We traveled through Ecuador for a total of three weeks, one week on the mainland and two on the Galápagos Islands. We traveled with a private guide from Quito over the Andes to Guayaquil. Quito is the highest capital city in the world (2800 meters above sea level). Quito is very beautiful and very large. From Quito we drove on the Panamericana. Our guide told us about the many volcanoes we could see on the horizon. Many are active. We visited the Cotopaxi National Park and climbed up to the José Rivas refuge at 4864 meters. You are not allowed on the summit, 5897 m, because another particularly devastating eruption is expected in the next few years. We drove to the Quilota lagoon and hiked along the picturesque crater rim at an altitude of 4000 meters. We drove for a long time to get to Chimborazo National Park. There we slept at an altitude of 4000 m in the beautiful Chimborazo Lodge. We could have stayed there much longer. We hiked up the slopes of Chimborazo to a mountain lake at an altitude of 5100 meters. In the highlands, we had many interesting and inspiring encounters with the locals. They looked very exotic to us and we to them. We got talking and exchanged selfies. In terms of animals, we saw lots of birds, e.g. caracaras and hummingbirds, as well as wild horses and vicuñas. Of course, we also encountered herds of alpacas and many sad, abandoned dogs waiting on the roadside for something to eat or a new master or mistress. We visited the oldest church in Ecuador (1534) in Balbanera and watched a stone nut (tagua) carver and a woman barbecuing guinea pigs. Near the devil’s nose we saw the remains of the former railroad. And we experienced many other things. Our favorite city was Cuenca with the new cathedral, the ethnographic museum and the Panama hat factory. From the modern city of Guayaquil, we flew to the Galápagos Islands. There we spent a week visiting numerous islands on a catamaran and observing the animals on land at close range (2 m distance). We took a closer look at the history of the island of Floreana and took a map back to Germany in Postoffice Bay in exchange for the two maps we had left there. We also went kayaking and snorkeling. Most of the time we were on our own, as each ship has a time slot for the Galápagos Islands. You have to stick to that. We saw lots of friendly animals: iguanas, Galápagos lizards, penguins, sea lions, crabs, turtles, giant tortoises, flamingos, albatrosses, frigate birds, blue-footed boobies, colorful fish, corals, starfish, sea cucumbers, sharks and rays. A sea lioness allowed us to watch her breastfeed her baby. But a blue-footed booby looked at us reproachfully and then started to scold us when we were too close to him due to the narrow path. But he didn’t fly away. Another blue-footed booby stole the food from a frigate bird that it was about to feed its young. When we snorkeled, we saw lots of colorful fish. Sea lions also swam with us, which was a bit scary. On land, we hugged huge cactus trees. The plant and bird life was very diverse and we often couldn’t remember the names. Finally, we stayed on the island of Isabela for a few days and enjoyed the atmosphere on the beach, in the water and at the huge volcano. We are now full of impressions of the people and nature and will always feel very connected to Ecuador.

Translated by Galapagos PRO