Day 2:
Attention ladies and GENTLEMAN: it is possible to look at Boobies you can’t touch the Boobies, and you don’t have to be 18. Strange thing is though, these Boobies are blue.. not sure if you’re into that sort of thing, just thought I’d warn ya!
Today was filled with interesting things, Blue-Footed Boobies, sea lions, land iguanas, frigate birds and more huge Tortugas on North Seymour Island!
The Boobies were fabulous, they knew just how to pose.. it was insane, they were not afraid of us one bit! I had heard before coming to the islands, that you’ll basically be stepping over the animals in the trail way.. and it was more than true!! Think about what it’s like when you walk up to a bird back home.. it flies away! Here.. they pose and pose and pose, and whistle, and do mating dances. What fun!
Sea lions are the cutest thing on the planet earth. They’re so clumsy, and the babies look just like puppies! The first one we saw on Seymour was sad though, it’s mom had abandoned it and it was fending for itself.. the guide didn’t think it would last much more than a couple more weeks. He also said that the Galapagos scientists won’t help it, because it is not dying because of something ‘man’ did.. it was just so sad, I’m still praying for that baby sea lion!
Land iguanas are ginormous, and nothing really new to me. My favorite neighbors growing up always had some sort of lizard as a pet… and they had one iguana for YEARS! I remember hypnotizing it and always wanting to take it for a walk. These iguanas are a bit different, orange and green, HUGE, and not afraid of you at all!! They’re pretty wicked to see in the wild!
We also walked through some lava tunnels and saw some huge craters created by lava flow on Santa Cruz Island.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Cruisin' the Galapagos - Eden Yacht
Day 1:
I left Puerto Ayora to meet the cruise at Baltra Airport at 7AM.. waited around for a couple of hours, and finally we were off and ready to explore! First thought, holy crap my first cruise! Second thought, this boat is gorgeous! Third thought, lets get this party started!
We were shown our rooms, I’m sharing one with a girl from San Francisco.. great roomie! We had lunch, then set off for a beach on the opposite side of Santa Cruz. On the way, we passed a school of dolphins.. I THINK I’ve gone dolphin watching before.. but I’m pretty sure I was too young to really remember it, and I DEFINITELY didn’t see as many as we had just seen.. there were at least 30! We also saw a shark circling around, looking for food. I took a deep breath, and thought.. woah, I’ve been on this boat for 15 minute and have already seen two things I hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing in my entire life.. this is going to be a good next 4 days!
On the beach, we saw a Heron trying to eat a baby sea turtle… well, it did eat the baby sea turtle :( . We thought it was just playing with a fish at first, and then realized that it was trying to crack the turtle’s shell by biting it. Finally, after a couple of minutes of me begging the guide to let me scare the Heron to drop the turtle (“it’s just nature Paula, blah blah”), it finally gave up and swallowed that sucker! The turtle was still putting up a little fight in its throat, but it eventually stopped and we all said our “aw’s” and searched for other amazements of nature.
We didn’t see much else, just marine iguanas, a pink flamingo, cool crabs, and some fish while snorkeling!
That night, we chilled out, had a yummy dinner and I immediately went to sleep because the boat was rocking FAR too much for me to stay awake comfortably!!
OH, and I can’t find my motion sickness medicine, fabs :). It isn’t too bad yet though!
I left Puerto Ayora to meet the cruise at Baltra Airport at 7AM.. waited around for a couple of hours, and finally we were off and ready to explore! First thought, holy crap my first cruise! Second thought, this boat is gorgeous! Third thought, lets get this party started!
We were shown our rooms, I’m sharing one with a girl from San Francisco.. great roomie! We had lunch, then set off for a beach on the opposite side of Santa Cruz. On the way, we passed a school of dolphins.. I THINK I’ve gone dolphin watching before.. but I’m pretty sure I was too young to really remember it, and I DEFINITELY didn’t see as many as we had just seen.. there were at least 30! We also saw a shark circling around, looking for food. I took a deep breath, and thought.. woah, I’ve been on this boat for 15 minute and have already seen two things I hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing in my entire life.. this is going to be a good next 4 days!
