We decided to take the cable car up Mount Pichincha today. It climbs up the Andes mountains to 16,000 ft above sea level and I imagine the views of the city are spectacular. But you know what they say about the best laid plans....it was cloudy today and we couldn't see the top of the mountain so the views would be less than spectacular. We were told there would be no rain, by the cnsierge, so we were hopeful that the clouds would clear out and we could get up...

Well, we are back in Quito after our INCREDIBLE tour of the Galapagos Islands. It was an unforgettable, once in a lifetime experience. I've got to say, however, that it's nice to be back on solid ground and in a room that is bigger than our washroom at home. I still find myself swaying though! The experience was fantastic and the boat was nice enough but, after 8 days rocking and rolling and sleeping in bunk beds, I'm glad to be in a hotel room again....

It's our last day in the Galápagos. We left the boat early, for our last dry landing, to visit the San Cristóbal Interpretation Centre on Santa Cruz Island before flying back to Quito via Guayaquil. It is another scorcher today. It was unanimous that visiting the interpretation centre was a bit of an inconvenience as it was a repeat of most of what we've learned over the trip and since we were leaving we just wanted to get back to Quito. They needed us ...

We spent the night sailing to Santa Cruz island. Santa Cruz supports one of the largest human populations of the five inhabited islands. Some 8,000 residents are distributed between the cattle-farming communities in the lush highlands and the coastal town of Puerto Ayora, where we started our tour. Puerto Ayora is the economic center of the Galapagos Islands. All the tour boats visit Puerto Ayora, anchoring in Academy Bay so there are many hotels, restaurants, so...

We had an early start today (7:15 in the pangas). First off we visited Islote Tintorera, which is supposed to be one of the best places to see sharks and other marine wildlife. Well, we saw 1 sea lion and some baby marine iguanas. I guess I'd better get used to the fact that I'm not going to see any sharks on this trip, even though I was swimming with one close by at one point. The volcanic rock looks like it has bird poop all over the south side of the r...