Galapagos had been on our “bucket list” for some years, and it seemed a good place to celebrate Marion’s big birthday. We asked some of our best friends to join the party and eventually travelled with Bubber and Jan McAlhany (Dewees neighbors), Rob and Kyra Morris (local friends), Geoff and Diney Gibson (Adelaide Australia), Linda Robert and Mike Thomson (Auckland, New Zealand).
We signed up with Lindblad Expeditions, having had a great experience with them in Alaska about 10 years ago. They have partnered with National Geographic, and the tour we chose was one of their special “photographic expeditions” with several professional photographers on board to give us advice (and to show how good they are!). The Galapagos Islands are 500 miles off the pacific coast of Ecuador. We flew into the capital, Quito, and spent 2 days exploring (rather slowly, due to the 10,000 ft altitude). The city has some old Spanish style buildings
, but mostly consists of modern blocks, with houses stretching up onto all the surrounding hills.
We toured the city, then took an all day trip outside to Otovalo, with an ethnic market and people
We had dinner with teh Oviedo family who had befriended Nick Nickl, a prior trainee of mine at Duke, when he spent a sabbatical setting up amn endoscopy unit in a small town near Quito.
Then an early flight to San Christobal Island, via Guayacil, and our first sight of our home for the next week, the National Geographic Endeavor. This and its splendid crew proved to be top notch.
We went to a different island each day,
off loading on “zodiacs” (inflatables taking about 12 people), and encountered extraordinary animals and birds, none bothered by or even noticing our presence. 
Soon it was time to leave, with great memories, and a small song on the last night, to the tune (sort of) of ‘There is a tavern in the town” Darwinians song
We strongly recommend Lindblad Expeditions.
Peter Cotton