Quito + The Galapagos Islands

June 4, 2025

Greetings Friends, Family, and Fellow Travelers,

We are currently in Otavalo, Ecuador, where our family reuninted yesterday after spending a few days apart (Sara in Mindo with Jonah and Calla, Justin and Simon in Santa Cruz. We’ll explain why shortly.) This newsletter will cover our time in Quito and the Galapagos, and in a couple of weeks, we’ll fill you in on the rest of our travels through Ecuador. For those who aren’t quite ready to read through our entire account, feel free to scroll through some photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCgKZ9

Sara’s Thoughts and Recap

Our trip to the Galapagos was the first thing I booked as part of our family sabbatical, and it was so terrifyingly exhilarating to just book something that I kept ignoring the nagging voice in my head as we continued to book out our year abroad – and then as we began our travels – that it might not be a good idea, both financially and logistically. The plan was to spend four nights aboard the Galapagos Legend, a “large” (100 person, though our cruise only had 60) ship, and then four nights in a camp on Santa Cruz. At some point, though, it was no longer possible to cancel, so we proceeded with the itinerary as it was and hoped for the best.

And… for the first time since beginning our travels, I really don’t feel like writing about our experience on the Galapagos Legend. While we were assured the cruise was family friendly (and our children’s neurodivergence was communicated to the ship) this was absolutely not our experience, to the point where I barely wanted to hang out in any of the common spaces because I felt so unwelcome on the boat with my children. Attempts to speak with our guide before any excursions were met with dismissal, and the pacing and expectations of the first day completely derailed all of us. One bright spot was the front desk person, Karol, who went out of her way to make us feel comfortable, finding art supplies for Calla and even loaning us her sunscreen when we ran out. I’ll say more about the highlights of the cruise below, as there certainly were some - (and Jonah had an excellent time), but I think there are many parts that none of us would prefer to preserve for our travel records.

But first…

Quito

We arrived in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, around 11am on May 19^th, and met our guide, Tomas. We drove into the city and checked into our hotel, Cultura Manor. As the kids all dozed on the plane, I was the only one who was still tired and enjoyed an afternoon nap. Calla had been clamoring to go out to a meal with only her dad, so they enjoyed Chinese food while I took the boys to dinner at Clara Restaurant, which the Internet tells me is a rising star of Modern Ecuadorian cuisine. It was one of the best meals we’ve had in recent memory, and all three of us enjoyed pigs ear and tomato salad, suckling pig terrine, tuna ceviche, and lamb.

The following day, we took a tour of the Quito’s Old City, first stopping for coffee as the hotel coffee was sadly borderline undrinkable. We visited several key sites, including the Virgin del Panecillo (like “little muffin”) and the Church La Compania. We also tried several traditional Chilean street snacks, including candied corn nuts called “caca de perro” or “dog poop, as well as mistela, which are like hard candies topped with sugar that melt in your mouth and explode with different types of alcohol. The ones we tried had whisky, but we bought a package of mixed flavors to sample later. Then we went out to lunch, where we ate traditional foods such as potato cheese soup and ceviche. After lunch, we visited Indemini Baez for a chocolate workshop. They run a bean to bar operation, sourcing 100% of their beans from Ecuador. The owners showed us how to grind the cacao beans and mix them with other ingredients to form different flavors of chocolate. One of the more interesting things they showed us was how the composition of their chocolate differs from more commercial chocolate. For example, commercial white chocolate uses powdered milk, but Indemini Baez’s uses barley. They also use much higher concentrations of cocoa paste in their milk and dark varieties than do commercial chocolatiers. We helped them make passion fruit-filled chocolates, which we sampled alongside small bites of white, milk, and dark chocolates. Finally – because a chocolate workshop wasn’t enough – we went back to the coffee shop to get ice cream for the kids before driving back to our hotel for the evening.

