First stop, The Galapagos.
February 10 - We began our journey from Austin, TX. On a rainy afternoon the plane whisked us away and, after a brief stop in Fort Lauderdale, took us to Guayaquil, Ecuador. Arriving around midnight, we had resolved to spend the night there dozing only a little in a secluded waiting area.
February 11 - Around 6 am things livened up and we went to check into our flight to the Galapagos. There is a common misconception that people can only get to the Galapagos via cruise, we happily busted that myth. There are daily direct flights from Quito and Guayaquil. It is important, however, to be aware of a few things when going to the Galapagos.
First, before you can even get on the plane, you must pass a brief Biosecurity screening at the airport. They have disallowed plastic straws, bags, styrofoam food containers, and plastic single-use bottles to further preserve the environment. They will also check your luggage items during this part of the process. Once passed, you will pay $20.00 (Ecuador uses USD as their currency) per person as a conservation fee.
Second, once you have passed security, flown, and landed you walk out on the tarmac of the airport to be greeted with another sort of customs for entry. Here they will check that you have the conservation fee paperwork and charge you $100.00 for entrance to the National Parks of Galapagos.
Third, they will also ask you if you have a ticket for the bus, this ran us $5.00 each but is the best option to transfer you to the ferry. The ferries are small but will take you safely to the main island of Santa Cruz. From there, for an additional $5.00, you can take a bus to the main town of Puerto Ayora where pretty much everything is walking distance. Alternatively, you could take a taxi but they normally run $25.00 - $35.00. We went with the $5.00 option.
Once we had arrived in Puerto Ayora there was the initial task of orienting ourselves. We managed with the help of Google Maps to find our Hostel a mere 3 blocks away and upon check-in at Galapagos Dreams found there was a research center for the tortoises. So naturally, we dropped our bags in our room and went to investigate. On the way to the tortoises, we found a neat little ceramic garden that stretched its way from the main road to the little bay of Puerto Ayora. It was a fun amalgamation of old broken tiles and dishes, bespeckled with the remnants of mirrors to create a beautiful kaleidoscope of eccentricity. We stopped there for a little while to drink in the details then pressed on to find the research center.
At the end of a windy road, we found the Tortuga way, a path that split off to the left. Surrounded by the astoundingly large cactus trees that look like a combination of a pine tree trunk topped with prickly pear cacti, we made our way ever closer to our first contact. Then off the right, there they were, baby tortoises. Each bearing a pink number on the back of their shells, it was obvious we had made it to the research center. These little guys were truly being cared for before they even came out of the shell. A short distance later we found the adult tortoises. They were impressive and seemed to enjoy the attention. The last tortoise we saw for the day was named Super Diego. We learned from a nearby guide that the reason he was so named was due to his having done his part to restore the tortoise population. Diego had been responsible for bringing over 800 little tortoises into the world. They had originally found him on Espanola Island and would be soon returning him there for his retirement. We felt fortunate to have gotten the chance to see the giant tortoise as we walked away from the research center, but before we could fully exit the center we had another surprise in store.
Marine Iguanas, with their salt crested heads, lay bathing in the fading sunlight as we happened to pass by them and as way leads to way, we found that further down a nearby pier one could observe the dance of the waves and bright red crabs. For the second time that day, we paused to drink in the moment. Then our reverie was disturbed by the low growl of our stomachs. So, beckoned by hunger we returned to our Hostel.
Jonathan, our host, met us at the doorway and made an excellent suggestion for our dinner, El Giardino. We walked there, enjoyed a wonderful dinner and returned to our Hostel to call it an early night.
February 12 - We woke at 6:30 to catch breakfast before our tour. Upon arriving in the dining area, we learned that despite the time displayed on our phones, the Galapagos is an hour behind, we had awoken at 5:30 in the morning for nothing. Shucks, but fortunately, the upside was plenty of time to prepare for our day and we were the first to eat breakfast.
After breakfast, we hopped on a bus which after collecting a few other passengers took us back to where we had made our original crossing by ferry to the Island of Santa Cruz. Once there, we jumped into a small boat that took us out to a larger, though still smallish boat. At around 20 people including the crew, it was a full ship. It took us to North Seymour Island. Upon the Island, we found most of what comes to mind when people think about the Galapagos (aside from Charles Darwin, he was nowhere to be found). We found the well known Blue Footed Boobie bird (a funny name for a bird), Great Frigate birds (they have green plumage on their backs), Magnificant Frigate birds (highly similar in appearance except they carry purple plumage on their backs), and large land Iguanas (one of which was named Leonardo after Leonardo DiCaprio). After about an hour, we returned to the boat and headed off to Mosquera to snorkel with sea lions.
