Galapagos

Galapagos Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean 600 miles off the west coast of Ecuador in South America. About 12,000 people live there. The weather is sunny and warm from January to June and cool the rest of the time. I was there in September and it was cloudy and damp. I washed a pair of wool socks one evening and they were still wet two days later!

Since September, 2000, Ecuador has adopted the US dollar as its currency and the old sucre is no longer accepted. Beware that heavily worn or slightly torn dollar bills are not accepted. Other currencies can be exchanged in the major cities (Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca) but if traveling beyond these bring a good stash of small-denomination dollar bills. Change for large bills is hard to obtain.

Some shops on Santa Cruz accept MasterCard, a few Visas, almost none accept American Express.

American and Continental fly to Quito and Guayaquil from New York, Miami and Houston, with connections to Galapagos.

Major tour operators on the islands are Cosmos, Kleintours, Globus, Nuevo Mundo and Metropolitan Touring. Our tour through the Galapagos Island's was with Metropolitan Touring. It is an established company with twenty-five years experience on the islands. They offer many options. We chose their Land (Hotel Delphin) and Sea (Delphin 11) tour. The benefits: We could go for a walk at dawn, explore the islands by day, and swim in the pool at dusk. The downside is the time spent going back and forth between Santa Cruz and the other islands.