"P.Fritz" wrote in message
...

"Calif Bill" wrote in message
link.net...

"Paul Fritz" wrote in message We
were
in
Cusco on Easter, so all the locals were dressed up as well.
Going up Wachu Pichu was like walking up a skyscaper......,mostly
switchback
stairs, unitl you get to the top, where rain would have made it
tricky.

Getting back to the Galapago's.....you should take time to spend a
couple
of days in Quito, it is an interesting town. Guayquil is mostly an
industrial prot city. Equador uses U.S currency, but makes its own
coinage
as well. If you ever wonder what happened to all the one dollar
coins....I
think they all ended up there. Don't know if you know, but there is a
$100.00 entrance fee you pay immediately when you land on the islands.
One
of the naturalists told me that if you sail your own boat, the cost is
$200
a day per person, and you have to pay for a naturalist to stay on
board
the
entire time you are there. It is definitely worth the trip. My
daughter
decided that she wants to work there now.



I have been in the coastal areas of Equador. Manta, and another town.
Took
a 16 day cruise from Val Pariaso to Ft. Lauderdale via the Panama canal.
I
am looking at landing in quito and some of the group going to MP and I
plan
on an Amazon side trip out of Quito. Probably a months vacation from
the
wrecked.boats political wars.
Bill

We spent three days in the Amazon as well.......in Brazil.....great
place....the Ariana Jungle Towers....out of Manaus, but it took a bit of
flying to get there. The Equadorian side (according to my travel agent)
is
a bit more unstable, and would not have been comfortable taking my 13 y.o.
daughter there.






I am 61 and I think the situations have quieted down.
Bill