Back to Quito & Headed for the Highlands

After Galapagos we returned to Quito for a day to reacclimatize to the altitude and then headed further north about 2 hours to a small community in the Andean Highlands- Zuleta.  Our accommodations were a beautiful adobe hacienda built in 1691 that is now the centerpiece of a 4,000 acre dairy farm complete with a cheese factory, horses,  a Women's Embroidery Cooperative, a Condor rescue centre and more...

Here are the last views of the Galapagos and our day in Quito-

Good-bye cocktail with the Athala II crew
(missing Marteen)

Nash lost a tooth!!

Sunrise over Daphne Island

Daphne Island-
full of Boobys and Frigate birds...

All the Galapagos boats waiting for the OK to send passengers to the shore 

Final Goodbye to Ruly- 

Back in Quito-
"H'ola Antonio!" (in light blue shirt upper left corner)

Quito City panorama

The Teleferico (gondola)

The sun came out to grant us a great view of the city in the valley

What looks like cloud cover is really the smog!

The Andes and all the volcanoes are just beautiful!

This is the highest altitude that any of us have experienced-
Breathing. Hard.

Antonio shared his favorite chocolate cookies with us- YUM!

 Now we head north toward Zuleta...

Vulcan Cayambe (Cayambe Volcano)
Reaching over 18,000 feet, it is snow-capped.

A Rose Farm-
there are over 200 rose farms in this part of Ecuador exporting roses worldwide

Because it is so impressive...
another view of Vulcan Cayambe

Galapagos Day 7

June 10, 2016

Today is the last full day of our expedition in the Galapagos (sniff sniff).  We sailed to one of the most popular and most attractive sites- Espanola Island.  We had a dry landing this morning and took in the amazingly high numbers of endemic fauna.  For 3 hours we walked Punta Suarez and admired God's beauty!

Christmas Tree marine iguanas

He gets his beautiful red color from the algae he finds (and eats) in the islands tidal pools

We love Boobys!

A mother Nazca Booby feeding her chick

This hardly looks real but we watched these sea birds dance for what seemed forever

A father and his 2 sons

Galapagos Nazca Booby

The largest bird on the islands- the Albatross

Spending most of her life at sea, 
the Albatross finds these rocky shores to mate and incubate the young

A blowhole- reminds us of Bruny Island in the Great Southern Ocean

Albatross couple

Amazing red color!

Jonathon's towel sculpture

After Punta Suarez, we went to Gardner Bay for snorkeling and beach exploration.

A spotted ray, spotted by Matt

These curious mockingbirds would hop right up on your foot, or hand, or hat!

Sperm Whale bones on the beach-
they were heavy!

Galapagos Day 6

June 9, 2016

Today we landed in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz island.  It is the home port of the Athala II and has a population of 25,000- the largest on the islands.  Here we drove put to the highlands to the El Chato Reserve to see  giant tortoises in the wild. Santa Cruz is also the site of the Charles Darwin Research Station.

Puerto Ayora

Matt liked the name of this boat from New Zealand...

At El Chato Reserve the tortoises were everywhere...
in the mud, eating guavas, lazing in the water, hiding under bushes and walking through the grasses.

The boys in a lava tube

At the top with a view

Another sea lion friend

Charles Darwin Research Station