We chose to stay in Galapagos for one month because the cost of an Airbnb is the same price for two weeks or one month. The one-month discount on Airbnb can be significant. Island living is not easy for us. The food is expensive, and the grocery options are limited. We paid $19.95 for a large JIF peanut butter. You…
In the last part of our 10-day tour, we spent three days on Isabella Island. Isabella is the largest island in the Galapagos. It is a young island made up of 6 volcanoes. Wolf volcano, in the north part of the island, recently erupted. We woke up in Santa Cruz at 5:30 am to be at the dock by 6:30…
Our 4-day cruise ended in San Cristobal. We disembarked at Puerto Baquerizo Moreno in the morning. We had the entire day to explore the town on our own. There are a lot of restaurants and souvenir shops. In the afternoon, we went to the Interpretation Center to hike. The center has information about the Galápagos Islands and preservation initiatives. Behind…
We booked an Airbnb in Santa Cruz for one month because it cost the same as booking two weeks. We didn’t plan to spend the whole month in Santa Cruz. There are 12 other islands. We spent one of our first days visiting tour shops looking for the best way to see other islands. We booked a four-day cruise with…
It was bittersweet saying goodbye to our new friends and San Jose. That month on the beach was like summer camp. Amazingly, we bonded with all the families that attended for the month. We will be looking to recreate that dynamic again during our travels. Our friend Johny helped coordinate a bus to Guayaquil for four families. We enjoyed hanging…
While we spent a lot of time at our hosteria in San Jose playing on the beach, surfing and learning Spanish, we did get out and have some amazing adventures. The most memorable activity was parapenting. Parapenting is a cross between hang-gliding and parachuting. We all got the opportunity to fly like birds. Pablo at Parapenting Adventure and his crew…
Our month on the beach in San Jose, Ecuador with ten other families was one of the best times we have had traveling. It was not what we expected, but it was magical. We booked the trip through a company that over-promised, under-delivered. Luckily, the groups of families attending the meetup are amazing. All the families stepped up to create a…
We don’t actually know how to survive a tsunami, but we were at a restaurant in Olón when the Tsunami siren went off. We did. Not understand what was being said, except the word ‘tsunami’. We asked our waiter, and he said the announcement said to clear the beach and the town and head to higher ground. The restaurant closed…
After a month in Cuenca, we said goodbye to friends, played our last pickleball match, and headed for the beach and our worldschooling meet-up. We stayed in a hosteria on the beach, in a small town called San Jose near the bigger towns of Olon and Montañita. We opted to hire our friend Jon to drive us to the beach…
Many of our worldschooling friends tell us to say yes when opportunities arise. An opportunity arose when our pickleball friends Rick and Sharon invited us at the last moment to go with them to Shell, Ecuador. Shell is a small town on the edge of the Amazon where Rick and Sharon lived for 23 years. They are missionaries, and they…