Ecuador: First Impressions

The view outside the window all the way through Peru had been an endless expanse of barren scrub interrupted only by the occasional ten-foot pile of garbage. In Ecuador, it was suddenly absolutely beautiful, mile after mile of green rolling hills, craggy mountains and spetacular canyons.

Searching for Galapagos

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.

Eleven of our Favorite Galapagos Photos

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.)

A Place for Learning

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.

Yachana Lodge: Four Anecdotes

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.

Magic Memories

Our guide had told us that every day spent in the Galapagos Islands will be more amazing than the previous one before it. When he first said this it was hard to believe, but he was right: every day there kept getting better and better.

The Enchanted Islands

There was another pool, just over another stretch of painful lava, one which Mauricio would only let us into three at a time. When people returned from this pool, they wouldn’t say what they’d seen, only that it had been amazing.