Last day at the Galapagos

In 1946 the USA sent 300 prisoners and 30 policeman to Isabela Island in the Galapagos.
To keep the prisoners busy they built in the middle of the Island a huge wall made of stones.
Today the people have gone but the meaningless wall is still there.

My question is: did the americans really had to go all the way to the Galapagos to do that. They could have built a wall to keep their prisoners busy, I don't know, in Montana....

After visiting the "wall of tears" we spent another 3 hrs on a speed boat from Isla Isabela to Santa Cruz.
This last journey was tainted by the fact that half way through the journey the boat landed at full speed on top of a Giant Manta, probably killing it.
The impact was so hard that even the engines of the boat turned off.
We could only stare powerless at the movements of the manta's wings,flapping frantically in the middle of the ocean before our boat took off again.
After having learnt for days of Men's responsibilty for the extintion of various species in the islands, this event made us all feel really bad.
I don't know if this was an accident or a mistake due to careless handling of the boat.
What we know is that one of the reasons we originally opted to use "Tropic" (the agency) was the fact that they claim to promote "responsible eco tourism", and unfortunately I can now say they don't.

Once in Santa Cruz we went to see the Darwin Centre.
Darwin spent some time at the Galapagos while developing his theory on evolution.
The Darwin centre however is not dedicated to evolution: it is devoted to conservation.
The Darwin Centre it is also the home for Lonesome George.

As th picture says George is the last one of his dynasty.

He is currently 93 and inspite of all the efforts is destined to extintion.

The extintion of the Pinta Tortuoise was once again due to human intervention.

This time however, not by over hunting (as it happened on the Floriana island) but for the introduction of goats on Pinta island.

Goats became soon competitors for food on the island which led to the extintion of the tortuoise.

And that was pretty much the end of our trip to the Galapagos.

In only 4 days we did so many things and we saw so many species and spectacular sceneries.

We learnt a lot about conservation and evolution and yet, not even the experts at the Darwin Centre could explain this.........

Galapagos day 4

During the first 3 days we had the impression that our guide wasn’t extremely professional but it is on day 4 that he completely lost the trust of the whole group.

At 8am on the dot everybody, including the bus and its driver, was ready to go outside the hotel and the only missing person was our guide!

We made various enquiries and eventually we were told that he had been out partying till late at night and he was still asleep in his room.

Finally he turned up at 9 (1 hr late) without an apology, saying that he was waiting for the bus.

In the meantime since also the bus had disappeared he dropped us at the nearest beach and left us there until 12 o clock.

We didn’t despair. The Galapagos are so naturally rich that any place is good enough to spend hrs looking at a multitude of animals. This beach, just outside town was full of birds, crabs and iguanas.

Our guide knew that he had messed things up massively and only a spectacular afternoon would have partially helped to sort things out. Therefore, with the help of a beautiful sunny day, he gave it his best shot.

First he took us for a boat ride in shallow crystalline waters where we were able to spot turtles, manta rays, penguins and blue footed boobies amongst other birds...

Then we went to the islote Tintoreras where baby iguanas were warming up among spectacular volcanic rock formations.

On the left side of the bay there is a narrow canyon (2 meters wide) where the waters are shallow and well protected from the ocean currents.

This is where sometimes white tip sharks come to sleep.

That day the canyon was practically full with dozens of sharks sleeping at the bottom of the sea and few (more awake ones) swimming around slowly.

These sharks are roughly 2 meters long and apparently they are not dangerous to humans, and yet snorkelling in the area has been recently prohibited due to an accident to an American tourist who panicked in the canyon......

......clearly we did not know all the above when our guide took us snorkelling in the canyon.....

We have mixed feelings about this experience.
Elena, who is not particularly fond of sharks and snakes, was a bit shocked when she found herself trapped in the narrow canyon with sharks swimming only 50 cms below her

Initially she looked down and was partially reassured by the presence of a friendly sea lion swimming around her.

