Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands

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  Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Ecuador
Saturday, January 31, 2009

Entry to Quito was less than salubrious.  The airport is right in town and there was a gloomy grey look to the city with a fog descending.  Plenty of child beggars in the airport too.  I'd been warned that it was very dangerous and I'd better look out for myself.  I had already heard plenty of stories from fellow travellers of being robbed at knife point or bags stolen.  In one of the guide books I read it recommended not going into the parks.  Not not going into the parks at night, or not going into the parks alone, just not going into the parks.  This was a first.  That and mentions of strangle muggings (lovely) made me keep my wits about me for the trip. 

I'd booked into a hostel recommended to me by Abbie (Magic Bean - New Town) which was clean and modern and served great food.  I was in a miserable mood though so just went up to my room and had a cry for a bit.  Thankfully the hostel had wifi and I could skype a couple of friends and talk for a while until I cheered up.  I think I was having an attack of loneliness.  A fat glass of red wine and a pep talk later I soon cheered up so started the search to find a suitable vessel/price for the trip to Galapagos Islands which was one of the things I was most excited about with regard to this trip. 

I was lucky to have a few nice people to share my dorm with too, Anita (Australian), Seth (American) and Martin (Argentinian).  Martin was a big bloke from Buenos Aires who announced shortly after arriving that he was going out to buy a knife so that he could protect himself.  This did not fill me with confidence.  'Specially since we had all just arranged to go out together that night for a few beers.  The hostel was situated in the New Town part of Quitos which is where all the bars, restaurants and all the tourists were, this area is particularly dangerous apparently.

Various negotiations and considerations of the Galapagos later I was booked onto the Fragata for a 4 night 5 day cruise around various of the southern Islands including Santa Fe, Santa Cruz, Espanola and a few other uninhabited islands whose names I have forgotten at this moment - shame on me.  The boat took 16 passengers and I was interested to find out with whom I would be sharing a cabin.  Nightmares could abound but as it is I lucked out and got a cabin to myself.  Although I did have a friendly German chap offer to share with me "if I had a problem".  Not quite sure what he meant by that but hopefully came across thankful for the suggestion whilst firmly negative in response.  I've got quite used to sharing rooms with strangers but I was a bit worried I may get someone who suffered from sea sickness which would not add to the trip so far as I was concerned and could easily send me over the edge myself.  On arrival at Baltra airport I was refused admission to the islands as I didn't have the US$100 necessary.  This is a tourist tax which is put towards the good of the islands.  Stupidly I had assumed there would be a cash point and hadn't thought too much about it.  Luckily my guide was Alberto who was kind enough to lend me the money.   If Alberto had not had the money I would have remained stuck on the other side of the barrier unable to get in so I was much indebted to him immediately.  Luckily there were ATM's at Puerto Ayora where we would be boarding the boat so he was swiftly paid back. 

My fellow island trippers could be broken into two halves.  On one hand we had a group of Germans who had hired their own German speaking guide and on the other the motley bunch I ended hanging with, a couple of feisty Dutch girls, a Spanish girl, Australian chap and a couple of young Swiss men.  Thankfully they were fun and I'm now a few facebook friends up.  The Dutch girls particularly were great.  Eveline and Sylvana had a great take on life and really added to my trip with their shenanigans. 

Our days were usually arranged so that we travelled overnight to the next island.  We spent the morning doing guided treks around the islands and photographing various species of rats, iguanas, birds, giant tortoises and sea lions.   This could be quite amusing as there were a few boats doing similar rounds to ours with their own tour groups and just when you thought you were the only gays in the village around a hillside would tramp a whole bunch of them.  We grew to recognise and shout cheery hellos at each other - most of the time.  Sometimes we muttered under our breath "oh, it's not them again is it" and "don't look now, here comes your mate". It was more than slightly pythonesque.  In the afternoons we went snorkelling either around the island or out in the sea around volcanic crusts that rose out of the water and were rich in coral and the like.   I deep sea snorkelled (possible due to the clarity of the water) with sharks, giant sea turtles, sea lions, sting rays and schoals of fish with incredible colours.  I saw massive black starfish with red dots and catfish and rock fish, eels - the lot.  Having a sea lion that's bigger than you swim less than a foot beneath you all the time looking you in the eye is the strangest feeling.  Seeing sharks, (luckily the ones we came across were reef sharks which are not usually dangerous) even if they were small ones, gave you quite a start too.  Luckily I didn't see sharks being aggressive until the last day of the trip when the crew were baiting a couple of large (about 10 foot) sharks with a fish on a string.  They were throwing the fish over water and pulling it out away from the sharks making them furious.  That was pretty scary and I was glad to have finished my snorkelling by that point.  It's certainly put an end to any "going down in shark cages" thoughts I have been considering over the last few years and not got round to. 

