We are now forever spoiled. Whenever we have a guide, they are going to have to measure up to the standard set by Juan Kunchikuy. For five days in the jungle, he was our guide, our teacher, and our interpreter. And in those five days, he became something else, too: our friend.

We’ve been in Madrid for a few days now, and today we visited the Centro de Arte Sophia Reina. The main reason for our visit was to see something I have wanted to see since my first year of Spanish class in high school: Pablo Picasso’s master work, Guernica.

Yachana Lodge is a place where you can go to sleep at night knowing that every penny you're spending there is making a very real difference in somebody's life.

If we were to sum up our eight-day/seven-night cruise in the Galapagos Islands we might use these three words: Exhilirating. Exciting. Enchanting. (Actually add a fourth word to that list: Exhausting.)

To really see anything of the islands, you have to book yourself a boat. On a yacht, you can take in island after uninhabited island, seeing what you can of one during the day, and then sailing to another while you sleep. The only way to really experience the Galapagos is to book a cruise.