Cotopaxi Vulcano - 4800m (15000ft)

We left Quito around 7am for a guided tour to Cotopaxi Vulcano (peak is 5900 m). Our guide was really nice and after a 2 hour drive we arrived at the park entrance. We continued by 4WD along a dirt road up to 4500m. The last 1km and 300 altitude meters were managed by foot, stopping every 100m to catch our breath. It was quite an experience to be hiking up this high. In comparison, Mont Blanc (highest mountain in Europe), is approximately the same height. We touched the glacier and had a wonderful lunch in the park. Our guide dropped us off on the Pan-American Highway in Lasso and we took a Bus to Baños.

Galapagos Islands, Isabela - Santa Cruz - San Cristobal

On the Island of Isabela our guide organized a bus up to the beginnings of the cloud forest of the Negra Volcanoe (1490 m). From there we mounted horses and continued a 9 km treck up to the crater and along the ridge to the beautiful sunny side. Under a tree we "parked" our transport, and continued by foot down the slopes towards a newer volcano (chico) on new lava flows. As we were walking along a fairly new lava flow we suddenly felt a huge explosion and a tremor shook us. We all looked at each other and started running back toward safer ground. Later we heard that appearantly part of the crater that we were going to visit had collapsed ... wow... The guide decided it would be safer to head back. We pic-nic'ed and headed back the same way. Even got a chance to gallop along the edge of the crater... it was surreal.
Back by the ocean we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and local specialty (Ceviche). After a stroll around Porto Villamil we headed back on board for dinner and prepared for a rough 10 hour navigation to Santa Cruz Island. The alarm woke us (for those that slept at all) at 5:30 and were rushed through the Darwin Research Center. It was worth getting up this early. The giant land turtles including Lonely George were awake and active.
After a brief breakfast back on board it was already time to say goodbye to the Encantada crew. We boarded a speedboat and traversed back to San Cristobal in a little over 2 hours. From there it was back to the mainland of Ecuador with a brief stop in Guayaquil.

Galapagos Islands, San Cristobal - Española - Floreana

Tuesday morning at 7 am we headed back to Quito's International Airport. From there it was a 2.5 h flight via Guyaquil to the Galapagos Island of San Cristobal. Within the hour we boarded our sail boat, the Encantada, and headed along the northern shore of the Island. There we were instructed that we would be snorkeling with sea lions shortly. A couple minutes later we were dumped into the cool Pacific waters. Sea lions swam all around us. It was sureal. Following, we had a short land excursion where we learned all about the sea lion colonies. After a fabulous dinner on board we sailed toward our first destination, Española Island, south of San Cristobal. We always sailed the greater distances at night, when we were supposed to be sleeping. The small boat and sometimes rough navigation through large swells made that difficult. Awakening the next morning we had already ancored in a beautiful bay of Española. We explored the cliffs with the dinggy and landed on a beautiful 1 km white sand beach where we enjoyed the wildlife swerving around colonies of sea lions, pelicans, and sea iguanas. After lunch back on board we snorkeled, this time in wetsuits, along the cliffs discovering a whole new world of fish, starfish, corals, sea cucumbers and other amazing creatures. Again we were accompanied by sea lions. They are quite curious animals, one of them kept nibbling on my fins. Another land excursion on Española brought more amazing discoveries. We had the privilege of witnessing the birth of a sea lion, more pelicans, bluefoot & masked boobies, as well as the endemic galapagos albatros.
Dinner was usually server at 19:30 (great food), and shortly after we set sail for the next Island, Floreana. Here we saw penguins and our first glimpse at sea turtles. A three star snorkling around the Devil's Crown reef gave us the opportunity to see eagle spotted sting rays, more sea turtles and an abundance of amazing sea life. I can understand now why people book vacations for snorkling and diving. It's a world of its own that's well worth exploring.
Again lunch was followed by a land excursion to a lava tunnel. With flashlights we forged ahead until we hit sea water. There we donded our snorkles and masks and explored in frigid water another 200 meters or so. It was out of an Indiana Jones movie.

Back on the beach we had the opportunity to play some soccer. It was women against men. The women won... but only because our tour guide had special rules! :) We had dinner and continued on toward Isla de Isabela, the largest Island of the Galapagos.

