Another night-time navigation had us at the small island of Bartolome and it was a beautiful sight to wake-up to as from this spot we could also see the larger island, Santiago and the other small island nearby called Chinese Hat because of its shape, which we would also visit in the afternoon. Originally, the day was going to start with a dry-landing onto the island but Fabian noticed a big group of tourists already on the island so switched the activities around and we started with a zodiac boat ride around the island to try and spot penguins. We didn’t see any penguins but we did see pelicans and crabs. We then did the landing and we walked along a boarded walk which turned into 370 steps as we climbed to the top of the ... read more

Up at 03:00 th his morning for a 04:00 pickup. We picked up another couple, Rob and Steph, two doctors from the UK who are currently living in Australia. They have been in Hervey Bay hospital but moving to Melbourne when they return. They are also on the same catamaran as us, Nemo I for Galapagos. The driver as usual came in with us to help with check-in until a rep from Nemo I took over. All Galapagos visitors have to first check-in at an entry office where we paid $20. Daisy and Steph were told to wait there in line while Rob and I took our luggage to the check-in counter for the flight. After that we all had to go to an ATM to withdraw more cash as another girl we met, Hayden, an ... read more

Still waking earlier than I wanted but that’s fine. We went down for breakfast at 08:00 and out the door just past 09:00. We decided to get a taxi for the ride out to La Mitad del Mundo Or The Middle of The World, meaning the equator. There is a big monument built by the Government in 1972 (replacing a previous small monument) marking the equator which the French Geodesic Mission had marked out in 1746. However, since then the World Geodetic System, used in modern GPS systems indicates the equator is actually 240 metres north of that line. That correct line is marked out in a private museum called the Museo Intinan. Interestingly, when we told our driver where we wanted to go, he took us to the Museo Intinan. We arrived at 10:20 just ... read more

Another relaxed start to the day. The hotel was relatively busy and had a full table of German speaking tourists this morning. We had to wait a few minutes to have breakfast. The Swiss couple from yesterday came out, so we took their place. Gradually people left until just one other couple was left, so I asked them “Sprechen sie Englisch” and they did, so we started conversing, they are from Austria and traveling in Chile for 3 weeks. We have met so many nice, like-minded people on this trip. We left on schedule at 09:00 and our first stop was the small town of Socoroma which was the closest town to the epicenter of the earthquake in 2007 and was mainly destroyed but has since been restored with help from the Government. The building are ... read more

We had a nice breakfast considering we were in the middle of nowhere. I went outside for a walk around and all I could see were trucks parked everywhere so I assume the drivers were staying somewhere in Colchane, but I couldn’t see much around at all. We set off on schedule at 09:00. Today was another traveling day but with a lot of brief stops for photos. As has been the case on a few days, it was about the journey rather the destination, there were beautiful spots everywhere as drove higher and higher.. We stopped at four small ghost towns which had well maintained churches for historical preservation reasons. One was just 15 minutes from Colchane in Isluga which was named after the Volcano Isluga which we could view whilst driving through the Isluga ... read more