We just got back back from a trip to Ecuador. The highlight was the Galapagos Islands, of course, but we also saw a little of Quito, and of Antisana Ecological Reserve. Ecuador lies on the equator and has no seasons. Every day is twelve hours long, year round.

Quito is at over 8000 feet of elevation. Yet because it’s on the Equator, the weather was very mild. When we went to Antisana, we got up over 13,000 feet. I wore my Nanopuff jacket and rain jacket over it and still I absolutely froze. It was cold, windy, and raining. I thought I must be wimpy, but we talked to a group of Canadian women who said it was too cold to get out of the car! So it wasn’t just me.

The islands are volcanic, and located 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador. After the islands formed, it is thought that life arrived there floating on pieces of wood, or swam or flew there. Apparently reptiles can last for a long while without water. Without predators the reptiles could grow to amazing sizes, such as the giant tortoises. The marine iguanas are fearsome, but actually quite harmless, eating only algae.

In Galapagos we were on a catamaran. There were 15 passengers including us. I took my REI 30 inch wheelie bag and Patagonia Refugio 26L backpack. In Galapagos I wore the same thing every day: a long sleeve nylon hiking shirt (one was Columbia and the other one was REI) and REI nylon shorts. It rained one day and I added my Marmot Goretex rain jacket. I took several pairs of the shorts, but “washed” them and the shirts in the bathroom sink using liquid shower gel and just alternated between the two shirts and two pairs of shorts. I took a clothesline but nothing dried in the bathroom at all, due to humidity. There was a clothesline on the upper deck and they dried quickly there, out in the sun. I noticed the shirts looked grungier by the day. It really didn’t matter.

I took three pairs of shoes: Salomon hiking shoes, Teva water shoes with added gel insole, and my Cushionaires. The Cushionaires were comfy but bulky. I probably should have packed a pair of thin rubber flipflops for walking around the boat.

We took lots of sunscreen. I’ve always hated trying to get the zinc type off my hands, but the secret seems to be to keep rubbing it on your legs until it’s off your hands. Anyway, I didn’t get sunburned at all!

Galapagos is a national park. Ecuador is working hard to keep the tortoises and other species from extinction, to keep alien species from being introduced, and to keep any more people from moving there.

9. Marine Iguana

10. Waved Albatrosses courtship ritual

11. Kicker Rock

12. Blue Footed Booby and chick

13. Giant Tortoise

14. Dolphins

15 -16. Sea lions

17. Green Sea Turtle

18. Lava Lizards sparring

19. Yellow Warbler

20. Red Billed Tropicbird

21. Swallow-Tailed Gull

22. Land Iguana

23. Short Eared Owl

24. Great Frigatebird and chick

25. Nasca Booby and chick

26. American Flamingo

27. Sally Lightfoot Crab

28. Shining Sunbeam Hummingbird

29. Sparkling Violet-Ear Hummingbird

30. Andean Condors

31. Me on San Cristobal