Once at Mosquera we quickly plopped into the water snorkel gear at the ready and began searching for the sea lions. Initially, we found only schools of fish which though tropical and beautifully colored did not satisfy our desire to swim with the playful dogs of the sea (as T calls them). As we drew closer to the white sand of the beach they found us. Twisting happily around in the warm shallows, they were magnificent. They made a game of tugging at each other's back flippers and chased each other to and frow. T soon found that she was invited to join in the game when a smaller chap bit onto the rubber of her right flipper and began tugging on it. While surprised, T greatly enjoyed the brief game of tug a fin and rose from the water positively glowing with joy. (Check out some of the footage at https://youtu.be/yvs7zqUimSY )
We stayed with the sea lions a little longer and walked around Mosquera which turned out to be little more than a large lazy white dune that had formed up next to a few rocks which poked out from the sea. Then, once again our tummies growling, we swam back to the ship. We were then fed lunch and returned safely back to Santa Cruz to spend the evening at our Hostel.
February 13 - We awoke to our alarm and strange Latin music playing somewhere in the distance. Luck was with us for as I picked up my phone, I noticed an alert from Google assistant informing me that my flight for today had been canceled. My trusty Motorola G7, altogether a solid phone, and Google Fi had not let me down, for even though I had not received any notice of the cancellation in my email from the airline further investigation led us to discover that ALL flights from our current airline had been canceled for the day. That's when T snapped into action, every part of her analytical mind was laser-focused on getting us to Guayaquil today. Experience has taught me that when she goes full analyzer crisis mode, it is generally best for me to let her run with it and simply nudge her gently back towards the vital portion of our goal should she get lost in the details of her analysis or simply give her reassurance should she become overwhelmed.
So, after a rushed breakfast perforated with phone calls to the airlines, our credit card company, and their travel concierge, who offered us a flight for $800.00 (which was ridiculous) T resolved to simply book a new flight with a separate airline. She discovered a flight that allegedly only had one cheap seat left and multiple expensive seats, so she booked the cheap seat, then when she returned to the airline's website they still had one cheap seat left. She then booked this seat as well and we were back on track for $370.00 which, with the return of the points we originally used to book the flight put us right at even. A word of caution, while we were fortunate this little trick worked out in our favor I wouldn't under normal circumstance recommend it.
With our first major hiccup successfully sidestepped, we jumped into a truck which we had booked to take us to the ferry and a few fun stops along the way. Alex, our driver, spoke very little English which allowed us to practice our Spanish skills. With the assistance of Google translate, to fill in the expressions we struggled with, we had a pleasant conversation. We sped along the highway and then through a natural tree tunneled road towards our first stop, lava tubes and wild giant tortoises. The Lava tubes were a nice cool break from the heat of the day. They were neatly lit and easy to navigate. After a short walk, we emerged back into the bright green leaves and sweltering sun. The tortoises had found a variety of effective methods to cool themselves. Some hid in the deep shade of the trees, others played in the mud, but the majority had congregated in a small shallow pond with only their nostrils, eyes, and great shells popping up out of the water.
After enjoying these sightings, we hopped back into the truck with Alex and left for our next stop, the twin craters. The twin craters are, unsurprisingly, exactly what they sound like. Two massive craters, one smaller and deeper 70 meters (about 230 feet) in its depth, and a much broader and shallower one around 50 meters (164 feet) in its depth. We were, however, in a bit of a time pinch, so necessity dictated that we forgo our usual curiosities and return to the truck. After a brief truck, ferry, and bus ride we found ourselves again at the Galapagos airport. As we stood in line to collect our newly purchased tickets, we could see our fellow travelers who had not been so fortunate standing in line for the airline which had canceled all of their flights out of the Galapagos for the day. Earlier we had learned the soonest that the airline could get passengers out would be in four days. We couldn't help but feel sympathy towards them as we have stood in such a line in the past.
We both breathed a sigh of relief once we had boarded the plane without any further issues. Our new flight was not without pleasant surprises. During our layover, in the Quito Domestic terminal, we found the VIP lounge which was phenomenal. If you're in the market for a great travel card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve card grants you the additional benefit of a priority lounge pass among other general travel benefits. We enjoyed a fine dinner of fried plantains, ceviche, and seafood paella. With a little coffee to boost us we hopped on our connecting flight to Guayaquil and after a 35 minute flight, we landed safely and caught a ride with our hotel's pick up service to our accommodation. Happy and full we spent the rest of the evening reviewing our photos and laughing over various details of our trip, especially the photos of the sea lion which played tug o' fin. Our stay in the Galapagos had been brief, perhaps too brief, but the time we did spend there will be warmly remembered for years to come.
-G