The creatures on the islands are amazing unbothered by a bunch of humans tramping around them.  In fact, some of them definitely got off on being photographed the vain devils.  By the end of the trip I had decided to start ignoring the show boaters.  In fact, by the end, I had had enough of sea lions, iguanas, boobies and their smells and habitats.  I'm over them I tell you.  You will be too by the time you've finished with the photos.

After a bit of snorkelling and on one occasion near drowning in my case (damn you the Devil's Crown, damn you Captain!) which i put down to my new habit of wearing socks with fins (a particularly Michael Jackson like look when teamed with a wet suit - suggested by the Captain of the boat who was an amorous chap with some strange ideas) we were allowed to relax on the beach for approximately 15 minutes before being asked to descend into a lava tube or somesuch (i.e. something similar to pot holing which I have to say has never been a desire for me).  This was difficult to back out of, literally, especially when you had a 6ft 5in Australian bloke behind you.  The islands themselves are not particulary beautiful, although the beaches are generally fine, but that is something that I have learnt about the Galapagos.  The species on the islands are not particularly attractive specimens either, in fact the words "endemic to the Galapagos" became a by-word for "plain" within our group.  We were soon able to instantly ascertain whether a plant or creature was endemic just by looking at it.  The Dutch girls took great pleasure in pointing out many endemic species during the trip, and back in Quito.  They are probably still doing it now as they travel up to Costa Rica. 

I had the great pleasure of meeting Lonesome George, the last living member of his species of giant tortoises.  They have no mate for George but are trying to splice genes and create one.  Our guide, Alberto, mentioned that currently they expected this to take approximately 600 years.  I have a feeling George may be gone by then. 

After the amazing time I had in the Islands it was with a bump that I returned to Quito for one night before flying down to Buenos Aires.  This time I stayed in the Old Town which had more of the original architecture and was a bit safer.  This meant that if we wanted to get a drink then we had to go back up to the New Town so I'm not sure my logic worked there.  On my final day in Quito myself and the Dutch girls wanted to go to a market and a chap from the hostel we were staying with decided to come with us.  So we walked about 6 miles up to the largest park in Quito and dangerously entered.  Lucky for us there was just a football team practising (it took some time getting the girls away from this part of the park) and children playing so luckily we were safe - on this occasion. 

I was counting down the hours to my flight.

love, xxx

Post your own travel photos for friends and family Pictures

El Panecillo, Quito	Sunday footie game, Quito	Quito	New Town, Quito
Alberto, endemic cacti	Fat lazy iguana	Alberto and giant tortoise	Little red crabs u can't eat
sea lion - surprise!	Dutch girls	sea lions	sea lions
Iguanas	Iguanas	show boater	Show off
New band I'm putting together	Iguana!	Iguana on iguana action	Blue footed booby
I love these crabs but can't eat	Galapagos hawk, i think	Sylvana and sea lion - both show boating	Galap. Mocking Bird - v. clever
Hermit Crab - how cute!	Fragata dinghy, Devil's Crown in background	Mirror lake, tiny flamingos in distance	Dutch girls leaving footprints in fab beach
Honed down new band	slightly larger flamingo	lava tube experience	lucky to survive this
Sun rise at Floreana	Bird sex, don't look!	Quito	Seth, Anita, Martin
Showing off	Every trick in the book	Fragata	Old Town, Quito
Shark baiting	Sharks win	Alberto lounges in Fragata	New Town, Quito
Homely cabin	Still they persist	Baby giant tortoises at 5 yrs	Baltra airport
Old Town, Quito	El Panecillo

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