Turns out it is 111 hours (4 and a half days!). We also had a 9 hour train ride, plus all the various tours which I didn’t include in the calculations (some of the trips took 6 hours by mini bus). It would have been even longer if we hadn’t taken the 2 internal flights (managed to save 40 hours there!).

In conclusion, I have decided that my 8 gigs of music is just not enough to see me through these long bus trips, and have now signed up for a free trial at audible.co.uk (affiliate program on CJ). My free download is “A Short History of Nearly Everything”, which totals around 18 hours. Never listened to an audio book before, but it could turn out to be the perfect way to help pass the time!

Nearly everyday of the trip started with breakfast at 7am, followed by a landing on one of the islands at 8. The island trips normally lasted about 2 hours, but the time flew by thanks to shear number of different (and unbelievably tame) animals, and our fantastic guide, Juan. We would normally squeeze a snorkelling session in before lunch (check out the underwater photos at the end of the post) before heading onto our second location in the afternoon. The island visits were via panga boats and were either dry landings (normally a small pier, but sometimes just a rock!), wet landings (jumping out of the boat on a beach before the next wave hits you!) or panga rides around the mangroves.

We were lucky enough to encounter (sometimes within touching distance); Sei Whales, Dolphins (2 types) Penguins, White Tipped Reef Sharks, Galapagos Sharks, Sea Turtles, Sea Lions, Seals, Giant Tortoises, Lonesome George, Marine Iguanas (the black ones) Land Iguanas (the orange ones) Lava Lizards, Frigate birds (pirates), Blue Footed Boobies (and their chicks), Nazca Boobies, Lava Herons, Galapagos Hawks, Darwins Finches, and a whole host of others! There was also the interesting flora and fauna which has had to adapt to the various volcanic landscapes.

Apart from all the above we also got to venture down massive Lava tunnels, where Juan would tell us gruesome stories from the human history of the Galapagos (in the pitch dark!) We visited the oldest post office on the islands (over 200 years old) where the postcards don’t even require stamps, and I got to play a part in the Galapagos “2nd Division” football league, helping the Samba team ensure victory! All of the other 12 guests on board were great company and we thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality of the great crew and capitano!

In an attempt to keep this post fairly brief I have left out many of the great memories (maybe I will write a proper round up at some point). And here are the photos (warning, there are 60 photos in the “best of” slide show, and 43 in the underwater slide show).

The “Best Of” Photos:

Underwater Photos:

Thursday saw us visit Tortuga Bay, which is only accessible by a half hours walk on foot through a cactus forest. For Friedi and I, who are not quite accustomed to the warmer climate, this proved to be a decent work out, but one that was definitely worth it! On leaving the forest you encounter this perfectly white sandy beach, with giant marine iguanas making their may slowly along the shore! Once you have crossed this beach (only safe for surfing) you get to what can only be described as a mini paradise. A second sheltered cove is the perfect place to go snorkelling. The bay is home to sharks, sea turtles, colourful fish, octopuses, and sea snakes! We managed to capture few decent shots with the underwater camera during our two snorkelling sessions, but saw most of the amazing turtles and sharks when we hired a kayak to take us further out. This has definitely been the highlight of the trip so far, and we cant wait to find out more of what the island has to offer soon!

Friedi and i are flying out to the Galapagos Islands tomorrow where we will be staying on land for a week, and on a boat for a week. I’m guessing that Internet access will be sketchy on the island and non existent on the boat, so today i thought i would catch up with emails, update the sites etc. The great thing about only needing an Internet access to work is the variety of office space/locations you can choose from! Today i was assisted by the following little guys

We left Quito a few days ago and are now in Baños. There are a few things about Quito that add to my liking of it. I enjoyed the randomness of this city: there are a lot of small stalls where people sell all sort of different things (mostly sweets, drinks or fruits). There are also those people which have the goods hanging around them or carrying them- and whenever the sun shines all of a sudden everyone sells ice cream but as soon as there is the first raindrop they offer you umbrellas and there is no sign of ice cream! (according to a taxi driver the weather in Quito changes as quickly as a women’s mood – haha). It also took us a bit to figure out how the bus system works here: they stop whenever you want to hop on or off… well they only totally stop when you are old or carrying a child, but otherwise you need to be up for a little jog! While on the bus people come in and sell you goods such as cds, fruits, scratch cards etc.

During the whole week in Quito I have only seen 2 prams and there were way more children than that!! Ecuadorians seem to carry their children- either on their backs or more commonly just on their arms and they are being wholly covered with a blanket. Then you see people carrying a lawnmower on their bike and most taxis have no seatbelts and they drive sooo quickly.

Furthermore we learnt a few interesting things about Ecuadorian tribes- there is still a tribe which hasn’t been in contact with civilisation yet and another one was only discovered and contacted about five years ago. Until 50 years ago they killed people and made “shrunken heads” out of their enemies chiefs as a trophy. My “shrunken head” would be as big as my fist! Nowadays they only shrink animal heads.

One last discovery we made here: you do not put your toilet paper in the toilet but put it in the provided bin next to the toilet. Therefore ALL the toilet paper is perfumed! Every time I blow my nose I have a scented smell in my nostrels…

Overall we really liked Quito although it is not a particularly pretty city (maybe except the Old Town) and the smelly exhaust fumes are sometimes unbearable. Somehow Quito has an atmosphere which we enjoyed. Now we are looking forward to the “greener” side of Ecuador. Buenos noches!