On the beach, we saw a Heron trying to eat a baby sea turtle… well, it did eat the baby sea turtle :( . We thought it was just playing with a fish at first, and then realized that it was trying to crack the turtle’s shell by biting it. Finally, after a couple of minutes of me begging the guide to let me scare the Heron to drop the turtle (“it’s just nature Paula, blah blah”), it finally gave up and swallowed that sucker! The turtle was still putting up a little fight in its throat, but it eventually stopped and we all said our “aw’s” and searched for other amazements of nature.
We didn’t see much else, just marine iguanas, a pink flamingo, cool crabs, and some fish while snorkeling!
That night, we chilled out, had a yummy dinner and I immediately went to sleep because the boat was rocking FAR too much for me to stay awake comfortably!!
OH, and I can’t find my motion sickness medicine, fabs :). It isn’t too bad yet though!
Livin' La Vida Local
I’ve had an amazing experience on the Galapagos Islands so far.. well I’ve only been on 2 of the islands, Baltra & Santa Cruz.. lived on Santa Cruz for 6 days, seem to have a boyfriend and a handful of friends already, been a few feet away from the President, watched the President sing with a huge band & act a fool, and I’ve dropped it to the suelo in La Panga. I think I’m pretty much a local now, I’ve actually had 2 people ask me if I live here.. I’m not sure why, seems like a strange question to ask.. there are a lot of foreigners that live here, so I suppose that’s why.
I honestly do feel like I live here, my friends here are great.. all very different.. for once, I’ve been meeting nothing but locals (still though, only guys).. and for some reason only one out of three speaks English well! I went an entire day the other day speaking only Spanish, it was EXHAUSTING! It’s obviously much better, but I’m still uncomfortable talking to new people unless they have a super chill personality.. then I don’t get so nervous.
Seeing the President have a fun time on stage was interesting to say the least. I couldn’t help but watch him and have a good time. Some people love him and thought it was great, some people hate him and think he’s an embarrassment to the country.. especially when doing something like that!
I went to dinner with Juan, a super funny 60-year old ex-chilean party animal friend/customer of Hernan’s on Friday night. It was… interesting! Especially since he can’t speak English!! We managed it though, and I never got bored once, even after an hour and a half. I ordered a quesadilla, and he ordered freaking lobster! I don’t know if it’s because of how I grew up, but I always try to order the cheapest most economical thing on the menu.. even if I’m with someone I know is rolling in the money.. I can’t help it!! That’s just who I am! When he saw my quesadilla come out.. I guess he hadn’t realized that that was what I had ordered, he made a face.. and said I had to eat some of his lobster. At one point he even told the waitress that my quesadilla was ugly!! It was pretty funny, we had 3 Caiprinas in an hour and a half, and whenever we would try to talk and couldn’t understand each other, we would just roll our eyes, pick up our drink, and cheers! It was good fun.. followed by PECAN PIE!
We were going to go out dancing after and some friends were going to meet up, but it was obviously too early, and he said he had to take me back to Hernan because we are ‘enamorado’… I got mad and said that he was supposed to salsa with me (I had heard he was awesome!), he said ‘No, I’m an old man and I’m going to go to sleep. You need to be with Hernan.’… WHATEVER JUANITO! Hasta manana.
When Hernan closed the restaurant, we went to get our dance on at Bongo. The music sucked and I was ready to bounce.. when Hernan said ‘LOOK! Juanito!!’… and oh my dear gracious, Juanito was getting his groove on with a girl about my age I think. He’s like practically the age of my grandfather, yet a perv on the dance floor!! It was quite hilarious, and I just praised Jesus that Hernan was with me.. because it was a crazy hilarious sight. Of course I danced with Juanito... how could I give up that comical moment in my life?!
Hernan and I left, and went to La Panga which is the non-touristy, latino filled club. Pretty sure I was the only gringa.. and loving every minute of it! Salsa, meringue.. loved the regaeton, reminded me of Montanita! The cops shut down the clubs one by one, we hopped along the street to try to find the last open one..
….but by-golly Galapagos, there were no more!
