Galapagos

Today we had a free morning before our afternoon ferry to San Cristobal island. We decided to spend the morning with a walk to Tortuga Bay – which is a 3 km trail leading to one of the nicest white sand beaches in the Galapagos. The sand is so fine – it’s like powdered sugar! The first beach we arrived at was long and wide filled with beach breaks that were good for surfing, although among sharks and sting-rays – so we kept on walking and were with company of numerous huge marine iguanas that sauntered along with us. The second beach was a protected cove that was known for great snorkelling.

Tortuga Bay on Santa Cruz Island

In the afternoon we collected our bags and headed to the marina to catch our inter-island ferry. We had planned on doing a session of home-schooling on the ferry since it was a 2.5 hour crossing. Kari was looking forward to ordering some snacks and Norrie was thinking about some cold Cervezas for the trip. Little did we know!!!! At first we boarded an ‘aqua taxi’ which was filled to the brim and almost sinking point with luggage. This carried us 10 minutes out to the deep water where we thought our large ferry would be waiting for us to board. Instead we arrived at a boat which was about the same size as our taxi, but had two engines instead of one!  All the  passengers were thinking the exact same thing as us – which was ‘how are we going to sit here and stare at each other for the next 2.5 hours?’ To make matters worse – Vea (who had been having some stomach issues over the course of the couple of days) had to urgently use the bathroom. Little did we know that the boat was so small it didn’t contain a bathroom.

So we all hunkered down and prepared ourselves for a long and tense ride. The crossing turned out to be much rougher than we expected – maybe because we were going full-throttle through open ocean swells. Many times we would all rise from our seats as the boat launched over the crest of some larger waves. Kari and Vea ended up moving seats to the back so they could be close to the side if Vea got sick. Kai was mostly content to be up front where the motion of the boat was most intense – although he also looked a bit pale and distraught sometimes. Luckily we were able to spot a group of dolphins who put on quite a show by jumping and playing the boat wake. Norrie told Vea that they had come to make her feel better – which put a slight smile on her face.

Our crazy ferry ride to San Cristobal Island

Arriving in San Cristobal we all felt like we had been through a washing machine, and were happy to see land. We were immediately greeted on the pier by a large colony of sea lions who populated the entire waterfront. We later spent many occasions watching them and being entertained at sunset along the waterfront.

Our greeting party on San Cristobal Island

We had three days on this island – with one day tour booked to the highlands, and the rest of the time to explore on our own. When we were initially planning our trip to the Galapagos, we did a lot of research and decided against doing a full week of organized tours. Part of this decision was due to the cost of booked tours to the Galapagos. Many people had warned us that it’s easy to spend a whole months travel budget in a week by using organized tours. Some of the boat tours (in which you live on board) can cost up to a $1000 a day!! We opted for a more budget oriented plan by doing land based tours and making sure we had days in which we made our own itineraries (these days on our own were actually some of the best time we had on the islands).

Our first ‘self-guided’ day was spent by visiting a great beach called Playa Los Liberia – which is 30 minutes walk outside of town. We spent the whole morning snorkelling with giant sea turtles (some were 8 feet long!), sea lions and lots of spectacular colourful fish. Vea learned to dive under the water with her snorkel – so she’s now enjoying getting up close to the action. It’s very funny to hear the squeals of excitement that come through the snorkels when Kai and Vea see something new underwater. Pretty awesome experience.

Snorkel buddies

Later that night we were having dinner along ‘Charles Darwin’ drive (the main road along the waterfront) – when we started hearing similar chants and cheers that we’d heard a few days ago on Santa Cruz. Soon after came a procession of honking cars, motorbikes and waving flags. This was obviously another political parade. Out of curiosity we followed the parade and ended up in a plaza where the stage was set for a huge party. We learned that this was the third night of parties which took place for the ‘Fiesta Galapagos’ and followed after with a series of political party fiestas. Each night was hosted by a different political party and they all try to out-do the others with live bands, firework displays and street vendors – which continued on till 4:00am when the city finally pulled the electricity and shut things down!

Our second organized day tour was on Thursday. We met up with our tour guide – who just happened to be named ‘Darwin’ (apparently this name is quite commonly given to those who are born in the islands). It was just the four of us in the tour – so we headed off in Darwin’s truck to start our tour of the highlands. We took in 4 sights – including a freshwater lake in the caldera of the dormant volcano peek, a breeding sanctuary for the giant Galapagos turtle, a snorkel session at a beautiful secluded beach, lunch at a farm house, and a visit to a 400-year old Cielo tree where someone had built a huge tree house mid-way up the trunk. Kai and Vea both got very excited at the prospect of Grandpa building them an exact replica of this tree-house when we get back home!

The giant Galapagos Turtle is the same size as Kai and Vea put together!

Friday was our last day in the Galapagos. We had the morning to get in one last snorkel at Playa Los Liberia before catching our flight back to Quito. We’ve seen a lot in the 5 days here, and feel very fortunate to have been able to experience these special islands and the amazing wildlife that thrives here. The people that live here are very proud of the islands and the fragile ecosystem they live with.

Back in Quito, we had a day to catch up on some schooling, wash laundry, and take in a few more sights in the city. We visited the National Museum and learned a bit about the history of South America and Ecuador, including some background on the Inca civilization.

We’re spending the night at the airport for an early flight to Los Angeles – thought we’d save on the accommodations and do an ‘all-nighter in the terminal’. We picked up some groceries for the night, including a box of our favourite cheap red wine ($5 for a litre!!). Upon check-out at the grocery store, the clerk abruptly confiscated our box of wine and in a scolding tone said ‘No Vino’! We were very confused by this, but later learned from the store manager that the whole country of Ecuador is under prohibition for 3 days due to the upcoming elections on Sunday! Good thing we’re leaving early in the morning before all the political craziness begins.

Next stop – big city Los Angeles for 4 days before catching our flight to the Hawaiian Islands to reunite with the Rogers.  Can’t wait to see them after 8 months! We’ve been enjoying the small towns and communities of Costa Rica and Galapagos over the past 3 weeks – not sure how we’re going to feel about being in a huge city like Los Angeles. But that’s part of the fun of travel – embracing the change.

Here’s a photo album from our week in Quito and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

All 4 now.