Five of us met in the Atlanta airport. Elaine flew in from Palm Beach airport and today we are on schedule. We leave on time for a very comfortable flight with Delta. It goes by quickly since we can each watch as many movies as we like.

We are in a lovely hotel with breakfast ready at 7am for our early flight to the Islands. But luckily for us there is a delay - so we immediately head out to see Quito. We find the handcraft market in the City Park. It is full of vendors from the villages and they are only in once a week! This is lucky for us. The vendors are able to bless …

This is our first day with nursing seals at the door step of our hotel. The action starts after breakfast and we continue at a great pace of activity until we return to Quito. Today it is hiking with tortoises. They are all ages and free roaming. It turns out they are not very restful. One large tortoise was aggressively charging and nipping …

We are going by boat to a snorkeling location, Kicker Rock. We can see it in the distance from shore. I am well prepared with my waterproof camera and short wetsuit. I want as much time as possible in the water with sharks, fish and starfish. It is a drift snorkel so you don't need to use any energy. I am just trying to click every second in …

It takes two planes to get us to the next island. They are very very small planes but it sure beat several hours on a small boat for several hours.

This is a very peaceful small island. We continue to feel like we are the only travelers at the Galapagos Islands. We have never seen any of the big or small cruise ships. The restaurants are …

It is an overcast day but we are continue on our schedule to get to the top of the volcano. As we climb higher on the mountain, it is apparent that it has been very wet on the mountain for a few days. The very thick mud holds on to our truck when we get to the parking area. All of us try pushing and laughing, with the hope that the truck would …

As usual, we use many different kinds of transportation daily. Today it is an early 2 hour boat ride to Santa Cruz. The reputation of Lonely George is well known around the world. This will be our day to meet him. He is the last of his species (one of the several species of Galapagos tortoises). He is thought to be over 100 years old. After …

We spend the day flying and busing in order to get back to our hotel from the first day. We have enough time to put on clean clothes and head out to a very nice Ecuadorian traditional cuisine restaurant. It is beautifully decorated and the plates of food are very plentiful. I order more food than I need and even if it is difficult I manage to …

We fly high over the Andes. It is breathtaking to see snow tops at the Equator. We arrive in a sleepy river town and are welcomed immediately with our new guide for the next few days. We have over 2 hours on the river- it obviously is the major highway of the area. There are barges full of trucks going in both directions. The lodge is beautiful …