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Published: November 9th 2011
The first thing that struck me about Quito is the gorgeous view - high up in the Andes, it is surrounded by moutains, some still capped with snow. Shortly after I realised how modern it feels in comparison to parts of Central America I have been in. Roads are good, everything is spread out quite nicely, the standard of housing seems to be quite high, cars are all really nice, and no chicken buses to speak of!
It's a funny city - big and sprawling, it has 2 distinct parts - thecolonial Old Town, where all the beautiful colourful buildings and churches are, and the New Town, which includes the 'Mariscal' which has many restaurants and hotels, and is also sometimes referred to as Gringoland. The Mariscal is also supposed to be dangerous after dark, so I was a bit nervous about staying here. My first hostel had big gates, great security and was in a quiet street so I felt quite safe.
I spent my first day recovering from the last night of my Central America tour and acclimatising to the high altitute. Second day I ventured out into the Old Town and wandered around enjoying all the
beautiful buildings. There seemed to be a lot of people around for a weekday (including small kids) and I figured out it was a public holiday. In fact, the public holiday lasted the whole time I was there which made things like going to a supermarket for supplies quite tricky!
I stopped off at the Mercado Central (Central Market) for lunch,and headed for a restaurant inside recommended by Lonely Planet - Corvina Don Jimmy. It looked to be the most popular one, with a huge queue of locals. The queue was just to be placed at a table and then you put in your order. I ordered the sea bass with potatoes which came in a bowl. It was also accompanied by a kind of soup - a broth with tomatoes and onions, and also prawns and clams - this was to pour over the top - yum! Together with fresh lime juice and some chili it was delicious and I have already been back again on my last day here!
I met a girl in my hostel that night who had had a couple of guys try to mug her around the corner frmo our hostel the
night before. Granted, she stood out with her pale Irish skin and hair, but it was only 7pm and she was with another older man. They had cornered the man and tried to grab her bag, but she screamed and kicked so much they decided it wasn't worth it and let her go. I was vigilant before hearing this story and it made me a little more freaked out!
The next day before our tour started I was feeling pretty weary and also still a bit funny about going out on my own so just chilled out. I did catch a cab up to the Teleferico, which is a cable car that takes you up to 4000m and gives great views over the city, but when I got up there half of Quito were there (due to public holiday!) and I gave up and came back to the Gap hotel as I didn't fancy standing in a queue to pay for tickets, and then one to get on the Teleferico itself.
I met my new roommate Abi who is from London and travelling the world for a year. We chatted until we had our first meeting with the
Gap group. This was a very brief meeting and Abi and I headed out to Plaza Foch for dinner. We tried an Ecuadorian restaurant and had their typical potato soup- which has cheese and avocado in it - yummo! Again, we went back to the same restaurant for more as it was so good. We made the mistake of ordering mains as well which were way too filling but still very good.
We set off the next morning at 6am (quite a reasonable time given some previous morning meeting times!) and did the long schlep of flight from Quito to Guayaquil, Guayaquil to Galapagos, bus from Baltra airtport to a water crossing, boat to Santa Cruz and then another bus to the port where we were to get on our boat. We had been told that our boat had been changed as it was due for refurbishment but didn't know what to expect.
On the pier was a sealion vying for attention of people going out to the boats. This was a sign of what was to come with animals being everywhere! We headed out on the dinghies or 'pangas' to the boat and our welcome meeting. The
group was made up of mainly Aussies (many of whom live away fom Oz or on their way back like me), English, a South African lady and 2 Argentines. Our guide for the first 3 days was Enrique and he was great.
What wasn't so great was that on the move to the new boat, there were less above board cabins available. I had specifically selected and paid (extra) for one as I can't stand being below deck and was disappointed to learn I hadn't got one of the ones on board. I didn't let it spoil my trip, but the water and crossings were quite rough and each night I had to take a motion sickness tablet to go to sleep which wasn't great.
Anyway - onto the good stuff! I won't go through the itinerary in detail, but will say that we went to numerous islands and had both land and water activities to spot animals. Each island was very different in terms of whether it was inhabited or not, its topography and geography, and the animals that lived there. This made every new island an adventure! We visited Santa Cruz, North Seymour, Bartolome, Genovesa, South
Plazas and Santa Fe (I think in that order!).
First stop was a private farm where hundreds of giant tortoises live. On the way from the airport we had been able to spot some roaming free in farms next to the road - they are pretty easy to spot being so massive! This was a taste of what was to come. No matter where we went, with the exception of a couple of animals (the short eared owl and hammerhead shark - the latter I was disappointed by) - whatever animals we expected to see, we saw in abundance. They seemed to be everywhere and liked having their photos taken. In fact, a lot of them seemed to be posers saying 'look at moi' and wanting attention!! This is pretty evident from my photos. So - giant tortoises everywhere and we could pretty much get within a metre of the friendlier ones. They are amazing creatures - and remind me alot of prehistoric animals or ET!
Other favourites included sea lions which were mainly very friendly and when expected were everywhere. We didn't get to swim with them (although did spot one swimming by on a snorkelling stop)
and this was disappointing, but also a bit of a relief as whereever there is a colony close to the water there is also a massive alpha male patrolling the coast line, and I wouldn't like to come face to face with him in the water! It was baby time for the sea lions so we were lucky enough to see (and hear - so cute) lots of pups, including some that had been born that morning. They are blind for the first week so pretty helpless but oh so gorgeous!! The abundance of the sea lions meant many opportunities for photos, as you will see from my pics!
