About to cruise the Galapagos Islands

  Puerto Ayora, Ecuador
Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Mon 2 May 2005 Mendoza(Argentina)
Having missed out on the preferred hostel the night before, we have our bread roll and croissant breakfast and head out to look at the town and check out the Hostel International Mendoza (IYHA). Walk via the main square, Plaza Independencia, and the tourist information kiosk, where we provide some English language training for the 3 girls there, and manage to pick up maps of the town and the Maipu wine producing area, plus some bus numbers.
The hostel is a fair way from town, but no further than our current place, and looks pretty lively, so we book in for Tuesday night, and carry on down Via Espana to the main road to the Park San Martin, one of the highlights of the town. Using two maps and the compass,we make a turn to the west, and walk up what looks like the road up beside the ornamental lake, but it takes us further into a pretty depressed combination of wasteland and low income housing. We think-"so much for what they call parks around here, and head for a main road where there is less chance of getting mugged. We seem to be walking a long way uphill to find a lake, so, as a last resort, we look at the compass and the map together, and decide we are 90 degrees off course and heading into no-man's land, right off all our maps. We walk back to a roundabout with a fair bit of traffic, and decide to use the last resort of the lost - hailing a cab.
Unfortunately, a lot of cabs were engaged, and the rest didn't seem to notice us, so we joined a queue at the bus stop, and asked which bus would take us to "centro". A middle-aged couple took charge of us and, after a few false starts, put us on the 70 from Godoy Cruz (as in god oi'm lost) to the centre.
Having given up exploration for the day, we repaired to the recommended mid-range Facundo restaurant for an excellent half bife chorizo (tenderloin steak) chips and salad, and an excellent, though too large, house red, all for the princely sun of 40 AP, including tip.


Unfortunately, after a meal like this, all you can do is coil up like an anaconda and sleep it off, so our jetlag control regime took a major step backward, as we slept for nearly three hours.
The cheap prices are put into perspective when we read a newspaper article saying that 1..6 million Argentinean unemployed heads of households receive a subsidy of 150 pesos a month (that is, A$68 for a family A MONTH)
At night, DP did some free internet, and the washing, then we took a walk up the closest main street to check out the action. Spent a fair bit of the night rearranging the washing hanging over the gas fire, while ensuring we didn't burn the place down. Dianne has practically no sleep as she's back on Australian time. Walking 15 kms
Tuesday 3 May Mendoza
After packing our gear, we decided to give the free internet a go to upload our diary, but suffered technical difficulties, both in Windows 98 and XP, and feared we had a hardware problem on our hands, as we had only tried it once at home.
Quite a long haul to our new home with the baggage, but arrived in good shape and booked in to a 2-bed room, rather than the 4-bed we were shown, then headed out to find the 170(173) bus to Maipu, the vineyard area. Got on with a US couple, and asked the driver to let us off at Bodega La Rural(San Felipe) winery and museum. Found it difficult to follow the bus route on the map, as we passed our starting point at least once before heading out through the suburbs to the semi-rural area of Maipu. At no stage did we get into open countryside, although we did pass the odd field of grape vines, it was not a wine growing area as we know it in other countries. There were a number of fields covered in rubble, possibly from the earthquake. (the city was completely destroyed by fire and earthquake in 1861, which explains why we don't find it a very interesting city to walk around, as it doesn't have the colonial architecture of a lot of other cities.
We also crossed a major watercourse, confined in a concrete channel, but with a strong flow of clean water.
The driver told us where to get off, at a junction in the road which didn't look all that promising, but there was a sign to La Rural San Felipe, and a small information kiosk with a helpful girl,who gave us directions and distances to the two wineries we wanted. La Rural was a long walk down a straight road, with fields mainly of olives, and some grapes. From here we could see some snow-covered mountains that were not visible from Mendoza (photo). It was siesta time, and school children were heading home. La Rural looked suitably historic, with terra cotta colored masonry walls, colonial architecture, and historic items arranged in the yard, but looked suspiciously quiet until we got right to the end of it.

