Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands

March 2022

When we booked a two week tour of Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands back in September 2021, Covid 19 was on the decline. Then Omicron reared its ugly head and in January we had to make a decision on whether to pay up or cancel. We decided to go for it. Who knew what else would happen in the future and fortunately, it was a good decision. We were able to see a new country extensively as well as the fabulous Galapagos Islands.

Tuesday 8 March

With an obscenely early flight of 0615 from Birmingham Airport we had holed up at the decent Redwings Lodge in Solihull which allowed for a few hours sleep before rising at 2.45am, dropping the car off and making the airport by 4.30am. We were flying with KLM to Amsterdam (70 mins) with a two hour break before an 11 hour flight to Panama City where another two hour break was followed by a two hour Copa Airlines flight to Quito, Ecuador. We had to keep our facemasks on for every flight and airport except to eat and drink. Every flight was full and travelling was definitely back on the international agenda. We arrived in Quito around 9.30pm (local time), five hours behind UK clocks. It had been a long 24 hours.

We had signed up with a tour with Exoticca. We had never been on a ‘guided’ tour before. But with all the discounts available to get people travelling again, I don’t think we could have done it any cheaper on our own. It would be also Wendy’s first trip to South America (my third) so a nice ‘gentle; introduction would hopefully sell the rest of the continent to her.

At Quito Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional Mariscal Sucre), we were met by an Exoticca Rep and a couple of dozen people congregated. We were ferried by bus on a generally empty dual carriageway into the ‘new’ section of Quito called ‘La Marisscal’ and four other UK residents were dropped with us at the Rio Amazonas Hotel. The other passengers were on two different tours and staying at a different hotel. There was a welcome drink after which we ascended to the top floor (11th) to our spacious room which had a fine view over the nightlights of Quito. I then discovered that there were no tea/coffee making facilities in the bedroom and that I had forgotten our travel kettle. Doh!

Ecuador Background: The CIA website summarises the history as “Ecuador was a successor country following the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830. Between 1904 and 1942, Ecuador lost territory in conflicts with its neighbours. The country has been politically unstable for much of its recent history, with 20 constitutions since gaining independence.”

The Presidential Republic (led by President Lenin Moreno Garces) has a population of around 17m (74% Roman catholic) in an area roughly the size of Great Britain. The climate is tropical along coast, becoming cooler inland at higher elevations and tropical in the Amazonian jungle lowlands. Spanish is the official language (although there are 20 other native tongues) and the US Dollar is the currency.

It has natural resources of petroleum, fish, timber and hydropower and is the biggest banana exporter in the world. Its main industries are petroleum, food processing, textiles, wood products and chemicals. Agricultural products include sugarcane, bananas, milk, oil palm fruit, maize, rice, plantains, poultry, cocoa and potatoes. Hard hit by COVID-19 it suffers macroeconomic fragility from oil dependency. Average income is $10,300.

“Ecuador” is the Spanish for ‘equator’. It was chosen as the name of the newly independent country in 1830. It has more species of mammals and amphibians per square metre than any other country on earth. It was one of the first Latin American countries to separate the state and church, permit divorce and grant women the vote.

Wednesday 9 March

In the morning, in the west we could see the backdrop of Volcan Pichincha which hems in the city. Still active, it last erupted in 1999. The Quito Observatory was on a hill in the distance. Built in 1864, it is the oldest one on the continent. El Pancello (“the little bread loaf”) could also be seen crowned by a strange 30m tall aluminium statue of the Virgin Mary which is composed of 7000 strips of aluminium.

Having survived on flight food yesterday, the breakfast was very welcome – the usual fruit and bread with some Ecuadorian delicacies such Llapingachos (fried potato pancakes) and plantain. There was a briefing at 8am where we met three American couples who had flown in before us. The group would be 12 strong which was a nice number. The Rep went through the itinerary for the trip and soft sold some extra excursions on the Galapagos Islands which we passed on. Outside a bus waited for us with our ‘Tour Guide’ Maurice and a driver called Carlos. The first morning would be spent touring the old Colonial Centre which was a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

At 2800m, High in the Andes, Ecuador’s capital “unfurls in a long north-south ribbon more than 50km top to bottom and on average just 5km wide.” (Rough Guide). It is the second highest capital in the world. Founded in 1534, it’s Cathedral was completed in 30 years and most of the great churches, monasteries and public buildings by the end of the century. It became the capital in 1830 of the new Republic of Ecuador.

With a population of around 1.6 million, Quito is the political and cultural heart of Ecuador and the centre is divided into two distinct parts. ‘ Centro Historico’, the compact old town was an array of narrow streets and wide cobbled plazas lined with churches, monasteries, mansions and colourful balconied houses. It contains some of the most beautiful Spanish colonial architecture on the continent. La Marisscal, the neighbouring new town (where our hotel was) was added after World War Two and was full of hotels, restaurants, bars, banks and shops. It was rather non-descript and based on a grid pattern.

We started our tour outside the old centre at the massive Basilica del Voto Nacional which is perched a few blocks uphill. The looming Basilica is the tallest church in Ecuador with two imposing 115m tall towers. Started in 1892 and constructed in a flamboyant, neo Gothic style, it is full of spires, flying buttresses, turrets and stained glass windows. But it was the gargoyles that made it unique because they were all based on Ecuadorian animals such as turtles, iguanas and monkeys.

Rough Guide describes the Centro Historico as a “Glorious colonial old town which is a mix of pleasant plazas, impressive churches and monasteries and some fascinating museums”.

The old centre was dominated by the picturesque Plaza de Indepencia/Plaza Grand (1534) which has always been the focus of Quito. It was surrounded by the city’s most important civic and religious buildings including the Cathedral, Government Palace, Archbishop’s Palace and City Hall. There were both locals and tourists hanging around in the sunshine. A couple of brown uniformed female Tourist Police approached with free maps. They warned up about pickpockets and be aware of our valuables and bags.

As I was taking a photo of the square, a convoy of dark vehicles approached from behind. The passenger in the lead vehicle leaned out of the window and yelled at me politely “Please stand back” as they turned up a lane. It was the President of Ecuador Lenin Moreno Garces. Not that I saw him behind the dark mirrored windows. He was heading for the Palacio de Gobierno (Government Palace) which impressively lines the west side of the Plaza Grand. It is both the seat of Government and the Presidential Palace. It was a white stuccoed, symmetrical building with a long row of columns in front. A pair of face masked sentries in ornate blue tunics, white trousers and gold braided hats stood motionless on the first floor balcony in the centre.

