One of the most magnificent places I have been is the Galapagos Islands.  Six hundred miles west of the coast of Ecuador, these islands hold treasures of nature seen nowhere else.

The feelings of peace and serenity wash over me seeing this beautiful landscape.

The vegetation is unusual and very special.

I think the lava gulls were enjoying the scenery as well.

Imagine the feeling of calmness in this setting.

Every island, of course, needs someone in authority.

Our walks on the island are always guided by licensed naturalists, trained by the government of Ecuador.  They tell us interesting facts about the flora and fauna and make the tour very enjoyable.

And we are left with images like this.

The post Moments of beauty to last a lifetime appeared first on Travel Kosher.

Girl with her pet, in Cusco, Peru

Details of the itinerary and the cost are on this page….

The post Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, and Peru appeared first on Travel Kosher.

I love to travel for many many reasons. I love seeing new people and places. I love learning about other cultures and countries. I enjoy learning their history and seeing their customs and their handicrafts. I love learning their legends and folktales. Perhaps, most of all, I enjoy the magnificent sights I see. And so, here in a picture is a thousand words about why I love to travel.

Beauty at the middle of the world

The post 1000 words about why I love to travel appeared first on Travel Kosher.

The Quito Jewish Community has two major elements:

1. The large indigenous community that has a beautiful community center and a synagogue and lovely grounds. People in the community are of European origin, most of their families arriving before or during the Second World War. They number around 500 and have a community school of high academic quality that has a non-Jewish majority and afternoon religious school for other children in the Jewish community. The community is a Conservative community and so people who live throughout the Quito area can belong and attend services there. We were lucky enough to visit their complex and to see their synagogue.

After entering the complex, one sees two buildings with a patio area between them. To the left is the huge auditorium/banquet hall, said to the be second largest banquet hall in Quito. On the lower floor is a room that we used for lunch. It was also large and because the building was built on the side of a hill, it had large windows and an outdoor area as well. Further to the left outside is the swimming pool.

On the right is the synagogue building itself. Although the congregation president did speak with us about the community, we were not able to take a full tour of the facilities since we still had a lot to do and wanted to get back to the hotel well before shabbat so that people would have time to prepare.

The synagogue grounds

The doors and entrance hall

The synagogue interior

Synagogue under attack by camera-wielding tourists

The inside of the domed roof

The post The Jews of Quito appeared first on Travel Kosher.

We went to a beautiful hacienda not far from Otavalo, Ecuador, and had lunch there, prepared by our own chef, Boaz under the supervision of our mashgiach, Eyal. Lunch was delicious.

After lunch we were invited to the bull ring. We were told that this is a place where aspiring bullfighters are trained and the bull itself is being trained for bullfighting. The bull was kind of small and didn’t have much desire to perform, but he was persuaded by waves of the cape and the footwork of the matador.

After a demonstration, volunteers were solicited. To my dismay, our chef and our mashgiach both volunteered to fight the bull. Someone rightly called out, “anyone but the chef, please!” The chef was a pleasant young man who produced fantastic meals in the most unlikely places. The mashgiach was a delightful young man whose wife is soon expecting their first baby. Neither one was expendable.

But fight they did. Here’s how it started:

And here’s how it ended:

As we say in Hebrew, Kol HaKavod! Way to go, guys!

The post Steak for dinner or no dinner at all? appeared first on Travel Kosher.

Great Blue Heron

This bird has to be one of the most magnificent sights I have ever seen. And, like the other Galapagos birds and creatures, he was not frightened by the humans and held still for a good number of pictures.

Cactus trees

Lava Lizard

Another amazing critter!

Nazca or Masked Booby

The Nazca Boobies are very beautiful and what is even more exquisite is a very young Nazca Booby. They are fluffy and white. Here’s a mother and her baby.

Nazca Booby and baby

Flamingo

In certain light, it seems as if the endemic flamingos glow. They do not. They get their beautiful color from the sea animals that they eat.

A cooperative Blue Footed Booby

And yes, that is really the way they look. They tell me that it really attracts the girls (girl boobies, that is) which is a good thing.

