Ecuador and Galapagos

WOW! So, it's been a very long time since I've

blogged. I've been so busy with work and traveling that I've let this aspect of my life slack a little bit. Anyway, here are some pics of my recent trip to South America.

This is a crater lake in the highlands near Otavalo, Ecuador. 5 million years ago this volcano exploded and the result is this lake. We hiked around this lake for about 4 hours.

To the left is a native Ecuadorian who is preparing Guinea Pigs for dinner.

To the right is the only snow capped mountain on the equator. The snow on top feeds into the Amazon. This part of our trip we stayed at natural hot springs...amazing.

The sea lions were abundant! They were adorable. I wanted to pet their whiskers and kiss them up. I actually got to touch one while snorkeling.

Okay, so this is a little difficult to see, but on the right are three penguins, on the left are blue footed boobies and you can also see some Sally Lightfooted Crabs.

Here are some Marine Iguana's. There were hundreds of them simply sunning themselves on the lava rock.

This is a Land Iguana. Beautiful!

And my favorite picture...a giant tortoise with passion fruit all over his face.