After leaving Roatan in Honduras we decided to leave Central America and start our South American adventure; on our itinerary, Ecuador including the Galapagos, Peru and Bolivia - more than enough for 2 months.
Using Frequent Flyer Miles we flew from Tegucigalpa to Quito. Quito lies on about 2800m and although we didn't want to believe it the altitude did give us a little bit of a headache and made us completely short of breath just climbing a few steps on the first day. That's why we took it easy. We joined a free walking tour through the city, visiting the historic centre, lots of churches (Quito is full of churches), the market, and the Panecillo, from where we had a great view over Quito.
The next day we took the very expensive local bus (US$ 0.40!) to the 1.5hr away Equator. To be honest there's not much there except a few small museums, half of them closed, and lots of touristy eateries and shops. Also, when they re-calculated the equator line as soon as GPS was available they found out they miscalculated the whole thing a few hundred meters. So the real equator is a little bit North of where they put the big monument and the famous line on the ground, haha!
The next day we visited a local market where we ate the very traditional 'almuerzo' - basically a lunch including soup, main dish (rice, beans and some meat or fish) and a fruit juice. Sitting there eating our lunch, we happily talked about how lucky we've been so far with illnesses, especially diarreah etc and how seasoned our stomachs were - nothing can kill us! 5 hours later we alternated visiting the toilet :( So we basically spent our last day in Quito between the toilet and the bed, it really was not very pleasant.
Completely emptied out and quite weak we were off to the Galapagos very early the next morning but by the time we arrived in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz all was pretty much back to normal. We hadn't booked anything before arriving but because it is low season we easily found an accomodation, booked 3 days of diving and also a cruise. In fact we actually did 2 cruises, 4 days budget on the 'Flamingo' and 5 days a bit more luxurious on the 'Santa Cruz' (we got an excellent last minute price, so why not). Arriving in Puerto Ayora we immediately found out why the Galapagos Islands are so special. Animals and humans live together side by side, not afraid of the other species, just how it should be everywhere.
The first part of the cruise was a visit to see the Galapagos Tortoises on Santa Cruz. These are roaming around freely on some of the islands staying where there's enough food and lots of mud to bath in. Fantastic animals!
Look at how big these turtles really get, Marlene would do a great job as a turtle ;-)
Back on the boat we killed our first bottle of rum with our 6 fellow travellers (it was a very small boat) watching stars on deck. Life can't get much better than this :) Early next morning we visited Puente Alta and Punta Pitt on San Cristobal, home to large colonies of sea lions. Galapagos is not just amazing because it has animals that you can't find anywhere else but also because these animals are not afraid of humans at all. You can sunbake next to a sealion and they don't care at all. It's just awesome!
The next day we visited Cerro Brujo and Mosquera, smaller islands North of Santa Cruz where we again saw lots of sea lions as well as land iguanas, marine iguanas (dragons!) and of course looooots of birds. Apart from the Darwin finches (which Darwin observed before theorising about evolution), very popular birds on Galapagos are the Boobies (Toelpel), namely Red Footed Boobies, Blue Footed Boobies and Nasca Boobies. Very funny looking and of course cause for endless jokes (who doesn't love boobies?).
Blue-footed Boobie
A land iguana
Sea lions, the real stars of the Galapagos, very photogenic, great for amateur photographers
Daily snorkel tours were also part of the cruise in order to also experience Galapagos' marine life. And although we're quite spoilt due to our diving experience, we really enjoyed it. Especially when the young sea lion pups are coming into the water to join you! So much fun!
The last day we just cruised around Daphne island, home of more sea birds, like Fregate Birds and Tropic Birds. We then travelled back to Puerto Ayora where we spent 2 days scuba diving before boarding the next ship.
Scuba diving in the Galapagos is apparently the best as it can get due to the amount and the variety of marine species. So, of course, we were pretty excited to have this opportunity. The first dive we did in the waters of Floreana (South of Santa Cruz) was just freezing cold. 15 degrees with only a 5mm wetsuit makes you almost ignore all the marine life you encounter in the water. I even got a bit cold after 1 hour in the water in the Carribbean so just imagine how I felt with only 15 degrees. Thinking back about the dive, we do have to admit we saw some pretty cool stuff, sea lions, mobular rays, turtles and some of the weirdest looking fish on earth you can only find on Galapagos BUT it was just too cold and this ends up being everything you can concentrate on.
The other 2 days of diving were a little bit warmer and therefore also seemed a lot better. But out of the 6 dives we did in total, only one was standing out. That was when we finally saw hammerhead sharks! And on the same dive we also had sea lions, eagle rays, mobular rays, barracudas, stone scorpionfish, Galapagos sharks. A turtle come up to me checking me out and biting my fin, awesome! But all in all, we decided we prefer warmer water, so much nicer and more relaxed.
After lots of budget travelling over the past months, sleeping in sometimes very uncomfortable beds and eating crap food we then looked forward to our 'luxury' cruise onbord the 'Santa Cruz'. Where we were almost the oldest ones on the first cruise, we were pretty much the youngest on the second one. But that made it all the funnier, haha! The itinerary of this cruise took us to Las Bachas in the North of Santa Cruz where we were able to see Flamingos. We then had a fantastic 4 course dinner and a welcome cocktail and fell into our very comfortable beds.
Animals we actually didn't really expect on the Galapagos were the Flamingos and Penguins, well, we didn't complain..
The next day started with a yum buffet breakfast and a visit to Buccaneer Cove and Puerto Egas on Santiago. The other stops during the next days included Rabida Island, Bartolome Island and Genovesa. More sea lions, more boobies, more iguanas, more snorkelling - it was absolutely fantastic! We're really happy we did both cruises and experienced Galapagos from two different angles. But now back to mainland Ecuador and back to backpacker lifestyle :)
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