I honestly do feel like I live here, my friends here are great.. all very different.. for once, I’ve been meeting nothing but locals (still though, only guys).. and for some reason only one out of three speaks English well! I went an entire day the other day speaking only Spanish, it was EXHAUSTING! It’s obviously much better, but I’m still uncomfortable talking to new people unless they have a super chill personality.. then I don’t get so nervous.
Seeing the President have a fun time on stage was interesting to say the least. I couldn’t help but watch him and have a good time. Some people love him and thought it was great, some people hate him and think he’s an embarrassment to the country.. especially when doing something like that!
I went to dinner with Juan, a super funny 60-year old ex-chilean party animal friend/customer of Hernan’s on Friday night. It was… interesting! Especially since he can’t speak English!! We managed it though, and I never got bored once, even after an hour and a half. I ordered a quesadilla, and he ordered freaking lobster! I don’t know if it’s because of how I grew up, but I always try to order the cheapest most economical thing on the menu.. even if I’m with someone I know is rolling in the money.. I can’t help it!! That’s just who I am! When he saw my quesadilla come out.. I guess he hadn’t realized that that was what I had ordered, he made a face.. and said I had to eat some of his lobster. At one point he even told the waitress that my quesadilla was ugly!! It was pretty funny, we had 3 Caiprinas in an hour and a half, and whenever we would try to talk and couldn’t understand each other, we would just roll our eyes, pick up our drink, and cheers! It was good fun.. followed by PECAN PIE!
We were going to go out dancing after and some friends were going to meet up, but it was obviously too early, and he said he had to take me back to Hernan because we are ‘enamorado’… I got mad and said that he was supposed to salsa with me (I had heard he was awesome!), he said ‘No, I’m an old man and I’m going to go to sleep. You need to be with Hernan.’… WHATEVER JUANITO! Hasta manana.
When Hernan closed the restaurant, we went to get our dance on at Bongo. The music sucked and I was ready to bounce.. when Hernan said ‘LOOK! Juanito!!’… and oh my dear gracious, Juanito was getting his groove on with a girl about my age I think. He’s like practically the age of my grandfather, yet a perv on the dance floor!! It was quite hilarious, and I just praised Jesus that Hernan was with me.. because it was a crazy hilarious sight. Of course I danced with Juanito... how could I give up that comical moment in my life?!
Hernan and I left, and went to La Panga which is the non-touristy, latino filled club. Pretty sure I was the only gringa.. and loving every minute of it! Salsa, meringue.. loved the regaeton, reminded me of Montanita! The cops shut down the clubs one by one, we hopped along the street to try to find the last open one..
….but by-golly Galapagos, there were no more!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Mi Vida - Purple Trees
Today I walked into a tienda and searched through an amazing collection of sunglasses that HAD to have been made in the 80s.. literally, they were all scratched up and worn, there is no way they are reproductions. I found a pair I liked, $3.. way too expensive, but you don’t find sunglasses like that too often (and you definitely don’t find any cheaper than $3 on the Galapagos!). They also had amazing hot pink hats that say ‘Galapagos’, the kind I’m sure you wore in family vacation photos way back when… pictures to come, I’m sure!
Anyways, in this store I met my new best friend. I paid him for the hat & glasses, and I only needed $2 back.. he asked if I needed change (as in change-change.. hard to come by around Ecuador!).. I just needed $2 back, so I thought it was a bit weird.. but said okay. He tells me he wants to practice his English, so he counded in FIVES all the way to $2.. there were a couple of dimes, mainly nickels, and 4 quarters. The last quarter was Connecticut (I believe).. one of the ‘new’ state quarters.. the one with the ginormous tree on it, my favorite! He continued to tell me that he immediately felt a good energy when I walked into the store, and how he could feel my love for life and nature, blah blah. Then he said, are you busy?! I have a gift for you… I was like oh crap, don’t tell me I got myself into another latino love situation. But it wasn’t like that, he told me to close my eyes and take deep breaths, think of some form of water ( I chose a lake, because it reminded me of home ), and to imagine rain falling forming the lake. I did all of the above, and he placed my arms across my chest, (still breathing and calming), and THEN he cracked my back ALL THE WAY DOWN, practically each vertebrae. Even the chiropractors that I visited for a year couldn’t do it that successfully, it was AMAZING! He told me I reminded him of a tree, which is ironic because my favorite part of nature is trees. We literally talked for hours after that.. about the world, energies, auras, it reminded me a lot of the Paulo Coehlo books that I’ve read. I haven’t had an intellectually stimulating conversation like that in a while, it was extremely refreshing!
