Ecuador to Peru, Galapagos to Machu Picchu

Our new adventure begins on July 11, 2025. After a car ride to Dulles, a 2:00 a.m. flight to Panama City (never do that again), a four-hour layover, a flight to Quito and a car ride to our hotel, Illa Experience, we finally arrive in Ecuador.

We flew due south from the east coast of North America to the west coast of South America. Straight down. Over Cuba, Central America and the Caribbean. From the North Atlantic Ocean to the South Pacific Ocean. From the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere. From summer to winter. Over the Tropic of Cancer to the Equator. With only a one-hour time difference.

I am excited to stand on the Equator (latitude 0°0’0”) and experience being in summer and winter at the same time. I love this kind of stuff.

Aside: We flew from North American over Central America landing in South America. I never thought about it before, but where is Latin America?

Latin America consists of 33 countries. Brazil is the largest and most populous country in Latin America. It also has the region’s biggest economy. Mexico is the largest and most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world. Approximately 659 million people live in Latin America.

Historically, Latin America was named as such by its former European colonial masters to distinguish countries in where Romance languages like Spanish, Portuguese, and French were spoken from countries in which Germanic languages, like English, German, and Dutch, were spoken. Today, while most of Latin America still speaks Romance languages, the geographic term also includes a few countries and territories in the Caribbean and South America in which languages like English and Dutch are spoken. The region is now home to approximately 659 million people living in 33 different countries.