July 26 – August 5, 2016
We took two days off in Quito to run some errands before heading to the Galapagos Islands for what will be memories of a lifetime. There are lots of pictures – two pages worth!
Cycling Stats
No cycling. We enjoyed being full on tourists for over a week.
Accommodations:
We were fortunate enough to stay at the Casa de Ciclistas in Quito. This was our first time at such an establishment and it was incredible! Our second night we slept at the airport. Then while on the Galapagos Islands we stayed at hotels every night.
What happened…
Amanda writes: Andrew and I decided we were going to splurge and visit the Galapagos Islands. Initially he didn’t want anything to do with it. Essentially visiting the islands is six months of our budget. It’s a big spend, but it’s one of those places that you’re never going to be this close again; so let’s do it. While we try and stick to our budget, we don’t want to do so at the expense of missing amazing things. I’d put the Galapagos Islands in this category. After we booked our flight Andrew did considerable research on tours, boat cruises and things to do on the Islands. I did the same and Nici had a great suggestion of us making a list of the things we want to see/do on the Islands as part of our decision process. Andrew found what seemed like a good price on a 5 day boat cruise but after checking our list we decided we’d take the risk and buy tours when we got to the Islands. Both of us after all get sea sick pretty easy. It was such a great decision! When you get to the Islands there are so many last minute tours and the prices are less expensive there. You certainly have to do more planning on your own, but for two people that don’t have their sea legs, I think it was the best decision.
We won’t bore you with the details of every Island and tour that we booked unless you’re interested. If you do want to know what we booked and how much it cost drop us a line and we’ll fill you in. I’ll just give you the summary. It’s amazing! We saw everything I wanted to see on the Islands. We saw flamingos, penguins, iguanas, giant tortoises, giant turtles, swam with sharks, saw lava tubes, we went snorkelling, got chased by sea lions and had an incredible time! We climbed volcanoes and swam in volcanic created formations and as a bonus; Nici and Philip and his Dad joined us for a couple of days.
The best part of the trip for me was how connected Andrew and I seemed to be. We really did enjoy this as a vacation from our cycling. Clearly we needed it more than I thought. We enjoyed our time together immensely and I really felt like the 8 days was wonderful for our marriage and intimacy. Andrew had been a bit less than excited about our travels of late and while initially he wasn’t pumped up about this trip; by the end of if I think he had just as good of a time as I did.