Blogs from Ecuador, South America - page 667

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito January 30th 2005

Salut tout le monde, petit message pour vous dire que tout va bien numero uno. Quito est une ville remplis de gens sympatiques et souriants. Il fait chaud, on est bien et par le plus heureux des hasards nous avonns trouve Maximillio. Responsable de Equotrakers cest par lui que nous prenons nos cours despagnol, cest par lui que nous avons un splendide appartemente plein centre ville de Quito(sixiéme etage avec vue incroyable)et cest aussi gràce á lui et un hasard incroyable que nous partons la semaine prochaine faire du benevolat dans un petit village en plein coeur de la foret equatorienne. Cest tout. je vais arroser des gens qui passent en bycicle avec mon super pistol charge á bloc. Ici c;est le carnaval de la aqua. HE!HE! A plus et les photos viendront plus tard. ... read more

Looking Forward!!!!

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito January 19th 2005

FlyingBean

This is a test page in order to get familiar with it. We are january 19 and in 6 very long days i'll be in a plane to Ecuador...I can almost feel the sun on my so white french canadian face. Mother earth sends us snow, cold or whatever you want on our small province of quebec. I don't care!!! I'm going to Ecuador! ... read more

Onboard the Xpedition

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos January 15th 2005

Galapagos Post Office

hauteboy

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 morning! Since we would be home in two days, it would probably get there earlier had it been sent via the regular mail. Several other passengers picked up postcards and left their own (ours STILL hasn't ... read more

Onboard the Xpedition

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos January 13th 2005

Sea turtle

hauteboy

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. Afterwards during a Zodiac ride around the bay we saw more penguins and blue footed boobies and a flightless cormorant, then we saw some dolphins! We snorkeled some more and saw several green sea turtles ... read more

Crusing the Galapagos

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos January 12th 2005

Bartolome Island

hauteboy

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 dive with an opportunity to see hammerheads. I had never used a hood before, and had problems with my mask leaking once underwater, so my first dive was spent mainly clearing my mask! The second ... read more

Onboard the Xpedition

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos January 11th 2005

Charles Darwin Center

hauteboy

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 natural habitat. It was supposedly raining today in the highlands, so we opted for the Darwin center. We would be returning to Puerto Ayora on Saturday, so there was a second chance to go to ... read more

Onboard the Xpedition

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos January 10th 2005

Playful sealion

hauteboy

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 back and looking at us. It was hilarious! During lunch, we cruised to the next island, Espanola, the southernmost island in the archipelago. Our destination here was Punta Suarez, on the western tip of the ... read more

Galapagos!

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos January 9th 2005

Land Iguana

hauteboy

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 us in; they would take care of the bags on the other end and deliver them to our cabin. The flight was on TAME on a brand new A320, an all-economy configuration. Normally, TAME only ... read more

The other side of the world

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito November 18th 2004

A big step for me, into the Northern Hemisphere

russ

I've been in and around Quito since I got back from the Galapagos Islands and it's been quite an interesting time... first of all I raced up to the equator to see how the water flushes on the other side of the world and sure as eggs, it does infact go the other way!!!!!! I couldn't believe it, they've got this little sink right, and when they pull the plug over the equator the water goes straight down, they move the same sink 2m to the south and it falls with the clockwise swirl that I grew up with out in Glenbrook, then 2m to the north it falls with an anti-clockwise swirl!! So that was cool, then me and Lee(a "dude" from California) went to prison to visit some convicted drug smugglers which was very ... read more

Heaven on Earth located off the coast of Ecuador

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos November 7th 2004

Mr. Iguana - King of Galapagos

russ

This diary is dedicated to all my fellow animal lovers and tree-huggers out there, I've just spent almost the last two weeks admiring Gods handywork out in the Galapagos Islands... that place is amazing! Snorkling with the friendliest most playfull sealions just about everyday, with the ocasional tortoise, shark, pinguin or manta-ray glyding past for a look, then exploring endless islands with differant colored beaches, cactuses, volcanoes loaded up with wierd birds and Iguanas - and eating fresh seafood for pretty much every meal... I had a fantastic time, and as per usual I was blessed with fantastic company for the whole time I was there. Maria-rosita inparticular, la pasé spectacular mientras estaba contigo y te extraño un monton, besos :) I did a 4day cruise because it was all I could find at short notice, ... read more

Brief history of Ecuador

The "Republic of the Equator" was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others are Colombia and Venezuela). Between 1904 and 1942, Ecuador lost territories in a series of conflicts with its neighbors. A b...more history

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