Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands 2023

The bus was quite late picking us up due to traffic. Right now the apps are telling us 6:30. Could be a bit later if traffic gets worse. I’ll have the kids text you our actual ETA when we are in western Rhode Island. 

Plan is to clear customs by 3:20-ish and then be back at LHS around 5:30 to 6:00 depending on traffic. See you soon. 

We are taking off now from Bogotá to Boston. Should arrive a little before 3:00 pm. Will probably clear customs by 4:00. Hope to be at LHS at 6:00 depending on traffic. See you soon. Our flight status can be checked here . 

Today we departed the islands and headed back up into the Andes. We woke up to a nice breakfast at our hotel on Santa Cruz Island. We crossed the island by bus and a short channel by ferry to Baltra Island. We flew to Quito and everything was on time :) From there we went on a bonus excursion arranged by our local guide up to Papallacta hot springs, crossing a pass at the highest elevation we visited yet, 11,000 feet. We enjoyed the views and the students sang karaoke the whole ride! I have videos to prove it. The students spent their last few hours of freedom relaxing in the many hot pools. All are fed from natural hot springs powered by the nearby Antisana volcano. It’s snow capped and seen in the background of the photo below. We ate dinner there as well and then headed back to the airport Holiday Inn to clean up, rest, and pack for our early morning flight.  We’ll be back in Connecticut tomorrow. We have tons and tons of photos, videos, and stories to share with you, so stay tu...

Arrived back in Quito. Going to hot springs and dinner. Then hotel to clean up and rest. We leave at 3:00 am.  First flight status   Second flight status

We enjoyed another great day. We started off with a quick ferry ride back to Santa Cruz. We spent the morning touring the Charles Darwin Research Station. We learned a lot about evolution and the full picture of the biodiversity here in the islands. The center was amazing. Then we checked into our hotel and had lunch. From there, we took a boat ride around to Tortuga Bay, which has the nicest beaches in the islands. We hung out there swimming for several hours. We saw many sea turtles, baby black tipped sharks, and even baby hammerhead sharks. It’s kind of hard to imagine this place. It’s just a perfect beach leading to a large bay which has a sandy bottom and is shallow for hundreds of yards from shore. We could just float or walk in our own little area and have sea turtles just pop up next to us from time to time.  It was surreal and hard to leave. Most took a boat back to town and a few of us hiked back for about an hour. We cleaned up and hand a nice farewell dinner with our lo...

Btw, that’s not our ferry, just the sunrise:)

Ahh, the students were able to sleep in till 8:00 today :) We had a long leisurely breakfast and then we headed up to the Sierra Negra Volcano. Supposedly it is the second largest crater in the world. At almost 4,000 feet, it was quite a hike to complete, but the view was worth it. From there we headed back to town for lunch and then we had “free time.” Most of the students elected to go snorkeling again, which was a good call, as we saw many more spotted eagle rays, sea turtles, and got to hang out with a couple of sea lion pups under water for a long time. Afterwards, we stopped at another beach full of sea lions and, well, just hung out with them. We went back to the hotel to clean up, and then had a big BBQ dinner on the beach. The students walked the beach after dinner enjoying the stars; we could see both the northern hemisphere’s Big Dipper and the Southern Cross in the same sky, pretty cool. As the kids are going to bed early, I too am going to cut this post short. We have an e...

We woke up early and had breakfast at our hotel, which is fabulous and has a great pool. We’ll be spending our last night in the islands back at the same hotel. From there we walked to the town pier and boarded our ferry for Isabela Island. Upon arriving we checked into our hotel and then headed back to the pier to have a panga (small boat) excursion. Given the state of the tides our local guide had us start by snorkeling. We saw countless sea turtles, star fish, parrot fish, and swimming iguanas, among other things. We then proceeded to go on a boat tour looking for more wildlife. We saw black tipped sharks, white tipped sharks (local), spotted eagle rays, diamond rays, more bigger turtles, pelicans, and countless Galápagos sea lions. Then our boat pulled up to a small island and we went on a hike. We learned about the history of the island, and about how lichen is the first plant to stick to the windward side of the lava rock (due to prevailing winds and moisture). This is the first ...