Quito, Ecuador

We safely touched down in Quito 3 hours ago. Our Swiss run Bed & Breakfast has great location and is very charming. A half our after checking in we experienced a hail storm and the temperature dropped significantly. We are walking around the "New Town" in jackets with our sunburns :)

Santa Ana - Mari´s House

After a horrendous 4 hours on Costa Rica roads we arrived at Mari´s House in Santa Ana approximately 20 km west of San Jose. It was exciting to see a familiar face and we have had lots of stories to share. We went shopping, had a large BBQ with 6 of Tico friends and this morning explored the local farmers market (La Feria). It´s exciting to talk to Mari who has lived here for over 3 months as well as her friends to understand their culture and way of life. 2morrow we are flying to Quito. We will be staying in a small Swiss Hostel called Villa-Nancy.

Tamarindo

Yesterday and today we relaxed at a beach resort called Tamarindo on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. We initially headed further south, but after having to cross 3 rivers (see picture) and 2 hours on mud roads we decided that we'd be better off in a little more "touristy" place with more infrastructure. I rented a surf board and tried to catch some waves. Yep, it's true... surfing takes a lot of practice. We also swam/paddled out to a small island getting pretty sun-burned in the process. We are now all aloed up, doing laundry and will be heading back into the vincinity of San Jose. Anja has a friend from the U of M that we will be visiting.

Arenal Volcano

(White-nosed Coati found chasing our rental car) After a torturous 2 hour ride on bumpy roads we finally hit some paved roads along Laguna de Arenal (Lake Arenal). Another 2 hours later, with a stop at a German Bakery, we glimpsed a view of our next destination: Volcan Arenal. This Volcano is still actively spewing lava and exploding on a daily basis. We had the opportunity to hike on lava fields at the base of the Volcano: High Danger Zone... whatever :)

We spent the night a the old Observatory with fantastic view of the Volcano. It´s even more spectacular at night, when you can see the glowing rock flying from the top and rolling down the steep slopes... nature providing the fireworks.

Today we headed for he northwestern coast for another stay at one of the fine pacific beaches. Once again the roads were horrendous with parts requiring us to drive through rivers 50 cm deep. (Again, Pictures will follow due to bandwith limitations)

Canopy Tour - Monteverde / Santa Elena

Sunday morning we embarked from San Jose to Monteverde with our rental car not realizing how BAD the roads in this country really are. After leaving the Panamericana Highway we were glad that we had 4WD. It was an adventurous 1.5 hours with little suspension with our little Suzuki Jimmy :)

We arrived in Santa Elena, checked into our Cabinas (Cabins, cold water only) and found ourselves in the middle of the cloud forest on a Canopy Tour with harness and zip-lines little over a hour later. It was an amazing experience, flying over the tree tops held only by a steel cable and a pully.

The following day we took it easy... only a 7 km hike ;). The cloud forest is a magical place. It feels like being in a fairytale with all the moss, green, birds, mist and crazy sounds around us. (Pictures will follow... we´re currently on a dialup snail connection)

Butterfly Farm & Coffee Tour - San Jose, Costa Rica

We are staying in a budget hotel in the center of San Jose. On Thursday we toured the city and saw one of the oldest buildings of San Jose, the Teatro National.

Yesterday we visited a Butterfly Farm (Finca de Mariposas). We took the local buses to a rural area, getting on the wrong bus in the process. This is when we realized how bad our Spanish really is. Thankfully the people around us are really helpful and friendly and after a small detour around San Jose, we finally arrived after a very interesting 1 hour bus ride with all Ticos (People from Costa Rica) in the small city of La Guacima. The Butterfly Farm was an amazing experience. We got to see the 4 life stages and Anja released her own Butterfly.

Today we are touring a Coffee Roasting plant and drinking lots of it :) Well, all in all "Pura Vida" ... Life is good :)

Peninsula de Osa, Costa Rica

Upon arriving in Costa Rica we decided to jump on a tiny puddle jumper plane heading to south west to an area called Peninsula de Osa. After touching down in the midst of Palm trees on a barely visible landing strip we took a taxi to a small town. From there the journey continued via boat down the sierpe river to the pacific ocean and then further south to a small "resort" called Poor Man´s Paradise. We stayed 3 nights in rustic cabins in the middle of the rainforest. The beach was 50m from our cabin. Absolutely amazing flora and fauna...