On our second full day of adventures in Quito, the first stop was the Fungus Garden. While ostensibly an odd choice for a family tour, all five of us love mushrooms and I thought it would be cool learn more about how they are grown here. The owner of the farm, Ricardo, showed us around, and walked us through the process of growing mushrooms, including removing the bacteria from the straw, as well as the storage process. Ricardo makes several varieties of mushrooms, both edible and medicinal, including many types of mushrooms I’d never heard of before, such as lion’s mane and turkey tail (medicinal) and pink oyster (edible). We got to sample some blue oyster mushrooms on toast as well as some pink oyster mushrooms with fresh lemon juice. Ricardo also gave us some pickled mushrooms to try. Ricardo also brews beer, and we chuckled at the resemblance between the man in the beer logo and our guide. Justin bought a couple of varieties to try later.

Next, we visited the equator. I hadn’t realized how fun and engaging this tour was going to be. We went to the site of the Equator line (latitude zero), where our tour guide gave us a brief history of the area and then a science lesson. Because gravity’s force is not as strong along the equator, we tried to balance an egg on a nail. Simon promptly named the egg Jeffrey, and then dropped it on the ground, where it splattered. “Jeffrey’s dead!” the children cried. Our tour guide also showed us how water goes straight down on the equator line, but counterclockwise if you stand in the Southern Hemisphere and then clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. This was a bit of a silly demonstration; the guide basically moved the water bin 10ft in either direction, but it was fun to watch.

Then it was time for lunch, which we ate at a restaurant overlooking a volcano. Here, we tried some traditional Ecuadorian foods like plantain empanadas with cheese. Finally, we took a thrilling trip to…. Mega Max, sort of like Quito’s version of Target. I’m hoping this will be the last clothing run we need to make, but these kids of ours keep growing/staining their clothes beyond the point of no return. We raced back to the hotel just in time for Calla and I to make our pedicure appointments, since you can’t go to the Galapagos without freshly painted toes. For both of us, it was $10 and I made the person repeat the number since I thought there was no way we heard her correctly. Afterwords, we met the boys back at the hotel to finish packing and get to bed early.

Galapagos Islands

We were picked up from our hotel at 5:20am for our early morning flight to Baltra Island. Our plane was filled with other travelers on the Galapagos Legend, and we were pleased to immediately spot another family with two boys and a younger girl. Upon landing in Baltra, we left our bags with the Legend staff and boarded a bus to take us to the dinghies which would take us to the boat. Upon boarding, we were taken to our cabins, and were pleased to discover that the small kids’ play area is directly across the hall. The ship is four stories and has a pool, two restaurants, a library, a snorkel room, and a bar and lounge. At this point, we were famished, and finally once everyone was on board, we had a brief introduction talk and then went to lunch, where all five us of scarfed DIY burritos. After lunch, we were provided with our group name (“Frigates”), completed a safety demonstration, and picked up our snorkeling gear. A frigate bird can have a wingspan of up to 4 ½ ft and has the largest wing-area-to-body weight ratio of any bird in the world. I had never heard of them before, but we saw several later in the afternoon. While the initial plan was to dock at Mosquera Inlet, the low tide made this impossible, so instead we went for a dinghy ride around North Seymour Island. Our group had 7 other people from other parts of the world, including Quito, Canada, and Puerto Rico, none of whom seemed all too pleased to be in a group with children. While observing the birds, our guide, Franklin, told us about their mating ritual, which involves the male birds inflating their glorious red chests to attract the females. Simon found this funny because of course he did.

While we returned to the boat around 6:30, dinner wasn’t until 8, and everyone was starting to get really tired. At 7:30, we went to the lounge for our welcome drink and the orientation to tomorrow’s activities. I love how thorough these orientations are, since they help us know exactly what to expect and when. It also takes the guesswork out of packing for the day. For dinner, we had a shrimp Caesar salad, French onion soup, and a choice of pork or fish. We cut out before dessert and headed back to our rooms as all three kids were practically falling asleep at the table.