The guard directed us to the reception area where about a dozen people were looking at the collection of wine-making equipment in the museum area. We took a photo of an interesting bin for grape crushing made from a whole steer hide, with the tail forming the outlet spout, then tacked onto the tour group for a look at the modern winery and storage cellar, with the commentary all in Spanish. Fortunately, most of the technology is common to all wine-making, so we picked up most of the information.
After a sampling of a very pleasant Chardonnay, we headed up the road to the Cavas del Conde, but found it closed till 3PM, in spite of a notice to the contrary, so we found one of the few pieces of soft, green grass in the district, and were woken at 3 by the tour guide.
The guide was a young, fashionably dressed blonde, who had a fair grasp of English and the wine industry. At del Conde, they grow their grapes further out, and truck them in. They also do contract bottling, at up to 4000 per hour. There is one bottle line operating while we are there, and the set-up looks quite modern and efficient. A sample natural cork is given to (or forced on) us. We are taken down into the cellar at the base of the in-ground concrete tanks, then up to sample the wine. Neither the white or the red we sampled was particularly good, and we didn't finish our glasses. The guide insisted that the tour was free, so we thanked her and trudged back along the dirt road to the bus stop., to get the bus back to town, rather than press on and look at the town, or one of the wineries with a restaurant, as we get the impression we've seen it.
Back in town, the bus did the usual circles, taking us almost to where we wanted, then spearing off into the donga, so, on the second time past our start point, we decided to jump off before we ended up back in the countryside, and walked to the hostel, which was now closer than the restaurant section.
After another irresistible afternoon sleep, with the alarm set for an hour this time, we headed back to Ave Sarmiento to look at the second restaurant of choice, the Estancia la Florencia. It was still only 7.45 PM, and there didn't seem to be a lot happening, as the outside tables were not set, but the staff confirmed they were, indeed, abieto, and we fronted in for a window seat, as the first customers of the evening. The restaurant was quite large, with two floors and a footpath enclosure, and would have seated 300, but by the time we left, there were no more than a dozen patrons. It was decorated with interesting historical ranching paraphernalia -wooden stirrups, plaited rawhide lariats and bolas, and early telegraph machinery.
To limit the chances of over-eating, we settled on only one salad, a palta (avocado), to go with bife de chorizo, and bife de chorizo con funghi. The salad turned out to be just that, plain avocado to dress to taste with vinegar and oil. The complimentary cheese and gorgonzola spread for the bread rolls, and the empenadas were probably all we needed. The steaks were OK, but tougher than at our first restaurant, and not quite as tasty. We were smart enough to just order a half bottle of the Norton's red to go with it. Total cost was 53 pesos.
Afterwards we walked down to Las Heras, one of the major tourist streets, with a whole block of snow equipment hire shops, plus fast food outlets and tenedor libre (all you can eat) restaurants. DP bought an enormous lemon and fruitilla gelato for 2 AP, which lasted all the way across the town to the hostel. Our room was just big enough for two single cots, plus a tiny bathroom to the right of the door, and 4 lockers to the left. The shower was a trickle of too-hot water from a hand-held hose, making for interesting, but not too satisfactory bathing. Towels not supplied, so we resorted to our surprisingly effective Kathmandu micro-fibre pack towel.. This is the trade-off we face all the time - you can stay, for the same price, at hostels (in private room) where rooms are basic, but there is plenty of social interaction, or in hotel where facilities are better, but we're quite isolated.
There was a fair bit of noise from the bar downstairs, plus what sounded like a bosun's whistle late in the evening, and pretty savage traffic noise in the morning. We were surprised that the Inca pattern bed cover was warm enough, as the room wasn't heated, and had a fairly large window.
Wednesday 4 May Mendoza
DP finally got some sleep, and we breakfasted about 10 AM, before heading out to do business and actually find the Park San Martin. The recommended ATM had a large line-up, so we carried on into town on Espana, our street, to find Lan Chile. DP waited in line while MP scoured the streets to find an ATM. In the process, found a promising Internet cafe for sorting out our hardware problems. We found the No. 50 bus to the park more-or-less where we had been directed, and paid 60 cents Argentine each. It took a while to reach the park entrance, and it definitely looked park-like, unlike what we found on our previous attempt. The driver told us we had arrived, but we stayed on, hoping to get to the far end of the park. We had been warned not to walk in the deserted areas of the park, so stayed on right through the large University grounds, almost to the zoo and cerro, and right back through the university to the park entrance.
