This was yet another early start. Pick up time was 6.30, I was ready at 6.15. I have packed my wheeled hand luggage with all my cold weather clothes and dirty washing and left it securely (?) at the hotel. I figured if anyone wants my dirty underwear, they're welcome !

There were four of us in the bus, Hebe, Graham, Liza and me. As it was so early there wasn't much conversation. Apart from Liza asking which cruise I was doing, east or west? 

Well considering that we were all on the same boat in the same week, it would be difficult not to do the same as everyone else, wouldn't it?

There was utter chaos at the airport, at least for our airline Tame. The computer system had crashed and check in was being done manually by one person. We didn't move at all for the first 20 minutes. 

 Just as well as there seemed to be a problem, Houston!

It seemed that I and my dear friend Liza did not appear on the boat's manifest, hence we were not going to be able to go to Galapagos.

What????

 However, once I produced my voucher, proving I was a passenger on Mary Anne, this was all resolved. Good that's sorted then.....

Well actually , no.

There was also the small problem of the fees that I needed to pay, one for $10 and one for $100. Again I had my paperwork showing that these had been prepaid. Liza had put all her stuff either in the bin at home or in her hold luggage. Useful.

Luca, our agent from Andean Travel was beside himself, nearly donning a hair shirt, but after a lot of phone calls to his office, it was decided that if I paid over the $10 and was given a visa for Galapagos which meant I could at least check in, Luca would then be able to either give me a receipt or get the cash from the ATM to repay me once approved by his office.

In the middle of this Liza is still blissfully unaware of the problem, as she has the attention span of a block of wood. I managed to break into her conversation with some complete stranger in the queue, who looked ready to commit hari-kari, and enlighten her as to our plight.

She went on and on about how she had thrown all the paperwork from Llama away as she didn't need it. I told her that was a really stupid thing to do, as these problems can arise at any time on a holiday.

"Well", she says "I shall never book with Yama again" (She uses the Spanish pronunciation of Llama).

Bloody brilliant, think I, that means I can use them again with no fears of running across her!!

It was only about five minutes later that Luca came back smiling and happy to give us the $10 back and also the $100 for entry into the Galapagos National Park. Graham and Hebe did not appear to have this problem, as their paperwork confirmed they had paid. Just a small glitch but easily resolved.
 

There is a special check in for Galapagos which screens your baggage for any fruit, nuts, seeds etc. Due to the whole nature of the islands only an idiot would try to take anything there that could affect their unique and fragile environment. Liza had two apples removed from her luggage......

Departure was delayed due to the check in problems and we nearly lost Liza as she did not check the departure screens. There was a change of departure gate and she nearly ended up in Peru! I managed to shout the number of the changed gate to her as she disappeared down an escalator. A kindness I would come to regret later ......

At the correct gate Hebe discovered she had lost her cardigan, she disappeared off on a fruitless search. Meanwhile the flight was called. Liza stayed sat down and asked me what I was doing because our flight didn't leave for two hours. How does she manage on her own? And she speaks Spanish, so should have understood the announcements. 

Oh by the way, it turns out she is Finnish, not Spanish. She'd still be a royal pain in the arse if she was a Martian!

It was a very short flight to Guayaquil, we had just about reached level flight and been served a drink, when the plane started its descent. Lots of people got off, the plane was refuelled, the  'mechanico'  was called, we know not why and more people got on. It was an hour late taking off and we still had been given no food. As we had been up for about five hours, 'my ass was snapping at the grass'  to quote comedian Jethro
Eventually we were airborne again and given a weird sandwich, biscuit and an apple. Graham and Hebe were getting really worked up about our tardiness but you have to go with the flow where travel is concerned. Unfortunately for Hebe her woes were compounded when the guy in front reclined his seat and broke her specs in two.

Once we landed there was a small wait for a passport check, nothing like the usual Miami wait and I had to pay over the $100. Then I collected my  holdall and was met by the Mary Anne guide. I decided to buy a hat, just in case my thick hair wasn't protection enough from the strong sun. I chose one with embroidered blue footed boobies on it, to go with my own boobies!

We waited and waited for Graham and Hebe to appear.......

Finally they came, Graham was shouting and gesticulating, Hebe was in tears. They had not been listed on the Mary Anne's passenger list and had been asked to pay their $100 each again. There followed the same kind of kerfuffle that I had enjoyed in Quito Airport.

Finally, their names had been found on another ship's manifest, showing they had indeed prepaid and so it had all been resolved with no money to pay, just frayed nerves.

Then it was off in a coach for a short trip to a jetty, a short boat transfer and then all onto a smaller coach. We started to introduce ourselves and we are a family of Americans with two children and their aunt, a French couple, the rest are Brits apart from Liza and a really nice guy from Hong Kong. He has anglicised his name to Wayne, like Bruce. I said what about John, but he had no idea who John Wayne was!! Really??

We stopped off to see a lava crater which I have to say looked just like a big hole in the ground. Our guide told us that it was umpteen million years old. When I asked her what the evidence was for the dating, she said it was because the geologists said so! So, all very technical!!

 Then it was off to a private tortoise rancho for lunch. What a beautiful place!

Lunch was great, no roast tortoise although it did involve the dreaded banana! Then it was welligogs on (due to the presence of fire ants) and off we went to meet the giant Galapagos tortoise. They are really quite ugly close up but still quite endearing! I took loads of photos which will need to be pruned down.

Next we went into town to get the pangas to the Mary Anne. Pangas are like Zodiacs, sort of blow up dinghies. You sit on the edge of the boat and hang on for grim death. getting in and out is a bit of an art!! Before we got to it though we had to almost step over a Galapagos resident in the form of a sleeping sea lion! She had decided to sleep right in the middle of the pier!

There were lots of boats in the harbour, but I have to say that Mary Anne looks the most fitting, more HMS Beagle like. I was given the wrong cabin to start with. which was very small, although this was a clerical error and was resolved later.

Once unpacked, I shot upstairs - sorry - on deck, for a beer and met up with Brian and Nick who were on their second week. They are great fun and love their beer and gin! 

We had had lunch at 5pm and dinner was to be at 7pm with a wee chat with Marie our guide afterwards. Marie is very knowledgable but it is a bit of an information overload with her and we think she may have German blood as she is very forceful!

Dinner was tuna steak which I can just tolerate. I am not a great fish lover. Then it was up to the pointy end for mucho cerveza with the self professed group aka The Trouble Makers -  Brian, Nick, me, Hebe and Graham. We are trying to baptise Wayne into our select club. 

The Pointy End very soon became the name for the bows during the following week, the Blunt End, being the stern

 And so to bed, we are moving to Floreana overnight and then the real adventures begin.?