What you can’t possibly imagine is how completely amazing this place is and how right the world seems with this beautiful life just living and thriving in a tranquil landscape.

And once again,

The Land Iguana smiles in approval

The post Galapagos Islands, Part 11 of the Ecuador, Galapagos, & Peru Tour appeared first on Travel Kosher.

Bachas Beach

In the background you can see our ship, but otherwise, it was only we and nature. Bachas Beach got its name from a mispronunciation of the word “barges” as during World War II, US ships docked there in an effort to protect the Panama Canal.

As we walked onto the beach, I was overwhelmed with the peace and the natural beauty of the place, but looking further, it became clear to me that the island was full of life. Do you see it?

Life on the Island?

If you look carefully at the two pictures, you may be able to see some very small red/orange objects. They are Sally Lightfoot crabs. These crabs are strikingly beautiful. And they are everywhere. The entire rocky coastline is alive and moving!

A Sally Lightfoot Crab

Taking a walk

Up close

Here I was, on the fifth day of creation. I couldn’t believe it. The crabs did not shy away from the camera, nor did the Lava Gulls, who posed for pictures.

Lava Gulls

The Galapagos Islands are all about seeing and listening, and not so much about speech. In fact, one of the things I loved the most were the long silences when no one was speaking and when I was alone in this magnificent natural environment.

Lava Gull

We saw some other creatures too. Here are two of them:

Greater Flamingos

At first they were shy, but once they noticed that we were silent, they stopped hiding.

Our Flamingo Friends

And who was there to say goodbye once our magnificent visit came to an end?

Sea Lion

More fabulous creatures to come….

The post The Galapagos Islands, Part 9 of the Ecuador, Galapagos Islands, Peru Tour appeared first on Travel Kosher.

Our luggage was inspected thoroughly before we got onto the plane. Because the Ecuadorians are concerned that the Galapagos Islands remain a living laboratory, as untainted as possible by civilization, there is always concern that people might be bringing things that will destroy the unique ecology of each of the islands. For that reason, no plants, or seeds can enter the islands. Similarly, when we travel from the Islands to the boat, the bottoms of our shoes are washed off before we enter the boat so that we will not transport seeds from one island to another.

We flew from Quito to Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city and then on to the Galapagos Islands. Before we landed, the interior of the plane was sprayed.

The first thing we saw when we landed at the airport in Baltra was this tree.

Galapagos cactus

We thought it looked unique. It seems to grow quite profusely in the Galapagos Islands.

The archipelago consists of 15 main islands, 3 smaller islands and over 100 rocks and outcroppings. Once we had claimed our luggage, we went by bus and ferry and bus to the ship’s landing in Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is one of the 5 islands that are inhabited by humans.

Santa Cruz

From there we walked along the pier. I thought that we would see our ship, a small cruise ship that takes a maximum of 100 passengers.

The pier

It was raining and happily, it was the only rain we experienced during our visit there.

What I didn’t anticipate was our mode of transportation to the cruise ship and subsequently to each island. The islands are to remain unspoiled and so large ships do not dock near them, but stay removed from them so as not to pollute or to carry anything that might upset the ecology of the islands. So it was like this that we reached our ship.

The dinghies

And here is a picture of the ship

The Galapagos Legend

Once settled in, all of us were ready for our first big adventure. Late in the afternoon, we set out on our dinghies to visit the Darwin Research Station.

Imagine our surprise when we came upon a whole welcoming committee of marine iguanas who graciously posed for pictures!

Marine iguana

and friend

The Marine Iguana is the world’s only sea-going lizard and is found only on the Galapagos Islands. We found them fascinating. We almost forgot that they were not what we were there to see. The Darwin Station is most concerned with the giant tortoises. You’ll see them next time…

The post The Galapagos Islands, Part 7 of the Ecuador, Galapagos, Peru Tour appeared first on Travel Kosher.

And what a shabbat it was! First of all the flowers that filled the hotel put all of us in a good mood.

