Farewell to Galapagos

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With a tedious travel day ahead of us, we finished packing up our gear and headed down for our last breakfast on board. A final zodiac ride returned us to the pier where we first saw the ship and we were bid farewell by a sea lion lounging on a wooden bench. Several people (including Lauren and John) attempted to pose for photos on the bench, but it was made quite clear that he was not interested in sharing. We later learned that one of the children who disembarked after us, a boy a bit older than Andrew, had gotten too close and gotten a bite taken out of him! Fortunately they were able to patch him up sufficiently that he could catch his flight. A short bus ride took us back to the airport where we briefly shopped then waited for quite a while for our chartered flight back to Quito. We endured the long bus ride back to the same hotel we had stayed at before the trip, and then headed up to the lounge to enjoy a glass some wine, snacks, and much faster internet than had been available on the ship. There was the opportunity for a cruise-organized shopping trip in Quito and dinner in the hotel restaurant, but we decided to opt out and explore a bit on our own. The front desk did not encourage going out on foot (this may have been a bit paternalistic) but they did help us make a reservation at a well-reviewed Ecuadorian restaurant. We took a short cab ride to Achiote and enjoyed fried bananas, pork, skewers of meat and a shrimp stew. Guinea pig was on the menu, but no one was sufficiently brave. On the drive home, we were able to see a very lively part of town from the window of the cab, reinforcing to us how important it is to get out and explore on your own. Sonia and Andrew ended the evening by exploring the Las Vegas style hotel pool in the cool, dark evening air. It was a short outing, but they had some fun. Unfortunately, the long drive back to the Quito airport necessitates a very early start, so we set our alarms for 4:30 am and went to bed.

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Photos

Sea Lion on Bench
He was very cute on the bench but made it very clear that he wasn't willing to share. After we had left, a boy pushed him a bit to far and got bitten!

Back to where we started: Baltra Island
Baltra, a small island off Santa Cruz, is the location of the big airport, which was initially built as a military base. It is pretty flat and uninteresting to start with, and the airport infrastructure does little to improve it. Daphne major and minor visible in the background.

Long travel day
This captures the frustration of travel days reasonably accurately.