After few minutes though she pretty much stopped looking waiting for death to come and bite. (too many Hollywood movies)

I was to say the least exhilarated and didn’t want the swim to end almost hoping that one sharks would brush me.

What gave us a bitter taste later on was the discovery that we had broken the Island’s rules.....not exactly what we came here for.

Galapagos day 3

We left San Cristobal early in the morning for our first 3 hrs boat ride to Isla Floreana.

Clearly, having learnt the lesson the hard way 2 days before, this time we popped one of those heavy pills for sea sickness and made sure we would sit at the rear of the boat.

It did work, although we felt sleepy for the whole morning.

Our visit in Floreana (an island that counts 112 habitants in total) begins with the visit at the turtle sanctuary where we were able to see dozens of turtles wandering around in the forests and feeding with huge leaves.

We learn that the actual Floreana turtle became extinct years ago due to over hunting by sailors and the ones we are seeing have just been re-introduced to the islands later on from other islands in the Galapagos.

The reason why these creatures were hunted was due to the fact that they could survive for over 1 year without food or water, which is quite handy when you are crossing the oceans without touching ground for months.

Some interesting stats about turtles: They can live up to 180 years, they have 5 heart beats per minute and the big ones can weight up to 250 kgs. Ah and by the way, they don’t swim. The ones you see in the water are a completely different species, so if you see one walking around very slowly, don’t push it in the water out of charity.......

Back at the pier it was time to visit a colony of iguanas. It is quite easy to take pictures of iguanas. They barely move and some of them have some spectacular colours.

They tend to stick together, sometimes one above another, warming up in the sun and spitting the excess of salt they absorb from the sea water.

Immediately after lunch we went back to the boat for a new session of snorkelling. In actual fact one of the prerogatives of this organisation was to always plan snorkelling activity immediately after lunch.....considering how freezing the water is at the Galapagos, we didn’t think this was very clever.

To add insult to injury for this session the guide informed us that he would not join us as the water was too cold and he had a bit of sore throat......

It didn’t matter. We went in anyway as we were told that it was very likely we would bump into turtles (the sea type)

And so we did.

The sea turtles we saw didn’t seem to bothered to swim next to us. In fact we were able to get very close. They tend to swim very close to the shore, where they can feed due to the high presence of food brought by the currents. They float around 1 meter below sea surface following the movements of the waves. We did the same. It was great. We even forgot it was freezing therefore our swimming session lasted almost twice as long.

It was time to go back to the boat, pop another pill and get ready for another 3 hr ride to Isabella Island, which apparently is the best of all islands. The question in our mind was: how do you beat swimming with turtles?

Galapagos day 2

After sleeping like babies at the Pimampiro hotel, we spent the morning wandering around town meeting the locals

and a couple of hrs in one of the crowded beaches just outside town.

At 1pm we met the other 13 members of the tour and our guide for a quick briefing.

They were all Europeans, coming from Spain France England Germany , which gave us plenty of opportunities to practice 4different languages.

In spite of the huge age gap (from 18 to 55) we all gelled quite well and interestingly enough most of us were on a long break rather than a short term vacation.

I guess the “island hopping" type of tour is more suited to the adventurous types whereas the “1 week” all inclusive type of people tend to select the more expensive cruises.

That in our opinion is also better for conservation. By keeping the vast majority of the tourists on cruise boats they manage to minimise the impact of mass tourism on the islands, and in fact in our 5 days at the Galapagos we barely met any other tourists.

In the afternoon we picked up our snorkelling gears and headed straight out for 2 different sites: los lobos and kicker rock.

At los lobos the water was incredibly clear, which gave us the opportunity to see plenty of marine life.

Los Lobos bay

Unfortunately the guide run ahead of everybody else, hence we were not able to ask any questions about what we were actually looking at. To sum it up: lots of fish, clear water, very cold.

They then took us to the kicker rock, a 180 rock formation in the middle of the sea which is partially eroded by the action of the strong winds and the waves.

