We were up and out of the hotel at 0530 after a great breakfast prepared by the daughter of Sara. We hopped on one of the first buses to drive us up the 8km switchbacked dirt road to Machu Picchu. The weather was thick fog and a light mist that we hoped would burn off later in the day. Machu Picchu is one of the only intact Incan ruins that did not suffer any destruction by the Spanish conquistadors simply because they did not know it existed. It was virtually forgotten about and left to the jungle until it was stumbled upon and “rediscovered” by Hiram Bingham in 1911. Bingham was searching for another lost city that was the last stronghold of the Incas when he was told by a local about Machu Picchu, deep in ... read more

We flew out from the Galapagos this morning at 0945, and back to Guayaquil for a 6 ½ hour layover. We initially thought about sightseeing in the city, but decided to just relax in the airport, and for me to catch up on some journaling. We caught our 2 hr. flight to Lima, and slept in the terminal at the airport as our flight to Cuzco was at 0520, hardly a long enough night to justify a hotel. Turns out we weren’t the only ones as we joined a group of about 30 hippies lying all over the hard tiled floor in the corner of the terminal. During the rainy season especially it is recommended to fly into Cuzco as early as possible due to the foul weather and fog in the Andes Mountains. After a ... read more

We awoke early yet again, and found a real coffee shop with free Nescafe refills that was open before 8, a rarity! We headed out to the Galapagos Interpretation Center just a 15 min. walk outside of town, and walked through its fascinating displays. I learned many more surprising details of the history of the island that were not covered in my Lonely Planet travel guide, or in my internet browsing. The Galapagos were really first used as convenient food & water resupply point for late 18th century buccaneers & whalers, where sea lions, penguins, & even giant tortoises were butchered for food & then later as a penal colony for Ecuador until 1959, where some of its convicts participated in a utopian experiment in rehabilitation, resulting in failure and the murder of the founder. The ... read more

Today we took a day boat trip to Bartolome and Santiago Islands, which are a two hour boat ride northwest of Baltra Island. There are several islands that are accessible by day trip, each unique in their own right by terrain and which species of bird or animal you wish to see. I decided on Bartolome Island because it is home to a very small and elusive colony of penguin, which originated in Antarctica, but long ago rode the Humboldt current to the islands, and they are the closest penguins you can see without traveling to the South Pole. Our boat was a 40ft. beautiful fishing yacht that we shared with our National Park guide Felipe, 4 college age Argentinians Dennis befriended, a Swiss guy, and 3 locals. We were given a delicious breakfast on the ... read more

We caught a flight to the Galapagos Islands at 1005. To our surprise, confusion and sheer delight we were issued tickets in first class. I could fly all day like that, but sadly it was a short 1 ½ hr. flight to travel the 600 miles off the shore of Ecuador to reach the islands. We arrived on Baltra Island, which is a small uninhabited barren island which basically only has the airport on it and nothing else. It was a US military base during WWII, and used to be home to a unique species of iguana that was eaten to extinction by feral dogs and hungry soldiers. After a short bus ride, We took a small boat crossing across the channel onto the main island of Santa Cruz, where we will be spending the next ... read more