The mountains can make a man tired

Today we took a nine hour ride through the central mountains of Ecuador, just west of the Amazon basin. We took off from Riobamba, and headed south towards Cuenca. The weather was nice and brisk, but the sun was shining and the views were immaculate. Just before reaching Cuenca, we could actually look over our right shoulders and gaze through the valley...it was the Gulf of Guayaquil stretching out into the Pacific. We were still around 150 miles from the coast line, only we were also around 10,000 feet up in the Andes...it was a wonderful moment.
Passing Cuenca, we rose up even higher in the mountains. It is interesting to think that we could be only a few hundred miles south of the Equator, and the average temperature this afternoon was 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Up in the clouds, we had complete fog coverage keeping our speed down to around 30 mph. The roads were absolute terror. You would have a nice paved highway, that would turn into the land of enchanted pot holes, which would then turn into a gravel rampage filled with boulders that had fallen of the cliffs only nights before. The road was awful and they had definitely taken a toll on us. Yes, Lou is old, but it only took him two minutes to pass out with his boots on.

Enough about today. I owe you all some photos.


Resting Sea Lion Pup on the Island of Seymour North
Scarlet Crab walking on the Lava rocks

Sea Lion Pup riding the back of his momma off the coast of Seymour North
Young male Frigate bird
My Blue Footed Boobie in artistic frame work

Sea Lion taking a nap on the bouy The first pair of boobies I saw on the islands
A Blue footed female guarding her egg from the intense sunlight

hangin´ out with Lonely George, the last of his kind from the islands
Sea iguana sunbathing on Santa Cruz
Land Iguana resting below the Cactus shade


Mountain Pass through central Ecuador. North of Cuenca

We pulled over today to help a man (George) fix a flat on the way to Saraguro