The north side of the Plaza was mostly taken up by the Palacio Arzobispal (Archbishop’s Palace), a grand white two story Neoclassical building. The Palacio Municipal (City Hall) was an ugly low horizontal concrete design from 1973 occupying some of the east side of the Plaza.

The Catedral Metropolitana dating from the 17th Century took up the entire south side of the Plaza. It had gleaming white walls and grey stone portals but it was closed. No matter, we saw a couple of real treasures up the road.

The 17th Century church of El Sagrario is built next to the Cathedral just off the square on Calle Garcia Moreno. Known as the ‘Street of the Seven Crosses’ it has, you guessed it, seven large stone crucifixes dotted along the long road. Topped with a pale blue dome, the interior of El Sagrario was another outstanding example of colourful Baroque decoration including stone pillars and turquoise walls with geometric designs. The gold leaf covered altar sparkled.

La Compania de Jesus (built between 1605 and 1765) was opulent church with a wonderful Baroque façade of carved volcanic stone. The interior was symmetrical and full of twisted columns with the altar, pulpit and galleries covered in shimmering gold leaf. After a fire in 1996, it was fully restored and is apparently regarded as the most beautiful church in the nation. It was an outstanding church.

A short walk took us the vast, sweeping cobbled Plaza San Francisco which is regarded as one of the most beautiful squares in Latin America. Unlike Plaza Grande, there is no sign vegetation which makes it look even bigger. Dominating the western side, and approached ascending a broad flight of stairs, the Iglesia y Monasterio de San Francisco has monumental white washed walls, a carved stone portal at the entrance and twin bell towers overhead. Inside, the walls, pillars and altars were guilt encrusted. Started in 1535 this is the oldest church in both Quito and Ecuador.

From the promenade outside the entrance, I could see the Iglesia de la Merced’s white bell tower in the distance which was the highest tower in colonial Quito and completed in 1747. Legend has it that the tower, the only unblessed part of the church is possessed by the devil. A bell ringer was brave enough to venture up it but apparently no one else has since he died in 1810.

It had been a nice tour taking in the main highlights and I was much more impressed with the old historical centre than I had anticipated. We finished our tour by driving to the main Quito market which was an array of spectacularly piled fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers. There were butchers, fish stalls and food stalls selling lunches of the local delicacies. Pork is very popular, and a pig’s head was visible of the counter of one. In shops I had also spotted a variety of large, decorated toy donkeys full of sweets to be used for Pinata.

To be honest, that’s all I wanted to see in Quito. The previous day’s travel was catching up with us. Back at the hotel, I went on walkabout in the 20’c temperatures around the boring straight roads to find a kettle and then snack supplies. It seemed to take forever to find an electrical shop in one direction and a small supermarket in the other.

We opted to eat in the Hotel restaurant which offered a good choice of dishes. Wendy ended up with a ‘breaded steak’ that seemed to take over the plate like a vast pancake. My fried pork called Fritada (a popular Ecuador dish) came with a pile of Mote (cooked mature corn) which was both bland and tasteless as well as roasted corn. Bottles of ‘Club’ beer (one of the Ecuadorian national beers) washed it all down.

Thursday 10 March

For breakfast this morning, I had steak and eggs. It was delicious if slightly weird. Around 8am we set off for the central Sierra region south of Quito. With the rush hour traffic backed up on the opposite side of the road, we joined the Pan American Highway.

Routh Guide concluded “South of Quito, the two parallel chains of Andes running the length of Ecuador rise to their most dramatic and spectacular heights in the central sierra, form a double row of snowcapped peaked that have been called “the Avenue of the Volcanoes.” Eight of the country’s ten highest summits are found here including Chimborazo (6268m), Cotopaxi (5897m) and El Altar (5320m) towering over the region’s principal towns of Ambato and Riobamba. “On a clear day, the drive south from Quito through this parade of mountains ranks among the world’s great road journeys.” (RG). Today we had a mix of brilliant sunshine and low, grey clouds, typical of the region.

The symmetrical, snow-capped cone of Cotopaxi Volcano forms the centrepiece of Ecuador’s most visited mainland national park. We did not see the entire peak, which was shrouded in low white clouds. It is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world with ten major eruptions since 1742. Surrounding it were rolling moorlands of Andean grassland (called ‘Parimo’). The vegetation also contained straw-like grass (called ‘Pajonales’), shrubs, lichens and flowers adapted to harsh climates.

Leaving the Pan American highway, twisting roads took us through specular mountain ranges and gorges with wild yellow flowers forming carpets of colours against the backdrop of greenery. The landscape was a dense patchwork of fields stretching up the slopes with alternating strips of barley, maize, potatoes and quinoa (grown for its seeds). The rural region is the indigenous heartland of Ecuador and villages were full of women dressed in red and pink shawls with black Panama hats on their heads. Either solitary women or couples were looking after lamas, tending crops or scattering seeds on their land.

There were a lot of stray dogs on the road and our bus driver had a large bag of old bread rolls that he would hurl out of the window if he saw one. At the start of the Pujili province, there was an interesting roundabout with half a dozen giant statues of musicians in traditional dress.

Our destination was the Laguna Quilotoa which was a dazzling emerald/glass green coloured lake lying in the crater of an extinct volcano surrounded by steep slopes and jagged cliffs. It lies at the heart of the Quilotoa Loop, a bumpy ring shaped scenic diversion through the rural central highlands. We drove along the southern side of the loop through Tigua and Zumbahua. From the small village of Quilotoa (3850m), we didn’t see the spectacular lake until we were almost on top of it because it is 400m down in the crater. I walked half way down to the lake itself, quickly downhill and then sluggishly slowly coming up as my lungs tried to suck in the thin air. The locals believe the lake has no bottom while geologists say it is probably 250m deep. It was a one of the highlights of the country.

Back on the Pan American highway, Ambuto (2580m) sat in a fertile agricultural zone and is an important and rapidly expanding commercial centre. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1949 and seemed bland and unattractive. We passed by Carihuairazo Volcano (5018m) another eroded volcano which was located near Chimborazo volcano which we would visit in two days. There used to have a large glacier on top of it but due to global warming, this has mostly melted away in the last decade.

