Ecuador & the Galápagos Islands
Upon leaving Peru, Michael and I flew into Ecuador's capital city, Quito. We rented a very cozy AirBnB in a nicer part of town for five nights. The plan, ultimately, was to relax, as we had just spent a grueling 10 days of nonstop moving in Peru. A friend of mine from Ball State, Erika, lived nearby in Otavalo and gave us many recommendations for things to do while in the area. Upon posting on Facebook about being in Quito for a few days, a coworker of mine from my summer at Cedar Point Amusement Park in 2013, Indrid, insisted that she show us around the city. She took us to a nice lunch, for a climb up an 1800s gothic cathedral, to Mitad del Mundo (or "the Middle of the World" at the worlds 0-0'0" latitude line), and to the top of a very scenic mountain in Quito via ski-lift.
Two of Erika's suggestions included neighboring cities, Baños and Otavalo (where she lived). Baños is in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Here, we went on a waterfall tour, and visited La Casa del Arbol (or "tree house") where they have the famous "Swing on the Edge of the World". The following day, we went to Otavalo, the indigenous capital of Ecuador, and did a tour of famous places around the city with Erika.
We headed off to Galápagos after this, which is heavily explored in the video above. We visited the three largest islands, San Cristobal, Isabela, and Santa Cruz. Each island was accessible via a rough three hour speed "ferry" boat ride through the open Pacific Ocean. The Galápagos, while a bit of a tourist trap, was full of natural wonder. Known as an evolutionary masterpiece, Galápagos is notable for its endemic animals, meaning that they live nowhere else in the world. Because of this, most animals are very approachable and unafraid of human contact, as they never evolved to be afraid of humans, unlike mainland species. To name a few, Galápagos is famous for their Giant Galápagos Tortoise, lava lizards, sea turtles, hammer head sharks, Galápagos reef sharks, blue footed boobies, sea lions, and Galápagos marine iguanas.
Perhaps what put Galápagos on the map was Charles Darwin's famous expedition to the islands in 1835. Darwin observed how the finches (known to this day as "Darwin's Finches") had beaks different than any others he'd ever seen. Galápagos heavily influenced his theories of evolution and natural selection. Darwin now has animal research centers named after him on each of the three main islands. All of which feature world-famous Giant Galápagos Tortoise breeding facilities.
Galápagos Fun Fact: Being that the islands were all formed by underground volcanos, they were never a part of the ancient super-continent, Pangea.