 

Due to the weather condition and freezing water only the braves jumped for the second snorkelling session. Personally I went in as anything is better than being on a boat with rough sea......

This second session was very uneventful as the water was not clear. The guide told us he might have seen the shadow of a turtle and hammer shark. We barely managed to see the shadows of our companions, although jumping in the rough see and swimming across a 180 rock canyon was still a cool thing to do.

All in all it was a good day, even though we could not see any of the big animals we were hoping to spot (mantas, turtles, sharks etc).

As the sun came down and we were heading back to the port Elena and I began to think of the 6 hrs boat ride waiting for us the following day....

Galapagos day 1

No need to say that we were very excited about our 5 days at the Galapagos islands.

In our mind this was certainly one of the highlights of the trip and for this reason we had also booked the whole tour through an agency well in advance (this is quite unusual for us as we tend to be “solo” travellers as we don’t like to be bound by a tight schedule, but simply improvise as and when).

Now we can safely say that the Galapagos met our expectations and did not disappoint us, the agency, unfortunately, let us down.

But lets proceed with the right order.

We landed at the Baltra airport, north of Santa Cruz island at 10 am after been sprayed during our flight to ensure we would not bring any non endemic animal to the island.

The Ecuadorian authorities take conservation very seriously and this is very reassuring. For this reason we didn’t mind paying the $100 fee at landing which we are told is once again used mainly for conservation of the National Park.

Education both of local people and tourists plays a big part in conservation. You are constantly reminded, on TV, magazines, roads and even on the benches where you sit, that looking after the nature is everybody’s responsibility.

As the bus drove us from the north of the Santa Cruz island to Porto Ayora in the south we noticed that the presence of men on the island is limited to the bare minimum (one road, nothing else)

In Puerto Ayora we jumped on a small speed boat, with 15 other local passengers, for a 3 hr ride to Isla San Cristobal.

I can definitely say that if hell exists, the punishment must pretty much resemble like that ride on that boat.
This is the best smile I can fake on the boat

For the first hr on the boat we felt sea sick, after 1 hr we met some heavy currents and the boat begun to jump from one wave to another with us jumping and landing on our seats praying for our lives. We used life vests as pillow to soften te landing.

When eventually we touched land again, like the pope, I kissed the ground.

Elena, which is clearly more resilient, felt immediately better as we were greeted by 2 sea lions sleeping at the pier.

We soon realised that this was not luck but just the norm in San Cristobal. Sea lions own the town, literally, human being co-habit with them, and in actual fact the night belongs to them hands down.

Sea lions sleeping everywhere on the beach and in the road

On the bench.....

.....and guess who is sleeping in there?

Guayaquil

We spent 2 nights in Guayaquil and we think that was more than enough.

The first night, before flying to the Galapagos, we slept at the Tangara hotel, conveniently located 10 minutes from the airport, where, after long negotiation they kindly agreed to store most of our luggage and the bike

There is not much to say about Guayaquil.

The highlight of the town is the Malecon 2000, 3kms of river side walk fully refurbished in 2001.

We are told that Guayaquil is a masterpiece of regeneration........I just can’t think of how it must have appeared before.

On a positive note, in spite of the traffic and the size of the town it is fairly easy to navigate it, due to a simple one way system and progressive denomination of the roads.

We wish we had the time and the courage to visit the barrio Sant’Ana, a colourful neighbourhood north of Malecon 2000. This little quarter on a hill surrounding the lighthouse is made of colourful houses.

Here’s is a picture from distance.

In Guayaquil we found abundance of electronic shops and plenty of statues but strangely enough we could not find a single restaurant, even though we walked around for over 6 hours.

Eventually as we began to starve we stepped into one of the chain hotels in the centre (the Man Ging).

Not only the food was good and the service was excellent, but we also discovered that 1 room, in this brand new 4 stars hotel only cost $69 per night, only $19 more than our shabby hotel (The Tangara) in the suburbs next to the airport (with airplanes pretty much landing in our bed!!)

