Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands!

We were craving some heat and headed for the coast after a quick stop in Riobamba to book a last-minute trip to the GALAPAGOS ISLANDS!! In Montanita we met up with some 'old' friends from our sailing trip and met a bunch of great new ones too. Known for being a lot of fun, Montanita lived up to its reputation and we had a blast before heading up to the coast to the much more subdued town of Puerto Lopez.

sunset, en route to Montanita

We flew out of Guayaquil to our first Galapagos stop - San Cristobal a.k.a. Chatham (seriously, it's English name is Chatham!). We spent the first 3 days with a tour group living in luxury and exploring the islands of San Cristobal & Santa Cruz. We saw and did SO much during this time from visiting tortoise refuges & volcanic crater lakes, swimming with sea turtles, sea lions & mantarays, spying on marine iguanas, cooling off in ancient canyon water and learning a lot at the numerous interpretive centres. Most of the animals/reptiles we saw are not found anywhere else in the world, except in the Galapagos Islands and we felt so lucky to be able to see them. It was a bit sad to see how much humans have interfered with the eco-system and wildlife over the past few centuries but thankfully there are a lot of people trying hard to protect and restore it.
After our tour ended we had a few days to explore on our own. We lounged on beautiful beaches next to marine iguanas, discovered natural sinkholes & lava tunnels resulting from volcanic activity over millions of years, and took a day trip to Isabella island where we saw white-tipped sharks, endemic penguins & blue-footed boobies!
I have far too many photos to add to this blog so I've created an album which you can hopefully view by clicking here.
Our trip to the Galapagos Islands was amazing and well worth the un-planned splurge! After returning to Guayaquil we hopped on the bus to Cuenca - an old, colonial city in southern Ecuador - and stayed in the centre of town amidst the many brightly lit churches.

From Cuenca we made our way down to beautiful Vilcabamba where we stayed at one of the best 'hostels' of our trip with an amazing view overlooking the town. We did a hike one day with stunning views of the mountain ranges which I'm still feeling in my calves 3 days later!

  

We took an overnight bus across the border and made our way into Peru yesterday. We're now spending a few days in Huanchaco on the beach and will likely head to Cordillera Blanca in the Andes next. We're excited for our upcoming Peruvian adventures!