mahdnc

A couple photos from today:

Here is the orientation lecture for tomorrow.

There are variations in the different itineraries, but there appears to be some overlap

The "experienced" description caught my eye, too. But during the kayak part of the briefing, we were told that "experienced" = you have done it at least once before. It has been a great day today. I haven't felt this tired since we did a 3 tank dive at the Great Barrier Reef.

Here is today's lecture on snorkeling and kayaking. One thing note, because of the limited number of kayaks, they can only take 16 passengers per kayak excursion. It sounded like they will make sure that the opportunities are distributed evenly for those that want to do it.

This was last night's talk about today's activities at South Plaza and Santa Fe. It discusses the landing site, the terrain, what you are going to see, and the schedule for getting your snorkel gear.

This morning's walk at South Plaza Island was 1 mile long over rocky terrain. It was another dry landing. More birds, iguanas, and sea lions. The naturalists are very good and patient.

Today is a 3 activity day. A 1 mile walk on South Plaza Island, snorkeling at Santa Fe Island in the mid-afternoon, and then another hike at Santa Fe in the very late afternoon. The weather today started off cloudy but is beautifully sunny now. There are no sea days on this trip, just sea hours.

After embarking on Xpedition, we sailed to North Seymour Island before dinner. During our time ashore we hit that "golden" hour time which occurs about one hour before sunset in the evening. The low angle of the sun reduces its intensity, makes textures stand out more, and makes the colors on the warm golden side. It also makes for great hiking weather The landing was an easy dry landing and we did a short hike. You have to keep your eye on the ground to make sure you don't turn your ankle stepping on a rock and you had to make sure that you didn't trip over the many seal lions that were laying about. On the short zodiac raft ride back we were treated to a nice sunset with small islands silhouetted against the orange evening sky. It was magical.

Sorry I don’t post yesterday about the cruise. It’s been great and we haven’t had 24 hours yet. @sandiego1, here is a link to my dinner menu folder. Let me know if you’re able to access it.

We are on our charter flight. It is an Airbus 319 flown by Avianca. No one is assigned a middle seat and many rows are empty. What few passengers are on board have smiles on their faces….

We got off the tour bus and our luggage was handed to us. Our guide, Michael, escorted us into the terminal where we dropped off our checked bags and he led us to the security area. At that point he left us. There are a nice array of shops in the secured area however once you pass by them, a glass door closes and prevents you from going back to the shops from the gates. We are now at the gate. I think our tour group of 8 was the first to arrive.

We are on our way to UIO. Our same group of 8 boarded the same tour bus as yesterday with our same tour guide and driver. We were handed our plane ticket and our immigration card in the hotel lobby. The day is beautiful here. We took this road at night to get to the hotel but it was dark so it’s nice to see everything in broad daylight. The snow covered volcano, Cotopaxi, is visible during the ride. Its summit is 19,347 ft above sea level. I know of one couple that went ahead and left a suitcase with the JW Marriott which they’ll pick up when we check in a week from today. Some statistics: the 3 tour buses had 6, 8, and 20 passengers. Our guide said that one passenger was an Xploration guest. So that means there were 33 of us that bought the cruise tour package. There are going to be 47 passengers on Xpedition so 14 Xpedition passengers chose the cruise only option (or they’re doing B2B). We are arriving at the airport. Time to sign off for now.

Yes, I’ll do that. In case this is of interest, here’s the yesterday’s dinner menu at La Gloria.

We got back to the hotel at about 4:30 pm or so. We were told to be down in the lobby at 6:10 pm to board our bus (X3) for dinner. I will have to post this photos and information on that later as I have got to get to bed!! Good night, everyone.

Some more sights during our trip today.

Anyone who wanted skip the afternoon part of the tour and go back to the hotel was offered transportation. No one in our group accepted. The afternoon tour consisted of a visit to the Ciudad Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World City) which is tourist area mainly devoted to the equator. It was very well done although I don't think it warrants a trip back. There were other exhibits which included chocolate production, animals of Ecuador, and even shrunken heads. All of the exhibits and demonstrations was guided/conducted by an employee of the park. Again it was very well done. My claim to fame was being the only one in our group (who had a chance to try) to balance an egg on a nail head.

We had a catered buffet lunch which was very good.

We then visited the Iglesia de La Compania which sadly does not allow photographs inside. The church is extremely ornate as it is covered in gold, It was beautiful. Furthermore there was an orchestra inside the church practicing for a recital. It was really cool to listen to the music and be surrounded by gold at the same time. Our guide, Michael, spent a great deal of time pointing out the different features of the church. It reminded me of the Vatican tour we took last year. We then visited the Basilica and Convent of San Francisco. This church was also adorned with gold on the inside and photos were permitted:

After that we got back on our bus and proceeded to head down to Old Town to do some walking.

Today was our day to get the official Celebrity Cruises tour of Quito. We were divided into 3 groups imaginatively named X1, X2, and X3. The group assignments were made in the hotel lobby when we met at 8:45am as instructed. We were assigned X3 (like the BMW SUV). During the ride into Quito from the airport, our Celebrity representative, Eduardo, asked us if we were going on this trip with anyone else (we weren't). The question was being asked so they could factor that in when they made a decision on how to split everyone up. Our group, X3, had 8 Celebrity passengers. Our group was assigned a Celebrity guide (Michael) and a driver. There was a 3rd individual assigned to our group. His job was to keep an eye on the us to make sure we stayed together so that no one got lost or into trouble (a people shepherd or chaperone). I was impressed with the number of Celebrity employees that were dedicated to our small tour group. The tour was conducted with a great deal of control and safety. It was well executed. Because each group had their own guide, driver, and people shepherd, the tours were conducted so that each group was independent. No crowding together all 3 groups except for meals. We were all given electronic earpieces in the lobby (the kind that hook around your ear and easily fall off) so that we could hear Michael talk which was handy in the churches that we visited. Our first stop was the Virgin of El Panecillo which is a massive aluminum statue of the Virgin Mary (with wings) that looks over the historic section of Quito from a large hill. The high vantage point also allowed you very nice views of the city. We spent a little more than half an hour there. This included time for Michael to talk about the statue (it is chock full of many different symbolic elements) and point out some landmarks of Quito down below. We also were given about 10 minutes on our own. You could climb up to the base of the statue during that time (internal stairwell). Here are some photos of the statue. There are also some shops located near the base of the statue.

Another view from the hotel. Quito has a sky line that is dotted with volcanos.

Thank you, Ron and Sue. I hope the weather in Chicago is still good. David and Marcia

Thank you, Cathy. I am sorry I didn't respond to your post until now. David

Thank you!