This last post for this trip is by guest blogger Lisa (as Aidan is back in school and too busy). I have a list of things I am supposed to cover.
First, we left out the pit craters on Santa Cruz, it was our first stop after arrival in the Galapagos. The islands are volcanic. They sit on a hot spot and have moved over the years with the plates, creating new islands as they move. They are similar in geology to the Hawaiian Islands but newer, hence the less dense foliage on many islands. The craters are formed when underground lava chambers are emptied and then later collapse.
Next, in case you may want to visit the Galapagos or mainland Ecuador sometime, there are some interesting things to note. First, they use the same electric plugs as the US which makes charging electronics easier - no fighting over the one or two adapters you managed to find and pack.
Second, surprisingly they are on the US dollar. We asked our guide about it one day because we were curious how it came about. It is also more interesting now with the trouble the EU has had with countries with varying economic stability using the Euro. He said it was done in order to resolve high inflation, corruption, and instability. I was still curious so I looked it up on the all-powerful Google and found this interesting article (in case you are bored or curious too).
Summary: stabilized economy but with a lack of control over their monetary decisions (and Washington DC probably doesn't consider Ecuador when making financial policy).
If planning a trip, know that there is a lot to do on the islands, providing you like to be active. We could have easily spent the whole week there and skipped Quito. I thought we might be bored by the end of the week but instead we were reluctant to leave. I get motion sickness so we limited our boat excursions to only two day trips to the closest islands. If you were more adventurous, you could visit a different island each day. But even on the main island of Santa Cruz, you can hike, bike, or kayak and never get tired of it. You see tortoises, iguanas, and marine life every time you venture out, and it never gets old.
Last, you need a guide for a lot of things but not every day. Most hotels arrange your guides and they provide valuable insight and seem to love their jobs. If you travel to the uninhabited islands, you have to have a guide and they are provided by the boat tour company. The National Park has done a nice job of limiting visitors and keeping the park pristine. They keep track of each boat (day tours and cruises) to ensure not too many people visit any one island each day. They created the marine park as well and now fishing is prohibited within the islands.
The Equator:
Why are we in long pants and long sleeves on the equator? Shouldn't it be boiling hot?
Quito is in the Andes at an elevation of 9350 feet. For those of you who have visited us in Keystone, Colorado, it is a similar elevation. (But Quito is a city of about 2.5M people in the mountains.) So the elevation prevents it from ever being too warm. I think the average high is 65 year-round, only the amount of rain changes with the seasons, not the temperature.
That's it from Ecuador. Check back in June for our summer travels (yes, travels, plural)!
That's very cool. Great blog. I got to put those places on my things to do list of the Summer!!!!
ReplyDelete