Rachel Atkinson hops like a Darwin finch from one volcanic outcropping to the next, then plunges into ankle-deep mud. Squishing as she walks, the botanist with the Charles Darwin Research Station homes in on the ailing invaders: blackberry, passion fruit, and quinine bushes clustered near Santa Cruz Island's last shrubby stands of Scalesia trees. Atkinson smiles in approval. One more blast of herbicide ought to prevent the aliens from regrowing and give the Scalesia a shot at survival after all.

We were on the front-line of an epic war being waged on all sorts of invasive species in the Galápagos Islands. Surprisingly, the culprit seems to be global warming, which is usually associated with polar bears and other sorts of cold things-not an archipelago situated one degree south of the equator.

It all started in the late 1980s, when the periodic El Niños became more frequent and severe. Of course, we do have to give some credit to the pirates and whalers who began visiting the Galápagos in the 1700s and leaving behind goats, pigs, and other animals as a living larder for future visits. That couldn't have helped.

Did you have a happy St. Patrick's Day? While I didn't get in to any shenanigans (for once, it seems), I was able to have a few pints with friends up in Anchorage. Though they weren't perfectly-poured Guinnesses, they were locally brewed and likely tasted as good as Guinness in Ireland tastes. But there's plenty of non-St. Paddy's Day news this week at Gadling:

• Iva uncovered the story of a Brazilian plastic surgeon who has been operating illegally on a massage table. My favorite part? The photo of the surgeon, which makes him look like he could use a touch of the knife himself.
• Aaron brought us a guide to the "new" Costa Rica -- Ecuador. If you have any interest in traveling there, check out his fun and informative post.
  
• Justin opines on Southwest's safety, boarding procedures, and lack of peanuts on his recent flight.
  
• Abha examines whether or not travelers are safe in India, following the death of a 15-year-old British tourist in Goa. Read the alarming facts of her murder and the lackadaisical response of the police here.
  
• Have you ever wondered how to rent a villa in Tuscany? Jamie attended the AAA travel show and brought back several tidbits--scoring that 18th century farmhouse in northern Italy is just one of them.
  

And here are some more fun posts to set your weekend off right: Aaron's post on headlines from North Korea still makes me laugh; I'm curiously following the fate of squat toilets in Beijing (because I love squat toilets and think everyone should try them -- I know, I'm a freak); and an Australian put his entire life on eBay.

With the Galápagos Islands, Pacific beaches, Andes Mountains, and Amazonian jungle, Ecuador is a little country that packs a big punch. And travelers, always on the look-out for the hot new destination, are starting to flock there in droves. One backpacker has even dubbed the small South American country the "new Costa Rica." Okay, that was me.

Anyway, here's a quick-and-dirty rundown of the highlights and lowlights of Ecuador's three regions-- East, Central and West.

East

To hear the reputation of the city of Guayaquil, you'd think that calling it a cesspool of crap would be insulting to all those plucky little bacteria out there who survive on human excrement. The truth is that, despite Guayaquil's dismal reputation, things are rapidly improving, and lots of fun can be had in this port city of three million. There's a casino downtown if that's your thing, and the Malecón area on the riverfront is brand new and always packed with people. Head to the Urdesa district for some great restaurants and to the Kennedy Center for vibrant nightlife. For sightseeing, try the hilltop neighborhood known as Las Peñas, where you'll see a colorful slice of colonial Guayaquil.

The best-slash-only beach I went to in Ecuador was in Montañita, which is about two hours north of Guayaquil. The town is really chilled out and uber-friendly to backpackers, with plenty of places to eat and sleep (and smoke funny-looking cigarettes).

Shameless plug: A friend with whom I visited Montañita moved back there recently and opened a watering hole called Nuestrobar. Mention my name there and receive 50% off. (Warning: This deal may come as news to the owner.)

Every traveler makes mistakes. They are rites of passage that even seasoned travelers can never entirely avoid-- whether it's missing a flight or eating a regrettable roadside meal or wandering around lost for hours. If you have the right attitude though, mistakes are part of what keeps traveling interesting and exciting. As Thomas Edison, ever the optimist, once observed: "I have not failed 10,000 times. I have successfully found 10,000 things that will not work."

That's why I feel no shame in recalling my greatest travel mistakes, culled from an impressive and ever-growing list. First place goes to the time I was in Ecuador and lost my passport-- the veritable cardinal sin of traveling. Thankfully, despite some bureacratic hassle, I got a new one after spending a few weeks in Quito, where I earned about a thousand dollars playing poker at the casino. That's money I never would have made if I wouldn't have lost my passport. Thanks, my stupidity!

Some mistakes on the road are more embarrassing than anything else. For instance, after living in Prague for a few months, I thought I had a pretty good idea of the layout of the metro stops. One day I was riding on the the metro with some friends, and we came to the "Muzeum" stop. The doors opened, and an elderly man standing on the platform asked me, in Czech, "Is this Muzeum?" "No," I told him confidently, in front of dozens of people. "This is Můstek." He appeared confused, and gave me a look as if to say, "Are you sure?" "Yes," I said. "To je Můstek." The doors closed, and the metro sped off, while my fellow passengers looked at me like the idiot I was. I like to assume that old man eventually figured out where he was, but really, who the hell knows.

Yesterday I wrote about the profileration of websites that post amusing conversations submitted by those who overheard them, the most notable being Overheard in New York.

Today I thought I'd share some of my own overheard conversations, from my visit to a small spa town in the south of Ecuador called Vilcabamba.

Staying in the room next to mine were two 60-something alcoholic Texans named Don and Earl. Don had a long, poorly-tended beard that completely hid his mouth, and Earl was no treat to look at either. I could hear every word they said, because the walls were thin as paper, and because they preferred to shout rather than talk (possibly because they were constantly tanked). They had both recently retired and were considering a move to this little town. Their wisdom was outmatched only by their eloquence...