Anyways, in this store I met my new best friend. I paid him for the hat & glasses, and I only needed $2 back.. he asked if I needed change (as in change-change.. hard to come by around Ecuador!).. I just needed $2 back, so I thought it was a bit weird.. but said okay. He tells me he wants to practice his English, so he counded in FIVES all the way to $2.. there were a couple of dimes, mainly nickels, and 4 quarters. The last quarter was Connecticut (I believe).. one of the ‘new’ state quarters.. the one with the ginormous tree on it, my favorite! He continued to tell me that he immediately felt a good energy when I walked into the store, and how he could feel my love for life and nature, blah blah. Then he said, are you busy?! I have a gift for you… I was like oh crap, don’t tell me I got myself into another latino love situation. But it wasn’t like that, he told me to close my eyes and take deep breaths, think of some form of water ( I chose a lake, because it reminded me of home ), and to imagine rain falling forming the lake. I did all of the above, and he placed my arms across my chest, (still breathing and calming), and THEN he cracked my back ALL THE WAY DOWN, practically each vertebrae. Even the chiropractors that I visited for a year couldn’t do it that successfully, it was AMAZING! He told me I reminded him of a tree, which is ironic because my favorite part of nature is trees. We literally talked for hours after that.. about the world, energies, auras, it reminded me a lot of the Paulo Coehlo books that I’ve read. I haven’t had an intellectually stimulating conversation like that in a while, it was extremely refreshing!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
All You Single Ladies...
..had better get your culas (butts) to the Galapagos Islands in 10.. no.. 9 days now! From what my oh so insistent new friends, Hernan & Byron have told me.. the laws are changing again. It started off that any Ecuadorian citizen could move to the Galapagos Islas, then it changed to no one else is allowed to move here but if you’re here you can stay.. with this law everyone you has to marry an islander to be able to move here. Now, they’re about to change the law so that if you want to move to the island, it will take you 10 years to get your residency card rather than getting it immediately. My friends were seriously freaking out a bit, they’re 32 and 31 and say that there are not very single women on the island, and they are very far and few between.
Apparently it is super typical for girls to get pregnant at 13, 14, 15 years of age and then they get married and have a few more kids.. it’s very typical, mainly because the island has been overhauled by the Catholic religion which refuses birth control and most importantly sex education.
So ladies, get your plane tickets and plan that boda (wedding) on the flight here! I got lots of boys in need of a good wife, the sale is on for 9 more days only.. take your tickets! If you come past the due date, your life could be that much harder trying to stay on the islands forever!!
Some of the men are pretty cute here.. but I sure do miss looking at the costeños in Ecuador... ooh ruta del sol!
Apparently it is super typical for girls to get pregnant at 13, 14, 15 years of age and then they get married and have a few more kids.. it’s very typical, mainly because the island has been overhauled by the Catholic religion which refuses birth control and most importantly sex education.
So ladies, get your plane tickets and plan that boda (wedding) on the flight here! I got lots of boys in need of a good wife, the sale is on for 9 more days only.. take your tickets! If you come past the due date, your life could be that much harder trying to stay on the islands forever!!
Some of the men are pretty cute here.. but I sure do miss looking at the costeños in Ecuador... ooh ruta del sol!
