloruskaya station to take the metro+bus option. The [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hotel: Steppe Nomads Camp (Mongolia) Our guide took us out in the reserve this morning to search for more wildlife; swans and other birds which were usually found in some nearby lakes. The scenery was surreal; still no trees anywhere to be seen. Only 3% of the country is forested, mainly in the northern and western areas. We returned to camp for lunch, and our guide showed us how to play games with sheep anklebones. There are 4 different sides to each bone, labled camel, sheep, goat and horse. There was no end of games you could play, one was similar [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hotel: Steppe Nomads Camp (Mongolia) Our new guide greeted us this morning. His name was Baggy and would be our guide for the next few days, it would just be my wife and I so we ended up with a private tour! We would be going out to one of the tourist ger camps for a few days to get the feel of traditional Mongolian life. On the way out of town we stopped at Gandan Monastery, one of the few to remain open during the communist era. This is still a functioning monastery with yellow and red-robed monks chanting prayers. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hotel: Mika Hotel (UlaanBaatar, Mongolia) I was totally wiped out this morning, but we had to have an early start to go see the Nadaam ceremonies. We had a simple breakfast of toast, jam, yogurt and tea at the hotel before our guide arrived. Several other tourists were joining us today in the minibus for the 2nd day of ceremonies. Naadam is a combination Olympics/national holiday in Mongolia, always starting on July 11th. Mainly an excuse to party down, the games demonstrate the three 'manly' sports of wrestling, horce racing and archery. I had missed the horse racing yesterday afterno [View Full Entry]

---

---

Post Office - Floreana Puerto Ayora - Santa Cruz Our last full day in the Galapagos. The morning excursion had us visiting the island of Floreana at Post Office bay; this is where whalers used to leave messages for home in a barrel. Anyone passing by heading in that direction would pick up the letters and deliver them personally. This tradition continues today. The mailbox itself now is covered with bumper stickers, graffiti, and messages scratched on driftwood, it's quite an amazing sight. We shuffled through the postcards, and actually found one for Austin that had been left just that morn [View Full Entry]

---

---

Caleta Tagus - Isabela Punta Espinoza - Fernandina Last night was the longest part of the cruise as the Xpedition sailed around to the far side of Isabela island, to Caleta Tagus (Tagus Cove). Isabela is the largest island in the Galapagos (this is where the Sierra Negra volcano started erupting a few weeks ago). Not many Galapagos cruises come this far due to the distance. Tagus Cove is where many of the passing whalers left graffiti on the rocks that can still be seen. This was another good climb up to the peak above Darwin Lake, a flooded volcanic crater. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Las Bachas - Santa Cruz Bartolome - San Salvador This morning was one of the few opportunities to go scuba diving, I opted to do this instead of swimming on Las Bachas beach. One of the local dive companies came out to meet the boat, there were 5 passengers diving today. It was quite expensive at $120 for a two-tank dive. The water in the Galapagos is also surprisingly cold for it being on the equator, 50 to 60 degrees is normal! They provided full 5mil suits with hood and gloves. We would be diving off of Daphne islet, a wall [View Full Entry]

---

---

Puerto Ayora - Santa Cruz Cerro Dragon - Santa Cruz This morning the ship headed for Puerto Ayora, the main town in the Galapagos; it lies at the opposite side of Santa Cruz from the airport. Over 20,000 people actually live in the Galapagos, and you can use the Internet here. There were two activities this morning, the first one visiting the Charles Darwin center and viewing the tortoise raising area and Lonesome George, a 180+ year old tortoise, the last of his subspecies. The other activity was going to the highlands of Santa Cruz and seeing the tortoises in their [View Full Entry]

---

---

Kicker Rock - San Cristobal P. Baquerizo - San Cristobal Punta Suarez - Espanola It was an early start to the day for us as we had signed up for the early morning activity, a Zodiac ride around Kicker Rock. We were on the lookout for more blue footed boobies, sea lions, Sally Lightfoot crabs, etc. However it was a bit of a letdown after the amazing introduction yesterday afternoon. Afterwards, we went snorkeling, this turned out to be a blast! There were several sealions in the water with us, they'd come up and blow air, then dart away before coming [View Full Entry]

---

---

Flight: Quito to Baltra, TAME 191 (320) Hotel: Onboard the Xpedition, Cabin 502 Yet another early start this morning as our flight to the Galapagos departed at 7:30. All the cruise passengers were milling about in the lobby of the Marriott; we decided to beat the crowds and grabbed a taxi to the airport. The domestic terminal at Quito was pretty small, only a couple of gates. There was a Celebrity representative waiting at the airport already, after having our bags inspected by the agriculture station to make sure you don't bring in any fruits/vegetables, she took our bags and checked [View Full Entry]

---

---