Glorious Galápagos!

The day had arrived and I had to get up at 4am for it: my flight to the Galápagos Islands!!! I'm not sure why I had been told to arrive at Quito airport 90 minutes before departure, when the check-in desk didn't even open for nearly an hour after that! Once through security (after having my bags examined an extra time because I was headed to the Galápagos), I bought myself some breakfast and boarded the plane. The crew served us a little choc chip muffin and soon we landed at Guayaquil, the transit stop that all flights to the Galápagos make. I had 45 minutes to wander around and pop to the loo, before reboarding.

The plane was now full of American tourists on a group holiday - I could tell because they all had engraved name badges! Goodness help me if I ever go on a trip where I have to wear a label like a 4-year old!!! Breakfast was served and it was really good, although I was so annoyed that the majority of the other passengers left most of their meals which I could have eaten three times over! After an hour or so, we began our descent and I got my first glimpse of the islands. As the plane landed on Baltra Island, I got quite choked up and was practically in tears as I walked across the tarmac - I was on the Galápagos!!!

I met Hans and Christal at the airport and we shared a taxi to Puerto Ayora, the main town on Santa Cruz. As I had taken the earliest flight possible, I'd arrived just after 9am. This was ideal, as I then had plenty of time to get over to the town to look into diving trips and to buy a ferry ticket over to Isla Isabela that afternoon. The weather was lovely; it was great to be back in a sunny place by the sea once more, especially one where pelicans, iguanas and sea lions were walking around in the fish market, hoping to steal some scraps!

That afternoon, I took a boat over to Isabela, the largest of the islands. It wasn´t the best journey I´ve ever had, and after over 2½ hours of banging up and down over big waves, trying to keep nausea at bay, it was great to disembark! I quickly found the hostel that Erika had recommended and finally had chance to rest after a day of travelling! The next day, I took a trip to Sierra Negra, the second largest volcanic crater in the world. We rode horses to the top - I WILL NEVER RIDE A HORSE AGAIN!!! Nothing major happened, but after three horse-riding excursions in 18 months, I have finally realised that:

(a) The horses are uncontrollable and only do what they want to do, especially when they only understand Spanish
(b) It is quite boring being stuck on an animal that only walks
(c) It is quite scary being stuck on an animal that only runs
(d) It really makes your bottom sore!

I think I've had a romantic notion in my head about what horse-riding should be, and only now is that ideal firmly dispelled! Anyway, after an hour of being dragged through a hedge, pushed into other horses' bottoms and, at one point, having my ankle caught in the reins of another horse at full gallop (OUCH!), we reached the summit and had a great view of the crater.

Sierra Negra

We then walked to Volcán Chico and learned about the landscape, various types of lava and how the islands were formed. It had been misty and drizzly all the way up to the summit, but as the guide has promised us, the other side of the volcano was hot and sunny... in fact, so much so, that the walk back to where we would have lunch was a little tortuous in the heat and I was glad to finally stop and take out my sandwiches! Then is was time to ride back down to the jeep, on the same horses! I swear, I am never doing it again! On the way back to Puerto Villamil, we stopped at a tortoise sanctuary where they have a breeding program.

It was then time to visit Las Tintorellas, and there we saw white-tipped reef sharks, penguins, sea lions and marine iguanas - and so close to us! Unfortunately, I hadn't realised that when I had booked a "snorkelling trip" it was actually a "lot of walking and then a tiny bit of snorkelling at 5pm when it is too dark to see much!" Nevertheless, I was much happier when I spotted some sea lions in the water and managed swim within a few metres of them, that was quite special. That night, I was quite tired and so I reorganised my backpack and had an early night, after all I had to be up at 5am the next day in order to catch the return ferry to Puerto Ayora.

Well! Let's just say that the return ferry was worse, because at 6am, your body is simply not built to cope with such upheaval. I swear, I could feel my liver and stomach banging into my intestines as we slammed over the waves! I was glad to get back to Santa Cruz and quickly found a hostel and some bananas for breakfast. I then had 3 days in Puerto Ayora to relax before my cruise and to go diving. On Monday, I hired some snorkelling gear and walked to Turtle Bay, a beautiful stretch of white sand. However, it really isn't a good place to snorkel, so there wasn't much to see! It was really chuffed though when an iguana went swimming by... you don't see that on the Med! It was a cloudy day, so I found it quite easy to fall asleep on the beach, only to be awoken when a little finch landed on my chest! First time that's happened!

Is he smiling at me?

That evening, after returning to my hostel and seeing that I'd really caught the sun, I booked a diving trip for Wednesday and wandered around the town. I bumped into Hans and Christal and joined them at their table whilst they had dinner. They are a lovely couple from Germany, now living in Canada, and I found Christal's stories to be hilarious! Hans very kindly bought me an ice cream afterwards and invited me to meet up with them again the following day. On Tuesday, I hired the snorkelling gear again and went to a new spot that I'd been told was actually good for snorkelling in!!! This time, I needed to take a water taxi across the port and walk from there. So, I waited at the pier and a dinghy sailed up. On I hopped and asked how much it cost. "Nothing!" came the reply - it was a boat from one of the cruise ships moored in the harbour and they just decide to give me a free ride as the went past!

Back on dry land, I began to walk to Las Grietas, the area to snorkel in. Luckily, I had chosen to wear my walking shoes as the path was over irregular volcanic rocks, and it took longer than I had anticipated to get there, due to having to really watch where I was walking! Once at Las Grietas, I was surprised to find a pool at the bottom of a large gorge in the rocks. It was quite a challenge to get down into the gorge, and then a greater one to get into the water without falling on the sharp lava or losing a sock/shoe/flipper down a gap between the boulders! The water was quite chilly, but incredibly clear, and it was quite special to be snorkelling in such an unusual place. Quite special until I realised that there were only about 5 fish in total in the whole pool and once again, I'd gone snorkelling in a place with nothing to see! After an hour at most, despite it being a beautiful spot, I decided it was way too cold to stay in the water with nothing to see, so I eventually managed to get out of the pool and to get dressed again, without losing a sock/shoe/flipper! I chilled out on German Beach for a little while, before taking the water taxi back again.

Today, I went scuba diving! I chose to dive at Gordon's Rocks as this is the site that is most reliable for sightings of... hammerhead sharks!!! I had three dives. I spent the first one trying not to drown as I had too many weights on my belt! Even with a fully-inflated BCD, I was still sinking and so I was using my air extremely quickly! I was worried that I would make the group have to end the dive early, but as it happened, I was still the one whose air consumption was the best! We did see two hammerheads swim past and so I can honestly say "Box ticked!" but as I was concentrating so hard on trying to breathe, I can't remember it all that well! The remaining dives were much more better as I took a weight off, but unfortunately, there were no more hammerheads! We did see an eagle ray, turtles and five large white-tips hiding in a cave beneath us!

Tonight, I've had another lovely meal with Hans and Christal, and Rune (Denmark) who I met diving today! I've also just gone to the shops to buy some food for breakfast as I will have yet another early start tomorrow, but I completely forgot that it was too late and they would be shut! I did find one that was open and I bought some Sprite for the boat trip. It took a while and a lot of confusion over the cost of the drink and the cost of the bottle deposit, but I got there in the end! Now, I don't think I will have much time back here, so I went back to the hostel to get an empty Sprite bottle that I already had, so I would at least get some money back! Well, stupid me, just because the shop was open when I went there, it didn´t mean that it would still be open when I returned, not at that time of night! So I just managed to to flag the shopkeeper (and his entire family) down in their car as they were pulling away from the store, all for 50 cents!

Well, every penny counts... I'm off on a cruise tomorrow...