Mr. Cuerpo's Kayak
Today is yesterday’s tomorrow now, and I feel HORRIBLE.. absolutely horrible! I once again woke up every hour on the hour, sweats, wheezing, could hardly breathe.. hurt to breathe, blowing my nose every 30 minutes. I had bought some Penicillin ($0.25 a pop, yea dude!) but had only taken one the previous day, so it didn’t have much time to work (it’s night time now, and I took 3 today, and I still feel the same if not worse). I’m achey, I can hardly walk outside because the sun is too bright (possibly also because I don’t have any sunglasses anymore), my throat hurts, I’ve started coughing painfully.. everything is just all wrong!! I decided I’d go crazy if I stayed in the hotel, and maybe the sun and the salt water would dry me up. FAIL, the closest (& nicest) beach is an hours walk away.. so I decided I’d just take it slow, sleep on the beach, force some salt water up my nostrils and peace out…
Wrong-O, the delicious cuerpo (body) of one of the Islanders whisked me away into lala land, and after talking to him a bit, I asked him to about the kayaks he was renting out. I told him however, there was no way in hello I’m doing it by myself (PS, this conversation with Mr. Cuerpo was allll in Spanish!).. he said of course not, he’s going with me. Mwahahahaaa! I was a happy girl, yet still wishing I could have convinced him to do it tomorrow instead of today.. the paaaain! All I could think of was that I can’t take my tissues, I’d be sniffling 100% of the time, I’m sure coughing would ensue without my water, and I just can’t do it right now… BUT Mr. Cuerpo (aka Sandro.. sound like one of those Romance novel names? See picture! Long curly hair, C-U-E-R-P-O, dark skin) says the word Tortuga and I hopped in that kayak in a flash.
It was wickedly awesome, and I can’t wait to do it again!! I saw at least 18 turtles, some amazingly huge birds, big waves, and just ginormous turtles!!! I can’t get over them! They were my favorite part… up until that moment, the only real sea turtles I had seen in the wild were the 3 that I found dead on the beach in Montanita (which sadly happens often, they think because of fishing nets).. so this experience made up for them! Their heads just poke out of the water to breathe, I saw some a couple of feet away from our kayak but under the water.. they looked MASSIVE! I wanted a ride on one! : )
Mr. Cuerpo brought along snorkeling equipment.. but I told him that I honestly can hardly breathe outside of the water, let alone face down in the water.. I was really sad though, because I wanted to do it sooo bad! Hopefully by the end of the week I’ll be better.. actually by the end of the week I had better be better!
Mr. Cuerpo didn’t make me pay for our kayak of amazingness, he cheesily (thank you latinos) said (all in Spanish, so of course I can’t help but swoon).. my heart opens and our lives dance together when the magic comes into your eyes and your laughter from seeing the turtles… Oh God, please get me off this island! He absolutely refused for me to pay him, which I hated because that’s just a little awkward, and said un beso… INFERMA! INFERMA! Got out of that one, hasta luego Mr. Cuerpo!
Wrong-O, the delicious cuerpo (body) of one of the Islanders whisked me away into lala land, and after talking to him a bit, I asked him to about the kayaks he was renting out. I told him however, there was no way in hello I’m doing it by myself (PS, this conversation with Mr. Cuerpo was allll in Spanish!).. he said of course not, he’s going with me. Mwahahahaaa! I was a happy girl, yet still wishing I could have convinced him to do it tomorrow instead of today.. the paaaain! All I could think of was that I can’t take my tissues, I’d be sniffling 100% of the time, I’m sure coughing would ensue without my water, and I just can’t do it right now… BUT Mr. Cuerpo (aka Sandro.. sound like one of those Romance novel names? See picture! Long curly hair, C-U-E-R-P-O, dark skin) says the word Tortuga and I hopped in that kayak in a flash.
It was wickedly awesome, and I can’t wait to do it again!! I saw at least 18 turtles, some amazingly huge birds, big waves, and just ginormous turtles!!! I can’t get over them! They were my favorite part… up until that moment, the only real sea turtles I had seen in the wild were the 3 that I found dead on the beach in Montanita (which sadly happens often, they think because of fishing nets).. so this experience made up for them! Their heads just poke out of the water to breathe, I saw some a couple of feet away from our kayak but under the water.. they looked MASSIVE! I wanted a ride on one! : )
Mr. Cuerpo brought along snorkeling equipment.. but I told him that I honestly can hardly breathe outside of the water, let alone face down in the water.. I was really sad though, because I wanted to do it sooo bad! Hopefully by the end of the week I’ll be better.. actually by the end of the week I had better be better!
Mr. Cuerpo didn’t make me pay for our kayak of amazingness, he cheesily (thank you latinos) said (all in Spanish, so of course I can’t help but swoon).. my heart opens and our lives dance together when the magic comes into your eyes and your laughter from seeing the turtles… Oh God, please get me off this island! He absolutely refused for me to pay him, which I hated because that’s just a little awkward, and said un beso… INFERMA! INFERMA! Got out of that one, hasta luego Mr. Cuerpo!