The next day we did a small tour to the Corcovado National Rainforest Park. We saw Howler andspiderr Monkeys, Aras, Agoutis, Nosebears, Singing Frogs, Wild Turkeys and unbelievable flowers and plants. We topped off the tour with fresh coconut peeled, and cracked by our tour guide on the beach.

The following day we spent some time relaxing on the beautiful beach with a small hike to a nearby river and canoe trip. We even saw a crocodile. Anja decided that she would refrain from swimming.

Today, we flew back to the Capital of San Jose and did a little bit of site seeing within the town. We are looking forward to another 10 days within Costa Rica. The country has sooo much to offer and the people are extremely helpful and friendly.

Las Vegas

We arrived in Las Vegas around 3:30 and checked into the Hotel. A free shuttle took us to the strip. What a zoo... It is kind of a scary town after having spent 10 days in national parks hiking. We gambled a really small amount (lost $20.00 ), but got at least 6 free drinks out of the deal. Can't beat that. The highlight of the whole Las Vegas experience was the Cirque de Soleil Mystere Show at the Treasure Island Casino. The artists and their performances were amazing and the whole ambiancee, costumes, and stage was absolutely breathtaking. The next day we drove to Hoover Dam (just to get out of the crazinesss of this city) and returned the rental car at the airport waiting for our flight to San Jose, Costa Rica which departed at midnight.

Mountain Biking around Moab

Today was the day of Mountain Biking. We picked up two rentals and drove to the Klondike Bluff Trail just north of Moab. The 14.2 mile trail lead us up white slickrock to a beautiful bluff overlooking Arches National Park. Going up was tough... riding back down a blast. Anja decided she had enough and continued the day with some Antique (Anti-Q) shopping in Moab. I decided to try my luck on the Slickrock Bike Trail just east of Moab... wow... what a challenge. I managed the practice loop and another 1.4 miles beyond on the regular trail. The whole trail is like a roller-coaster ride with the only downside that you are the motor :) Anywho, it was a blast.

Tomorrow will be a day of driving. We are looking at 7 hours on the road from Moab back to Las Vegas. The reward is Mystique (A Cirque de Solei Show) in town.

Capitol Reef / Arches

Unfortunately our first day at Capitol Reef was rained out. We spent most of the day tooling around a small town called Torrey. It was actually a nice break from all the hiking we had done the previous 4 days.

Yesterday the weather was perfect. We got up relatively early and hiked two different trails (Fremont River Trail and Grand Wash) within Capitol Reef. Afterwards, we headed toward Moab with a short stop and lunch in Goblin Valley State Park. We checked into Moab around 17:30, showered and had a wonderful Mexican Dinner.

This morning the alarm went of at 4:30 and the plan was to watch the sunrise from Delicate Arch within Arches National Park. We made it up to the top by 6:00 (sunrise was expected at 6:21), however a band of thick clouds prevented us from enjoying both the beauty of the sunrise and the Delicate Arch. Never the less, we were the only ones up there... giving us ample time for pictures and simply enjoying the peace and quiet of nature.

After hiking back down, we decided to pay a visit to Devil's Garden as well. It turned out to be another monster hike... well, when you travel I guess you walk a lot :)

We're back in Moab enjoying a cool drink. Tomorrow we are planning on doing either some Mountain Biking or River Rafting.

First Stop Zion

We made it to Zion in one piece. Had a beautiful flight from MSP to LAS across all the national parks. We have done three big hikes so far. On Friday we almost killed ourselves trying to get up to Observation Point in 40 Degree (C) heat. It was a 12 km hike with 800m in elevation (See picture for the view from the top). The next day we took it relatively easy and hiked up Taylor Creek in Kolob Canyon. We met a Swiss couple and spent 2 hours chatting at the back of the Canyon. Myrta and Thomas gave us some fantastic tips for the rest of our destinations. Today we just finished a 7 hour hike to what's called "The Subway". It was quite strenuous since most of the trail followed the river bed. This meant a lot of up and down over rocks, through water, waterfalls etc. However, it was well worth the effort for all the beautiful views. We are headed over to Bryce Canyon this evening after finishing our laundry (3 pairs of underwear isn't a lot :).