Hiking in the Galapagos Islands

In mid-April I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take a 10-day trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. The trip began in Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador. Our tour group of 11 people did a half-day tour of the city. The following day, we flew to Baltra in the Galapagos (about 600 miles of the coast of Ecuador). There we were met by our wonderful Naturalist Guide who took us to the Nemo I, a catamaran that was to be our home-away-from-home for the next week.

Over the course of 7 days, we visited 11 or so different islands, seeing all kinds of wildlife from blue-footed boobies and albatrosses to sea lions, penguins, and tortoises. I didn't do any long training hikes with my backpack and gear, however, we usually went on a couple of 2-hour hikes each day, plus snorkeling or swimming at least once. There was so much to do, I never had time to write in my trip journal. Hopefully this entry plus the photos will suffice.

If you have never thought about going to the Galapagos, think about it. If you've always wanted to go, DO IT. You will be amazed at everything you see and learn. Here a few photos from my "training" hikes south of the equator.

A blue-footed booby:

View from the top of Bartolome Island (where scenes from the movie "Master and Commander" with Russell Crowe were filmed). We had to hike up a flight of wooden steps for nearly an hour to get all the way up here:

Hiking on a trail of crushed coral on Sombrero Chino Island:

To see more of my trip photos, please visit my Flickr.com site.