The following day, our wakeup call was at 7:15am, which felt luxuriously late after such a long day the day before. We headed to breakfast and then came back to our rooms to finish getting ready. Around 8:30am, we grabbed our snorkeling gear and got into our dingy with the other frigates. We traveled about 5 minutes, though no sooner had we left the ship then we saw a shark and then had a wet landing on Santiago Island. A wet landing means that the dinghy doesn’t dock ashore, but rather, about a foot or so into the water. We walked out in bare feet and put our socks and shoes on in the sand. We left all our snorkeling equipment on the beach and joined our group.

Santiago Island was originally called James Island after England’s King James II. It was the second island visited by Charles Darwin. Our boat docked in Puerto Egas, which is at the south end of James Bay. It is an uninhabited island, and we enjoyed exploring the shoreline filled with lava rocks. There were also several deep blue pools, one of which was deemed “Darwin’s Toilet.”

We hiked around the island for about two hours, and spotted several types of wildlife, including fur seals, sea lions, American oyster catchers (these are birds, but we said “Calla’s an American oyster catcher!”), marine and land iguanas, lizards, and pelicans. Our guide, Franklin, asked us to bring him various things we found on the ground and then he would tell us what they were! We located crab exoskeletons and a piece of an oyster shell. Calla found a pelican feather that she carried around with her for the back half of the hike.

The snorkeling wasn’t particularly exciting, though we did spot some pretty angelfish with orange tails and purple hues lining their bodies. Afterwords, we came back on board for lunch and then headed out for a deep water snorkel and a hike around Rábida Island, which is famous for its red sand. This is when things really started to go south. We’d been told that Calla would be able to use a floatation device while snorkeling, which definitely was not the case, and she was terrified and hysterical and had to go back to the boat. Rábida was pretty, and we were surprised to see several flamingos, but the younger kids were starting to get really tired and the end of the day was stressful and tense.

At this point, we had two full days left and the goal was to just make it through as best as possible. In addition to Santiago and Rábida, we visited Isabela and Fernandina. Fernandina was my favorite, with its endless piles of marine iguanas. We also saw two sea lions tussling, one of whom rolled around in the sand, and a baby sea lion nursing from its mama. Jonah and I got another shot at snorkeling, and it was spectacular; I lost count of how many turtles I saw under water. Unfortunately, Justin and Simon were slated to snorkel the very last slot of the cruise, which got canceled due to the currents.

On the third evening of the cruise, the staff put on a brief Charles Darwin play. Justin and Simon dressed up as pirates, and Calla was a turtle. She crawled around the entire perimeter of the pool making turtle noises and it was adorable.

Another activity we all enjoyed was the glass bottom boats. We also took several dinghy rides, where we spotted all sorts of sea creatures such as penguins, blue-footed boobies, and sea lions.

On our final morning of the cruise, we left the boat around 7am to visit El Chato Reserve, where we hiked through a lava tube and saw still more tortoises.

What we did get on this cruise is a lot of pretty spectacular photos, which you can see in this gallery: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCgKZ9

Santa Cruz Day 1: At the El Chato Reserve, we were met by our new guide, Jose, and driver, Robert, who brought us to the Galapagos Safari Camp to enjoy four days on Santa Cruz Island. We settled in, and promptly realized we were missing a bunch of our luggage. That’s right! To add insult to injury, despite offering to help us bring our luggage from the boat to the bus, it was instead left on the dock. Thankfully, the staff at the safari camp are total connected pros, and Jose managed to track down all of our bags within minutes by calling a friend of his who works at the dock. This was such a relief, because one of the things that was left behind was Calla’s backpack, which included my laptop. With that settled and all of us breathing much more easily, we headed out to Garrapatero Beach. We had such a great time there. Jonah is usually not a big beach fan, but Jose brought along boogie boards, and apparently this was the trick all along. He rode the waves for about an hour, with Calla and Simon trading off using the other board. I sat on a towel and read, happy to be off the boat and on a beach with my smiling family members. Eventually, it was time for lunch, and we headed to a place called Al Mar. Because it was happy hour and we’d had a very long four days, it seemed right to treat ourselves to two for $12 lunchtime margaritas. The food was excellent, and Jonah is still waxing poetic over his fried chicken fettuccine. We headed back to the camp, and were greeted with freshly squeezed juice. With plenty of time before dinner, I read, Jonah drew, Calla played downstairs in the play area, and Simon did a little of everything. We toured the property, which has a small pool and a nice lookout point.

