The Galapagos - A 5 day cruise (Part 1)

i started this morning with a business class flight to the galapagos (as i'd had to change my flights last minute when my original cruise got cancelled) which i can assure you, is not a bad way to start the day :) 

i met our guide and a couple of fellow passengers at the airport and we made our way to the dock area and then onto the yacht, The Darwin. the rest of the passengers are on a later flight. i have a small cabin on the main level of the ship which i'm sharing with a german woman named ellen who speaks limited english.

our first hike was that afternoon on isla mosquera which is a tiny island near isla baltra. we landed on the island and everyone was a bit awestruck at the number of sea lions, their proximity and their lack of fear/interest in us. we wandered on the trek and saw more sea lions, some yellow iguanas which are endemic and a couple of yellow finches. i took so many pictures today - i can just imagine how many i'll have after this 5 day cruise is finished :)

we motored a bit in the night which meant i didn't sleep fabulously but it's hard not to be happy when the views are as awesome as they are :)  today we had two walks at different locations on isla sante fe. highlights include heaps more sea lions, some new bird types and black land iguanas.  in between our hikes, we went snorkeling. the ocean is pretty chilly but the underwater is well worth it!  we saw a couple of sharks, a sea turtle, a couple of manta rays and a variety of fish.  our snorkeling guide is an ex-fisherman who now works in tourism so unsurprising, he knows there to find all the fish :) 

tonight we motored in more open water and i started to feel a bit seasick (and i innocently didn't bring any seasickness tablets). about 20 minutes into the trip, i was outside, feeding the fish my dinner!  the majority of the passengers were sick at some point in the night as it was a bit rough.  i didn't trust myself to go to bed and so i spend some time sitting outside at the stern of the ship, trying to calm my stomach.  i was joined by one of the crew who chatted with me until about 1am when we both decided it was time for bed. the funniest part of our conversation was about "brunch" - he was quite perplexed by the concept and i spent a lot of time trying to explain it to him.  it was quite cute :)  

    

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Quayquil... i'm not sure if i liked it or not :)

i arrived at the bus terminal in quayquil and decided to get to my hotel using public transport as it didn't seem too far away. i found the local bus station with the help of a bystander but before being able to take the bus, i had to get a local bus card (including image). this accomplished, i waited in a massive queue to get on the next bus with all my stuff! i secured a seat (by a bit of magic) and was on my way!  all was going fabulously until it was time to get off - the bus was jam packed and it was near impossible to get to the door with everything but i managed just in time :) 

i spent most of my time in quayquil near the water, trying to avoid some of the intense heat that radiated intensely here. i wandered the fairly newly developed malecon - a waterfront boardwalk area with a children's play area and shopping, visited las penas - a historic neighbourhood with a lighthouse and pirate museum and visited a museum detailing the settlement of quayquil.  

it was a reasonable day, particularly considering the only reason i'm here is because it's where i'm flying to the galapagos from...

ciao,

sarah     

 

   

baños, not baño (toilet) in spanish :)

the bus trip from quito to baños was uneventful except for the revolving vendors on the bus...  within the first hour, there was someone selling kids clothes, electronic goods and selfie sticks and a myriad of food vendors!

baños is a cute town nestled between a number of mountains/volcanoes, making it quite picturesque as well as popular spot with tourists because of the range of activities available. i opted to go whitewater rafting down the rio negro which was awesome fun! the river was quite big & pushy with class III and IV rapids - it made me regret not having been whitewater kayaking in ~10 years as i think i would've really enjoyed running that river!  after rafting, i figured i'd pamper myself with a full body massage and facial - absolutely wonderful! 

the next day i had a very quick visit to la selva, a jungle near baños. we learned a bit about local indigenous customs and food, got our faces painted and then headed to lunch via canoe. after lunch, we headed to the national park for a hike with a naturalist guide to a waterfall for a swim. 

my final day in baños, i rented a bike and rode along "ruta de cascades", stopping every kilometer or so to see a different waterfall. the grand finale was about 16kms from baños and is called "pailon de diable" or the devil's cauldron. it was a breathtaking waterfall with tons of water flowing through it! i lazily took a mini bus back to town as my butt was sore (the bike wasn't super comfy). 

i decided to pop into the bus station before dinner to get an idea of the bus frequency for the morning and it was lucky i did. there were only 2 buses a day to quayaquil - 6am or 1:30pm. considering it's a 7 hour ride, my preference is definitely to take the earlier bus! 

hasta luego!

sarah