Tungurahua volcano (5083m) (meaning ‘Throat of Fire’) was the tenth highest peak in Ecuador and was only 8km south of our next destination called Banos. An eruption was predicted in 1999 after 80 years of being dormant and 20,000 locals were forcibly evacuated from the villages. After four months, nothing had happened, and they battled their way through the military blockades. As it was, the volcano erupted six years later in 2006 wiping out 3 hamlets on its slopes, although only 7 people died. The 10km tall ash cloud must have looked very impressive. Nothing was stirring as we passed by.

Banos (1820m), 44km SW of Ambuto and 72km NE of Riobamba is wedged in the narrow Rio Pastaza gorge. It is expanding but I felt it still had the feel of a comfortably sized town, although the guide books are not as supportive. It enjoys a mild climate and spectacular location framed by soaring green peaks streaked with waterfalls. It is famous for its thermal baths. When we pulled up outside our hotel for two nights, the Sangau Spa Hotel, we had to do a double take at the long waterfall (‘Cascada de la Virgen’) tumbling down outside our window within 100ft of our room. If it had been in the UK, it would have been the longest waterfall by some measure.

I had a walk around and ended up at the Parque de la Basilica with its brown coloured, picturesque and moderately sized Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Rosario de Agua Santa (not something to say after a few beers). A pair of tall towers with squat spires were lit up as white beacons while the surrounding trees were ringed with small white lights. Inside, Thousands of pilgrims visit each year to pay homage to the Nuestra Senora de Agua San (‘Virgin of the Holy Water’), an icon with strange powers that has saved Banos from volcanic eruptions and fires. It was last paraded around town in 1999 when the Tungurahua volcano threatened to erupt.

Friday 11 March

This morning we did a tour of the local waterfalls in a ‘traditional’ mode of Ecuadorian transport called a ‘Chiva’ which was really just a covered truck with a series of benches on a platform and open windows. You had to climb up and down to get in out. We passed a local hydroelectrical station and followed the ‘Ruta de las Cascala’ between Banos and Pugo. There were various waterfalls of different shapes and sizes, with names like Virgin waterfall, Bride’s Cloak, Gate of Heaven and Gate of Heaven. At one point, one was pouring down over the narrow track and you could stick your hand out of the window and touch it.

There was an activity centre at one point which promoted zip lining (three wires allowing three people to hold hands while zipping) but after doing it in Costa Rica with one zip line a mile long, this seemed like a quaint relative. We opted for the more gentile walk along a massive suspension bridge that gave us great views down the valley and up at the surrounding hills. Further along on the edge of the same valley, we joined 6 others to board a small cable car (called a ‘Terabitas’ over the Pastaza River to get close to another impressive waterfall that was pouting out of the mountain side. Before getting hauled back up by a man sat at a rudimentary cable machine.

The final and largest waterfall by far was the spectacular 100m tall ‘El Pailon del Diablo’ (Devil’s Cauldron). The powerful and awe inspiring torrent of water flowing over a cliff was viewed by descending rock staircases to viewing platforms cut into the cliffs. Rainbows criss-crossed the plunge poor at the bottom.

Back in Banos, we spent the afternoon at the Thermos de la Virgen thermal baths across the road from the hotel and bang up next to the Cascada de la Virgen waterfall. We hired towels and bathing caps, got changed, showered, check in a clothes basket and then entered a pleasantly warm pool which had about 30 people in it, but we still had our own space. We then moved to a much warmer but smaller thermal bath that was virtually empty. There was a 5 minute duration warning sign that we stretched to 15. Then we could either plunge into a cold thermal bath or under natural cold flows of water. Repeat for two hours. The two level thermal baths were built as a community project in 1928. Most of the baths are fed by thermal springs burbling from the base of Volcan Tungurahua. The water in the pools is constantly recycled and only looks murky because of its mineral content. Near the end, I tried to get into the hottest thermal pool with a temperature of 42’c. I could feel my feet getting burnt and pulled out. An old man showed off his pain threshold by submerging himself. He was on his own.

Saturday 12 March

After breakfast which featured a strange Ecuadorian dish of fresh fruit (different melons), covered in yoghurt and sprinkled with seeds, that became a firm favourite for us, we left Banos and made for the Reserva Faunistica Chimorazo back on the other side of the Pan American highway. As we passed through small towns and villages, there were guinea pigs and entire pigs being roasted on revolving spits outside scruffy shacks by local woman. At one point Two pickup trucks were backed into each other with a horse in one and a cow in another. The farmers were doing a swap without getting them off the back platforms – something I had never seen. Or the guinea pig BBQs. Apparently, Saturday is the special feast day and at $15 each, Guinea pigs don’t come cheap so are viewed as a treat. They looked like cats or rabbits that had been skinned and stretched along a metal skewer.

The local women were dressed in long blue of black skirts down to their ankles, blue shawls and wore black Panama hats. Some of the men had red shawls. They all seemed to treat the weather as ‘winter’ although the occasional bright sunshine brought heat everywhere we got out to take photos. The scenery was a repeat of the dense patchwork of fields stretching up the slopes with stunning vistas of green valleys on the sides of old volcanic ranges. The surfaced, but potholed two lane road took us around undulating loops along the sides of the hills. Passing through vast gaps which had been dug out for the road, we could see the layers of previous eruptions.

At 6268m, Volcan Chimborazo is the highest peak in Ecuador called ‘Taita’ (Father) by indigenous people in the area, and supposedly last erupted 10,000 years ago. Its base spans 20km and its peak is always covered in snow and ice (although melting like everywhere else). It is regarded as being the furthest point from the centre of the earth and closest to the sun thanks to the bulge around the Equator. Today, the summit was often covered in shifting blankets of white clouds, occasionally revealing it’s splendour. The western side which we passed through was very arid and called ‘arenal’ (sand). To the northeast lies Carihuairazo Volcano (5020m) which was a less impressively jagged trio of craggy peaks.

The two volcanoes form the centrepiece of the 59000 hectare ‘Reserva Faunistica Chimorazo’ which is a haven for the llamas, alpacas and the 2500 wild vicunas (which the Spanish managed to wipe out). We took in the herds of all three as the bus meandered through the reserve through vegetation that looked like it should be in a tundra environment. Some herds were tended by women covered in warm woollen shawls. The clouds darkened and it looked like it was going to snow. Somewhere enroute we pulled in to take in a marvellous scenic 360 viewpoint with a waterfall tumbling down from the end of a gorge at the far end of the valley. Red, lilac and yellow coloured wild flowers enhanced the green valley.

Somewhere, in a small village, we stopped at a community centre where we had been promised llama for lunch. The starter was a yellow vegetable soup/broth followed by llama, couscous and plantain. The llama looked and tasted like stewed beef. But it was very tasty nonetheless.

