Avenue of the Volcanos, Ecuador

Tungurahua Volcano and the valley below

The highlands of Ecuador are filled with volcanoes. We visited nearby to one inactive and one active. Both with snow at the top, and the active one with ash piled high on one side of the mountain and lots of steam escaping. The rivers from these volcanoes drain into the Amazon river, so we were at the entrance to the Amazon. We hiked a little to some of the waterfalls and took a little cable car over the canyon to another.

The highlight of the 4 days, however, was the Hacienda that we stayed at. High up on the highlands, it was really beautiful with a view of the volcano in the distance. The owners were home for the weekend and we had some fascinating conversations with them. They are trying to start an organic farm at this hacienda without a lot of money. So it was interesting seeing how they were raising their first vegetables and corn.

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Land Iguana

We´re back in Quito after 6 days on the Galapagos islands. They certainly are unique! They have very few native species of plants or animals, but what they have is usually found no where else on earth. Even between islands, many species (or subspecies) are unique. The other key element is that you can approach most of these birds and animals within feet. In fact, a couple of times we´ve almost stepped on a sea lion when we didn´t see him. It´s a real thrill when we saw our first Great Frigate birds. The males blow up the sack on their neck to attract females. When one flies by they lift their wings up and vocalize to get their attention. These balloons stay inflated for a week before they mate, so they fly and eat with them. The other interesting birds are the boobies. Nasca boobies have yellow bills and feet. Blue footed boobies not only have blue feet but also blue beaks. Finally, the red-footed boobies have the appropriate foot color and blue beaks. We saw many of them nesting with their fluffy chicks. We also had the opportunity to see a short eared owl, on the island we found him, they hunt during the day (since there are no hawks on that island).
Then, of course, came the iguanas, the only marine iguana in the world live here, plus several varieties of land iguana. We visited the Charles Darwin Center we they are attempting to repopulate the tortoises on each of the islands. Each island has a different subspecies and many of them are endangered because of feral cats, dogs, and goats. For example, Lonesome George is the only known tortoise left from one island, they have yet to find him a mate. We also went to the highlands to see tortoises in the wild.
The other interesting aspect of the islands is their geology. The islands are volcanically formed. We saw lots of rope lava, and we walked through some large lava tubes (10 feet by 20 feet by 1.5 km). Most of the islands are desert like conditions. But along the seashore you´ll find cactus next to mangrove trees. And for some of the larger islands with highlands, one side of the island is desert and the other is lush plant life. Finally, some islands are like walking on the moon, almost no vegetation, and filled with sputter craters. We saw huge variation in the basalt rocks filled with holes as they cooled, those that cooled in water were dense and those that cooled on land were feather light.