Unfortunately we still had o go back to our “hotel” where we spent the night before going to the Galapagos, but we didn’t miss the opportunity to upgrade to the Man Ging on the day we came back to Guayaquil to collect our luggage and bike from the Tangara Hotel.

Shabby room for $50 at the Tangara

VS

stilish room at the Man Ging for $69

Las Cajas

The E582 is the road that from Cuenca takes us to Guayaquil.When the owner of the hotel suggested we should take this road instead of the easy E40 we didn't know what to expect.
The road initially climbs from 2500 to 4200 meters; after that it plunges down to 0.........
As you can see from the sign pictured, this mountain pass is the closest point to the Pacific Ocean which act as point of division between rivers flowing toward the Pacific and rivers flowing to the Atlantic

On a very positive note it appears we have acclimatised to high altitude.
This time we didn't even noticed we went over 4000 meters although, I guess, we were probably distracted by the beautiful sceneries around us.

Inspite of all this natural beauty it appears that Las Cajas are not a well renowed tourist destination.

In actual fact during our 2 hrs journey we probably crossed path with less than 10 cars, all driven by the locals.

And yet there was almost a moment of panic when Elena forced me to make an emregency stop to make this picture......

A Llama crossing sign is not to be missed!

Then we begin our descent to Guayaquil.

In the distance we can see clouds waiting below us

Here they come....

Here we go again

30 minutes later 20 degrees warmer and 4000 meters lower we acquire visibility again, just to discover palms, banana and sugar cane plantations all around us.

What a drammatic change in such a short period of time; It's now time to press on toward our destination.

Cuenca

Cuenca is a beautiful colonial town sitting at 2500 meters in the south of the country.
We spent 3 days here in preparation to our departure to the Galapagos and we are really glad we did so as this town of half million people really enchanted us.
The pace is just right: people are friendly but at the same time they get on with their business and this is why this is probably one of the wealthiest towns we have seen so far.
For example, today we took 2 pair of jeans (Pelileo purchases) to a very busy shop (sastreria)for leg reduction. 20 minutes later they were ready and fitting perfectly. That cost in total £2.

Cuenca's architecture is enchanting. At every corner you either see a beautiful colonial building or a church.
We think that to describe this town pictures will do a better job than words.

Cuenca Cathedral
(rear)

(front from the main square)

(inside)

Some colonial buildings

Cuenca by night

Colorful market

...................................................................................................................................................................

On our second day of sightseeing, as we approach 4pm we sit down on a bench in a little square near the church of San Sebastian.

A dog, a mix of a poodle and basset is chasing pigeons, the temperature is perfect, the sun is just coming out from the clouds and kids are playing football beside the church marking the goals with their jumpers (old school!) and making up rules as and when.

We probably watch them playing for over 1 hr, completely unattended by anybody and we compare this scene with London where kids are taken by their parents to expensive football schools for the privilege of kicking a ball for a little while.
..........Maybe they got it right here in Cuenca, we think.


To top up a great weekend we were also lucky enough (thank you trip advisor!) to find the best accommodation and the best restaurant ever.


For $60 per night we slept at the Casa Ordonez, a fabulous hotel decorated in colonial style right in the centre of town.

Picture of one of the sitting rooms with fire place and an old grammophone

Our room is perfect and fresh roses are brought in every morning.

5 minutes walk from the hotel we also find the “Tiestos” restaurant.
This is probably one of the best restaurants we have ever tried, not only in South America.


Food service atmosphere and life music are spot on but the chef/owner (Juan Solano) is just a league of his own.

Joan with Elena

With a full restaurant (always fully booked) not only he managed to carve a little space for us (at the table that was reserved to the russian ambassador) but he even came to our table to show us which sauces would go with which food, mixed them, cleaned the prawns heads for us, and if only we let him, he would have mouth fed us.

Some of the food we tried