So began the daily dance of trying to be hungry enough for the nightly four course dinner. While courses here are small, there are still four of them. I managed to eat them all because everything was so spectacular – bread, potato soup, red snapper, roast beef, and carrot cake. We were so exhausted we all conked out pretty quickly thereafter, but not before discovering that our hotel left us all encouraging notes on blackboards on each of our beds along with tiny felt animals for each of the younger children.

Santa Cruz Day 2: Today, we visited Trebiche Coffee Farm, where we pressed sugar cane and crushed coffee beans. We sampled delicious freshly squeezed sugar cane juice with bitter orange, as well as homemade moonshine, instant espresso (i.e., eating coffee beans and a sugar lump at the same time), as well as actual coffee. The kids were pleased to be handed raw sugar cubes to eat. Then we visited Cerro Mesa Ecological Reserve, where we saw a giant sinkhole and ascended a brief staircase to a viewpoint where we could see the lush landscape of Santa Cruz.

Then we met up with a taxi carrying our bicycles, and rode to the Charles Darwin Research Station. We hadn’t gone on a family bike ride since January (in Vietnam), and it was nice to have the opportunity to do so again. The only part of the Charles Darwin Research Station open to the public is the tortoise breeding area called Fausto Llerena Breeding Center. Essentially, tortoises are brought from various islands to breed, and then kept in the center until it is safe for them to return to their native islands. The smallest tortoises in the center were only three months old, where the largest tortoises may have been over 90 years old. (We dubbed two of them Boris the Tortoise and Morris the Tortoise). We also visited Lonesome George, the last surviving tortoise of his sub-species (Pinta Island). Lonesome George sadly passed away in 2012 at the age of around 100, but his taxidermy is on display. We took a picture but will spare you. Instead, we’ll share a photo of this adorable tortoise:

We then rode our bikes to a local restaurant, where I attempted to eat less food than I had the day before since my gosh do these people love to feed us incredible food. We walked around Bella Vista for a while, poking in stores and spotting animals. We picked up a few small souvenirs. Simon kept insisting he was tired and needed to immediately lie down, all of which was suddenly no longer true as soon as we located an air-conditioned bookstore. Eventually, we headed back to our campground for some R&R before another amazing dinner. We started with a trio of empanadas (cassava, purple corn, and plantain), then a fish ceviche, followed by pulled pork and potatoes and a tres leches cake.

Santa Cruz Day 3: We headed out for a full day fishing experience. The water was pretty choppy, and so both Jonah and I lay down during the ride. Our guides set up the fishing rods, which were attached to shiny fake fish which “swam” in the water alongside the. moving boat. The idea was that the fake fish would attract real fish, and then there would be a buzzing noise and we could reel them in. This was very new to us, and after about an hour, we decided to give it ten more minutes and then pack it in as the bumpiness was really getting to us. Just as we were about to call it, we had a bite on the line. Jonah reeled it in, and we were treated to a 7lb (give or take) sierra fish. Happy with a solo catch, we started to pack up, only to realize yet another line had a bite on it. Simon reeled that one in, and it was a slightly smaller sierra fish.