Roses

As shabbat neared, the women went to the dining room to light shabbat candles and shortly afterwards, the services started. The chanting and singing were lovely and in the short time we had been together, we had become a group.

More roses

After services, at dinner, we began to get acquainted with our guests, members of the Jewish community of Ecuador. Eating with us Friday night were the Israel consul to Ecuador and his wife and children. In addition, there were other Jews who lived in Quito and the vicinity. It was fascinating to hear about them and their backgrounds and why they were living in Quito and a little about life there.

Quito does indeed have a Jewish community. It numbers about 500 people and follows the Conservative stream of Judaism. There are some Orthodox Jews as well, but they comprise only a small fraction of the community. The community is dwindling with young people leaving the country for the US or Israel. There is a community center and a synagogue. There is also a Jewish school, the Albert Einstein school which is known for its excellent education. We were told that a majority of the students are not Jewish and are sent there because of the fine academic reputation the school possesses. The community has a store that sells Judaica, a mikvah, and the availability of kosher food. There is also a mohel (ritual circumcisor).

On Friday night and Saturday we enjoyed talking to the people who came to our hotel to join us for services and meals. We loved seeing the bright-eyed, beautiful children they brought with them– little children learning to speak Hebrew, English, and Spanish. I was not the only one who tried to encourage them to take the aliya plunge! After all, being a Jew in Ecuador is a bit like being a fish out of water. In Israel, they will be swimming along in a current of wonderful, refreshing, fresh water.

We were treated to talks by the Israel Ambassador and the Israel Consul to Ecuador and in addition, we met the local Chabad rabbi.

Yes, more roses

On shabbat afternoon we went to see a very beautiful ethnology museum. We enjoyed seeing the dress and artifacts and crafts of some of the peoples who have been living in Ecuador for centuries.

Our walk back to the hotel was pleasant and once shabbat was over, we were treated to a folkdance show put on especially for us in the hotel.

But all of us were very excited because we knew that bright and early on Sunday morning we would be getting up to start the adventure of a lifetime, a trip to the Galapagos!!!

The post Ecuador, Part 6 of the Ecuador, Galapagos Islands, & Peru Tour appeared first on Travel Kosher.

We were walking along, just enjoying nature. The scenery was lovely and the people we were with were delightful. It was very quiet and relaxed when suddenly we noticed that we were not the only people who had the idea of seeing the falls that morning. We turned around and saw this:

School children

Of course, their young legs were faster and more nimble than ours and very soon we were looking at the backs of some of them.

More school children

Yes, there were hundreds of them!

And all of us were treated to this at the end of the path.

Peguche waterfall

It seems that each Friday school children take trips and these falls are a big attraction. In addition to walking to the falls and seeing them, the children played soccer and other games and had bought along picnic lunches. They chattered and laughed and seemed to be enjoying themselves!

After our visit there, we made our way back in the direction of Quito, but we stopped at a very interesting landmark, one of the places that is located along the equator. This one attempted to instruct us about what it meant being on the equator and they did some experiments that were supposed to convince us that the forces of nature act differently on the equator. We all found it entertaining, even those of us who are natural skeptics.

My husband once again at zero degrees latitude

My turn to straddle the equator

And what a surprise to find there a sign that was trying to be in Hebrew. We could make out the last two words: Middle of the world. The rest is still a mystery!

Hebrew?

We arrived at the hotel happy and ready to prepare for a shabbat together. It was time to relax just a bit before we were out and about once again.

Next time: Shabbat in Quito. Not what you think it would be at all…

update: I received this comment:
Hachtamat Darconim : Hotemet Emza Haolam… I guess the shop was marketing its stamps for being in the Centre of the World. I got a certificate once for reaching the Arctic Circle…. but personally I think Israel is the Centre of the World… Mihal Indyk

She would have won the prize if there were a prize because indeed, inside that building, there was someone who stamped our passports indicating that we had visited the center of the world!

The post Ecuador – Part 5 of the Ecuador, Galapagos, & Peru Tour appeared first on Travel Kosher.