Galapagos Here I Come

The last few days have been a great cap to the program. As a group we flew to Manta, which is a city along the coast of Ecuador. It was a great way to relax and also was a final chance to hangout with the group prior to departure. 5 of the 8 are in the air as we speak, the remaining three are off to explore Ecuador a little more.

Manta, simply put, is a beach town. There is not a lot that draws in the tourism other than that fact. Manta is a beautiful city but I will be honest, by the 4th day I was a little bored of it. That said it was the perfect trip that allowed us to catch up on sleep and to unwind from the previous four weeks, and don't get me wrong I have to problem sitting along the ocean sipping on a beer. With that in mind we were able to seeing as much as we could and mix that with a little sun was even better.

One draw to the area is a town called Montecristi. This is the site where majority of the Panama hats are made. That's right they are not made in Panama but were made famous during in Panama simply because that is where they are shipped to prior to shipping throughout the world. The name actually arose once famous figures wore the hats in Panama which lead to the name the Panama Hat when in reality it is a Ecuadorian Hat.

That was really our only outing after that it was back to sun, sand and salt water. While on the beach we did manage to get involved in a pick up soccer game in which it was 5 of us Canadians vs. 5 Ecuadorians. I know what your thinking but no the Ecuadorians did not win. That is right we Canadians held our ground and pulled out the victory and immediately we decided to retire from the sport of beach soccer and not risk our winning record because we were definitely were not the best soccer players on the beach that day.

I am back in Quito now and am figuring out some plans for today and doing a lot of packing. Today Andrew and I are checking into a different hotel and from there we are off to the Galapagos Islands for 7 days. I am extremely excited for the mysteries that I am about to endure. That said I had better finish getting my stuff together.

I will post pictures galore upon my arrival back to Quito. I'm not sure what the internet will be like there and I'm sure I will have stories to tell of my encounters with animals that few eyes have actually seen in person.

Adios until next week