Heading to the G's.. Galapagos Islands that is
I chose B!
On Sunday, I packed all of my things (which was SAD, because I fell in love with the EcoResort at Kamala.. my students.. my trainers.. my tranquil yet fiesta-fide life there) and headed to Guayaquil at 11AM. It started out a bit rocky, as I got to the bus terminal and ALL of the Guayaquil bus tickets had been booked for the entire day as of 10AM.. but lucked out and got a van ride for $10.. it was shorter, safer (I’ve been hearing many bad stories from other travelers about the buses getting hijacked recently), and it dropped me off directly at the airport!
When I got to the airport in Guayaquil (the one everyone has to go through to get to the Galapagos), I went to the main airline ‘AeroGal’. They gave me horrible news, and said the tickets were booked solid until Thursday (OH FAAABULOUS, so I have to stay in Guayaquil until Thursday?! You’re kidding me?).. so they pointed me in the direction of ‘TAME’ airline.. which I didn’t have much hope for when walking in.
SUCCESS! I got a ticket for the next morning, Monday at 10AM, and a return flight to Quito on June 13th for $355. Sound expensive? I know, it hurt a little! But that is the normal rate for LOW season, high season which starts on the 15th is about $50 more.
I arrived in the Galapagos, took the bus-ferry-bus combo to get to Puerto Ayora (the main port for finding a cruise tour) and found a $10 a night hotel. Not too shabby, loud (because of everyone slamming their doors.. and waking my sick butt up in the middle of the night), no toilet paper (weird! I know), and WIFI : ). I was sick as a dog when I arrived.. and have been gradually been getting worse and worse (I haven’t even been here 48 hours!!! Ugh).
I immediately dropped my things off, and began roaming the streets to look for tour agencies.. there were MANY! A guy rolled up on his bike and started speaking to me in Spanish, I asked him where to find the boats so I can talk to them and arrange a tour. He told me that he has a friend at a tour agency and took me there. Well, this friend sucked.. I would have to say that he gave me the worst prices for cruises of everyone I ended up talking to. The guy on the bike introduced himself (Hernan) and told me he owned a café/restaurant down the street called .. Hernan’s, and told me to drop by sometime.
After not having much success with the 8 tour agencies I walked into.. I was a bit bummed and pondering what to do now. I talked to 2 guys who had recently booked a pretty sweet deal through a guy in Quito, and they gave me his business card and I was honestly about to give up and go e-mail him!!! On my way back to the hotel, I am about to cross the street, look up, and see Hernan talking to a friend and waving me over. WOW, his restaurant is super nice.. not what I expected! Hernan only speaks Spanish, lucky me.. I stayed and chatted with them for at least 2 hours over coffee, and unfortunately didn’t discover Byron’s English fluency until hour 2.. they made me suffer speaking Spanish for an hour!!! But I did it, I suppose I’m getting better.. they didn’t take off running or anything : ).
Coffee AND talking was a horrible idea, toward the end of hour 2, I was miserable.. wanted to take a nap (coulnd’t.. A.) because I’ve had insomnia for the past 2 days B.) stupid caffeine), needed to find food, needed to talk to the owner of a boat they directed me to, SO MANY NEEDS.. needed an ATM.. the list goes on and on, and miserable hardly describes what I was feeling!
First order of business, food. CHECK, found a street with the cheapest food around.
Second order, CRUISE! The best way to see all of the islands and get the most out of the Galapagos is through a boat tour where you sleep on the boat while it takes you island to island. I dropped in Eden Yacht’s office, and asked for prices. I decided I was only going to do the 4 day cruise, because I’ve never ever been on a boat for that long.. I bought motion sickness pills.. but I’m a bit nervous about how it would be especially since I already feel like crap!! So we decided on the price of $600 for 4-days on a FIRST CLASS boat.. walking in there, I had no idea it was a first class boat!! My friends Joss & Ness whom I had met in Colombia, booked a tour with a boat a class size down for 4 days, and I think they paid about $750 for it.. so I was very much pleased and happy that my plan was working out!!
