Galapagos and Ecuador See our blog - https://jjsecuador.blogspot.com/

Mt Chimborazo and the unique paramo

Frigate waits for a chance to show off its chest

Beautiful people

Typical rural scene

We tramped mountains at over 4500m, rode bikes down Ecuadors highest mountain, snorkeled, marveled at the wildlife of the Galapagos, and blew our lungs out walking round crater lakes at altitude. 

I admired the people who still wear rich, vibrant colours of ponchos, shawls, and scarves in the dress of Ecuadorians. Some of the clothes that the indígenas wear so proudly today are adaptations of the 16th century Spanish style costumes. How they manage to balance their hats on their heads with such elegance is a mystery. 

Straddling the equator, the Ecuadorian coast rises up to snow capped volcanoes then on the other side is the hot Amazon jungle all in a country not much bigger than New Zealand. The regions are the western coastal lowlands, the central Andean highlands, the eastern jungles of the Amazon basin and 1000 km west of the mainland - the Galapagos Islands. Thanks to its climate and many habitats (alpine grasslands, coastal swamps, tropical rainforest), Ecuador is one of the most species-rich nations on earth, a megadiversity hotspot. A fabulous place for a holiday we found!

The mighty Galapagos marine iguanas 

Challenging riding down Mt Chimborazo and freezing cold  

                                                                                                     






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