The trip started out on a late note as we had to leave Phoenix at about 7:00 pm and arrived in LA at about 8:30...But of course our next flight from LA to Quito, Ecuador via Panama, didn't leave until 2:00am. Which gave us time to change terminals, sit around for 3 hours waiting for the COPA airlines desk to open and watch all the other passengers …

Day 2 in Quito, we woke early, had breakfast of scrambled eggs, burnt toast (Tami made her own), and bottled water…Oh did I forget to mention that nowhere on this trip could you drink any water from the taps, or brush your teeth with that water, all had to be bottled.

Today we had signed up for a tour of Quito and the “Middle of the …

On this day we ate breakfast – more scrambled eggs – and headed to the airport. Of course this wasn’t as planned, because the van had a flat tire before it got to us. Short delay and then we were flying out to the Galapagos Islands. This is a short flight, about 650 miles west of mainland Ecuador. We met our fantastic guide …

This day Tami and I got up early, walked around in the mist, taking pictures of the Sea Lions, Sally Lightfoot Crabs, and Yellow Warblers. Then back to the hotel and had of course BREAKFAST. We then all boarded a small boat for the first of our several “3 hour tours”…We rode out to Isla Lobo to snorkel with the Sea Lions, Sea …

Today we were up early, packing to move to the next island - Santa Cruz, but of course, had to have breakfast...As we arrived at the dock for departure, there was a Dr. waiting to check us all, literally. They were very concerned about the swine flu, so everybody got the "spray". Then the adventure began with a bang as Tami started down …

Did I mention yet that there are two seasons in the Galapagos? The rainy season, where it rains 3 or 4 times a day, but the skies are clear and the Dry season, where it doesn’t rain (it mists in the highlands) and the sky is cloudy all the time.

Well today we were hiking to El Puntudo, a volcano that is in “Media Luna”. The …

Today we got up early and had breakfast – scrambled egg buffet and headed out to the dock for another “3 hour” boat ride, to the island of Isabela. We had to go through the usual customs search and spray then wait for the boat. The boat ride was actually only two hours, but the water was choppy and we had a few more people that …

Today was the final hiking day. So it was up early, Eat breakfast and then out. We first went to the Tortoise Preserve where they were breeding the Cerro Paloma Tortoises. Scientists found that when they took blood samples of tortoises of the island, these particular ones were different and they found that there only existed four males and 1 …

Today we had an early departure 6:00am….but not before breakfast. Felt sorry for the women who had served us dinner late the night before and then had to get up earlier than normal today to fix us breakfast…

We caught the same boat this time back, water was much smoother, but still affected some of our group. Then we landed back on …