Galapagos Islands

I recently went on a 4D3N Galapagos cruise trip and enjoyed every moment of it.

I arrived in Quito and spent a relaxing day exploring the capital of Ecuardo before taking a domestic flight to Baltra airport in Galapagos. Nestled amidst colossal Andean peaks at 2.800 meters above sea level, Quito is the world’s highest legal capital city in the world.

On September 1978, UNESCO described the city of Quito as "a harmonic connection between human actions and nature that together create an exceptional and transcendental piece of art in its category", declaring it the First World Cultural Heritage Site.

Statue of Sucre in front of Iglesia de Santo Domingo

Day 2. Flight to Galapagos. UNESCO declared the Galapagos Island a World Natural Heritage this archipelago is unique and one of the wonders of world. The Galapagos archipelago is located in the Pacific Ocean 600 miles, or 965 km, off the Ecuadorian mainland.

USD 100 Galapagos National Park Entrance Fee

After landing at Baltra island, we cruised to North Seymour island. I stepped out the panga and almost immediately stepped onto a sealion lazing on the steps of the dock!

Injured Sealion attacked by shark

The poor sealion was injured by a shark and was lying helplessly on the steps of the dock. I walked a short distance to the shore and was greeted by even more sealions. The sealions were wild, playful and totally unafraid of us, humans. Our naturalist, a Galapagos native, proceeded to explain to us about the vast number of endemic species on the island. I imagined myself as Charles Darwin and how his observations and collections contributed to his theory of evolution by natural selection. 

North Seymour Island is a major nesting site of the blue-footed boobies. The name booby comes from the Spanish word ‘bobo’, which means stupid, because the blue-footed booby is clumsy on land. I was fortunate enough to be witness the mating dance of the boobies. It was with great delight as I watched the male booby whistling at the female, lifting its legs and flapping its wings, with the female booby honking in approval and mimicking every move the male makes.

Blue Footed Booby

Blue Footed Booby and me

As I walked to the other end of North Seymour Island, I saw many frigate birds. Fridgate birds are large birds, with iridescent black feathers and long wings. The males have inflatable red throat pouches, which they inflate to attract the females during the mating season.

Frigate Bird soaring in the sky

My first day at the Galapagos and I was totally awed.
Day 3, 4 and 5..to be continued….

Eating around the world Part II

More food from around the world….continued from previous post

An enjoyable part of travelling is that you get to try the different cuisine from around the world. Admittedly, I am rather picky with my food and my palate is not as adventurous as I would like it to be, but I have made it a point to at least taste the different cuisine from different places.

Streetfood in Finland. These small fried herring found at the Market Square in Helsinki, paired with reindeer meat soup, was my lunch on one cold finish afternoon.

What do you eat when you are in Frankfurt? Frankfurters! I must have ate at least 3 frankfurters everyday when I was in Frankfurt.

Freshest catch at 4am at Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo! Love it. Awesome.

Another fresh catch.  Succulent lobsters on the island of Maldives. Great food, great location, an experience I definitely want to relive.

How can you not eat Fish and Chips in London?

The original Sacher Torte from Hotel Sacher in Vienna.  Vienna is a really nice place with lots of mouth-watering pastries. This small piece of chocolate cake with apricot under its icing is something everyone should try when they are in Vienna.

 

Polish food at Krakow.

Czech cuisine borrows the tastes of Germany and Hungary's schnitzels, strudels and goulashes, but adds the culture's own unique twists. This plate of Roast chicken with Czech’s cabbage (slight difference from the German’s sauerkraut) was one of my best meals in Prague.

Quesadilla in Mexico. This corn tortilla filled with a savory mixture of cheese and other ingredients, then folded in half and fried is common dish you can find in a typical Mexican’s eatery,

In a Costa Rican meal, one would expect black beans and rice (gallo pinto). This simple, standard dish, often referred to as comida tipica, is the backbone of Costa Rican cuisine.

In Guatemala, many traditional foods are based on Maya cuisine and prominently feature corn, chiles and beans as key ingredients.

I enjoyed Peruvian food a lot.  It was in Peru that I tasted al paca meat, guinea pig meat and chicken hearts. I loved Peruvian cerviche  and its Chicha Morada – a purple drink made with the ears of purple maize. It is no doubt that Lima was declared gastronomic capital of Americas.

These are Coxinha - Brazilian Chicken Croquettes, a common Brazilian street food typically enjoyed for lunch or as a mid-morning or afternoon snack. I was initially quite surprised to find them in Brazil as they reminded me of something you would find in a HongKong DimSum place. They  tasted pretty yummy as well.

Bowls of Pho which our Vietnamese host cooked and delivered to our room every morning. We did not have much of an appetite in the morning but forced ourselves to eat at least half the bowl so as to not hurt her feelings.

Your Travel Beacon,
Cindy