South America

For many travelers, visiting the Galapagos Islands is a dream come true. While islands themselves are individually beautiful, it is really the animals of the Galapagos that steal the show.

One of our favorite aspects of foreign travel is digging into the local cuisine of our destination.

The variety of things to experience, animals to mesmerize us, and new landscapes to explore made us drink in every moment of our week visiting the Galapagos Islands, and these photos will show you why.

The Galapagos Islands are the trip of a lifetime for many travelers. Most travelers to the islands will opt for a cruise to see many of the more remote areas. However, not all Galapagos cruise tours are the same and which boat you select will have a significant impact on your experience. Here’s how to pick the right Galapagos cruise boat for you.

Yellow, green, red, orange, blue, pink, purple. As I walked around Ecuador’s Saturday Otavalo market, my eyes were assaulted by a rainbow of colors. Everywhere I looked, tables were piled high with goods in every color imaginable. I realized that the Otavalo market is the most colorful place on earth.

For many travelers, Ecuador and the Galapagos is a trip of a lifetime! But it also poses a lot of challenges when trying to figure out what to pack. In many ways, visiting Ecuador is not one climate, it is three very different ones. Regardless of how you get there, one of your biggest decisions will be what to pack for Ecuador and the Galapagos.

I don’t know what I was expecting from the Avenue of the Volcanoes high in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador other than a view of the legendary Cotopaxi, but this was better than I ever imagined. Looking back, the Avenue of the Volcanoes gave us some of our best memories of Ecuador.

For many travelers, including us, the Galapagos Islands are a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Here, naturalists have been observing curious animals for nearly two centuries. It was here that Charles Darwin proved evolution. And it is here that visitors travel to experience one of the world’s most remote and remarkable destinations. Yet every visitor to these enchanted islands faces the challenge of picking the perfect Galapagos itinerary.

Stepping off the plane in Quito, Ecuador, the first thing you notice are the colors. The entire country is bathed in bright reds, lush greens, deep blues, sunny yellows and everything in between. Some of that is because this is one of the world’s most beautiful countries. But much of it is also due to the Ecuador graffiti scene – a robust sub-culture that takes street art who whole new levels.

In spite of an unexpected change of plans, we had a full day to explore all the fun things there are to do in Lima, Peru.