Bob and Ann in Peru and Equador in 2008

Farewell to out crew


Giant tortoise

After loading into the pangas and bidding farewell to Athala and crew, we landed at the dock on San Cristobal. It began to rain while we were riding in our bus to the tortoise preserve - La Galapaguera de Cerro Colorado. At first we saw no tortoises on our walk through the preserve, but when we got to the hatchery we saw small ones. As we continued walking in the rain we began spotting the huge giants in their favorite water holes. (It was sickening to remember our kids riding on the backs of these old treasures at the Oakland children's zoo.) Now that they are protected, we hope they will flourish here again.

Last minute shopping and snacks in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno kept us busy until time to take the bus to the airport at San Cristobal. After we boarded the plane, we sat for awhile waiting to take off. When that didn't happen, we were told that the power to the fuel pumps was not working and we couldn't leave until they started and filled the plane with fuel. So we got off of the plane and went into the waiting room where they served us lunch. We finally left about one hour late.

Paco met us in Quito and took us to our Reina Isabel Hotel. This was the third time we were here and we had the same room each time. Our farewell dinner was at a nice restaurant that had huge picture windows with a fabulous view of Quito.