We then moved towards the beach, where we got dressed in our wetsuits, fins, and masks and enjoyed some snorkeling of the boat. While the water was a bit murky, we were able to see two sea turtles, as well as a slew of marine iguanas and several fish. We swam into a small cove, where blue footed boobies were perched on several rocks, and two sea lions played together in and out of the water. It was adorable. After we swam back, just as we were boarding the boat we spotted two sharks. Justin remained in the water to get some video. Just as he got out, we also spotted an eagle ray.

For lunch, the safari camp packed us sandwiches, pasta salad, ginger tea, and some pudding, but most excitedly, we were treated to fresh sierra fish sashimi! Calla plowed through most of it, and it was very tasty. We all basically conked out on the boat ride home and enjoyed a very leisurely afternoon back at the safari camp. Later, we were treated to another fantastic dinner, including a bean salad, grouper with shrimp sauce, chicken stew, and almond cake.

Santa Cruz Day 4: Our last full day in Santa Cruz was my favorite thus far. After breakfast, we drove to Tortuga Bay, a remote strip of coastline on the southern part of Santa Cruz. After a 40-minute hike through prickly pear cacti, we arrived at Playa Brava beach. We walked a bit further to a place where we could swim in a little alcove. Then we continued on to Playa Mansa, where we kayaked around a different portion of the bay. Jose was excellent at spotting all the animal life, including several tortoises and sharks. Given both the shallow waters and the turtles masquerading as rocks, we had to be extra careful while paddling. The kayaking was super relaxing, and a really nice way to spend our morning.

We swam for a while longer before catching a water taxi back into Puerto Ayora, where we ate lunch before visiting Chocolopogos, owned and operated by Juan Daniel Navarro, the only chocolatier on the island. We had already tried his chocolates, as the Galapagos Legend left a different variety on our pillows each night. We enjoyed watching Juan Daniel make his signature chocolate turtles, and he let us sample three varieties – two of our choosing and one salted caramel.

Stuffed, we returned to the safari camp to rest and pack, and then ate one final delicious meal: cauliflower soup, shrimp, beef tamales, and guava mousse.

Santa Cruz Day 5: Happily, we didn’t have to head out until noon, so we were all set for a leisurely morning at the camp. Here’s what happened instead:

*Justin woke up with significantly increased ear pain and went to a last minute doctor’s appointment.

*I logged into a DBT trainers’ meeting, hoping to say hi to all my colleagues and participate in at least a couple of hours of the meeting before having to leave to catch our plane.

*Justin continuously texted from the doctor, sharing with increased urgency that she was strongly recommending he not fly.

*I texted our guide back in Quito for options to reschedule, which he and his team thankfully did quickly behind the scenes

*I found an inexpensive hotel on Santa Cruz for Justin and Simon.

*I more or less gave up on the trainers meeting. (Sorry, friends.)

*We scrambled to re-pack all of our luggage so Justin and Simon could stay behind in Santa Cruz for a couple more days while I took off for Quito with Calla and Jonah. We stayed one final night in Hotel Cultura Manor, where we arrived famished around 8pm, scarfing down take out Italian food and going right to sleep.

So…. all in all, we enjoyed our time in the Galapagos, at least in terms of the actual activities. That said, given the high cost and hype, I don’t think it quite lived up to my (admittedly very high) expectations. I’m glad we visited, but I’m not sure I’d jump at the opportunity to visit again.

Justin’s Soapbox

There's so much to reflect on with the numerous up-close wildlife encounters we had here in the Galapagos, but I will be getting to that in a few paragraphs. We've had some downtime during the last few evenings here on Santa Cruz island, along with some wonderful sunsets, and the atmosphere has been encouraging of contemplation. Primarily I've been reflecting on what some of our goals were with this trip, and how things have changed (or not) in the past few years. 

