Great timing. Very helpful to a friend of mine.

Leaving for similar trip in 4 weeks. Can't wait to hear abut yours.

I'll try to keep up the pace and get to the Galapagos portion soon; but mainland Ecuador is equally fascinating IMHO. Our first day exploring the highlands outside Quito is posted in two parts:

Part I: http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/straddling-middle-of-world.html

Part II: http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-afternoon-is-even-better.html

eenusa - I have just read your Part 1 and 1 blogs and they're wonderful. Don't worry about hurrying to the Galapagos yet!

We will be in Quito for 3 nights, Bellavista Cloud Forest for 3 days and then Galapagos cruise for 6 days. So, I'm interested in ALL that you did when you were there.

Did you get to Papallacta?

No, we didn't get to Papallacta. It was on our 'perhaps' list for our first day, but our flight was delayed and we didn't get into Quito until 1:30a and didn't get to bed until 3:00a ... so we opted to stay in town and do the hop-on hop-off bus instead. There are so many places we wanted to go to, or spend more time, that we definitely have to plan a mainland-only trip back to Ecuador.

How was the "Hop on HOp Off" bus? Worth it? Any trouble figuring out where you were?

Another question - What was the cost of the private guide and did you just tell him where you wanted to go ? Did you set this up before you got to Ecuador?

The hop on-hop off bus was nice -- as long as you consider it a means for getting your bearings and don't expect it to be an in-depth tour. We didn't hop off as many times as we might have done because we got a late start due to the travel delays getting into Quito. We had no problems figuring out where we were and the narration on the bus was good. (If you haven't seen them ... I do have several postings from our HO-HO day in the blog -- one is general experience; the rest focus on our hop-offs. All are in the July 2012 archive.)

The guide was $120/day, but the price depends on what you want to do, distances covered, etc. I contacted him about 6 mos. in advance -- I'm an early planner. I had an idea of what we wanted to do, but asked for suggestions and then tweaked the itineraries on his list to meet our needs/wants/interests. As this was our first trip to Ecuador, we left the itineraries a bit more general to cover more ground, rather than focus on just one thing -- like a hike at a specific location.

Part I of Day 2 -- http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/south-to-cotopaxi.html

Part II of Day 2 concludes our time on our own before our Celebrity Xpedition package. We would love to go back and spend more time on the mainland of Ecuador; we had a fantastic time.

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/afternoon-of-naranjilla-and-roses_6.html

eenusa - Keep up the good work. Your pictures are wonderful and your writing informative and funny.

Could you please tell me how to get in touch with your guide?

eenusa - Keep up the good work. Your pictures are wonderful and your writing informative and funny.

Could you please tell me how to get in touch with your guide?

Oh yes, and how did you deal with the altitude? Any problems?

You can reach Lincoln at lincolnjabra at hotmail dotcom. Bear in mind that he might be out with clients and may not be able to respond immediately. Say hi from Erin & Mui.

Altitude did not present a problem and I'm glad that we didn't have to use Diamox this time (although we did use it in Peru). The hotel did not have coca tea, so didn't use that this time either. Essentially, we took our first couple of days easy, slowed our walking pace down, ate light, abstained from alcoholic drinks, and drank plenty of water. We took our Camelbaks and used those everywhere for hydration (except the Old City). We filled the Camelbaks with bottled water and dropped a couple of Gatorade-like tablets for flavor and to replenish electrolytes.

Part I of the Celebrity tour is up on the blog -- http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/quito-city-tour-with-celebrity.html

Great details for those who might wish to follow in your footsteps. Lovely waterfall so close to Otavalo.

Will be interested in your cruise with the new rules in place.

atravelynn ... a couple more posts from Quito, and then I promise to get onto the Galapagos.

I imagine that for those who have been, there might have been a noticeable difference, but for us it was a really great trip. 7 days is short, though ... wish it had been 10 days.

Here's part 2 of our Celebrity City Tour -- http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/quito-from-monasterio-to-palacio-de_7.html

eenusa - Wondering how the weather was when you went into the countryside outside of Quito. Was it raining at all, or misty? If so, how did that impact what you could do or see?