After the late lunch, we motored into Riobamba, our stop for the night. (Riobamaba means ‘River’ (Spanish) and ‘Valley’(local tribe)). After being totally destroyed by a massive earthquake in 1797 and relocating itself 20km north of its original site, Riobamba (2735m) proclaimed itself as the “Sultan of the Andes” whatever that means. Rough Guide described it as the “most attractive city in the central sierra, made up of stately squares, flaking pastoral coloured buildings, cobbled street and sprawling markets”. While the central square of Parque Maldonado with its vegetation and shoe shine boys was pleasant enough and bordered by the low lying white walled Cathedral (closed) on one side, the city came across as a bit gritty and down to earth which it was as a major trading hub in the central sierra. The supposedly ‘colourful’ Saturday market had nearly finished by the time we arrived.

The Casa Real Hotel was located about 2km out of the centre on a busy highway and not very conducive to exploring the local neighbourhood. The hotel interior was pleasant enough with the rooms surrounding a low level garden atrium. I walked across the road to a small store to purchase cold beers and later eating at the hotel restaurant, we were pleasantly surprised, when the ‘lomo’ steak was brought out on sizzling hot plates, still cooking while we ate. During the night, there was a small earthquake but we slept through it.

Sunday 13 March

Today we were heading south for Cuenca with a few stops in-between. As we left Riobamba, the El Altar Volcano (5320m), fifth tallest in Ecuador, stood out impressively under clear blue skies in the middle of the Parque Nacional Sangay, a vast wilderness protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. El Altar had blown itself apart in the past and the top was actually a semi circle of nine jagged peaks. But from a distance it looked like a proper cone.

As we approached the province of Colta, we entered the town of Cajabamba where, stood in front of a large car park, was a pretty and simple late Renaissance chapel. This was La Balbanera built in 1534 and supposedly the earliest Catholic church in Ecuador, even older than San Francisco in Quito. It was also closed. The entrance had a broad arch and was topped by bell tower. The long squat building was built of carved volcanic rock with carved decorations on the façade. But the side walls were plastered and attractively whitewashed. Staring at the entrance, you could feel the history seeping out of the walls. Much of it had crumbled in the 1797 earthquake but the façade survived. Nearby, we passed the Laguna de Colta which seemed to be more of a reservoir than a lake.

Guamote (3050m) was down the road apiece, 50km south of Riobamba. It was nothing special, but we were taken to a strange place known as the ‘Inti Sis Art Guest House.’ This was a community cooperative financed from Europe by a Belgium Ecuadorian which encouraged local people to make art exhibits that could then be sold to bring in some income. A guesthouse had been established to allow people to stay and also enjoy and possibly purchase the art which I felt was unique and wonderful. Anything from large papermache masks hanging from the ceiling to metal wall decorations, from tiny ornate figurine to pottery. Next door was a community school (also financed by the same person) that allowed young kids to get a free education and give them a good start as part of an early childhood education program The visit concluded with sampling of empanadas, corn pasties filled with vegetables or cheese.

We eventually passed through Alausi, dominated by a giant statue of St Peter, which was important as the starting point for the spectacular 12km train ride down the Nariz del Diablo (“the Devil’s Nose’). But the train ride had been closed down at the start of the pandemic and had never re-opened. One interesting thing to say about the pandemic. In England, Boris Gump had removed all Covid restrictions in weeks ago, face masks were no longer mandatory and you took your chances with contracting the virus. In Ecuador however, face masks were not only mandatory inside but also outside even walking down the street. Only in the Galapagos Islands were there no face masks, but you had to prove you had been jabbed up to get onto the islands so I suppose everyone felt safe knowing this.

The country’s only major Inca ruins at Ingapirca (“Inca Wall”) were our major afternoon stop. Described by Rough Guide as “not as dramatic or well preserved as the Inca remains in Peru”, it would have been rude to miss them. To be honest, it was obvious that most of it had been hauled away by the Spanish colonists to construct their own buildings and really most of it was just foundations and outlines of complexes with guesses at what they were. However, the oval central structure called the ‘Temple of the Sun’ was largely intact (or rebuilt?) and was about the only thing that stood out above ground. It was allegedly used for ceremonies and solar observations. Here could be seen the fine stone mastery and trapezoidal doorways that were the hallmarks of the empire’s architecture. The complex was originally built on the ‘Inca Royal Road’ between Quito and Cusco in Peru. It felt a bit like walking around one of those roman forts at Hadrian’s wall, where just the outlines of the walls remain.

Shortly after the tour, the rain came down. We had been told that Ecuador tended to have ‘four seasons in one day’ with the afternoons always full of rainstorms but this was the first evidence after five days of being in the country for five days. We drove the remaining 79km to Cuenca. It was still bucketing down as we pulled up near the Hotel Carvallo which was only one block from the central square called Parque Calderon. It had obviously been a rich mansion in former times. The narrow façade disguised a three story hotel that went back a hundred feet and whose interior was tastefully done.

Our ground floor room (with the most comfortable bed of the trip and big white fluffy bedcovers) adjoined the eating area and after I had done a recce of the local streets to ascertain that nothing cheap was open on a Sunday evening and the centre was pretty much deserted and boarded up, we ordered an evening meal and was pleasantly surprised to find ourselves dining alone under candlelight for a romantic chicken dinner for two.

Monday 14 March

Cuenca, Ecuador’s third largest city at 2530m, has a full name of city is ‘Santa Ana de los Cuatro Rios de Cuenca’ Rough Guide calls it “Ecuador’s most seductive colonial city.”

Since it was still pouring with rain, we first headed to the Homero Ortega Panama Hat Factory Ecuador’s best known hat seller. Not many people realise that the Panama hat was invented in Ecuador. It was only when the Panama Canal was being constructed in Panama in the early Twentieth Century that the thousands of workers needed protection from the sun and started to all wear the hats so that eventually everyone assumed that the hats had originated in Panama and not Ecuador. UNESCO granted cultural heritage to Ecuador’s Panama hat in 2012. Each hat takes a month to make, with local people weaving the hats, then them getting dipped or died, and then put into moulding machines for fix the shape, followed by any decoration – edging, ribbons etc. We saw some of the processes and different stages of the hat. The tour concluded in the showroom, where we could try on lots of different hats, look at the price tag usually starting at a healthy $120 and er, put them back.

