We came to Ecuador with 3 things on our minds - To meet our good friend Ricardo Rocco, rebuild the bike after 19 months of rough roads and rough riding and to go to the Galapagos Islands. We have seen very little of Ecuador so far as we rode straight to Quito to meet Ricardo. Ricardo is known as the South American Ambassador for motorcycling with just cause. His life is Motorcycling and anyone who passes this way generally stays with him. When he's not traveling himself he spends his time doing whatever he can to smooth the way for people like us. A good bed to sleep in, a first rate garage to do everything under the sun on the bike, good conversation and mountains of advice. Ricardo is a rare person. However, we have used and abused him as much as we can by using all his tools, turning his spare bedroom into a 'control centre' for trip planning and dumping our bike with him for 8 days while we swanned off to the Galapagos Islands. Cheers Ricardo!

Even more important than rebuilding the bike for us was organising a trip to the Galapagos Islands. No sooner had we arrived in Quito than we were hunting down the Galapagos travel agents. One by one we went round them all looking for a last minute deal. The problem wasn't so much finding a last minute deal but rather in choosing from the 100's on offer. Almost having lost the will to ask yet another travel agent the same list of questions we had prepared we tried one last shop in which our dreams came true. Tours range from 4 days to 8, guides range from spanish speaking fishermen to multi lingual first class naturalists, boats range from economy tubs to first class ships and the islands visited range from the busy islands round the airport to the spectacular and remote islands further afield. We were in the 'economy range' and expected to find a middle of the road tour. What we got was:
A First Class ship,
8 days visiting both inner and outer islands and highlights,
A first class multi lingual naturalist,
A written guarantee of being the first off the ship and last back on each visit: and
A 75% discount on the £4,500 UK it should have cost!

Its fair to say that even before we went we knew we had got a good deal but sometimes things just seem far too good to be true. We flew out of Quito to meet our ship (the M/V Santa Cruz) thinking exactly that - "this is too good to be true" but the reality is that it was ALL true. From the moment we set foot on the Galapagos Islands we treated like kings. 5 course meals 3 times a day, a palace of a cabin, cocktails at every turn upon returning to the ship from an excursion, and staff who could not do enough for us. At one point Chris needed a new belt for his trousers. No problem - a crew member just gave him one of his own! Each evening we would return to our cabin and our beds would be turned down and chocolates left for us. The list goes on. Our only concern was how were we ever going to be able to go from this to 'eyeball stew' in Bolivia!

Our naturalist - Rocio could not do enough for us either. Each day she would take us to a different island and guide us around giving us all the time we wanted at any one point while striking that perfect balance between giving two over-excited regressed kids the freedom they wanted and keeping us on a tight reign so as not to go anywhere we shouldn't. She had been informed prior to our arrival that we liked photography and had arranged things so that we could be in quiet areas away from other people to have the best advantage of getting the shots we wanted. Needless to say, Chris fell in love with Rocio!

The magic and wildlife of the islands is something that could never be captured on paper (or in an email) but its true to say that the Galapagos Islands are like no where else on earth. Its a common known fact that the wildlife of the islands has no fear of man but until you experience it for yourself its impossible to have an understanding of what that really means. To walk amongst sea-lions, tortoises, penguins, boobies, lava lizards and marine iguanas and for them not to have a care in the world is a surreal experience, not to mention swimming with them. Twice a day we would fight our way onto the beach through the basking sea-lions and either walk around the islands watching the wildlife and taking in the scenery or we'd go snorkeling with the marine iguanas, penguins, turtles, millions of fish and, of course, the sea-lions.

The most comical of all the creatures on the islands have to be the Boobies. A largish bird similar to a gannet, there are 3 species on the islands, one has bright blue feet, one bright red feet and the other has a beautiful black mask. During courtship they do this comical dance with their feet and make lots of hooting and whistling noises. They are very inquisitive and during one of our walks a juvenile booby came waddling over to say hello, right up to our group and spend quite some time untying shoe laces and trying to eat camera straps before it got bored and waddled off again.

The sea-lions definitely have the cute vote, masters of the beaches they lie sprawled out on the sand sunning themselves. This is the time of year when the females give birth and to see young pups some only days old was a remarkable experience. They look so adorable with their wrinkly fur, it was a pleasure to sit on the beach and watch a group of them playing in the rock pools, watched over by dad to make sure they didn't come to any harm. Each time we went snorkeling or swimming the young sea-lions would swim out to join us, popping up unexpectedly next to you, or brushing past you underwater. they always looked full of fun and wanted to play. They love the point where the waves hit the beach allowing themselves to be rolled over and over by the waves until they are washed up onto the sand then picking themselves up they rush laughing and barking into the water to do it all over again!

And of course don't forget the creature the Galapagos islands are most famous for, the giant tortoises. These magnificent creatures are well protected today although this is a relatively recent thing and in the case of some of the species numbers have been reduced to single figures or extinction. One example is Lonesome George who is the sole survivor of his species. He now lives at one of the excellent breeding centers on the islands while efforts are made to find him a mate. These wonderful creatures can live to be well over 100 years, the oldest known tortoise is a Saddleback taken by Darwin to Australia who resides in a zoo there and is 180. We visited a number of breeding centers but the most magical part of the trip was to visit the highlands and see these ancient creatures in the wild! As you ride up small winding roads into the lush vegetation of the highlands suddenly there in the midst of the banana and papaya trees is a huge tortoise! The farm we visited has a regular resident population, the tortoises are creatures of habit and follow well worn pathways, and that day we saw about 20 of varying sizes, but all big, just munching away on the plants. Often there are more than 70 in that spot. I am sure for the local people it is just part of the scenery but for us it was a magical and very special day.

There are many more wonderful creatures on the islands and each island often has it's own variation which makes each visit more and more interesting, Sally Lightfoot crabs, named after a dancer who came to live in the Galapagos, dragon-like marine and land iguanas, bright pink flamingoes, tiny penguins, curious mockingbirds, finches with beaks of all shapes and sizes, magnificent frigate birds, and the list goes on. Then there is the stark but beautiful landscape. I think I will let our photographs tell the rest of the story, enjoy!

Our ship from Cerro Brujo

They really are pink!

Young Great Frigate Bird

Rock pools on James Island

A Land Iguana

A Curious Mockingbird

Named after a dancer called Sally Lightfoot

Marine Iguana taking a bubble bath

Our last evening, sunset over Floriana Island