Jorge was very friendly and spoke English. We checked in that evening in the Dann Carlton Hotel. We decided to choose this hotel because it is placed in the Mariscol area, known for great restaurants, and lots of good shops. Our tour company, Stanford Travel Systems arranged our tours, transfers, Galapagos cruise, and the flights to the Galapagos Islands. We can say now that we chose the best cruise between all galapagos cruises that exist.



At the begining, we had wanted to stay in the old colonial area near La Compania church and the main plaza of San Francisco. But then we found that the hotels in this area lack a certain standard of service, plus access in and out of the colonial section of "old Quito" can be complicated since the roads are narrow and traffic and congestion can be a problem.

TOUR OF THE OTAVALO MARKET

On Friday, we had planned an entire day to the area north of Quito, known as Otavalo country. This area to the north. We had a chance to see the small Ecuadorian towns of Peguche and Cayambe along the way. In that area is an extinct volcano and a beautiful lake, perfect for an afternoon walk. In Peguche, we met the local weaver, famous in the area for his tapestries First a demonstration on how to make the instruments, and then a performance for us. In the Otavalo Market, the Otavalo Indians bring trade goods from miles around for sale or barter. It is a bustling open air market, and the Otavalo Indians are a proud and independent indigenous group from the north of Quito. Lunch was served at a an Ecuadorian hacienda near the town. Hacienda Cusin has almost three centuries of history in Ecuador to boast of.

ON TO THE GALAPAGOS AND OUR CRUISE

We leave Quito in the morning with the guide to the airport and we met with a representative from the ship. After that, we arrived at Baltra island, where the airport is small and you must first register before entering. In order to entrance you have to pay a fee because the Galapagos Islands are actually a national part and regulated by the park service.

Once on the islands, the first amazing thing you notice is that the animals have no fear of being around you. They walk next to you, or just ignore you and walk right past.

The snorkeling is great. One afternoon, we saw a huge black manta ray, the gigantic kind and many special animals. This kind of service is common given by galapagos cruises.

We decided ourselves to go back down to the beach for some snorkeling. At one point, a sea lion swam by to check us out. Then we saw a penguin on the rocky cliff next to us. A little while later the penguin must have dropped into the water because we saw him swim right under us.

The ship was still in the bay and we had an awesome view of the red beach and the islands beyond. The islands are better than you can imagine. The food and service on board are excellent. The crew is terrific, the islands beautiful it makes us think that we have pay one of the galapagos luxury cruises but we really pay for a normal service that most of people affort in order to meet wonderful and interesting people from all over the world.