We were lucky enough to see Galapagos penguins also, and snorkelling trips meant we saw lots of colourful fish and also rays. We saw one HUGE manta ray which I reckon was 2-3metres wide, and many eagle rays. On a stop to Black Turtle Cove (which is a nursery and you can't snorkel there) we saw multiple sea turtles, rays, and baby white tip sharks from the panga, in the shallow and crystal clear water.
The bright red Sally Lightfoot crabs were also everywhere we landed and were very
easy to spot from far away due to their rainbow colouring. Again, they were everywhere and I really liked how bright they were.
Iguanas were also very prevalent - either the black sea iguana which we saw both on land (and multiples of!) and also in the water which was a strange sight! The land iguana was also really spectacular and photogenic, with the colourful males staying very still and one also smiling for photos! On South Plaza island they all have names which is quite funny, and usually the males have 2-3 females hanging around also. We were lucky enough to see the display of territory by the males which is the puffing of their throats to indicate they own a particular piece of land. We almost saw a run in between two males over territory also! They were just spectacular in their colouring and features and again very dinosaur like!
Birds were in abundance, and although my preference is sea creatures it is hard not to like the blue and red footed boobies with their amazing and distinctive colouring. They had lots of young around, and we also got to see the male blue footed booby
do his dance around in a circle with his blue feet to show off to a female!
Frigate birds were everywhere also, of varying ages, and we were again lucky enough to see the male frigate bird puffing up his red chest to attract females to his nest to mate. We had lots of fun pretending to be the animals, imagining their voices and what they were thinking about all of us coming to look at their homes! Frigate birds would also follow our boat from point to point which was amazing to watch.
Lava gulls were also laying eggs and on Genovesa we were lucky enough to see a female who was sitting on one of her eggs get up momentarily for a rest so we could see her egg in her nest.
All of this made for sensory overload on some islands. We'd get off the boat and be greeted by 10 or more sea lions lying on the beach or dock and get side tracked by them, then realise black sea iguanas were everywhere, and then we'd notice all of the lang iguanas. Sometimes you just didn't know where to look first and we
had to be hurried on by our guide. Needless to say I have taken hundreds (possibly 1000) pics and it was hard choosing some of my faves for my blog - so I've included many more than normal!
Another highlight was the sunset over Pinnacle Rock on Bartolome. We hiked up the volcano crater for specatcular 360 degree views which were stunning - I love a good sunset!
Life on the boat was really chilled out. We had a briefing each night for the next day so we knew our schedule, bells rang to tell us that food was ready or our next activity was coming up, and we had quite a bit of spare time. I found myself reading but mainly sleeping in our free time as the rocking of the boat made me very weary! We were getting up early most mornings which contributed to the tiredness but it was worth it to get ahead of other boats or see animals as they were waking up. Each night I was in bed by 9pm at the latest, and it was difficult to get a good nights sleep with the boat setting off for another location during
the night and it being quite choppy. The food was excellent and plentiful, although I'm not sure a great example of Ecuadorian cuisine! I thik the chef had a selection of recipes to please tourists but it was varied and healthy which was good. One night we had a party for one of the ladies on board who had a birthday - cake and all!
It was lovely getting to know the other people on the boat also, who all had their own interest in animals. They included 2 people who work at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast, a producer from BBC who worked with David Attenborough and asked where he should go to see animals (David's recommendation was the Galapagos!), to those of us with a non professional interest but who had our favourite animals we wished to see. I made an effort to swap spots each time we had a meal and everyone else did too so we got to know everyone quite well.
On the last day we left the boat (another boat, another story!) and headed to Charles Darwin Research Station to learn about their projects to breed land tortoises and iguanas. We got
to see little tortoises in all stages of their lives, and got to meet Lonesome George. George is the last of his kind from Pinta island and scientists are trying to have him breed so that he doesn't die out. They have tried pairing him up with mates from different islands but with little success to date. He is 120 years old so probably a bit tired, but as they can live to up to 200 years he still has a few years ahead of him!
All in all, such an amazing trip. I was a little disappointed we didn't get to see hammerhead sharks and also flamingoes - our itinerary had changed with the new boat and that meant we didn't visit Rabida, where flamingoes are supposed to be. Hopefully I will see them in Argentina!
We arrived back in Quito last night and went for dinner with a group from the original tour group (some stayed on longer in Galapagos). We went to the Ecuadorian restaurant for potato soup again and I had some ceviche.
Today has been spent getting ready for my next adventure - the Amazon! It's great to have days in between
travel to do the mundane things like washing, booking upcoming activities and hostels etc. I made it up to El Panecillo which is a lookout over Quito and crowned by a massive statue of Christ which you can see from all over.
I will write more post Amazon adventure!
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Andy and Nicola Bickley
Andrew & Nicola
Amazing!
I had to comment to say your photos look amazing! We are also thinking of taking a tour to the Galapagos - would you be able to recommend the Company you used? Many thanks. Nicola.