Hello everyone! ^_^ This is a blog for my adventures in Ecuador! I journeyed down the Napo River and explored many areas of the Amazon Rainforest!! I saw hundreds of flora and fauna that were truly incredible!!

Cataloging my second voyage to the Galapagos Islands, with art, photography, wildlife facts and travel tips!

Panama -- adventure, nature, and The Canal. Seeing the canal has long been on our "bucket list" and we finally made it. In addition to seeing the daily workings of the canal, it was a thrill to see the new locks under construction. The scope of these projects is almost beyond comprehension!

We began our trip in El Valle, a small town in …

Joanne traveled down south with winter to Chile and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity building homes in local communities. Through a little sweat and tears they made great progress. After volunteering, she continued on to explore the wonders of Patagonia.

Galapagos: a playground for artists, photographers and people who just love wildlife! (Like me!) Explore with me...See the paintings I create inspired by this unique environment...Get good travel tips for the islands!

Our Amazing Family Christmas Vacation to Costa Rica

There and Back again

The happenings of my life as a traveler.

Personal blog: http://katiehippert.blogspot.com

The story of our Adventure in Belize for our Honeymoon.

Darren and I (Fallon) met in 2010, and on Aug 8th, 2014 we got married with all of our close friends and family. We had a small wedding, it was very laid back (we like it that way) and it was a wonderful and memorable day.

As Darren and I have been together for several years, we had …

Linda and Scott explore Costa Rica together - from the Tortuguero National Park, over to Arenal, and back to San Jose!

Adventure Life is celebrating Earth Day by planting trees. You should join us!

CLICK HERE to plant your tree.

One entry = one tree. The more entries the more trees planted, so tell your friends. And to show our gratitude, three lucky entrants will each win a $100 prAna gift card. You deserve it!

Your tree will be planted on the northern slopes …

Snorkel sightings! (Disclaimer: Jaime and I would sit down with a Galapagos Marine Species book on board the ship and, from memory, identify what we saw. While we tried to be accurate, there may be some that are mis-remembered! We did the best we could!) 20-25% of the fish here are endemic, meaning they are ONLY here. There are over 500 species of …

Up early to pack and go to Santa Cruz island, to visit the Charles Darwin Center. The bus stopped right by the mosaic garden, (click here for photos and art from this area) so we ducked in for two minutes. Then we looked in on the different land tortoises.

One memorable moment was when two female saddlebacks squared off, heads stretched to their …

Floreanahad unique features. There was a giant, gnarly mangrove tree that dominated the crescent shaped shoreline. Erosion had made a secondary type of cliff, where a Blue footed booby and giant chick sat together and groomed. This beach had the green sand caused by the olivine crystals, while a beach on the other side of the island got different …

Our new guide was Julian, and he was knowledgeable and friendly. We were still in good hands! Our group disembarked by a small lighthouse. Walking the path was made even trickier because mother sea lions and their cubs saw no reason to give us passage. Not that we minded much. But our guide never wanted to put us or the animals in a situation …

Cerro Brujo. This is what is left of a tuff cone. (That is where the lava enters a very cold ocean, causing an explosion. It creates a different shape.) This is also one of the first sites visited by Charles Darwin. The sun came out for our visit here, which was welcome. We rode the dinghies along the cliff face, giving us only an indication to …

Next stop: Punta Pitt, San Cristobal!
We had a leisurely walkon a strangely colored, greenish beach, made so by olivine crystals in the sand. Lava lizards abound. We then turned inland and hiked up a dry river run that flows freely in El Niño rains—they have to take travelers elsewhere during those years. It must be gorgeous to see it …

Galapagos, October, 2015
I cannot describe to you how fortunate I feel, to be invited to explore more of these mysterious islands. And how strange and marvelous the circumstances! To be speaking to you again along these lines is truly a gift—a gift given all because I won a contest! Readers voted for me to win Adventure Life’s Blog …

I am over-the-moon ecstatic to announce that I won the Adventure Life blog contest! I can't believe it! Because of you, voting....I get to go tour the Eastern Islands! My brain is already buzzing with images to paint...

I wanted to catch you up on the art that I did during the Semi-Final month of the contest. (I wasn't allowed to add …

We met a veterinarian studying in Galapagos--her current job is catching Short Earred Owls and collecting DNA samples to see if they vary from island to island. She was planning on diving with Academy Bay Scubain two days, and offered us her spot so that my husband and I could go instead.So nice of her! We had to dive then, because our trip was …

On our final day of the cruise, we were up early for a visit to Mosquera Island. It is small, with a beautiful beach. The largest group of sea lions we encountered on the trip lazed on the sand or in the vegetation. The lighting was gorgeous--the benefit of the early embarkment. Sometimes photography was more difficult in the harsh, mid-day sun, …

Tagus Bay on Isabela Island...known for its graffiti? Apparently early boats, like 1830's, carved their names then others followed suit.I didn't see the old stuff...just whitepaint on dark rocks. I have to say, having been surrounded by such scenes of nature and beauty and wildlife, with so little human interaction beyond my own boat...it …

Elizabeth Bay was full of wildlife. There is no landing place--we explored from the dingies. The red mangroves are a great refuge for a variety of animals.

We viewed eagle rays, golden rays, bluefooted boobies, sea turtles, sea lions, flightless cormorants...on the water we saw 16 penguins and flying fish!

This series of photos (more in the …