Indefatigable
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2008
1
17
61
Trip End
Apr 01, 2009
Galapagos islands,
Ecuador
Sunday, November 30, 2008
and San Cristobal were once called Albermarle, Indefatigable and
Chatham and as well as Darwin, quite a few streets are named after
Brits. It's quite weird.
Golden Galapagos moments that didn't get caught on camera include:-
Our
guide on the volcan pointed out a "Darwin's spiny leaved essayroov".
When he spelt the last word we realised it was "shrub", but as H is
silent and B often sounds like V in Spanish, that's how he'd decided it
was pronounced. All the way down the volcano in dense wet fog a
spectral voice at the rear could be heard saying "sssshrub!, ssshrub!
sshrub! shrub!"
On the way to dinner one evening I passed the fish
market and saw 4 women on one side of the counter and the fishmonger
filletting a tuna with a sealion standing next to him with its flippers
on the counter, 2 dozen pelicans and a heron all waiting for tipbits on
the other side.
For that dinner I had steak cooked on hot volcanic rock on my platter. It was delicious.
I
love the Galapagos, especially Isabela. I'd come back and do a cruise
with a friend (still not keen on sharing a tiny cabin with a stranger
for a week). The most costly part is getting here. I'd heard it was
expensive but apart from internet (triple) and beer (a few cents more)
it's much the same as Quito for food and accomodation. Compared to
Tahiti the Galapagos is cheap. Now I know how it works I could do my
trip independently for half what I paid and the was pretty inexpensive.
Back
to Quito, which is becoming my favourite South American capital. After
a week at sea level I'll have to aclimatise to the altitude all over
again. The festival for the founding of Quito is the first week in
December - lots of bull fights, apparently. I'm off to Riobamba on
Monday to do the "Devil's Nose· train journey.
