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!

Tall Trees, Alpaca Gear and Glaciers - oh my

We left behind the beautiful sunsets in Guatape and made our way down to Salento, in Colombia's coffee region.

Our first mission was to uncover the giant wax palm trees in the Valle de Cocora. After hiking through long, muddy valleys, crossing numerous rickety bridges in the jungle, and ascending the hills into the clouds we finally reached our destination - with a mystical view of the impossibly tall palm trees.

We did a little souvenier shopping and a lot of eating tasty, authentic Israeli meals made by our nice, new friend Omri. From Salento we spent three days making our way down to the Ecuador border (Colombia is BIG), passing briefly through Popayan and Pasto along the way. The winding, mountainous drive was beautiful and the border was a breeze. 

Our first stop in Ecuador was in the tiny town of Otavalo where there is a large textile market. A sweet Ecuadorian woman 'suckered' us into buying far too much Alpaca gear with her limited English phrases such as "look at it" and "check it out", followed by "special price for Canada"... woops! We humoured her by trying on ridiculous Alpaca sweaters and bargaining for items we didn't really even want :) (no, Jody did not buy this sweater!)

Our next stop was the capital city, Quito. We stayed at two different hostels in the "old town", both with great rooftop views of the city landmarks, by day and night:

El Panecillo hill

The Basilica of the National Vow

We rode the TeleferiQo cablecar to one of the highest points in Quito (a volcano) which supposedly has a fabulous view over the city... when there is not a thick cloud cover. Unfortunately we didn't see much of anything, but the ride itself was pretty cool!

We took a day trip to Cotopaxi Volcano, which involved a hike to the basecamp followed by another short ascent to reach the glacier at 5,100 meters above sea level. The air was thin and cold but it was an incredible experience to be standing on a glacier on one of the highest active volcanoes in the world - one that is apparently 30 years overdue to errupt!

 

We then rode mountain bikes 10km downhill to a lake at the base of the volcano - well actually, I gave up about half way down after my hands went numb from the cold rain & from clutching the crappy brakes nonstop... but Jody enjoyed it!

After Quito we moved on to a town called Banos (named after the thermal baths surrounding the area), where we are currently taking Spanish lessons and relaxing for a few days while enjoying the pretty view from our room.

After a two-day, unexplained bout of the hives (from the alpaca wool?) and a night with a bad elevation headache, I'm back to full health - although I'm not sure you can call my latest obsession with Oreos & ice cream 'healthy'... thank you mom, for my inherited sweet tooth! :)