Greetings -
When I wrote our first blog entry in early February, I mentioned that I'd be posting the next message by February 15ish. Thank goodness I added the "ish". Time has raced by while we've been in Ecuador. There's a lot to talk about so to help keep things concise, I've included a list of stats & facts to give a flavour of the trip so far:
So our time in Ecuador has come to an end. If we were to rate our experience on a scale of 1 to 10, we'd definitely be pushing a 10. Everything from the activities and transportation to the overall beauty of the country, has been pretty fantastic. While we’ve found every day of our trip to be interesting - in fairness, you might not - so we've opted to provide a few of the highlights of the trip: The Galapagos Islands, the jungle and Cotopaxi.
As we were promised, the trip to the Galapagos Islands was exceptional with stunning weather, landscapes, and a sea (pun intended) of opportunities to see marine life on the islands including scores of sea lions, lava lizards, marine iguanas as well as pink flamingos, penguins and blue footed boobies (and by boobies, I mean birds).
After the Galapagos Islands we headed out to the jungle - lots of monkeys, birds, and bugs...not to mention a whole 'lotta' vegetation. We weren't overrun by insects, albeit one cockroach in our room. We asked if it was ok to kill the cockroach but were advised that more would come in it's place . We opted for a relocation program (the cockroach, not us). Piranha fishing yielded a catch of 2 tiny razor-sharp toothed fishies with mouths big enough to chomp off your fingernail. No room for bragging rights but interesting nonetheless.
Cotopaxi is the world's highest active volcano with an elevation of 5,897 meters (19,347 feet). After hiking to the refuge site of the volcano, Shane encouraged me to climb to the summit. He headed to Banos, 3 hours away, to complete a 30 km bike trip and I waited to acclimatize for a couple more days before heading up to the summit with a group of 10 other climbers from Germany, Canada and the US.
The weather was perfect and after climbing for 6 hours, mostly by moonlight over a massive glacier, we made it to the top at 6:30AM. Exhausting but exhilarating.
On Friday we left Ecuador and arrived in Peru, heading to the beach town of Mancora where I’m writing this entry now. From here we'll make our way down to Lima, stopping in a number of cities along the way. Like many other travelers that we've crossed paths with, we're trying to sort out when we can trek the Inca Trail and visit Machu Picchu.
With 5 weeks of travel under our belts, our trip has met and often exceeded our expectations. I can't remember the last time that I saw Shane so rested and relaxed. We feel pretty fortunate to be here.
Well, that's all from us for now. Hoping this message finds you well. Please feel free to send us an email or you can post a comment below. Of course we'd love to hear from you.
Shane & Colleen
When I wrote our first blog entry in early February, I mentioned that I'd be posting the next message by February 15ish. Thank goodness I added the "ish". Time has raced by while we've been in Ecuador. There's a lot to talk about so to help keep things concise, I've included a list of stats & facts to give a flavour of the trip so far:
- Days in SA: 38
- Days in Ecuador: 34
- Days in Peru: 4
- # hours spent on overland Ecuadorian buses: 55
- # of zip-lines completed through the Mindo Cloud Forest: 10
- # of Galapagos marine iguanas sighted: 1428
- # of volcanoes climbed: 1
- # of minutes we swam in a murky amazon lagoon while being assured by the guide that the caimans, anacondas, and piranhas only stayed by the shores: 4
- # of miles of oil pipelines extending from the Ecuadorian rainforest: endless
- SPF # required to ward off the smoking-hot South American sun: 85
- # of times we've answered a question in english, using a spanish accent: still counting
- # of times Colleen thought the hostel caretaker might be a serial killer: 1
- # of times Shane had to tell Colleen that the hostel caretaker wasn't a serial killer: 22
- # of days with weather above 30 degrees: 28
- # of times we've thought " we are so incredibly fortunate to be taking this trip: at least 4 times a day
So our time in Ecuador has come to an end. If we were to rate our experience on a scale of 1 to 10, we'd definitely be pushing a 10. Everything from the activities and transportation to the overall beauty of the country, has been pretty fantastic. While we’ve found every day of our trip to be interesting - in fairness, you might not - so we've opted to provide a few of the highlights of the trip: The Galapagos Islands, the jungle and Cotopaxi.
As we were promised, the trip to the Galapagos Islands was exceptional with stunning weather, landscapes, and a sea (pun intended) of opportunities to see marine life on the islands including scores of sea lions, lava lizards, marine iguanas as well as pink flamingos, penguins and blue footed boobies (and by boobies, I mean birds).
After the Galapagos Islands we headed out to the jungle - lots of monkeys, birds, and bugs...not to mention a whole 'lotta' vegetation. We weren't overrun by insects, albeit one cockroach in our room. We asked if it was ok to kill the cockroach but were advised that more would come in it's place . We opted for a relocation program (the cockroach, not us). Piranha fishing yielded a catch of 2 tiny razor-sharp toothed fishies with mouths big enough to chomp off your fingernail. No room for bragging rights but interesting nonetheless.
Cotopaxi is the world's highest active volcano with an elevation of 5,897 meters (19,347 feet). After hiking to the refuge site of the volcano, Shane encouraged me to climb to the summit. He headed to Banos, 3 hours away, to complete a 30 km bike trip and I waited to acclimatize for a couple more days before heading up to the summit with a group of 10 other climbers from Germany, Canada and the US.
The weather was perfect and after climbing for 6 hours, mostly by moonlight over a massive glacier, we made it to the top at 6:30AM. Exhausting but exhilarating.On Friday we left Ecuador and arrived in Peru, heading to the beach town of Mancora where I’m writing this entry now. From here we'll make our way down to Lima, stopping in a number of cities along the way. Like many other travelers that we've crossed paths with, we're trying to sort out when we can trek the Inca Trail and visit Machu Picchu.
With 5 weeks of travel under our belts, our trip has met and often exceeded our expectations. I can't remember the last time that I saw Shane so rested and relaxed. We feel pretty fortunate to be here.
Well, that's all from us for now. Hoping this message finds you well. Please feel free to send us an email or you can post a comment below. Of course we'd love to hear from you.
Shane & Colleen
