In the Galapagos



Blue Footed Booby

Galapagos

I really had no expectations going into the Galapagos. Everyone pumps it up so much. It couldn't possibly satisfy. I pretty much expected to be let down.

It was absolutely amazing! It's pretty much a guarantee that you are going to see amazing quantities of animals, many of which are completely endemic to the Galapagos. We saw the most gigantic giant tortoises, we swam with sea turtles, penguins, sea lions (these guys are so playful in the water), eagle rays and more! We saw Islands that were over run with marine iguanas on top of marine iguanas on top of marine iguanas. Oh and blue footed boobies! This place will not disappoint. I have been converted.



Penguino!

Giant Tortoise

We made a friend at the airport in Guayaquil, on the way to Santa Cruz (the main island in the Galapagos) and as luck would have it we ended up on a cruise with her! The cruise was awesome. I wouldn't do it any other way looking back. It's just so simple and you see things you can't see on day trips. It's also a lot cheaper if you are able to wait till the day before and get your ticket right there. Our fellow passengers were pretty awesome (I think we lucked out there)! We had so much fun! (Shout out to G-man, Sandy, Han, Heety, Dan, Heather, Tory, Nick and Fabrizio Jr) We were all pretty similar in ages, and everyone was real fun and easy to get along with. The crew was amazing as well, and helped make our trip go real smooth. Lastly Fabrizio Sr was a great guide. I can't help but to think about endemic Galapagos animals in his voice and accent. And in that way, he helped make our trip pretty interesting and informative.

Marine Iguana

After getting back from the cruise, we stayed a couple more days and hung out with our cruise friends. We visited a few more sights and saw more animals but were pretty done with the islands by the end of those days so we said goodbye to our friends and booked it out of there. Back to Quito, to do the much talked about Quilatoa loop which is a 3-4 day hike to villages around a volcanic crater. We'll let you know how that goes!



Travellers notes:

Cruise:

Penguino!

We went on the Odyssey. It was pretty amazing. The crew was excellent. The boat was clean, the guide (Fabrizio) was excellent. Don't expect freebies such as open bar, or wetsuits just because the cruise was expensive. This was all extra. Food was pretty good, and they never ran out. We even had a turkey to celebrate our last day. The boat does rock, most of us took sea sickness pills at night when we hit the open sea, but I think I would have been fine without. I highly recommend this boat.

Buyers beware:

Booking a cruise online will ensure a spot on the boat, and if it's high season who knows this might be necessary. BUT, you will pay a much higher price. If you have the time to shop around and it's low season, consider buying your cruise in the Galapagos.

Hostels:

Sea Turtle

Puerto Ayora – We stayed in Galapagos Best Home Stay. It was fairly expensive at 28$ pp for a private room, with a kitchenette, OR 25$ pp for a dorm. It was clean quiet and had very comfortable beds. The hostel is a bit of a walk from the main drag. WiFi was super slow. The best thing about this place was the owner Kevin. He speaks fluent English and takes all his guests on a tour around town, and shows them the ropes.

San Cristobol – Casa Mabell. Just a block and a half off the main drag. Very cheap – 15$ pp. It was clean, comfortable, very clean and had quick WiFi, a shared kitchen and the owner is very sweet. The only downside to this place is that you can hear music from the discotech at night. And roosters, but you hear them everywhere. Bring earplugs and you are fine. Oh and it's located right by the panaderia, which sells excellent baking and enpanadas.

In a tiny town called Canoa.

 
                                                                     Hola from Canoa Ecuador!

 

                                                                                                         


The town of Canoa

Arrival

We Took a night bus from Quito to Canoa on our second day in Ecuador. The bus was cold and drove fast, making it impossible to sleep, as your head whipped from side to side on the corners, or rumbled as it hit the rumble strips on the side of the road.

The bus was to arrive at Canoa at 6:30am, at which time we would take a taxi 2km south to our hotel. After getting absolutely no sleep, the bus pulled in a few hours early. Usually that's a good thing. When we got off the bus, it was pitch black, and the town was completely deserted. It felt like a scene from I am Legend.



San Vicente - where we buy our fruit and veg

I felt like a deer in the headlights, just standing there, with my bags thinking "now what?" as the bus left us sitting deserted on the dusty street.

We ended up hanging with some American exchange students, wandering around until we were able to wake up some hostel worker and hang out at the tables just inside the gate until morning came, at which time we hitched a ride to our hotel.
 

Time, Time, Time.

 





Bahia - The Tia is the big supermarket

We don't blog nearly as much as I would like to. It seems between Spanish lessons, studying, the beach, chasing crabs,  going out to get food there is no time in the day! Oh and don't forget the daily ping pong match with out host! In fairness to do anything takes forever here. To go out means a 20 minute walk into town, followed by however long it takes to get to the restaurant in town. We are in Canoa, by the way, a little beach town.Well actually a few km out of town. To get fresh fruit or food or other items we go into San Vicente or Bahia. This means taking a 25 minute bus ride (usually buses run every 40 minutes, but not on a schedule so you just have to wait for it), to San Vicente, and then wait for a boat to cross the bay into Bahia.  Bahia is bigger and nicer and has a walmart esqe store. Its something you would expect in a small town in Canada.

 

There are 2 guys who live at the hotel, and one of them took the time to show us around the towns, how to hail a bus (they dont have "stops"), where all the shops were, how the boat works, where the safest place to pull out more cash is, safety tips, where the best fruit is and so on. It was VERY helpful!


To wash our clothes, its in the sink, I have some sitting there right now. Unfortunately only a few shirts can fit at a time. (by the way its not that warm here, usually overcast and around 20. Further inland you get into the mountains and its high in altitude, so high that travellers have a hard time breathing light headedness etc for the first few days, and so its not warm there either! who knew!)

 

So anyway, things take time here. We spend less time at the beach then you probably think, but we do spend some time there. Often I will bring my spanish books down to study while we enjoy the beach.

Yo hablo espanol?

 

I feel like an infant when it comes to learning Spanish. I have to look up almost every word, and my sentences are childish and often more like phrases. I cant talk about anything in the past or future yet. I guess what else would I expect. We get 4 hours of lessons a day, and I usually study for about 2 more, and am constantly just picking up my book whenever i see it to go over vocab. I probably know a few hundred words and verbs. Doesn't quite capture the things one might want to say.

I had my first Spanish conversation (I think of it that way because it wasn't just a phrase or two, or a question or two) last night. It was with a stranger while we were eating dinner, who owned the shop next door. We talked about where each of us was from, his kids, our lack of kids, dancing, and honestly probably not much else. It was about a 10 minute conversation and we really didn't cover much. But he liked to laugh and was impressed with us attempting to learn Spanish, as he would be pretty lost in Canada. Andrea has a lot of little conversations, but i cant speak much without looking things up. But that being said, she is not allowed to order for me or ask questions for me, because its to easy of an out for me, and I would never learn the language!

 

So that's what has been going on the last week. We have one more week here before we will move on! Likely south to Puerto Lopez, then to the Galapagos!