We were very lucky with the weather; mostly comfortable temps and plenty of sunshine and usually a light breeze to keep the sun's heating effect at bay. Had clouds threaten rain a few times, but only really had some sprinkles at Lake Cuicocho (a little impact on photography). Temps were downright cold at Cotopaxi at 4500 m - wind coming off the glacier, but we were prepared with our layers. It was brutally hot at the Mitad del Mundo; mostly because there was no breeze to cool things off; and no shade unless you go into the buildings. And if you go up the TeleferiQo in Quito, it can be cold up there.

Layers is key; and always carry plenty of water.

This brings the Celebrity City tour to a close .. http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/quito-straddling-equator-or-not.html

Thanks for the report--and your pics are beautiful. I am planning a December trip and found your report on activities around Quito informative!

Thanks, schlegal1 ... always good to hear the information is useful to others.

And now, we finally get to the Galapagos ... http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/getting-to-isla-baltra.html.

Thanks, schlegal1 ... always good to hear the information is useful to others.

And now, we finally get to the Galapagos ... http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/getting-to-isla-baltra.html.

Read your new entry. Thanks. It's really going to help us when we go through this same thing in 3 weeks (although we will not be on the Celebrity Xpedition but a small boat - 16 passengers).

For anyone interested, video/photos from around the Celebrity Xpedition.
http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/xpedition-around-ship.html

Waiting with held breath for the Galapagos cruise - once you're on the water. Although, part of me doesn't want to read all - I want some surprises when we do this.

BTW - What was the tipping like in Quito? What about on the boat? Certain money amount per day/pp or a %?

Didn't do much in Quito that required tipping, but on the one occasion we ate out, we just rounded up the bill. The Xpedition is all inclusive, so no tipping there either.

And here's the first afternoon on the water ... no landing.
http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/an-afternoon-of-magnificens.html

First part of first landing ... Santiago Island ... http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/santiago-puerto-egas.html

Great pictures. I've got to show them to my husband who is a birder.

Two more parts for Puerto Egas --

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/santiago-puerto-egas-drama-happens.html

and

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/santiago-puerto-egas-imps-of-darkness.html

Loving this. We are doing this trip in early November so much appreciated.

Finally -- the snorkeling/beach time for our morning excursion at Puerto Egas
http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...ing-beach.html

Your link didn't work for me. Here's another try: http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/santiago-puerto-egas-snorkeling-beach.html

I went to the link and it did say "no longer here" or something like that. So, I just clicked on "Home" and I got your snorkeling pix and video. Really nice.

So the water was cold, eh? Yes, I figured we'd have to rent a wet suit from our boat.

Looks like you were in very shallow water when videotaping the sea lion. True? What about the fish? We just bought an underwater Panasonic camera - takes video and stills. I wondered how I would be able to take pictures/video and also snorkel at the same time without choking/jerking the camera around. Tried it out in our friend's pool this past weekend. It was tough.

How'd you do it?

Sorry about the broken link; the same one worked on a different site, so not sure what the problem was; glad you found the post anyway.

The sea lion had just entered the water from the beach, so it was shallow water. I spoke to hubby, and he said the depth where he went out to and saw the fish was maybe 10-15 feet. You see more if you leave the immediate beach area.

The Canon S95 my husband used has an underwater casing that adds bulk to it, which makes it easier to manage in the water. You'll notice that he doesn't zoom, pan, etc. when he's videotaping underwater; he just rides the currents and tapes what's in front of him. He took a lot of footage and you're seeing the parts that he deemed best ... editing is essential

These two links are for the afternoon landing at Rabida Island

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/rabida-island.html

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/rabida-snorkeling-beach-time.html

eenusa - Thanks for all your help and patience with answering my many questions.

Your pictures and commentary are wonderful.

A couple of parts for Isabela Island ...

Elizabeth Bay: http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/isabela-elizabeth-bay-by-panga.html

Deepwater Snorkel: http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/isabela-deepwater-snorkel.html

Caleta Tagus (Part I): http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/isabela-caleta-tagus-by-panga.html (the land portion of this will be in the next post).

Part II of Caleta Tagus

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/isabela-caleta-tagus-darwins-lake-walk.html

Next landing at Sullivan Bay, Santiago Island ... this was a fascinating morning ... in particular our short walk on the lava flow.

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/as-day-4-dawns-this-is-why-were-always.html

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/santiago-sullivan-bay-by-panga.html

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/07/santiago-sullivan-bay-lava-walk.html