The rain had stopped and we were ready for the walking tour of the ‘centrol historico’ another UNESCO world Heritage Site. Founded in 1547, Cuenca was a planned Renaissance town in Latin America and like Quito was a mixture of narrow cobbled streets, harmonious, balconied houses with interior courtyards and gleaming white churches. Starting at Parque Calderon, the splendid and leafy heart of the colonial centre was filled with tall pine and palm trees and flowerbeds. It was framed by the Catedral Nueva (New) and Catedral Vieja (Old) on either side.

The Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepcion (New Cathedral) dating from 1885 had large sky blue domes that were visible as you approached the centre but not so much once you got near it. The massive twin towered façade loomed over the square. Inside, the large central nave was flanked by pink marble pillars, but the outstanding feature was the altar set beneath a gleaming baroque baldaquin (look it up) both covered in gold leaf. It had a vast interior.

El Sagrario (Old Cathedral) was, er, no longer a cathedral and had been turned into a religious museum. Like the cathedral in Riobamba, it had a low horizontal outline of whitewashed walls and a central bell tower. Originally started in 1567 the current building dates from the 18th Century. Also on Parque Calderon were the City Hall and Law Courts.

The tiny Plaza de las Flores just off Parque Calderon was home to the daily flower market and run by Chola women dressed in blue or pink checked aprons, long black plaits and Panama hats. Right behind it was the Iglesia El Carmen de las Asuncion (1682) whose whitewashed walls contrasted with the colourful flowers.

We also took in the peach and white coloured Iglesia San Francisco located on the Plaza San Francisco which had been rebuilt in the early 20th century in a Neocolonial style. The square was flanked by old arcaded buildings with wooden balconies. While the tour was pleasant, I felt that Quito’s old centre was more impressive.

There had been a landslide blocking the most direct road to Guayaquil and we had to make a two hour detour to get around the problem. As we got closer to the coast, the temperature rose and was a sweltering humid 29’C by the time we stopped for a late lunch. Fish, shrimp or meat were cooked on a BBQ on the street. Ice cold bottles of Pilsner beer washed it down.

We stopped in at a cocoa plantation for a brief tour. The mosquitoes were out in force, and they seemed to like my black T-shirt. We were shown the cocoa trees with the large orange tusked cocoa pods hanging off them. One pod was broken apart to show the white cocoa beans inside. Then we were shown the fermenting tanks where the beans ferment for three weeks, before being dried out on large trays in a greenhouse, then bagged up and sent to the chocolate factory.

The Rough Guide said that “Guayaquil is the pulse of the country’s economy” and indeed it has a Has a massive port where the bananas, shrimps, cocoa and coffee are all exported. Most of the 2.3m population seemed to be in their cars clogging up the roads as we approached the outskirts under a yellow sunset. It was dark by the time we reached the vast Hotel Unipark downtown.

Guayaquil was rebuilt after a 1896 fire and a couple of decades ago, it rejuvenated it’s worn out seaboard with the ‘Malecon 2000’, a two kilometre long pedestrianised section that runs along the waterfront full of trees, gardens and sculptures. Strangely it was enclosed railings and patrolled by security guards. Not that we saw this until we drove past the next morning on the way to the airport. Guayaquil was the worst hit city in Ecuador by the pandemic and I was glad it was just a quick overnight stop.

Galapagos Islands Photos

Tuesday 15 March

We were up and out by 6.20am and drove to the Aeropuerto Jose Joaquin de Olmedo. Here I had to buy $20 dollar permits and also have our luggage scanned for any fruit, vegetables, plants and seeds. The Galapagos Islands are unique and any contamination of the flora and fauna is prohibited. Eventually we took off around 09.20 on Latam Airlines for the second part of our trip.

The Rough Guide kicks off its chapter with “The other worldly Galapagos Islands are anchored 1000 km from the mainland, and like nowhere else on the planet, this volcanic archipelago is renowned for its tame wildlife that inspired Charles Darwin’s thinking on the nature of evolution.” And continues later, “It’s quite humbling that thirteen scarred volcanic islands and more than a hundred islets, scattered across 45,000 sq. km of ocean, 960km adrift from the Ecuadorian mainland, should have been so instrumental in changing humanity’s perception of itself.”

Brief Galapagos History

The Galapagos archipelago was discovered by accident in 1535 and for at least three centuries were used as a base by a succession of sealers, whalers and pirates. The giant tortoises were used as a source of fresh food and could survive up to a year. Galapagos means ‘saddle’ in Spanish which was what they named the tortoises and ultimately islands. Ecuador officially claimed the Galapagos Archipelago in 1832. The most famous visitor was Charles Darwin who arrived in 1835 aboard a British boat called ‘The Beagle’. He stayed for five weeks collecting specimens that provided important evidence for his theory of evolution. It officially became a national park in 1959 and UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 1978.

As we flew over the archipelago, we could see the barren islands below. The oldest of the islands visible today were formed around four to five million years by underwater volcanoes erupting and rising above the ocean’s surface. Most of the volcanic rock forming the islands is basalt. Every plant and animal species in the Galapagos arrived from somewhere else after arriving via wind or sea currents. There are creatures here that are found nowhere else in the world. One final word from Rough Guide “Today the archipelago’s matchless wildlife, stunning scenery and unique history make it arguably the world’s premier wildlife destination. The animals that have carved out an existence on the dramatic volcanic landscape have a legendary fearlessness which results in close up encounters that are simply not possible anywhere else on earth.”

After a two hour flight from Guayaquil and losing another hour (we were now 6 hours behind UK time), we landed on the barren looking island of Baltra full of stunted scrub and cactus. As we departed the aeroplane, the dry hot 30’c air hit our faces. Walking towards the terminal, a sign declared “Aeropuerto Ecologico Galapagos’ followed by ‘Primero en el Mundo (First in the World)’. To our left was a large land iguana (reintroduced to this island) who crept away with a look on its face of “More bloody tourists”. And we hadn’t even reached passport control yet. Despite their large size and fearsome appearance, land iguanas are harmless vegetarians and can live up to 60 years. They survive on cactus for food which was just as well because that was all that was growing at the airport. The US Air force had originally occupied the island during World War Two and built an airstrip.

Inside the terminal, I handed over two crisp $100 bills to pay for our ‘National Park Visas’ and we were stamped in. Our luggage was scanned again for any fruit, vegetables, plants or seeds. Outside the terminal, we climbed into a bus that took us for a 10 minute ride down to the ferry terminal. Here we boarded a boat to take us the short hop to the island of Santa Cruz. The luggage was unloaded from the bus onto the ferry for us and unloaded when we docked.