Don: I wanna plant trees, but not in a straight fuckin' line.
Earl: No f-words, Don. And I don't wanna hear any n-words either.
Don: I never say the n-word! I've got a granddaughter who's half n-word!

Earl: Don't snap your fingers at people, Don. It's unrespective.

Don: We did good tonight. We met some really... influential friends. Is that how you say it?

Don: Hope is the future.

This week's Where on Earth is Montañita, Ecuador, a small tourist-filled town on the coast of Ecuador. If you're heading to Ecuador and want to learn to surf on the cheap, this is the place to do it. Boards can be rented for about $5 a day and lessons are cheap as well. You'll find plenty of other backpackers to hook up with here (in just about every sense of that phrase) if that's what you're looking for. Be careful visiting, however, as you might never want to leave.

Congrats to all those who knew the answer, and to those who didn't, hang in there. Things'll pick up.

This week, the New York Times travel section started a series on sustainable traveling. The inaugural column, headlined "Can Darwin's Lab Survive Success," is probably the quintessential case for illustrating the pros and cons of eco-tourism.

A couple summers ago, I spent a month camping in the Galapagos Islands, working as both a journalist reporting on the island's problems with invasive species (partly due to the booming tourism industry), and as a research assistant for a National Geographic-funded study on the archipelago's famous giant tortoises. The Yale lab that I was working with have been doing some truly amazing stuff on these animals--for instance, finding a long-lost relative of Lonesome George, the rarest species in the world (population of 1).

The story I ended up writing for Science Magazine about invasive species can be found here. And below are two galleries of exclusive photos from our fieldwork on Santa Cruz, as well as some fun little side-trips to Isabela (where I horse-backed to its biggest volcano) and around Santa Cruz.

This is one of those shots that a person could write a poem about. Themes of gazing, wondering, majesty, left vs right, looking out from within. Windows as metaphor. Mountains as metaphor. Crossroads. What is this person thinking? I love the up close details of the cathedral in contrast to the person in shadows. This shot was taken by jitsu in Ecuador, although there are not specific details listed.

Here is a writing exercise. Start off with "I gaze through the window..." or "I watch from the shadows..." now write for five minutes without stopping. Don't worry about spelling or grammar, just keep writing and see what comes out. This technique is patterned after writer Natalie Goldberg's methods. She wrote the book Writing Down the Bones, among others. Share if you want.

If you have a photo to share, post it at Gadling's Photo Pool on Flickr and it might get chosen for Photo of the Day.

The next day, I gather all my pertinent documents and walk to the US Embassy, where a crowd of 75 or so Ecuadorians has gathered. I suspect that I'm about to encounter an Iraq War protest or burning American flags, but instead it's just a bunch of people in line for visas. I cruise right by that line and into the building, probably receiving a number of death glares from those left in my wake.

The woman at the desk helps me after ignoring 15 minutes of my staring at her. When all my papers are finally turned in, another woman appears to verify that I am, in fact, a US citizen.

"Where was your passport issued?" she asks.

I tell her St. Louis, and then she asks me what agency issued it. "New Orleans, I think." She frowns. There is, she says, no record of my ever being issued a passport, possibly because of Hurricane Katrina. I consider asking if she is fucking kidding me, but worry that saying "fuck" to a government official might give them grounds to arrest me as a terrorist. I offer to answer some US history questions to prove my citizenship, but she suggests I produce a driver's license instead. I do so, and that is proof enough for her.

She glances at my license, and that, along with my white skin and unaccented English, is presumably enough to grant me a US passport. With such tight security, I really can't figure out how those planes were ever hijacked, I really can't. Anyway, I'll apparently have my passport in a week.

I am told that it will be available on Tuesday, but when I show up they tell me there's been a problem, and that I need to come back the next day. I return on Wednesday afternoon, lay eyes on the prize (finally!) and see that my new passport expires in less than a month. Apparently, because they had no record of me ever being issued a passport, they don't want me traveling around outside the US. Which means that this whole process, with American bureacracy in place of Ecuadorian, gets to be repeated in a month's time. Hurrah!

New passport in hand, I take a taxi back to Immigration to obtain an entry stamp and a 30-day visa extension. As you can guess by now, that ordeal was far from painless-- it took four hours. Never lose your passport.

Fast forward two weeks. I am in Quito, attempting to get a document which states on what day I arrived in Ecuador. Don't ask me why I need this; I just do.

First thing Monday morning, I go to the inconveniently-located Immigration Office. I arrive innocent, like a newborn, unaware of the long waits filled with interminable number-taking and line-standing that I'll have to endure. Soon enough, the innocent newborn in me is clubbed to death, and I become a soiled, cranky crack baby.

The problems are manifold. The place is crowded so I must wait for hours to be seen. The Immigration Office inexplicably has no record of me ever entering the country; therefore, I must go to the airport to pick up proof of my arrival from the American Airlines office. That single piece of paper costs me thirty dollars, but to be fair, it is on high-quality American Airlines letterhead, and it takes over ninety seconds of someone's time to produce it.

I return to Immigration, which has now closed for two hours for presumably the world's longest lunch break. Several Ecuadorians and I elect to pass the time in the lobby by watching some hokey Mexican talk shows. Two hours is a long time to watch puppets interview real people, especially when you don't understand what the hell anyone is saying (though perhaps that was for the best). My contemplation of suicide is interrupted by my number finally being called. Ten minutes later, I have everything I need, and I walk out the door at 3:30, after first arriving at 9:00.

[Tomorrow, part 4.]