Quito's elevation is 2850 m so we took the first day easy with a sightseeing tour arround the city starting with  the Iglesia and Plaza de Santo Domingo.

This is the beautiful Monastery of San Francisco

We took a rest at the Plaza de San Francisco.

The small hill to the south of the old town is called "El Panecillo" and is a major Quito landmark. It is topped by a huge statue of "La Virgen de Quito".

We climbed to the top of the tower of "La Basilica" where you have one of the best views of old Quito

Seven Tonnes of gold were supposedly used to gild the ceilings, walls ...

 ... and altar of "La Compania de Jesus", one of the most beautiful churches in Ecuador.

We spend one day with Antonio in the "Parque Nacional Cotopaxi".

The park's centerpiece is the cone-shaped...

 ... snowcapped volcano Cotopaxi (5897m), Ecuador's second-highest peak.

We never have been up so high on earth (4500m)!

 Wild horses

This ist the Thursday morning market of Saquisili. This market is for the inhabitants of remote indian villages who flood into town to ...

 ... buy or sell everything like these poor chicken.

After a lot of sightseeing we decided to relax in the Termas de Papallacta. 

The seeting is grand: On a clear day, you can sit in your hot pool at an elevation of 3300 m  ...

... and see the snowcapped volcano Antisana  (5753 m)

 And there are some nice treks to ...

 ... enjoy the area around the volcano.

Back to Quito we visited "La Mitad del Mundo" (the middle of the world). At the "Museo Solar Inti Nan" are some fun demonstration of tasks that can only be perfomed at the equator.

Ralf had a lot of fun with...

 ... the "egg-test"!!!

This place is one of the few places where you can stay with your feet in two hermispheres..

 .. or having the possibility to be an Indian.

But Isabel was a bit afraid of the real shrinkhead.

We were lucky to be one of the first person who could use the new cablecar in Quito. So it was easy to reach a good place to have a nice "good bye view" over Ouito.

And Jens: One of the best frozen magarita we ever had!

One big  highlight of all highlights we had during our journey: The Galapagos Island.

We started our trip by boat to the Kicker Rock

Immediately Ralf found a comfortable position on board...

We met some dolfins.. 

 ... and had some really interessing travel passengers.

The animals on the Islands are amazing...

 Sea lion bull

 Red-footed booby

A Fregate bird mama with her chick.

From this black gull-species are only 300 individuen left (in the whole world)!

Moris, we forgot the name of this nice gulls!

Ralf flirting with a Sea lion lady

our nice ship

Frigatebirds during the mating season

  a curious chick

Blue-footed booby

 Marine iguana

a sleeping Sea lion baby.

 Pelican

A Sea lion bull unhappy, because ...

 ...Ralf took over his harem (just for a minute).

A good picture of our boat and a Sea lion bull. 

Isabel and the Seal lion colonie

There are a lot of cactuses on the islands.

Galapagos land iguana 

 A cute sea lion pup

Ralf and a Giant tortoise.

There reach an age of 150 years...

 ... and they are really slowly!

Sometimes they look like E.T. 

Flamingos

Lonesome beach

We enjoyed Moris briefing for the next day every evening... 

... and mostly we saw all the animals like this marina iguana he explained  during the briefing.

We joinded a really funny group during this trip. 

And every day there where more to see like these masked boobies...

 ... or this blue footed booby and ....

 ... their chicks.

The dance of the albatrosses was unforgettable. 

Hello to everybody!!!

We joined the Albatrosses.

They became our favorite birds (beside the Kiwis from New Zealand).

Sally Lighfoot crab

The funny monkey birds.

Ralf plays with a sea lion pup 

Watching the stars by night

This is a one week old sea lion puppy.

Hello to Holland and Califonia!!!! Be careful, Aturo is watching you.

After 8 days on sea we returned to the mainland and visited Guayaquil. In the middle of the town there are prehistoric-looking land iguanas in the small Parque Bolivar.

Visiting the hill of Las Penas with a nice view on the Malecon 2000, Guayaquil's waterfront promenade.

Finally we found a real "pirate"...

   ... and we saw some macaws.