At the park entrance, we got info from the friendly staff, and another warning about where not to go, and walked through the pleasant, but not spectacular park to the artificial rowing lake. Beside the lake, a man with a young boy also warned us, so we got the message, took a couple of photos, and left. We kept a pretty good eye on a local on a trail bike near us. Looked like a good candidate for a bag snatcher.
We walked downhill a couple of kms through middle class suburbs to Las Heras again, and fronted up for a tenedor libre, which is an all-you-can-eat buffet and bbq meat meal. Managed to put a fair bit away, including two good apple and caramel pancakes, cooked while-you-wait.
We walked the length of Las Heras, then to the internet cafe to download our diary, hardware permitting. The hardware performed perfectly on the Windows XP Professional system, but it still took 3 hours to sort out the HTML protocol to upload our photos. In the process, we checked out all our photos on the computer screen. They were so good, we had to rethink our impressions of Chile, and the road to Mendoza, which we'd thought hadn't been as impressive as we expected. Realise we're just becoming jaded.
Back at the hostel we rested up for the meal we had ordered at the kitchen, and tried our gift wine from the Santiago hostel.. Only fair. Talked at length with an older traveller from the US, a taxi driver from San Francisco, who was quite well-read and interesting. We were expecting to be on a long table with others at the hostel, like the previous night, but it turned out that the long table was for a local group or club of young women, with one missionary type foreign woman, and we and the American shared a small table. The "home style" meal consisted of a large lump of stewed beef, with a little bit of gravy and vegetables, and classic Argentinean salad of grated carrot, cabbage, purple cabbage, tomato and onion. It was quite tasty, but unnecessary after the tenedor libre. DP ended up giving her meat to the American. At 8 pesos each, we hadn't wasted much.
Before going to bed, we were both caught with the runs. Couldn't blame the home cooking, had to be something at the tenedor libre. Sorted itself out eventually. Dianne's had the flu for a couple of days, and not getting a lot of sleep, so took a night flu tablet, and we both got a pretty good night's sleep, waking to the alarm, just audible from inside the bag where it had been put to make sure it didn't get left behind. Walking 10 kms
Thurs 5 May Mendoza(Argentina) - Santiago(Chile) - Guayaquil (Ecuador)
Woke to find it quite overcast, and cold. Since we've arrived in South America the days have been sunny and the temperature in the early 20's, but today it feels like it is about to snow- a good time to be leaving!
Packing was surprisingly quick, must be getting in the swing of it. Have breakfast and off at 9am in the taxi called by the hostel. We both have a window seat for the 40-minute flight to Santiago. Lots of white clouds, but we get above them, and can see the snow-covered peaks of the Andes above them. Have a 4-hour wait at Santiago airport, which goes fairly quickly, then on to our 5-hour flight to Guayaquil. There is an older couple we talk to who are going to Quito, then on to the Galapagos. They end up sitting behind us. Are not on our boat, but will be on a boat at the same time. They have downsized from Belrose to Manly.
There is a fair bit of cloud all the way, but get views inland over arid terrain and mountains, then a rugged, arid seacoast, with mountains dropping right into the sea. We take a shortcut over the sea, coming back the coast somewhere near Pisco, possibly at the poor man's Galapagos, as the coastline is very indented and interesting looking, and has a lot of islands. We pass Lima just on dark, and the lights show that it is an enormous city. Can recognize from the air the Malecon areas where we walked last time we were there. It is fully dark by the time we get to Guayaquil, which also looks pretty big from the air. Watches have been put back a total of two hours from Mendoza. The flight is pretty bumpy, and the landing a bit rough. We have been told it is 29 degrees on the ground, so we stuff the 300 jackets in the daypacks and weather the A/C in the terminal. We have filled in a fairly draconian register of personal goods on the customs form, and included foodstuffs on the list but no-one even looks like asking to see the declaration.