As we waited to board the boat, I could already see the first wildlife. A pair of blue footed boobies were basking in the sun. These birds have a strange courtship display that is so funny to watch that the Spanish called them ‘bobos’ which means ‘Fool’. I’d never seen birds with blue feet that looked like little funny boots. Also milling around were the ubiquitous brown pelicans, a particular favourite of mine and a grey heron preening itself on a boulder. We were already ticking off our wildlife list and we had just landed.

The Isla Santa Cruz (which the British called ‘Indefatigable’) is a conical shaped hub of around 1000 sq. km. The tallest hill is 864m. A long straight road took us up and down gentle hills with dense green vegetation on either side. Then the rain began to hammer down.

At the village of Santa Rosa, we took a narrow, unsurfaced lane into the El Chato Tortoise Reserve. A few tortoises were spotted in the grass and there was a large sign that said ‘Tortoises Crossing’. The Reserve had a large open roofed wooden platform that included a restaurant. We were served a lovely lunch of seafood pasta or chicken followed by chocolate cake. It also gave us a chance to try the micro-beer called ‘Reptilia Galapagos’ that was brewed on the island and had a sketch of an iguana on the label.

Small Darwin finches darted around looking for crumbs and handouts. All of the islands’ finches are believed to be descendants of a common ancestor which evolved into thirteen species. There was also a line of 6 large, bleached tortoise shells from former occupants. I couldn’t crawl into any of them, but one did not have a bottom and I could slip it on my back.

From the platform, I spotted a couple of giant tortoises grazing. It was still pouring with rain. After the lunch, we went outside and were given Wellington boots to wear for the tramp around the area to see the prehistoric looking beasts. We have had a small tortoise (it’s shell is about 8” long) in the family since 1970 which now resides in our garden in Wales and we enjoy watching its habit of headbutting shoes or trying to mount them. But these beasts were something else. They can weigh up to 250kg, over four times the weight of the average human being and are thought to live up to 150 years. They only become sexually active after 25 years and as evidenced by our own tortoise which is at least 70 years old, age is no restriction to the possibilities of ‘rumpy-pumpy’.

A guide took us through the scalesia forests and grassland to see some of the residents who were either grazing by extending their accordionlike necks or just sitting stationary in the rain. The tortoises had dome shaped shells, which are found in moister areas with thicker vegetation, whereas those with a ‘saddleback’ tend to reside on dryer islands where food is scarce and they need to extend their necks further. Apparently, there are five different species of tortoises on the five main islands. The largest one we saw came plodding along with a shell that was around five feet long. The guide also pointed out tortoise ‘poo’ which was both large and fibrous – like straw. I loved seeing these magnificent animals in the wild yet protected.

During the stroll, we were led down some steps into a dark entrance, inside of which were spotlights. This was an underground lava tube which are found all over the island. It had been formed when the cooler outer parts of lava flow hardened into thick rock walls, providing insulation to keep a flow going inside. When the flow eventually subsided, it left a long empty tunnel big enough to walk through. I had seen lava tunnels in Australia over two decades ago, so it was nice to be reacquainted with the geological wonder.

After our visit, we continued south to Puerto Ayora which, with a population of 25,000 is the largest and most developed town in the Galapagos. It has obviously grown because my ten year old ‘Lonely Person’s Guide’ had the population at 18,000. Our hotel was called the ‘Fiesta Galapagos’ and was less than a ten minute walk to the waterfront. It turned out to be the best hotel of the trip. While the room was modest (No TV or air conditioning), the large swimming pool was wonderful and mostly empty as were the three jacuzzi pools with different strengths of water jet. We would enjoy these in the two evenings that we were there. There were also cacti and colourful flowers outside the room.

Once settled in, I went walkabout to explore the immediate neighbourhood. At the waterfront was a supermarket that sold ice cold beer. Nearby was a large sign that said ‘Santa Cruz – Galapagos’. There were a couple of naff comical statues of a seagull and an iguana. The town had a very relaxed atmosphere where everyone felt safe, face masks were not worn, and you could walk around without no one hassling you. Popping into the small wooden church near the supermarket, there was a rectangular stain glassed window above the altar, but the picture was of a pelican. That was a first. The harbour was full of moored speed boats or sailing boats and the small water taxis pottering around taking tourists out to the moored boats or bringing them into to the long jetty.

We had a free day tomorrow and I asked around a few ‘tour agencies’ to see what was on offer. A day trip to the island of Floreana was booked and we ate hamburgers at a local joint before retiring to the jacuzzi. The Galapagos islands had already wowed us in the first day.

Wednesday 16 March

Because we had to be at the tour operator by around 7.30am, the hotel gave us a ‘packed breakfast’. We were eventually led by a male guide (with a tortoise tattoo on his leg) together with around a dozen other punters down to the waterfront, where we had to purchase $1 tickets to entry the wooden jetty. Various groups were lined up to board small boats that would take them out their transport. Although there were wooden benches, no one could sit down because each one was taken by a large sealion sleeping oblivious to the human activity. They were lying inside inflatable dinghies, or on the wooden floors, under seats or wherever they felt they could get away with it. It was a marvellous sight that we never got bored with. As long as you kept a distance of 2 metres, they were happy. Some had comical smiles on tier faces with long whiskers. There are about 50,000 in the Galapagos and I think we saw half of them in our 5 days here.

Once aboard a water taxi, we had to pay $1 each to the captain who took us out to our speedboat called the ‘Andrea’. It was powered by three large outboard motors while the captain steered in a cabin above us. We were able to sit at the back in the open for marvellous views of the harbour as we pottered out into the ocean. Floreana lay 50km to the south and we would reach us in around 90 minutes. The low lying outline of Santa Cruz gradually disappeared behind us. About halfway across, we spotted a pod of twenty or thirty bottle nosed dolphins who accompanied the boat for a while diving above the waves.

The outline of Floreana on the horizon became larger. Motoring around the edge of the island, the boat’s engines gave out. The captain tried to fix it (flooded?), but in the end, the water taxi that was waiting to come out and get us, just came a lot further. As we made our way to shore, our boat roared past again with a smiling captain. Floreana is the sixth largest island in the Galapagos with 173 sq. km. The guidebooks said there wasn’t much to do but Rough Guide concluded that it was an “unbeatable place to get away from it all.” We just wanted to experience another island in addition to the two we would be staying on.

