Blogs from Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos, Ecuador, South America - page 8

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 päästävä. Galapagoksella on nähtävää myös sisäma... read more

Bonjour mes amis! I hope you’ll excuse my awkward French, I am rather out of practice. Bringing you Thursday’s blog is none other than the girl whose awesomeness is surpassed only by her nerdiness (a fact that will become only too clear later on in this post). If you guessed Adrianne, you get a virtual GOLD STAR!!! You know it’s important because it’s all capitalized and stuff. By the way, I noticed that my family is shamefully ignorant of most nautical terms. I intend to rectify this. Starboard is the right side of the boat, Port is the left, Stern is the back, and Bow is the front of the boat. Of course, I could be wrong, but I doubt it. Today is not actually Thursday, so I sincerely apologize for any details that may or ... read more

So the time had finally come for me to leave Central America and fly over the Darian Gap to meet mum and Sara at Quito Airport. As ridiculous as it sounds I was a little it nervous about it, what if South America wouldn´t live up to my expectations? The only words of wisdom I had been given was "Always carry toilet paper and hand sanitiser, the toilets are disgusting". Not exactly confidence inspiring and after mum and Sara left I still had another 2 months to travel around the area. After months of experiencing the chaos of Central American bus transportation, it did feel a bit like cheating flying, it was so easy! Despite rumours of constant airline delays, terrible planes etc. Not only was the plane pretty good (luckily), it landed early and in ... read more

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 ... read more

I woke up this morning with a very sore throat and I realized that I had brought a whole bunch of medicine for serious illnesses, but none for a simple cold. But some hot tea and some Halls cough drops later and I was feeling better. We had another 2 hour boat ride this morning to reach Santa Cruz. It is not a big island, but has the largest population of 20,000. When we arrived we took a bus to the highlands to visit a sugar plantation. They treated us very well and we got to see how they got the juice out of the sugar cane and then how they either boiled it down to sugar or let it ferment into the sugar cane alcohol. We tried some straight sugar cane, very sweet but good, ... read more