The terminal is pretty new and a lot better organised than our aging guide book indicates, and we are out into the street quickly. Sorting out taxis, we are asked about pickups, and in a flash of inspiration, we ask if there is a Grand Hotel bus, and sure enough there is one, AND it is free AND the driver has our names on his list, so we come out of it pretty well. We try to explain that if he is there specifically to pick up someone, it is NOT us, but this gets lost in translation, and we set off to the hotel with just the three onboard. Even with the dollar tip forced on us by the multi-star hotel system, we still get out of it pretty cheaply and safely, and book in without problems.
We had pre-booked accommodation because we were a bit wary about the safety in Guayaquil. When we were in Ecuador eight years ago, and rode on the top of the train down the "devils nose", we'd got off before Guayaquil, because of its reputation. However it appears they are now making a concerted effort to attract tourists, and have lots of security in the centre. We paid US$88 for the room, SIX times the cost of the night before!
The hotel is pretty flash, particularly when compared with our previous accommodation, almost as nice as home, but the corridors have that tropical decay/smoking smell, and the room has the international hotel problem of no decent lighting in the room.
After looking at the rooftop bar and gym, taking photos of the night views, and walking down the external stairs five floors to the pool deck, we check out the restaurant, then check in our valuables. Taking advice from the desk, we walk the main street, get some good photos of the Cathedral, which backs onto our hotel, and the impressive colonial buildings. These buildings had that "opera house in the jungle" look about them that comes with some kind of boom or bonanza.

Turns out the boom in cacao around the turn of the century made the town very affluent for 30 years before the multinationals, WW1 and disease on the cacao plants, caught up with it. Guayaquil is Ecuador's largest city (population 2 million), and is on the Rio Guayas, 56kms inland. It's the country's chief seaport.
There was very little in the way of food available nearby, and we weren't game to go too far in the dark. Not many people on the streets, but LOTS of guards, all armed. Certainly one on every corner, and quite a few in between. The small places were closing about 9, there were no fast food chains, and the hotel restaurants looked a bit grand for just a snack, so we went back to our hotel restaurant for an unbelievably bad beef shank soup, and a mediocre potato skins and liquardo. It is pretty hard to cook bad soup, but they managed.
The starred hotels do have advantages when it comes to bathrooms, and fluffy towels, so we made the most of the plentiful hot water, set the A/C to something bearable, and hit the sack for a good sleep.
Friday 6 May Guayaquil
Up early to take advantage of the good buffet breakfast before we have to pick up our refund from the travel agent (for changed accommodation). Take photos of interesting furniture and decoration in the restaurant, then out to look at the town, walking South into the area we were advised against at night. Lots of people on the street, fairly 3rd world in terms of buses, people selling coca cola by the glass, lots of armed guards. Having walked a reasonable distance south to get the feel of the streets, we headed East down to the Malecon, which was brand new, quite colourful and grand, and heavily policed. The river is very large, a couple of kms wide with a strong current heading south, as marked by a line of hyacinth clumps. Most of the buildings along the street are quite grand. The Old Market at the South end is a lightweight steel structure, which looks quite new, and a bit overdone, but it turns out to be a prefabricated structure by Gustav Eiffel in 1905-7. Walking North, we passed through a new shopping centre which is part of the new Malecon development, and took photos looking at the Cerro at the North end from one of the lookout structures.

We decided not to overdo it, as we're really feeling the heat and humidity, so left the walk through the historic Cerro till later, and headed back via the Parque Bolivar to take photos of the Iguana infestation,

and the Uni Centre to crack the $US ATM system successfully, taking out $400 with a lot of looks around to see who was showing undue interest in us. Notwithstanding, there is no indication of possible problems, apart from the heavy security presence, such as the guard with the shotgun at the hotel front entrance.
Back at hotel, fill in time doing diary, internetting etc till the tour people turn up with the wetsuits and snorkelling gear we're renting for US$130, as didn't want to have to drag ours all around the world, and would cost that much to get it back to Australia.
A woman and her daughter turn up with the gear, wrapped in plastic as it has been air freighted from Quito. They don't seem to want to come up to the room, so we find the toilets off the foyer and try the wetsuits on. MP gets some funny looks stripping off in the washbasin area, but doubtless the hotel staff have seen it all before. The wetsuits look new, 3 mm, and the 2 we choose seem to fit pretty well. At this stage we find that they have sent two masks and only one snorkel, rather than vice-versa as requested, so Mme has to make a few calls before it is decided that she will buy a snorkel and leave it at the hotel office.