We arrived at ‘Post Office Bay’ which was named after a barrel near the beach that has been used as a makeshift maildrop since the end of the 18th Century. Apparently, British whalers left letters here to be picked up by homeward bound vessels. The original barrel has long been replaced by the duplicate there now. The small docking area where we landed had a few inhabitants. There were two seals snoozing, a marine iguana and a lava heron.

A minibus took us along an unsurfaced track for a couple of miles to the start of a trail uphill through a forest. After a few minutes, we came across a group of tortoises feeding on vegetation that had been provided for them. I had to look up what a group of tortoises is called. Opinions vary but they can be called “a bale, a dole, a nest or a turn of tortoises.“ The largest tortoise posed (well we posed with him) for fabulous photos. The woodlands were silent around us until there was a downpour and we got soaked.

Further on we came across a spring which supposedly used to provide all the water to settlers on the island and a shelter hollowed out from the rocks. Floreana’s first documented settler was an Irishman called Patrick Watkins. In the early 19th Century, he had an argument with the captain of the ship he was on and demanded to be put ashore. He lived in this cave until he eventually got off the island. Floreana is more famous for strange goings on in the 1930s among a group of German and Austrian settlers that became known as the ‘Galapagos Affair’. In 1929 a German turned up with his mistress. He insisted that they had their teeth removed before arriving so they wouldn’t have problems with toothache and wore steel dentures instead. Then another German family turned up. Then an Austrian ‘Baroness’ arrived up with her two lovers. One of the lovers would beat and intimidate the other. Suffice to say, there were some deaths and disappearances amongst these groups which were never solved.

After the walk we returned to the small hamlet for a lunch at a café which was a tasty fish and rice risotto. Across the road was a fiery orange coloured tree that looked amazing. A couple of hours was then spent snorkelling at Black Beach. There was quite a strong current dragging me out. Once I stuck my head underwater, it took a little while to find anything but then a sea turtle appeared, then another. Before I knew it, I could see four turtles all feeding off the rocks. I’d never seen four together like that and I was less than 10m from the shore. Adult Pacific green sea turtles can reach 150kg in weight and 1m in length. They were graceful swimmers motored by their large front flippers. In the end, I counted 16 turtles over the snorkelling session, although of course, I could have been looking at the same four going round in circles! The occasional colourful shoal of fish would also sweep past battling against the currents.

Back at the jetty, a water taxi took us back to the boat and we returned to Santa Cruz where sea lions were still slumbering on the jetty. The sun was setting as we approached Puerto Ayora. It had been a lovely day.

Thursday 17 March

After a tasty breakfast, we took a stroll down to the waterfront and spotted the demonic looking Marine iguanas sunbathing on the rocks. These are the world’s only seagoing lizard and their size and coloration vary between the islands with the largest specimens growing up to 1.5m. They feed on seaweed. Sally Lightfoot crabs were also on the rocks with their vivid fiery orange shells and periods (the technical term for crabs’ legs in case you didn’t know – I didn’t either). They can jump from rock to rock and appear to walk on water. Great and Magnificent Frigate birds with huge wingspans (up to 2.4m) and scissor tails were riding high on thermals and swooping around looking for fish. We had seen and would see all these on numerous occasions during our stay.

We had time to take in two destinations this morning before our afternoon ferry. The first was the outside fish market which is a generous description because there was only one woman selling colourful and strange fish from a counter. We had seen this place on a recent TV documentary on the Galapagos and it looked unmissable. The reason was that the local wildlife all hung around in the hope of being fed or quarrelling over the fish skins/scraps that would be thrown onto the tiled floor. What it allowed you to do was take advantage of their tameness and get impossibly close. So, today’s class included two sealions (one begging, one dozing), a dozen pelicans whose massive beaks hoovered up anything in sight, a couple of iguanas which were a mother and child. The child rode on top of the mother’s back. There were other various birds such as long necked herons and frigate birds. It was a joy to just sit there for an hour, take wonderful close up photos and enjoy a scene we would probably never see anywhere else in the world.

At the end of the main strip northeast of the town, lay the Charles Darwin Research Centre which is a world famous breeding program for giant tortoises. More than 200 scientists and volunteers are involved with research and conservation efforts. A guide took us along a path and raised boardwalk through arid zones of vegetation such as salt bush, mangroves and prickly pear and other cacti telling us about Charles Darwin, his theory of evolution and then past the tortoise corrals. A dozen four year old ‘baby’ tortoises played around in a scrum of endless activity. In another, a mature pair of tortoises were mating (don’t try this at home). Other corrals had giant tortoises. Despite my third viewing of giant tortoises in as many days, I never got bored with seeing them. The tour concluded by entering a cold darkened room. Behind a glass case was their most famous tortoise. ‘Lonesome George’ was the last surviving member of the Pinta island species and he became a kind of mascot for the Galapagos Islands as well as his face supposedly being the inspiration for ‘ET’. When he died in 2012, he was embalmed and preserved in this dark room for viewing.

We had time to enjoy a final hour in the hotel swimming pool before making for the waterfront. There were crowds of tourists all lining up to get aboard water taxis to take them to their ‘inter-island’ transport. We were heading for the Island of San Cristobal for two nights. Our luggage was scanned again at an x-ray machine, which was causing all the delays. The seats on the jetty were still filled with sea lions dozing. After we had boarded a water taxi, our luggage was all put on at the end of the boat and then loaded onto the ferry. Today’s speedboat ‘ Gaviota’ had four outboard engines and comfortable inside seats – enough for 30 passengers. While we waited to take off, the heat and humidity inside the cabin was almost unbearable but once we got going a breeze blew in. As we left the harbour, I saw a sailing boat called ‘The Beagle’.

The two hour crossing passed the edge of Isla Santa Fe (called ‘Barrington’ by the English). It is a small 24 sq. km island about 20km southeast of Santa Cruz and famous for its species of marine iguana. The journey was not the much longer than yesterdays and before we knew it, our next destination was on the horizon.

Isla San Cristobal (called ‘Chatham’ by the English) is the fifth largest island in the archipelago with 558 sq. km and has the second largest population. Puerto Baquerizo Moreno where we arrived and stayed was the major town with 10,000 pop and it had a nice small town feel to it and a lovely promenade and tat least three separate jetties. Our accommodation the ‘Hotel Casa Opuntia’ was a whitewashed villa set up a hill and overlooking the bay. It had a pool but nothing like our previous one. The one issue was that there was a new six story hotel being built next door so during the day 8am-6pm, the accompanying ambience was one of construction workers drilling, hammering and making all the noises you’d associate with a building site. But at night, the sound was of sealions. Hundreds hung out on the jetties, rocks and beaches. They would bark like dogs. It was a lovely sound to drop off to.

