Ecuador and Galapagos 2001

When your sister and her family live on the Galapagos Islands, you just have to go! A once in a lifetime opportunity to see the wildlife at close quarters on these famous islands.

Pippa had arranged a cruise for us on the Beagle II and the photos from the top (taken with a smallinstamatic) show how close we came to it all. Seals, blue footed Boobies, Gannets, Iguanas and crabs were just some of the wildlife we came across. The snorkeling was great (except for the sighting of a Galapagos shark!). A bit further down we see Kathryn with one of the Islands' giant tortoises and Kathryn will Billy in the hills - not the day she broke a horse's leg on the pony trek!

I don't know if the photos do justice to how close we came to all this wildlife - we'll be relying on our memories. Unfortunately photos don't record the sound of the Boobies calls. We had a nice relax at Pippa's house on Santa Cruz and got to know her life their with Rob, Asha and Billy. Kathryn will certainly never forget the spider in our little room!

We finished the holiday with some time in Quito, both on our own and with a couple of people we had met on the cruise who lived there. Very exciting in the bustling markets. We also enjoyed a few days with Pips - especially memorable was going up into the hills in a taxi with snow on the bonnet to stop the engine overheating to enjoy the hot baths at Papllacta. We can't not mention the flight in and out of Quite - breathtaking. You have to do it to get the experience.

A superb trip with lots of fond memories. Thanks to Pips for making it more special for us. Maybe now that we have a decent camera and a video camera we should do it again (any excuse!)