Robert Simon

This was an outstanding experience for me and my family. I’m sure it will be for you.

Our local travel representative, Peter Lauffer (www.galapagostraveller.com) met us at the airport and introduced us to a quite excellent young man, Mauricio Yonfa. I understand that Mr. Lauffer has several guides he can call upon to give tours of Quito. Mauricio was quite knowledgeable about Quito. We saw the National Congress, called the Palacio Legislativo (if my Spanish is correct), and the old town section of Quito.

By the way, tipping is permitted, but not expected. You never know from country to country, but in Ecuador, the rule seems to be service with a smile; I felt like tipping for the great job that so many people did for us—I think you might feel the same way.

The Old Town section is not like the Old Town Section of, for example, San Diego, CA, where so many vendors have set up shop. This Old Town section has been designated as a United Nations World Cultural Center. It dates back to the early 1500’s, and we learned that the actual population has probably been there for literally a few thousand years.

In the Old Town section, you will see the Cathedral, the Presidential Palace, the home of the Archbishop and several lovely churches.

Best of all, for me, I got to stand on the Equator! Often, you fly over the Equator on trips to South America, but actually getting to stand on the equator itself, with one foot in North America and one foot in South America was a real treat. There is a monument at the site of the Equator which is called La Mitad del Mundo.

We spent another day resting for our journey—then boarded a flight to Guayaquil and our cruise to the Galapagos.

This Island group was discovered in 1535 when the Bishop of Panama, Tomas de Berlanga, sailed off course on his way to Peru. He wrote of the giant tortoises—now known as the Galapagos Tortoises. Charles Darwin visited there in 1835 and what he saw and notated gave rise to his writings about evolution.

There are five inhabited islands. Although all of Ecuador has about 13 Million people, more or less, the Islands have only 17,000 people. You have to pay when you arrive…and it’s not cheap. It’s $100 U$D per person, so be sure that you have cash with you when you arrive.

When you arrive at your ship—ours was the Galapagos Explorer II, you’ll find that you must go through a lifeboat drill. Meals are very good and our cabin was well designed --and large. I understand that you will have a guide-naturalist on every cruise boat whether you choose a motor boat or a sailing boat. The real key to the vacation is that you can get close to the animals without having them run away, but you’re not allowed to touch them. That’s probably good because we don’t need to be confusing them or trying to feed or domesticate them.

The most appalling sight to me was the giant tortoises. They weigh 400 pounds! They are huge, and move just a bit faster than you might expect. The Islands have developed a park breeding area where the tortoises are being bred and restored to their native habitat.

When you return to Quito, you can have several different options. We chose a trip to visit local craftsmen that do wood carvings, and fine leather. The town of Cotocachi was the town where we found the best leatherwork—if you are looking for anything leather, I’d suggest that you visit it and I promise you won’t leave empty handed.