Third order, ATM. Pay for that baby!
Lastly, the failed siesta.
On Sunday, I packed all of my things (which was SAD, because I fell in love with the EcoResort at Kamala.. my students.. my trainers.. my tranquil yet fiesta-fide life there) and headed to Guayaquil at 11AM. It started out a bit rocky, as I got to the bus terminal and ALL of the Guayaquil bus tickets had been booked for the entire day as of 10AM.. but lucked out and got a van ride for $10.. it was shorter, safer (I’ve been hearing many bad stories from other travelers about the buses getting hijacked recently), and it dropped me off directly at the airport!
When I got to the airport in Guayaquil (the one everyone has to go through to get to the Galapagos), I went to the main airline ‘AeroGal’. They gave me horrible news, and said the tickets were booked solid until Thursday (OH FAAABULOUS, so I have to stay in Guayaquil until Thursday?! You’re kidding me?).. so they pointed me in the direction of ‘TAME’ airline.. which I didn’t have much hope for when walking in.
SUCCESS! I got a ticket for the next morning, Monday at 10AM, and a return flight to Quito on June 13th for $355. Sound expensive? I know, it hurt a little! But that is the normal rate for LOW season, high season which starts on the 15th is about $50 more.
I arrived in the Galapagos, took the bus-ferry-bus combo to get to Puerto Ayora (the main port for finding a cruise tour) and found a $10 a night hotel. Not too shabby, loud (because of everyone slamming their doors.. and waking my sick butt up in the middle of the night), no toilet paper (weird! I know), and WIFI : ). I was sick as a dog when I arrived.. and have been gradually been getting worse and worse (I haven’t even been here 48 hours!!! Ugh).
I immediately dropped my things off, and began roaming the streets to look for tour agencies.. there were MANY! A guy rolled up on his bike and started speaking to me in Spanish, I asked him where to find the boats so I can talk to them and arrange a tour. He told me that he has a friend at a tour agency and took me there. Well, this friend sucked.. I would have to say that he gave me the worst prices for cruises of everyone I ended up talking to. The guy on the bike introduced himself (Hernan) and told me he owned a café/restaurant down the street called .. Hernan’s, and told me to drop by sometime.
After not having much success with the 8 tour agencies I walked into.. I was a bit bummed and pondering what to do now. I talked to 2 guys who had recently booked a pretty sweet deal through a guy in Quito, and they gave me his business card and I was honestly about to give up and go e-mail him!!! On my way back to the hotel, I am about to cross the street, look up, and see Hernan talking to a friend and waving me over. WOW, his restaurant is super nice.. not what I expected! Hernan only speaks Spanish, lucky me.. I stayed and chatted with them for at least 2 hours over coffee, and unfortunately didn’t discover Byron’s English fluency until hour 2.. they made me suffer speaking Spanish for an hour!!! But I did it, I suppose I’m getting better.. they didn’t take off running or anything : ).
Coffee AND talking was a horrible idea, toward the end of hour 2, I was miserable.. wanted to take a nap (coulnd’t.. A.) because I’ve had insomnia for the past 2 days B.) stupid caffeine), needed to find food, needed to talk to the owner of a boat they directed me to, SO MANY NEEDS.. needed an ATM.. the list goes on and on, and miserable hardly describes what I was feeling!
First order of business, food. CHECK, found a street with the cheapest food around.
Second order, CRUISE! The best way to see all of the islands and get the most out of the Galapagos is through a boat tour where you sleep on the boat while it takes you island to island. I dropped in Eden Yacht’s office, and asked for prices. I decided I was only going to do the 4 day cruise, because I’ve never ever been on a boat for that long.. I bought motion sickness pills.. but I’m a bit nervous about how it would be especially since I already feel like crap!! So we decided on the price of $600 for 4-days on a FIRST CLASS boat.. walking in there, I had no idea it was a first class boat!! My friends Joss & Ness whom I had met in Colombia, booked a tour with a boat a class size down for 4 days, and I think they paid about $750 for it.. so I was very much pleased and happy that my plan was working out!!
Third order, ATM. Pay for that baby!
Lastly, the failed siesta.
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