Galapagos Islands

The trip to Galapagos Islands was probably one of the most exciting and special experiences I had on my trip so far!

I took an eight day boat tour around the various islands and usually we visited one or two islands per day, could snorkel in the freezing cold water at least once a day and did sail during the night. I wasn't too sure how well I would take the rough sea and if I could sleep in my bunk bed on board, but no worries.... with the exception of the last night, where it really got quite rough, I slept almost like a baby.
Our boat, the Guantanamera, could host 16 passengers and 7 crew members and we were quite an international group. The first part of the trip I was sharing my cabin with Barbara, a nice lady from Atlanta/US and during the second part of the week, Susan from Winterthur was my companion.
The most amazing thing on this trip was that all the animals we saw, had absolutely no fear of humans and you could have touched and stroked them all (which is of course not allowed); the animals act as if the humans are nothing more than slightly annoying paparazzis....

I don't really want to bore you with too much information and text and rather put some pictures, but here just a short list of the various animals we saw on the various islands:
- Sea Lions
- Crabs
- Land and Marine Iguanas
- Various Seabirds and Boobies
- Penguins
- Albatrosses
- Finches
- Mockingbirds
- Giant Turtles and Sea Turtles
- Lizards
- Dolphins
- Flamingos
- Rays
- Sharks
... and much more

Trip to Mindo

Only about 2 hours drive from Quito, Mindo is a pleasant little town in the hills west of capital city. The climate is much warmer than in Quito, almost tropical and humid-hot, what a change when coming from the cold and dry weather in Quito......
My host parents Caty and Eduardo took me there one day shortly before my departure and we took a pleasant walk to some waterfalls and had a ride in the tarabita (wire basket hooked on a steel cable) high above the tree tops!

Visit to Zaragoza

When I met José Luis at Ankoor and Roopal's wedding in Detroit, he suddenly had the idea that I should visit Zaragoza during the "fiesta del Pilar", which takes place every year in October.

I indeed liked the idea of visiting Spain, meeting José Luis family and friends (for the first time) and most importantly of course, to see José Luis again.....
So I did take a week off from work and travelled to Spain from October 9 - 15.
It was quite an intensive week, meeting loads of people, sightseeing in Zaragoza surroundings, attending the procession of the Pilar, going to the bullfights, eating and drinking and eating and drinking again!
The time did pass very quickly but it was definitely a very good experience and I would like to say thank you very much to the parents, the sister and family of José Luis, who made me feeling really welcomed and did all they could, to pamper me.
Of course a big thank you goes to "mi amor" as well, who invited me to his hometown and whom I really miss a lot now!! Let's hope that all works fine and we will meet each other again at the end of December in Argentina.....

Otavalo and Laguna de Cuicocha

Otavalo, about 3 hours north of Quito is famous for it's colourful local artisans market, which takes place every Saturday. Together with Laura (the program director of Nuevos Horizontes), her family and Marisol and Emmy (two other volunteers) we made a day trip to Otavalo and also stopped along the way at Laguna de San Pablo. Unfortunately the weather was quite bad and it was so cloudy and misty, that we could not even see one of the several volcanoes surrounding Otavalo.
The weather got a bit better in the late afternoon, when we visited Laguna de Cuicocha. This lagoon is cradled in a collapsed volcanic crater and is more than 200 meters deep.

Baños

Baños, known for its thermal baths and the many beautiful waterfalls surrounding it, lies about 4 hours south of Quito. I was visiting Baños for a weekend and really liked the idyllic town at the foot of volcano Tungurahua (which last erupted in 1999...)
Unfortunately the weather wasn't really as sunny and warm as expected on I did not only get wet in the spas and near the waterfalls but from the rain as well!
Baños is also famous for its milcocha, a delicious chewy taffy (Toffee) and caña de azucar (chewable sugarcane), which unlike the cuy (roasted guinea big/Meerschweinchen!!), I did try and liked it a lot.

La Mitad del Mundo (the middle of the earth)

About 20 km north of Quito lies Mitad del Mundo, where the equator line passes through and it is quite a feeling to stand with one foot on the northern and the other one on the southern hemisphere...
I was lucky enough to spend the night of September 23 at Mitad del Mundo, witnessing the Equinox, that moment in time when the center of the sun can be observed to be directly above the earth's equator. This event only happens twice a year, on March 20 and on September 23....

Mitad del Mundo with the equator line and monument

Witnessing the Equinox at Mitad del Mundo on September 23, 2007