One of the biggest things we hoped to achieve in taking this time to travel was to present our three kids with new and different experiences that would inspire and challenge them, in the hope that it would allow them to develop a greater scope of reference for the world around them and provide a unique opportunity for personal growth. I think that this has largely been successful, and milestones like seeing Simon turn his fear of heights into thrills, Jonah learning to Scuba, and Calla making friends on every continent has helped make this feel like it has all been worthwhile. A lot of this growth has also been asymmetrical; some things, some kids are adapting to better than others. And in some cases it's also been revealing to see what situations are, stubbornly, still challenging for them. 

The Galapagos remains one of the best-preserved habitats on earth in no small part due to the strict rules that have been in place ever since 97% of the islands were made a national park in 1959. And as a tourist destination, this means strict rules of conduct while on excursions to the wilder parts of the island. Sara explained a lot of this above in regards to the cruise portion of our Galapagos time. While I'm happy to report that there were no unfortunate incidents involving any flora or fauna on the islands, I'm not sure we were able to match the "placid & undisturbed harmony" kind of energy that the islands themselves evoke. Some of this was exhaustion from the long day, some of this was anxiety from the high level of scrutiny we were under, and some of it was just the natural mode that our kids slip into when they're in a new situation. And so this experience was important for us to understand the extent to which a long-term trip like this can, or can't, make big changes in our personalities.

The bottom line is that we've learned that our kids are kids. They are not tiny adults. Their sense of wonder is intact and brighter than ever, but this also means that their capacity for boundaries and self-control is still developing. Our challenges in the Galapagos were a reminder of this, but I don't see that as a net disappointment. The kids have a good deal of self-awareness about this process and can tell when they've come up against a situation where they wish they could have handled things differently. It isn't always an easy process, and - despite all the fantastic things we have been immensely luck to do - this isn't always an easy trip. But this is part of what we signed on for, and the kids have gained their own bit of experience from it.

Anyways, back to animals. I have to admit that while the Galapagos certainly is home to a rich and dynamic ecosystem, and that many of the animals are beautiful and fascinating, it's perhaps most notable for how frequently you see the same types of animals again and again. In particular, these would be the Marine Iguanas, Sea Lions, Sea Turtles, Giant land tortoises red sea crabs, and their signature sea birds the Frigate and Blue Footed Booby. Now I can already hear all the naturalists out their screaming at me pointing out that these are merely the most visible animals and that I'm overlooking the meticulously studied differentiation of these species that literally goes back to Darwin himself... yes, I know this is a massive generalization as well as something only a clueless first-time visitor like myself would say. But it's also a fact that if you come to the Galapagos, you will see these 7 or 8 particular animals over and over, and that's part of what makes the islands special. 

Iguanas are absolutely everywhere. Sea lions lounge on park benches by the marina looking like they're going to roll into the local pub for a pint. Red crabs adorn every single stretch of black igneous rock-encrusted coastline you encounter. Giant tortoises will often block traffic crossing the road. And if you go snorkeling in a decent spot, you're gonna see some sea turtles. The sea turtles in particular have won me over. These are the largest I've ever seen, and there's something majestic about the way they glide around the ocean which sticks with me. Like their land-based cousins, they too can live to great old age which also gives them an aura of history. We’re having some difficulty making more videos right now, so will send Jonah’s videos of our encounters next time.

Despite the ear infection that kept me from being able to fly back to the mainland, it was a nice, calmer, time to be alone with Simon for a few days. The first two days we didn’t get a whole lot done, though we did take a small walk to “Las Grietas,” a gorge near town where people (not me) could go swimming. While there we learned a bit about salt extraction from the region as well. Our final day as a dynamic duo was better, we managed to get on to a day tour to the Island of Bartolome, which had been previously unexplored by the family. The island is very small but has some unique geography, including a very cool looking stone spire feature, which I think is the partial remains of a cliff.