In the afternoon, we walk North to have a look at the streets while it is light. See an interesting church tucked in between the high rises, then along the Malecon, where the tide is now running out, taking larger and more numerous clumps of Hyacinth with it. A number of canoes are drifting with the river, look a bit like sea-gypsy boats, with people living permanently on them. There is an excellent garden between the riverbank and the main road. Lots of colourful shrubs and flowers, but no sign of humming birds. On the broadwalk, there is an enclosure where children are hiring small electric cars, which look pretty good, not unlike MP's "People's Wheelchair". Made in the US by Fischer-Price - goes to show that if you have a good idea, think twice about investing time and effort in it, as the multinationals are already working on it.
Just short of the Cerro, there is an arts complex with dramatic architecture, fountains and shade structures.
As we get closer to the cerro, we can see a closely packed collection of restored houses and businesses, brightly painted, and connected by well-made steps and pathways on the river side of the cerro, and the same buildings, pre-restoration, on the inland side, and on the next cerro, which is topped with communication towers, rather than the historic church and lighthouse. A real before-and-after look. The restorations are well done, and the combination of numbered steps straight up the hill, and pathways to the side, with zig-zag steps at the end make it a delightful climb up the 444 steps, as distinct from 666 steps, Numero del Diablo. We take a lot of photos out over the town and river, and see a lot of birds, including what we assume is the brilliant Vermilion Fly Catcher.

There are a lot of abandoned commercial and industrial buildings along the river North of the cerro, including a large brewery building right on the water, so they have a long way to go, but have made a good start. The security presence is pretty heavy, with police on every path on the hill (although the young policeman at the top is obviously bored as hell) so they may have security under control, certainly during the day..
We walk back on the main road, then through the Malecon park, and get to the MacDonalds too late for lunch, too early for tea, but invest in two big Mac meals, 3.89 US each, not cheap compared with the local combo lunch menu, but it filled the hole, and meant we didn't have to go out later hunting a meal
After picking up our snorkel, we had a rest, then packed our gear in a manner which minimized the weight in the packs, as we had been told there are weight restrictions on the plane, and finalised our bill. Later in the night we had our complimentary cocktail in the hotel bar, found no action there, so had a quick look at the streets and hit the sack early.
Sat 7 May Guayaquil - Puerto Ayora(Galapagos Islands)
Up before the alarm, down at breakfast at 6 AM to fill up on buffet before hard times start again. Find that there is no courtesy bus going to the airport, so get a taxi at 6.45, quick trip through deserted streets to the airport before 7.
We've been interested in the Galapagos Islands since reading a book about Charles Darwin thirty years ago. They're situated on the Equator, 970 kms west of the Ecuadorean coast. They consist of six main islands (Santa Cristobal, Santa Cruz, Isabela, Floreana, Santiago and Fernandina- the last two uninhabited), 12 smaller islands and over 40 islets. The islands have a total population of over 17,000, with 10,000 on Santa Cruz. The largest island, Isabela, is 120 kms long.
We've decided to spend a couple of days in Puerto Ayora, the main tourist town, before spending a week on a boat trip around the more deserted islands.
There is a fair line-up for the Tame ticket counter. We were a bit worried about our tickets, as we'd paid the travel agent in Quito by internet, and had been told that our tickets would be waiting for us - and they were. Early at the check in.. No problem with weight of our main bags, which come in at 28.5 kgs. Luckily they don't weigh our heavily packed day-packs. Pay US$5 each for some sort of service. Woman is not sure whether our travel agent has paid or not, so makes us sit and wait while she runs around making phone calls, including to our boat operator, who said Samba people would meet us at the airport.
We lost our buttering knife as a result of rearranging the food into the daypack, which was a disappointment, particularly as it is not all that good for cutting bananas, let alone people. Seating was open, and we wanted a window, so, without actually urging, we made sure we were in the first 20 or so people on the plane. Got a window seat each on the right side of the plane. Apart from Guayaquil, we didn't see a lot, as it was cloudy most of the way, and there were only a few small islands and rocks visible on landing. The terrain looked pretty dry and rocky, and there was no tropical colour in the water, so it wasn't a very encouraging arrival.
