ryanandana

After difficulty waking (Ana) up the next morning, we headed out to South Plaza Island. Ana (and Carlos, of course) napped on the bus and on the boat (good thing the boat had eight beds). Jorge was marginally easier to understand this time around as the group somehow convinced him to give explanations in Spanish at least part of the time. His behavior, though, was perplexing. Especially for a trained guide in the Galápagos National Park. Our group was enjoying the walk along South Plaza Island. The foliage formed a red carpet over much of the island. Cactus, land iguanas, and sea lions were plentiful. Then Jorge started explaining a bit about the land iguanas´diet. They eat the reddish vegetation and supplement their diet with cactus (for water). The iguanas do not climb and must wait ... read more

New island, new attitude. We had breakfast at our new breakfast place, just a couple blocks from our hotel. As usual, the last one there was Carlos. The minibus picked us up at the hotel after breakfast. It was about an hour ride to the Ithabaca Channel on the other end of the island. Then a short boat ride to North Seymour Island. On North Seymour, we walked the loop trail. Our guide César (aka Cheche) was very knowledgeable. He also enjoyed all our questions. For example: Q-Why North Seymour and not just Seymour Island? A-Baltra used to be called South Seymour. Q-Do you know our guide from yesterday, Eddy? A-Maybe. The difficulty is that many people on the islands have the same name. We know each other by nicknames. Wait, was he from Loja? He´s ... read more

Day 3 started out with a whole new outlook. We had got reconciliation from the tour company and we were ready to enjoy the last 6 days of our land-based Galapagos tour. Unfortunately, we forgot to get the point across to our tour manager (who still was not fond of Ryan). We had a later start with breakfast at a cafe on land. Carlos, the Bolivian, had been out to the disco the night before and missed breakfast. Frederique, his roommate, tried unsuccessfully to wake him up. At least Carlos got an hour's sleep before the day's activities. After breakfast, our group was split among two boats, a dive boat and a regular boat. The Canadian family all went on the dive boat. The rest of us (Carlos, Frederique, Mike, Caroline, and the two of us) ... read more

Yay! It´s finally here. Our cruise in the Galapagos. Or so we thought... We arrived at the airport in Quito at 7:20 am to pick up our plane tickets from the travel agent. We had arranged to meet her there when we visited the office the week before. We found her smiling at the entrance. She handed us the tickets. Then, the surprise. She pulled out an itinerary and said, "I´m sorry to have to tell you this. The boat is broken. There is no cruise." Was this just a bad dream? A joke? Nope. Neither. The Sarah Dayuma, our ship, was no more. It had almost sunk, or broken down, or make up your own reason (everyone seemed to have their own story). The point is, it wasn´t working. We were told we would be ... read more

Well we made it to Ecuador. We left Chiclayo on the 6th at 10pm on an overnight bus to Tumbes near the border with Ecuador. We arrived in far northern Perú at 5:30 am (before dawn). As soon as we left the bus agency, they closed the doors. We were the only gringos on board and the other passengers quickly dispersed. This meant that we were besieged by a dozen taxis, moto-taxis, and minibuses all offering to take us towards the border. No me gusta. We tried to fend them off, but they were very persistent. We knew we had to just get out of there, so we chose one and got across the border an hour or two later. From Huayquillas, the Ecuadorian border town, we took a bus to Machala, the next city inland. ... read more