Blogs from Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos, Ecuador, South America

Blog on Santa Cruz - our Galapagos extension. The extension was easy enough... Think they are glad to have people stay on....extra revenue and all, at Galapagos prices!!! We only had to pay $10 to change that was all and it would have been free but we changed our destination to Guayaquil instead of Quito. So the six of us (Lisa, Andeas, Hanita and Archna) headed back into town (bus-boat- bus... About an hour and a bargain at only about $3) and began our search for a hostel.... After looking at almost all of them, including 'The Red Footed Booby', which at $80 per night there was no way in the world we could ever afford, but we tried our luck for a deal nevertheless, we plumped on 2 triples at 'Hotel Gardner', which had a ... read more

Today was a chill day. We did not wake up and get moving until 10. We went to our favorite breakfast place and dragged out a long breakfast turned lunch. Continental breakfast turned to cheeseburger turned to coffee. By 2:00 we left with the idea of going back to Tortuga Bay, but within 5 steps of leaving the restaurant the heat of the day destroyed us and we were resigned to trying not to move. That evening we picked up a free wetsuit from Betty. Wow, she is amazing - normally it would be $80 for the week. And then we had a nice last dinner in Santa Cruz with delicious freshly caught fish (likely from that morning). As much as we have loved our time in the Galapagos so far we are both extremely excited ... read more

Galapagos osa 3 Isla Santa Cruz Saavuttiin jo aikaseen lauantaina takas keskimmäiselle saarelle, joka kantaa tosiaan nimee Santa Cruz ja Puerto Ayora on siinä sijaitseva kylä. Oltiin varattu hostelli jo etukäteen niin meidän ei tarvinnu kummemin ressailla vaan saatiin heti huone ja päästiin vähän jatkaan lyhyeks jääneitä unia. Heräiltiin uudemman kerran ja käytiin aamupalalla kaikessa rauhassa. Oltiin suunniteltu päivälle vaan omatoimista palloilua, koska saarella on näyttäviä paikkoja ihan kävelymatkojen päässä. Otettiin yhdet snorklausvälineet mukaan ja käppäiltiin kohti Tortuga Baytä, jossa meitä tuli portilla vastaan puistovartijat, jotka oli just sulkenu paikan kovan meren käynnin takia. Täyskuu teki nousuvedestä tosi hurjan. Jouduttiin vähän puntaroimaan, että mitäs nyt tehdään, mutta meillä oli kuitenkin selvä, että uimaan oli pääst�... read more

Day 154 Tuesday 13th March Tried once more to sleep in but our hotel bed is so uncomfortable that it was better to be vertical and moving. First chore today was to get some washing done, and when Shelley enquired at the front desk, the apathetic receptionist told her they could do it but it wouldn’t be ready till 2pm tomorrow. When Shelley explained that we were checking out tomorrow morning he just shrugged as if “well that’s your problem”. The staff at this hotel have been by far the worse we have encountered on this trip, and we will be glad to be moving on tomorrow. We had spotted a laundry yesterday on our walk so we grabbed our large bag of smelly clothing and walked it the 5 blocks. As usual we ... read more

The day started at an uncivilized hour with a wake up call from the front desk that the kids didn’t realize they’d have to answer in order to make the phone stop ringing; fantastic start to the day. We had an okay breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant, the unfortunately, or perhaps aptly, named Colon. The day before we had lunch there: having scoped out our options it seemed to be the reasonable choice as a sign in front indicated that the buffet was $11.50 a person. We got our bill for over $100US and were flummoxed at Ecuadorian math until Adrianne pointed out the small(ish) print advising the $14.00 per person servico fee. For a buffet. Anyway, we had breakfast then took a short trip to the Guayquil airport where we were ushered through a perfunctory ... read more