Blogs from Puerto Ayora, Galápagos, Ecuador, South America

Hey all, Thanks to the hard work from Ali at travelblog, they have finally fixed the photo uploader. Here is an album of just a few photos of our trip SO far, to get you caught up. I know some of these were on Facebook, but some off our friends are not on Facebook. Hope you enjoy. Adios, G and R... read more

Well Galapagos is truly an amazing place! This is our third day here, and so far the weather has been 31 and sunny every day. The owner of our hostel says its like this pretty much all year. There are only 20000 galapagos indigenous people left on the islands who are outnumbered 10x by iguanas, sea lions, and tortoises. The local people are very friendly and hard working. It is an amazingly safe place to visit which is really nice. There seems to be no boundaries between nature and humans here which is probably its greatest feature. It makes you realize how much we have screwed up our world. Here, thanks to strict regulation, the animals have little fear of humans, and due to the lack of development, humans haven't destoyed the animals natural habitat yet. ... read more

The next morning we woke up and had a delicious breakfast at the Dreamkapture hostel and then headed to the airport for our flight to the islands. Once at the airport we had to get our bags inspected and sealed for quarantine then we were allowed to board our flight. We arrived at our hostel late in the afternoon where we met Kevin and Ann-Maria the owners. After a quick introduction Kevin was kind enough to take us on a tour of the town, while in town we organised a dive trip for the following day. Later in the afternoon after changing into some shorts due to the heat we headed to the Charles Darwin Research centre, here we were able to learn about the programs that have been set up to ... read more

Our morning was filled with another trip to Cafe Hernan followed by some bathing suit shopping, flight change and a visit to the bank so we could pay the rest of the cruise. And again I had way more cash in hand than I really wanted, but being in the Galapagos with it is not so bad. As we waited in line at the bank tour operators were walking in and depositing thousands and thousands of dollards (all in $20 bills) and others were withdrawing the same. Watching the bank tellers count out $5,000 in $20´s for one woman was so bizarre, especially when she turned, walked out the door and strolled down the street as if it were nothing. There is just so much money moving through the Galapagos and walking down the street with ... read more

We woke up super early this morning with the hope of getting to the airport and finding seats on a flight to the Galapagos. At about 5am the cab picked us up from Hostal Mantesa and off to the airport we went. TAME and LAN were both open so we got pricing from them, but we had to wait a bit before AeroGal opened up (the normally cheapest option) only to learn their flight was full. So TAME it was for our trip to the Baltra Airport, the more popular of the two airports in the Galapagos (other on San Cristobal). Having been at the airport super early we had to kill a few hours before the special Galapagos security screening could occur where they check your luggage for any fruits, veggies, meats, cheeses, etc. At ... read more

So we have flown today to Baltra Island in the Galapagos, and from there caught a bus to the ferry, which really only transports you across the river, and then to another bus to Puerto Ayora which is about 50 mins away. This place is gorgeous. It reminds me a little of Inverloch 20 years ago, but with a little more charm. There are lots of nice restaurants and the pier area is nicely decked out and covered with little marine Iguana's! The rocks below are dotted with orange and red crabs called Sally Lightfoot that also run up and down the walls with the Iguana! Our hotel doesnt have a name yet because it isnt finished or approved by the tourism board, but it is really nice, and operates above the Galapagos Deli where they ... read more