We were wearing our 300 coats, partly for the plane A/C, partly to save weight and space for our wetsuits, so we had to get out of them pretty quickly on arrival. We paid our $100 US each for park fees, cleared our food with quarantine, then tried to find the merry men of Samba, our boat, but there was no sign of them, so DP bought bus tickets, as we didn't want be left, as the airstrip is just that, on Baltra, a small, bare island, 50 km from civilization. With the bags in the bus, we found seats for the 5 km trip to the ferry to Santa Cruz, the main island, which is separated by a narrow, vertical sided channel, maybe 100 metres wide at its narrowest, and 20 metres deep. Interesting geology, as it looks more like a massive fault or rift, rather than an eroded channel. The bags went on top of the ferry, us inside for the minute, 50 cent trip, then back into a smaller bus for the 42 km trip to Puerto Ayora, along a narrow, rough yet sealed road through arid, rocky country.
The land was pretty well covered with 5 to 10 metre trees, with scrub under, and rocky ground, but it was all pretty dry until we got to the highlands in the centre of the island, which is greener, with larger trees, and, further on, even some farmland and mango trees. We passed two large sinkholes in the highlands (assume we are going back for a better look at the highlands on our tour).
The town Santa Rosa, nearby, is pretty ordinary, with 3rd world breeze block architecture, and the first impressions of Puerto Ayora aren't much better. The bus stops, in classic style, on the outskirts of town at the new bus station, too far to walk, but not so far as to wear out the village fleet of pickup taxis. It costs us a dollar, money well spent in the heat of the day, to reach our seaside hotel, Grand Hotel Lobo del Mar.for US$30 per night.
The girl on the counter has to look pretty hard for our booking, even though there don't seem to be many names on the book, but finds it and we check in to our third floor, balcony room overlooking the atrium and swimming pool.
The room is pretty good, large, good bed, big bathroom, A/C, cable TV, looks like we have a pretty good setup, have a good shower and head out to look at the town. There are a lot restaurants, bars, souvenir shops, and a few hotels. Down at the shore we spot a bunch of sea lions on a wharf,

and there are plenty of pelicans and frigate birds. We pass an amazing bit of architecture in the form of a jewellery shop, which is a brilliant white curved freeform building, surrounded by a circular wall of volcanic rock, topped with a smooth plaster cap. The yard between the building and the wall is raked sand and, dotted with tall cactus, and the gate is an intricate free form sculpture in stainless steel, shaped to fit into the curved gateway.
Down at the harbour, we share the quay with a marine iguana while we read our information, then get an ice cream and look for lunch. The seafront restaurants are offering fried rice for $9, so we keep looking, and find a menu del dia in a back street, soup, drink, and a main course for US$2.50 each. Not too bad, the beef soup infinitely better than that in town at the multi-star hotel.
Have a PM sleep, wakened by an incredible amount of screaming to find the small swimming pool full of about 30 kids running riot. There is a school excursion from Quito staying for a few days, so we successfully transfer to a sea view room, more-or-less insulated from them.
Toward dark, we walk along the shore to the Charles Darwin research station, which is still open, walk through it to the sea in a few places, but don't see any wildlife of note. Walk back to the hotel in the dark, getting a bottle of coke on the way. The 2 litre bottle is a refillable Pet bottle, $1..50 for the coke, $1 for the deposit, shouldn't be too much of a rubbish problem on the island.
We look at some menus, but can't be bothered eating again, and have an early night, punctuated by singing from the basketball stadium next door.
Sunday 8 May Puerto Ayora
We are up early and packed to go out, waiting for our continental breakfast. It turns out we share the restaurant with the schoolkids. Talk to some of the teachers, have a pretty good breakfast-sliced bread, slice fruit,small slice of omelette, butter and jam, and nescafe, made with hot,powdered milk. Ecuadorian breakfasts definitely an improvement on Argentinian and Chilean. From the instructions given to the children concerning rips on the beach, work out that they are going to Bahia de Tortugas, our planned destination, so rethink. In the corridor, DP gets talking to an Australian girl who is a naturalist with Dubbo Zoo, and we agree to share a taxi-boat to the other side of the harbour, and walk to Las Grietas, the grotto down the coast a kilometre.
