We flew out of Galapagos this afternoon.  Spent the morning at the Darwin Institute hearing about the preservation of the tortoises.  Four of the species are already gone.  Many of the remaining 10 in the Galapagos were close to extinction until this organization got involved.  They had one lucky male tortoise there, "Super" Diego.  He's from originally from Espanola Island, but resided at the San Diego zoo for a number of years.  When they realized the tortoises from were nearing extinction, they brought him back to Galapagos and set him up with 5 ladies.  Now he has over 1000 children and grandchildren.  As each reaches 5 years old,  they are put onto Espanola to repopulate the island

The rest of the day was spent getting to Quito. I meet a couple of ladies in Galapagos, and both have offered to check on rooms at the hostels where they are staying.  I ended up staying with one for the next two nights, when she will go to another town.  I'm thinking about going north to Mindo on Monday,  so that works for me.

Tomorrow, the three of us will be doing a day trip together.  I mentioned Cotopaxi to the ladies and they seem interested.  I'd like to go south of Quito, since I expect to go north later this week. Cotopaxi is a volcano that, while not the largest, has an almost perfect cone shape.  Several people have mentioned going there.  We are sharing the price of a private a guide.

some quick thoughts on Galapagos: The only disappointment was missing the blue-footed booby mating dance,  but nature does not always accommodate our vacation schedule). I had a great time and saw many animals that not everyone who visits gets to experience (which is amazing given, again, with wildlife there are no guarantees).  I saw most of the various iguanas, lots of sea lions, a plethora of the interesting Sally Lighthouse crab, two of the the type of boobies (the red booby is only on a remote island), lots of other birds including the bizarre frigate,  many fish, several Galapagos sharks (all underwater while I was above water,  thank God), swam with both a turtle and a sea lion, and got to watch flamingos dance (their feet do a cute dance when they are digging for food).  I'm sure I missed something,  but the point is,  it was a great trip.  Will worth doing.  And I may have found my next trip.  I just found out the company I traveled with is offering a trip to Patagonia in Chile next November!  Anyone want to go with me?

More tomorrow.