On the long boat ride to the Island, we were told that we just missed seeing an Orca, which would have been the holy grail of animal sightings in the Galapagos for us. We were disappointed, and disembarked to take the short but steep hike up to the central hill of Bartolome. The view was great! As we began descending, our guide suddenly pointed to the distant waters below - “Orca!” I could make out a faint white wisp in the water, and fired off a few shots with my zoom lens. As luck would have it, I managed to capture a picture of a (very, very distant and blurry) Orca jumping from the water. Check out the bottom-right of this picture:

As for my current physical state, I'm mostly better now. For those keeping track here are my purple hearts from this trip:

- Two ear infections, one keeping me from flying

- Emergent repeating migraine episodes

- One scratched cornea

- One bout of altitude sickness requiring oxygen treatment

- One round of Covid

- Barfed a lot in Thailand

- My knee is also getting achy in my old age

Stay healthy!

Jonah’s Musings

Oh my goodness, We were in the Galapagos. This was one of the places on the trip that I was most looking forward to, and we did a lot. Unfortunately due to the fact that the Galapagos were so fast paced there wasn't all that much time to write this so this blog will be shorter than usual. We went to so many animals and saw a lot of cool animals such as penguins, iguanas, tortoises, blue-footed boobies, sea lions, and so much more. If you want to see them check out the videos on our channel. 

Simon’s Reflection

This is my blog about the Galapagos and Quito. I’m not going to talk about the boat because it was terrible. Anyways, I want to talk about Chocolapagos. So, one thing about our cruise. Every day they leave us these little chocolate turtles. Later we actually met who made those chocolate turtles that were really cool!

One day, we went fishing. It was really rocky. In the end right when we were going to give up we got two fish. They made some sashimi.

The last thing I want to say is some of my favorite animals we saw. We saw giant tortoises that can weigh up to 250 kg. We also saw baby versions of them that can weigh about 3 kg. We also saw a dead turtle called Lonesome George. He was the last of his kind what was kind of sad. He weighed around 216 kg. 

The food at the hotel we are in now [Galapagos Safari Camp] is amazing.

Calla’s Corner

Mommy: Calla, what would you like to write about?

Calla: Hello everyone. This is Calla’s blog. So I liked having a bunch of time in Quito [Ed note: she means Santa Cruz but refuses to let me change it]. I loved to have a nice time here. I’m at a hotel. We’re like in the middle of a forest or something. It looks like a forest. The lobby has dinner tables and we come up here for dinner. Last night for dinner was someone’s birthday and they shared their chocolate cake! And also at the lobby there’s also tea and there’s morning appetizer drinks and stuff like that. And also when we come back, they give us cold fun towels. So and also in the lobby there’s guitars. I kind of played music and stuff. Every day I get a cup of this honey tea. Every day we go out on fun adventures. We go to the beach and stuff like that. Yesterday we did kayaking. That’s pretty much it about my blog. I kind of want to do a little bit more, but I’m just eating right now.

Mommy: OK that’s fine. We can talk after you’re done eating. Maybe you can tell us a little bit more about some of the animals you’ve seen?

Calla: Ok. What about the chocolate factory?

Mommy: That, too.

—-

Mommy: Calla, are you ready to talk about the animals and the chocolate factory?

Calla: I think I’m ready to talk about the chocolate factory but not the animals yet. We did a lot of chocolate factories. One in Quito one in the Galapagos. We did a turtle chocolate factory place where after we did the whole chocolate thing we got to get our own chocolate turtles; only one of them but it was so fun. Also we got to taste one of them at first. We got a little chocolate twirly thing. It was so cool! We got to watch him do, “It’s raining chocolate!” and it was super fun.

Mommy: Calla, can you say a little teeny bit about the animals you saw?

Calla: Ok, I’m deciding….hmm…. fine. I’ll do the animals but only if I can do a little bit of it. So, [starts talking about Jonah’s birthday].

Mommy: You know what, honey? You did great. You don’t need to say anymore.

Calla: YAY!! [runs off with her new stuffed turtle, purchased in the Galapagos because that is an animal she saw there.]

T-6 weeks until we return home!

xo,

Sara, Justin, Jonah, Simon, and Calla