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

And away we go...

June 1- June 3, 2016

The next continent our family has decided to explore is South America via the countries Ecuador and Peru- land of the Incan Empire, the Andes mountains, volcanos, famous archipelagos, and the Amazon rainforest.

June 1- heading out

First stop- the capital  city of Quito
We spent our first 2 days exploring the city and nearby sites

The Inti Nan Museum located on the true equator
Latitiude 0-0-0

Wuaorani tribal practice of shrinking human heads...
(this one is NOT just a reproduction!)

Nash was able to perfectly balance an egg on the equator- first try!

This hat requires perfect posture to keep balanced on the head- it is heavy and stiff

Homes built into the hills... reminded us of Positano (a bit) & Tegucigalpa...

San Francisco Monastery

Senor Christian- an Ecuadorian top spinning champion

He shared his top spinning talents and tricks with us and
then gifted the boys with perfectly balanced tops made by his own hand

The main square flanked by the Presidential palace 

 Motionless Royal Ecuadorian guards 

La Compania and its seven tons of gold leafed walls

Antisana Ecological Reserve-
a geology lesson

The Isco Cliffs- home to the Andean Condor
Condors are the national bird of Ecuador and Peru

There are only 102 of the Ecuadoran Andean Condors birds left...

On our way to Micacocha Lake

Altimeter reading!  We definitely felt the alititude 

A mating pair

Two young girls having some dangerous fun...

Visit to the Ecuadorian Cultural Museum just a few blocks from our hotel

Such intricate and beautiful weaving!
Anxious to learn how this is done...