![]() What we found in the Old Town (or, more accurately, the Centro Historico) to be particularly interesting were people selling anything and everything you could want for $1.īy the way, the cost really is a US dollar. Much of the city appears rather poverty-stricken, and we were warned by hotel personnel, and once by a police officer in Old Town, to be aware of our surroundings and to keep everything valuable out of sight. We had two or three times – especially after climbing the steep streets – where it took a bit longer to breathe easily, but overall, it wasn’t a problem. It is possible to be affected by the altitude, with many people unable to catch their breath. Due to the curvature of the earth, of course, land nearer the poles have 24 hours of total darkness and light at different times of the year. Being on the equator, in the center of the globe, there are always 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness, year-round. Named after the Quitu tribe, the word “Quito” means center of the world. High in the Andes Mountains – at an elevation of 9,350 feet – sits the capital of Ecuador, Quito. Even though many of the clergy objected to his deviation from stories in the Bible, he was buried in Westminster Abbey upon his death in 1882. ![]() He changed the world view of life on earth. The research center there is named after Charles Darwin, who of course wrote of evolution and natural selection in “On the Origin of Species,” first published in 1859. The Galápagos Islands are unique in all the world. Everyone became quite familiar with everybody else, being such a small group. The drill quickly became routine – the 44 passengers onboard were divided into smaller groups, then we donned a life jacket and were assisted into the smaller zodiac boats. And, in a funny way, most of the wildlife seemed to preen and pose for the camera, since they “rule” on these islands, 650 miles off the mainland of Ecuador.Įvery trip to an island to explore for a few hours was preceded by a zodiac boat trip from the Xpedition cruise ship, which never docked. We had heard for many years that the animals do not run when approached by humans, as they have never been hunted, and so are unafraid of harm. Photos of these magnificent creatures are below! Snorkeling with penguins, sharks, and dolphins…walking on lava fields…seeing blue-footed boobies, flamingos, pelicans, red-breasted frigate birds…walking aside various species of iguanas, Sally Lightfoot crabs, indigenous spiders, seals, sea lions, and Galápagos tortoises…the Galápagos Islands provided an overwhelming experience of untouched wilderness. So, when you hear terrible news somewhere, don’t panic! Go ahead and travel if you reasonably can. It goes to show that no matter how bad the news in a country, another area might still be fine. But as one of the other cruise passengers said, if we didn’t have the internet, we wouldn’t have known there was anything unusual going on in the rest of Ecuador. Ecuador has been using the military to fight the violence, and we did notice a small contingent of military in the main city of Puerto Ayora, but they might have been there under normal conditions. Having said all of this, we have to say that the Galápagos Islands were completely calm and normal. We imagine that recent storms across North America may have contributed to the low showing, but assume that the significant factor was the violence. As we were leaving the ship at the end of our cruise, we found that of three ships Celebrity Cruises would normally be operating in the Galápagos Islands, carrying a total of about 160 passengers, two would be sidelined, and the 22 passengers who made it to the Galapagos would all be loaded onto our ship for the week’s cruise. One of the naturalists, who is from Guayaquil, said it is now the most dangerous city in Latin America. Our ship for the past week, the Celebrity Xpedition, is registered in Guayaquil, Ecuador (though it normally stays in the Galapagos, rather than traveling to Guayaquil). President Daniel Noboa declared the country to be in a state of “internal armed conflict,” and there have been nearly 900 arrests to date due to the violence. A major criminal broke out of prison, and according to CNN, the country has been rocked by blasts, police kidnappings, and prison disturbances. ![]() A couple of days after arriving in the Galápagos, however, all hell broke loose on the mainland. Although we were warned about crime problems, we never felt uncomfortable, nor did we notice any problems whatsoever. We spent a week in Quito before we flew to the Galápagos Islands. Before we get to the Galápagos blog, a few words about Ecuador. ![]()
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