Galapagos!!!

So we arrived off our plane, with another $100 bill to pay just for arriving on the islands. The cost of Galapagos was more than I had budgeted for and with the money worries I hoped that it was going to be everything that I thought it would be.

Baltra island, which is basically just an airport, is where we met our guide and where we should have met the rest of the people on our boat. This turned out not to be the case since we three were the only three on the 8 person sail boat. Score.

Our first stop was on Santa Cruz, so after the bus ride to the ferry, the ferry ride from Baltra to Santa Cruz, the car ride to the south of the island, the dingy ride from the harbour to the sail boat, and once we had eaten, we headed back to land and jumped in a taxi to the highlands.

In the highlands there were giant tortoises just roaming around. I couldn't believe how close you can get to these animals, and how undisturbed they were by our presence. Our guide threw a passion fruit in the path of a small female one, and we watched the munching of it with bewildered eyes. Never have I seen anything like it.

We then got ourselves into an empty tortoise shell, which was rather roomy but also rather dirty. Pics will be put up upon my return to Spain. Also on our first afternoon in the Galapagos we ventured into a lava tunnel and crawled our way through it (there was no lava in it, for those who are confused).

So our first night on the boat. We were only in Puerto Ayora and the boat was rocking. I could hardly stand, my dinner was close to coming up and we hadn't even started moving yet. The sickness tablets and ginger tablets combined however did the trick. Irony - the captain had music on for a while before we hit the hay on the first night, and what should be on, titanic. Very reassuring - NOT!!!

So overnight the engine started (yeah on a sail boat) and we headed to Rábida Island. The swaying from side to side was not good, but I managed a few hours sleep and awoke to views of an orange beach. We walked along this said beach and saw many ghost and sally lightfoot crabs, as well as marine iguanas and lava lizards. More exciting than them however was the sealions. We could be metres away from them and they wouldn't even blink an eyelid (if they have them). There were both male and females scattered along the beach in different locations.

We headed to Sombrero Chino in the afternoon and went to a kindergarten for sea lions. But this was after going on two different snorkling trips. The first off Rábida was a bit murky and visibility was poor to start, but despite this we still saw many varities of fish and also sea turtles although everytime we got near them they swam off :(

Our second was much more enjoyable and an infant sealion joined us and played with us in the water whilst we swam to where the colony of galapagos penguins normally hang out. To get to where they were I needed to swim under the water and through a short tunnel to reach them. Mez doesn't like snorkling so she was currently relaxing with the sealions on the beach, and Emma decided she didn't like the idea of going underwater, so under I went with the guide following. Turned out after all that, the penguins weren't there and I only got to see the one that was outside of the tunnel.

So back out, with the three of us and the sombrero chino beach to visit the various different sealions and their cubs. Just as friendly as the others, but we also saw a dead baby sealion who was being eaten by a sally lightfoot crab, not nice.

Travelled before dinner to Isla Snatiago, which meant a calmer night and a better sleep for the Sunday. We headed to Sullivan bay, which is only 180 years old, and pretty much all lava. So a rocky walk over there and a quick stop back on the boat to pick up our snorkling gear.

White tipped sharks, marbled ray (steve urwin killer) galapagos penguins, sealions, turtles and god knows what fish, just to name a few of the things we saw on the trip. The water there was freezing and even with the scottish blood I found it difficult to keep going at times, but the fear of missing something kept getting the better of me and I continued until the guide could take no more.

Afternoon involved a lot of steps, over 300 to reach the lighthouse at the top of Bartolomé and a view that resembles jurassic park (although I personally couldn't see the similarities). A walk along the beach, after going back down the 300 odd steps and a quick beach clean up which involved many plastic bottles and flipflops. This sadly included mine, since whilst jumping from the dingy to the beach my flip flop broke on impact of the sinking sand, sad times.

Our last night on the boat, and a free bottle of red chilian wine to complete our trip and a superb meal. On the monday morning before they drop everyone (the three of us) at the airport you have one more excursion. Ours was to Banchas, with another beach walk and views of flamingos doing the Michael Jackson moon walk and also galapagos sharks.

Most of the animals that I was interested in seeing were the mammals, but we were also priviledged to see many birds, these include pelicans, oyster catchers, and the famous boobies native to the islands. Blue footed boobies were more common in the north of the islands, where we were, but we also got to see a Nazca boobie. Whislt at Banchas we saw a flock of over 300 blue footed boobies, which our guide said was uncommon and very rare. lucky us.

So it is expected to tip the guide and the crew on these tours, and we were slightly worried about how much was normal. In the end we gave for a 4 day tour, $20 to the guide each and $10 to the crew. Our worry was with the crew since there was more of them than us, which obviously wouldn't be normal if the boat had been full. Also with these tours the snorkling gear sometimes isn't included, like with ours, and we had to pay $25 to use it. They forgot this, and we didn't mention it to them. The drinks also aren't included and Emma and I owed $4 each, which I tried to pay, but with the lack of change it was difficult. They gave me the $2 change, and when at the airport the guide was going to change my $20 for two 10's and give me one, this was forgotten about in the rush and I ended up making money on the drinks, oops.

Although the boat trip was over, our time on the islands wasn't. We had decided to stay a further two nights on Santa Cruz, which we did in one of the local hotels, nothing special can't remember the name. Anyway, the afternoon, after figuring out the ferry and waiting over an hour and a half for the bus (since we were too tight to pay the $18 taxi) we visited the Darwin centre saw more tortoises including baby ones, land iguanas and learnt a little about his work. Free so worth the walk along.

Last day (getting near the end) morning stroll to Tortuga bay, which is more like a 45 minute walk, and a hike on the way back. The first beach isn't that nice that you get to and you should defo walk the extra 15 minutes to the next one where you can swim. We went early and we were there for about 9 in the morning, and already the place was busy, so god knows what it would have been like later.

We didn't stay long, the sun was heating up and we had many other things we wanted to see. This included a trip to Las Grietas which was a taxi boat ride away. Follow the signs, and you will be rewarded with a beautiful gorge although not the most practical to get down to. The swim will be needed if the sun has been beating down on you like it had on us.

We had only planned to do the two things on our last day, but since we still had time we thought visiting los gemelos would be interesting. We were quoted $30 for a taxi there, so knowing we could we do it much cheaper we set of in a pick up truck for a $1 each and went to the nearest town to it which was Santa Rosa. This wasn't really that close and we needed to walk a further hour to reach it. We lost Mez on the way since she wasn't feeling well and Emma and I walked along the road to it, never being entirely sure how much further we needed to go. Eventually we made it, 10 minutes before it shut (which is 6 o'clock) and got to see one of them from the road and the other we headed to the mirador.

Walking back, after being rejoined by Mez and a pick up truck offers to take us back to Puerto Ayora for $2 each. So $9 in total for the three of us, plus a 2km walk, but defo not $30. Stop for dinner in the supermarket, also to get breakfast for the following morning. Now I have been told that you need to have change for small shops and taxis, but a supermarket. Absolutely rediculous! they wouldn't take my $20 which I had unsuccesfully tried to break on many occasions that day. With no breakfast or dinner I was a bit pissed off. Luckily I found a shop that would take my money, since no change no purchase in the supermarket, would never have happened whilst I was working in Tesco.

Pick up truck to bus station, bus to ferry port, ferry to Baltra, bus from there to the airport. Plane to Guayaquil, taxi to hostel and walk to the internet. Day is complete.