Friday 18 March

We had another free day. I had passed on scuba diving on Santa Cruz so that we could go to Floreana and we had nothing planned. As long as I could get any diving 24 hours before tomorrow afternoon’s flight, I would be fine. I got up early and walked the few blocks and asked in at three dive shops. The third one struck lucky and said to turn up around 8am. During breakfast, a bright yellow Woodpecker finch hung onto the straw roof above our table.

Back at the Galapagos Diving/Scuba Eden dive centre, I tried on the gear and was pleasantly surprised when I was told I could dive without wearing a wetsuit because the temperature of the sea was 26’c. I would have the boat to myself with just my guide Francisco. He put four air tanks onto a wheelbarrow, and we headed to a small boat at one of the jetties. On the stone staircase down to the water lay about ten sealions, each one on their own step like they had been stacked.

We motored along the coast to a small, protected bay. On the cliff above was a large statue of Charles Darwin facing in from the sea. I had last dived in Madeira in late November 2021. The first dive was at “Itijeretas Wall”. Francisco had already told me that with all the recent rain, the silt had filled the sea and visibility underwater had been awful for days. It was better today but not brilliant. It was a relaxing dive of 54 minutes down to 20m. It took a while to see anything apart from starfish. But eventually two stingrays and a sea turtle turned up. It was only near the end of the dive when I spotted a Californian sealion resting by some rocks. I had never seen a sealion underwater.

We took a lunchbreak enjoying the sunshine before heading closer to the main harbour for our second dive. The ‘Carahua Wreck’ was 103 years old. It belonged to a sadistic sugar mill owner called Manuel Cabos (more later). His new captain didn’t know the harbour very well and beached it. It was in shallow waters – around 13 metres. We descended down a rope and explored the now open boat swimming through sections. On the seabed, Francisco picked up a lump of the original coal that had powered the boat a century before. There were more colourful fish milling around including two puffer fish, a parrot fish and a shoal of ‘Ringo’ fish (a local name?). It was a short 34m dive because of the strong current, but I was thrilled to have bagged the Galapagos on my diving list.

In the afternoon after a quick lunch, we caught a taxi (which are all white pick up trucks on Santa Cruz/San Cristobal) 8km east along a potholed paved road lined by orange groves to the village of El Progreso. We were dropped in a sleepy, ramshackle but peaceful village with wooden, stilted houses and banana plants, at the base of the 896m high Cerro San Joaquin. It would have been called a ‘one horse town’ except that the horse seemed to have left. It was founded in the 1870s by Manuel J. Cabos (the owner of the wrecked boat), an entrepreneur who had a sugar mill built in 1891 and tried to colonise the place with a hundred convicts. To keep control, he issued his own currency to pay the workers who could only spend it in his overpriced shop. Like an isolated King, power went to his head, and he became an increasingly savage overlord beating at least worker to death. It was only in 1904 when he had five people shot that the workers revolted, and he was hacked to death. There was a sketch of him on the town sign. Following my nose (not difficult since it was only a couple of road), I walked up to the top of the road where I found the ruins of his mansion and on the other road came across his large white washed tomb under a straw canopy that just had his name and “1845-1904” on it. Not the most exciting excursion, but I like to take in the history where I can.

As with last night, there was another beautiful sunset where it turned from lemony yellow to orange to purple. It only seemed right to enjoy the sunset with ‘Happy Hour’ daiquiri cocktails on the promenade before an evening meal.

Saturday 19 March

The final morning on San Cristobal saw us taking in the length of the promenade to see as many sealions as possible. They were sunbathing on the rocks, relaxing on the jetties and at the sandy beach at the other end of the town. The females were lying around in their hundreds. The Galapagos sea lion was definitely our favourite mammal. They were almost human in emotion; boisterous or lazy, yelping, sneezing, coughing or whooping. We saw baby sealions covered in sand and young pups suckling their mothers with white milk pouring out. It was a joyous sight to see a crowd of them waddling up from the sea on their flippers and then flop down somewhere. Sights we will never forget.

Around noon, we were driven to the airport which was only 5km away. Our luggage was x-rayed again before we could check it in. The basic airport had one large airside lounge with no wi-fi and a small snack bar selling overpriced fare. The flight was supposed to take off at 2pm to Quito via Guayaquil. An announcement came over in Spanish/English declaring that bad weather conditions had forced the aeroplane back to Guayaquil where it sat on the runway waiting for the weather to clear.

We were bored enough waiting here, let alone on a plane at the other end. When it finally touched down at 6pm, there was a wave of grateful applause/cheering after possibly the slowest most boring afternoon I’ve had in a long time. We climbed aboard the two hour flight (gaining an hour) to Guayaquil where we sat on the runway waiting for a few passengers to depart/board. Then there was fifty minute flight to Quito. By the time we had collected our luggage, boarded the bus and returned to the Rio Amazonas Hotel, it was after midnight. There was nothing available at the hotel and it was deemed too ‘unsafe’ to walk the streets. Worst of all, we had no alcohol left.

Sunday 20/Monday 21 March

On Sundays in Quito, a series of major roads are blocked off for cyclists and it is almost a tradition to get on your bike and cycle around the car free streets. I had originally thought of visiting the Museo Nacional (National Museum) in the morning before we left for the airport but after the horrendous afternoon/evening, it was nicer to have a leisurely breakfast and just chill out in the room before we were driven to the airport around midday.

We checked in and caught the 2.45pm flight to Panama City with the usual two hour break before a gruelling ten hour overnight trip back to Amsterdam (losing five hours but gaining one) arriving sometime before noon on the Monday morning and a long four hour wait for the seventy minute connection to Birmingham regaining the hour. It was a relief to get back to the car and drive home via Wales rather than the motorways

Conclusion: Ecuador was a lot better than I expected. The people are friendly and there are enough wonderful sights to see over a week whether volcanoes, volcanic lakes or colonial architecture. The distances are very manageable, and we didn’t even get to the Amazon Forest. But it is the Galapagos that are the jewel. For wildlife, they are simply unique, getting up close and personal. If you want a relaxed holiday but able to do lots of excursions to islands, just go the Galapagos islands. You heard it here first and you won’t be disappointed.