Cotopaxi

Cotopaxi is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world

first we hiked up to base camp

at over 4,800 m

then hiked 200m more 

to the Cotopaxi glacier 

and stayed on an isolated farm

without electricity

and watched beautiful sunsets over the mountain
location: Cotopaxi, Ecuador

Banos, Ecuador

Banos is a beautiful town in the Ecuadorian Andes

it is great for hiking

swinging over cliffs

and mountain biking to see the waterfalls

and in town they smoke guinea pigs

and make amazing taffy that will give you a stomach ache for days
location: Banos, Ecuador

galapagos post cruise

first there was Bartolome, where they filmed Master and Commander

take 2

and adorable Galapagos penguins

there're penguins back there somewhere

next I found a booby (blue footed)!

and another protecting his <2 month old booby baby

i couldn't get over the blue feet!

then there were the giant tortoises (namesake of the islands)

the tortoises on each island are a bit different, for survival of course #evolution

and of course I had to play with more sea lions

because you can never get enough of them

luckily these precious things are on every beach and every island

and dock and boat and anywhere else they can layout!

the beaches were exquisite

guarded by huge Galapagos iguanas

who don't know how good they have it :)

the pink flamingos were pretty but kind of boring

so I went on a snorkeling trip to find more sharks

we snorkeled through the volcano caves of Isabela

full of white-tipped sharks

which was definitely scarier than with scuba gear on 

on the way back from snorkeling the captain let me drive the boat

easily more dangerous than the sharks

did I mention it was turtle mating season? 

yep... 

so cheers to the Galapagos

thanks for the best two weeks imaginable!
location: Islas Galapagos