Galapagos

---

Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands

We flew from Panama City after saying good bye to Robins’s brother Tom, arriving in Quito a few days early for our GAP trip to the Galapagos. It gave us a chance to see this lovely old city in the Andes of South America. The temperature and the altitude were a bit of a shock after 2 months at tropical sea-level - we dug out our jackets for the first time since we left Canada. The Central Bank Museum is a must see with a stunning collection of Pre-Inca civilization artifacts and gold jewellery circa 800BC. Interesting how the history they teach us in school only touches on the christianization of the Inca and does not much acknowledge the earlier great civilizations.

We flew to Galapagos on March 12 for a 7 night cruise on a small boat with 14 other passengers. It was great. It only would have better had it been a sailboat. Instead, the smelly noisy diesel was annoying but dependable. The crew and guides were very warm and friendly. Spectacular snorkelling and hiking among the Iguanas, Sea-lions, Boobies, Pelicans and stunning volcanic landscapes.

Visiting the Galapagos Islands is a truly humbling experience. We both feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to see this extraordinary piece of Nature. It is a great treasure that must be protected by the world for the world. Threats to the fragile environment here by large cruise ship tourism will have enormous impacts and presents a huge challenge to the Park management.

---