We made it to Isabela Island! No one got sea sick on the 2.5 hour ride over on the ferry, yay. It was actually so calm that we all just slept in peace. We did the highlight of the trip this morning, which was snorkeling, hiking and boating around a couple of bays. Will update later tonight with the normal evening recap of the day. We saw a lot of animals!! I just wanted to give you a quick update mid-day to say that we made it here safely and are having a blast. We have a bit of down time right now to shower and nap. Then we are off to our next set of afternoon excursions. And leave it to the teenagers, they figured out how to get cell service to work here, so I should be able to keep up with the updates, just won’t be able to post a lot of photos till we get back to the mainland. Below was our view from inside our hotel this morning as we sat down for breakfast. More to come later. They are loving it!

We left for the airport really early today. As we took off the sun was rising and we were blessed to see both Cotopaxi and Chimborazo in all their glory. The sun was casting a bright light on them as they rose above the clouds. With their white tops and a crystal blue sky around them, they were simply magnificent, especially Cotopaxi, as it was emitting a white steam cloud into the blue sky. I wasn’t able to take photos as I was in an aisle seat. I have seen both before on beautiful days, but nothing compared to this. Below are two photos I grabbed from the net, to give you an idea. Suffice it to say that what we flew by was more spectacular than these two photos! We had a brief stop over in Guayaquil and then we landed on Baltra Island. From there, we took a small ferry over to Santa Cruz, the main populated island. We proceeded to drive across the entire island stopping along the way for a few excursions. First we stopped at Rancho Primicias for lunch and to walk amongst the giant to...

We had an amazing day. Going to dinner now. Will post later. 

It’s hot and sunny. Could be bad cell service here. Don’t be worried if I don’t update fast. Will update tonight. Off to see giant tortoises. 

We are in Guayaquil. Next stop Galapagos. You can Google “latam flight 1415 to galapagos” for our flight status. 

This will be a short post today, as we are leaving at 4:00 am for the Galápagos Islands! It was another wonderful day. We spent the whole day north of the city in and amongst the many volcanos of the Imbabura province. We went to the most famous market town in Ecuador, Otavalo. It’s known for its textiles made by the local indigenous population. We shopped until we couldn’t shop anymore. The students practiced their skills at bartering and the prices were great. Many gifts were purchased. From there we went to the town of Cotacachi for lunch. The students tried the Andean delicacy cuy. Madi was the first to try it! Videos to come. After lunch we headed up to Parque Nacional Cotacachi Cayapas. We hiked around the crater lake and enjoyed views of the many volcanos and a storm in the distance. Going to cut this post short today, as we have to clean up and pack for our big day tomorrow. Below are a few photos from today. We’ll be in the Galápagos from Sunday to Thursday . Heading out to ch...

We started out the day well rested and fed. Then we hopped on our bus and headed up to the Basílica del Voto Nacional. Among other things the views and stained glass were incredible.  From there we headed up to the Virgen del Panecillo, which stands on a hill in the center of Quito and is visible from almost everywhere in the city. You can see it in the photo above from the basílica and below. We climbed to the top of it for more spectacular views. From there our guide, Raul, took us on a long walk through old-town Quito and since it was Good Friday we were able to see one of the most significant cultural events of the year, the procession of Jesus del Gran Poder of Quito. With so many streets closed due to the procession, we were able to walk down the center of so many streets. We ended up at the Plaza de Armas before hiking out of the colonial city center and back to our bus.  After meeting back up with our driver, Omero, he took us north of the city toward the equator. We s...

We had a wonderful day. Will post more photos and a story of our adventures after dinner, so check back late tonight or in the morning for a full update on our first day in Ecuador.