Galapagos Islands!

This was my favourite part of our trip to Ecuador!

The islands are 1000km off the Pacific coast of South America and belong to Ecuador. They are:

• a province of Ecuador
• a National Park
• a marine reserve: In 1986 70,000 sq km of water surrounding the Galapagos islands was declared a marine reserve. It is the worlds largest reserve, second to the Great Barrier Reef.
• a World Heritage Site: The archipelago, a group of islands formed by volcanic activity, was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1978

Famous animals

• Blue Footed Booby and the lesser known Red Footed Booby
• Galapagos Sea Lions:smaller than its closest relative, the California Sea Lion
• Giant Tortoises
• Galapagos Marine Iguana
• Galapagos Land Iguana
• Galapagos Penguin
• Darwin Finches (13 species)

I saw them all!!

Getting there

• We took a flight from Quito which made a stop in Guayaquil (2 hours)
• Our luggage had to go through quarantine check
• We had to pay a $10 USD pp (the official currency of Ecuador) transit card fee
• The cabin was sprayed before landing
• We had to pay $100 USD pp National Park fee

00.00.00 The Middle of the World

Mitad del Mundo, 45 minutes from Quito, is a place where you can play games and test the powers of the equator.

Walk along the equator line with your eyes closed and you will lean and fall off the line, except for Dave. He claims he was the only one of the group who was able to complete the task. 

If you can successfully balance an egg on the nail you will receive a certificate. I did not receive a certificate.

Ecuador- Mindo

Mindo is a small town in the Andean foothills northwest of Quito. 

It's claim to fame is the cloud forest, waterfalls, and birdlife. 

We drove up to the top of a hill and took an aerial tram (terabita) to reach the forest trails where we hiked down and up again to find waterfalls. This 4 hour hike turned out to be not the best thing for me as we had just arrived the day before and the altitude made it difficult to breathe.

We were on the look out for birdlife and our guide did point a toucan in the distance, but I see more birds in my backyard. Guess it was the wrong time of year. 

We stopped at the Mindogarden butterfly farm. These are the gathered chrysalis. The different types are very interesting. One looks like a raindrop and can be found near the river.

There are dishes of banana placed around the area where the butterfly stop to eat.

If you put some banana on your finger, the butterfly may land there for a snack.

Canaima, Venezuela

After leaving the jungle, we flew south to see Angel Falls, the tallest waterfall in the world, in Canaima National Park. The 12,000 sq mile park is located in the southeast corner of Venezuela bordering Brazil and Guyana and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1994. It is the second largest park in the country. It was the dry season, so the water wasn't flowing as enough for the falls to be full or the river so as to make the falls accessible by boat.

This is the view from the restaurant at our hotel.
 

We did a lot of hiking.

And boating. This is me getting off one.

The landscape was very different than the Orinoco Delta. It was much dryer here.
 

65% of the park is occupied by rock plateaus, tepuis. 

The tepuis are sandstone and date back to a time when South America and Africa were part of a super-continent.

This is the top of the falls you can see from our hotel.

We couldn't take a boat to see Angel Falls, so we took a small plane. The amount of water falling over Angel Falls at this time of year isn't great, but the height is spectacular!

Venezuela before Ecuador

Here are the pictures from my Venezuela trip. The Orinoco Delta was my favourite part to the journey.

We had to take a boat trip to our home in the jungle. It took 1 1/2hrs from the village of San Jose de Buja, which is one hour drive from Maturin. The river was wide and clear until we ran into this mass of plants. It was hard going but we made it through. Thank heaven for experienced guides.

Not everyone takes a boat like ours. This is a shot of locals in a dugout. 

Our home in the jungle was Boca De Tigre, located on Manamo channel flowing into the Orinoco. Our hosts were Warao indigenas. The camp used to house oil survey workers and the blue building in the background is the generator they used. The camp has 20 double rooms and 10 triples. They are very plain but offers all that we needed, including wifi! The delicious meals were provided in a separate building from the rooms. 

The staff took us on many trips where we saw flying monkeys, many types of birds, and fish.

We visited the largest Warao tribe where we had opportunities to interact with the kids.

The bird life was amazing.

Everywhere we turned we saw new and unusual things.

From fresh water dolphins

to toucans.

We sent piranah fishing and I caught 2 plus a catfish.

The woodpeckers were so brightly coloured.

We were offered one of these grubs to eat, but declined. Our guide bit off the head and ate it.

Jeremy was so helpful. He offered to take my piranha off the hook and found out they have really sharp teeth.
Loved the Orinoco Delta. We saw more wildlife than we expected to. From here we took another plane to Canaima to see Angel Falls. It was a very different place.