The water taxi charges 50 cents a head to take us out a couple of hundred metres and across a hundred to a landing on the other side. Even for this short distance we have to put on life jackets. The path to the grotto is pretty well marked until we get to the Finch Bay Hotel. We start walking through the hotel, but a young manager type directs us around the outside wall of the hotel, along a red gravel path. The path passes a scummy lagoon and through scrubby trees ,splits two ways, both marked with striped poles. The right leads up a rise to the top of a fault in the rocks, about 10 metres wide, and 15 deep, with clear, deep water in the bottom of it. DP kits up, complete with mask, fins and snorkel, and just about drowns, as the valve in the bottom of the brand new snorkel, the one obtained at some hardship in Guayaquil, is missing. Taking the other snorkel, she swims the length of the pool, but is unable to proceed further, so comes back.

While we sit at the bottom, a group of four boys comes down to swim, and climb the walls and jump off. DP doesn't want to watch, so we head back looking for the playa de los Alemanes, rechecking our map. We find the water at a private jetty, but nothing that looks like a beach. We try another path, find a number of concrete roads that don't lead anywhere ,but finally find ourselves back at the Finch Bay. Ask the manager where Playa de los Alemanes is, and he says - right here! The hotel used to be the Delfin, which we have been unable to locate. The map now becomes clear. The tide is out, so we wade in the shallow water, then head back. On the return journey, our taxi picks up an American who has just delivered a large and very flash private yacht. Owner is flying in for a week, then he is taking the boat to NZ before he goes back to his real job.
We have a nice fish, chips and salad lunch, then back to the room. Between 'flu, A/C, time changes and flying, not to mention the heat now that we're on the equator, we are not getting on top of the jet lag. Late in the PM, we take another walk, and take photos of the tourist train hauled around the streets by a fibreglass elephant (just like the one that kept us awake all night in Banos, Ecuador, eight years ago) The whole population of the town is converging on the main square,and there is loud amplified music on the stage, but nothing live happening on the stage. It is a sort-of Sunday night passagio, but nothing formal.. May have something to do with being Mother's Day. Later, we return our $1 coke bottle, in exchange for a "galon" of water.
Monday 9 May Puerto Ayora (Galapagos)
Another early start after too much attempted sleep, another breakfast with the children, then out to walk to the beaches at Bahia Tortuga. Unable to buy bread on the way, but find the path and proceed to the far side of the same rift which forms the harbour. We sign in at the ranger station, and are warned about the rips on the first beach, and told of the better swimming at the next beach..
The path to the beach is very well formed of interlocking pavers with a concrete kerb each side, and is easy walking through dry forest and cactus. Lots of lizards on the path and smaller birds in the trees. The first beach is wide and flat, with a medium surf running, and clean water, except for a patch of very dark, discoloured water in the centre. We walk as far as signs allow to the north, then along the beach to the far end. The discolouration appears to be an algal bloom, rather than an oil slick. At the south end we take photos of pelicans and the first marine iguana.

Further along, the path splits, with the sea side path carefully defined by rock markers and signs. After looking carefully, we can see an iguana shaped rock which eventually moves. Having verified that at least one of the rocks IS an iguana, we look harder, and see that there are dozens of them on the rocks and in the surf, and later swimming down a side channel.
We walk on around the end of the peninsular, to the next beach, which is, indeed, tranquile, and has a fine sand beach, with bush behind, and mangroves at the far end. The dreaded children have turned up, but there is a lot of beach, and we find a quiet spot at the far end, under a tree on the damp sand, and settle down to read.. We are visited by a number of birds, which come up quite close for the crumbs of our biscuits, accidentally dropped, and very small. One bird is very like a canary, in size and colour.
On the way back, we pass an English couple. Ask if they are aware of the blue bottles on the tide line and get talking. They are near the end of a 2-year around the world trip, and have taken rooms in Puerto Ayora for a month. Report that the cruise around the islands should be very good, which is reassuring, as we're glad we came to Puerto Ayora for couple of days, but it's nothing special.
The walk seems shorter when you have people to talk to. We had another fish lunch, then struggled home for another PM rest.