Log/pic 28 Ecuador

So I arrived in Ecuador and spent eight days in Quito. I stayed four days in New Town and four in Old Town at 3 different hostels. Then I took a flight to Guaquil and onto the Galopogos islands!

The boat in the background of this first photo is named Sea Cloud (note the diving bird behind my left shoulder). Its a 65 foot sailboat that I was supposed to spend eight days on. It broke down after four! We were on and off of it and spent some time on another boat called The Espanola. Ironically the island of Espanola, known for the albotrose, is the one we missed because of the broken boat. But I did visit Genovesa, Isle De Plaza, Santigo, North Seymore, Bartolome, Baltra and the main island of Santa Cruz.

Boobies! Boobies! Boobies! We saw hundreds, maybe thousands of boobies! This is a Red Footed Boobie.
A Blue footed Boobie
A Masked Boobie
We also saw thousands of lava lizards and land or Galopogos iquanas like the one in this photo.
Frigate birds were everywhere. This male is displaying his true colors. We even saw them flying with their pouch inflated.
Sea lions were almost as abundant. Whether we were on a black sand beach, white sand beach or red sand beach, there they were. We also saw them underwater on almost every snorkel and dive we did.
This is a red billed tropical bird. Its long whispering tail allows it to escape from predators. It restores them like lizards do!
These are the famous marine iquanas. We watched as they ate the algae from the rocks on the waters edge, swam across the water, and sunbathed in groups with dozens of others.
This is one of the famous Galopogos tortoses that live to be like a million years old! Well at least more than a hundred and fifty.

So now I'm in Porta Ayora, Santa Cruz. I like it a lot so I think I'm going to try and stay awhile. Blog ya soon!