It was a great experience and I highly recommend it.
      We returned to Quito and took a two day bus tour north, across the Equator, to a hotel up north, visiting villages on the way up and back. We stayed overnight at a wonderful hotel with an appearance of age but built rather recently to look old.
      And finally, as a piece de resistance, we flew to the Galapagos and spent four days on a boat, the Corinthian. We visited an island, and at night the boat would move to another island. Four islands in four days.

      Altogether it was a magnificent experience.
      I was the oldest on the trip, by quite a margin, but I survived it. I was thoroughly spent by the end of the trip but in retrospect, some deterioration of my condition which resulted in a quintuple bypass bypass in December 2004 was probably a factor in this. I recommend it for older people although they may elect to skip some of the most strenuous parts of the trip. It was a very pleasant environment to take a rest in occasionally.