Galapagos Islands

I am writing from the Galapagos Islands where I have been spending my time since finishing the ride. The Galapagos is one of the main attractions of Ecuador. Sadly, it didn't nearly come close to living up to the hype. I suppose that when I was in Paracas, Peru, I thought that what I saw there would be a small taste of was to come in the Galapagos. It turned out to be the reverse - the marine life was far more impressive in Peru for a 20th of the price tag. Which reinforces one of the things I learned on this trip: almost anything worth seeing can be done in Peru. Peru has the ocean and interesting marine life, Machu Picchu, Nazca lines and the desert, lake Titicaca, a really strong and interesting indigenous culture in between all those places, the Andes and jungle in the north.

Advice to future travelers of South America: skip the Galapagos and head to Peru and Bolivia. It seems that most travellers have apparently already picked up on that already though...