Galapagos..turning food into adventure (trust me it makes some sense)

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Galapagos truly was a magical archipelago, it exceeded all expectations. Ali and I spent 13 days in this paradise. We arrived in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz (the central spot where most tours begin) with nothing planned. We shopped around for budget cruises and weighed the pros and cons, in the end decided to save the $600+ dollars and avoid supporting a large cruise boat and spread our hard earned dollars around the local island communities. We now had the freedom to explore at our own leisure.

We spent 4 nights in Puerto Ayora.. in our $7 room... not very glamorous but it did the trick. The town was pretty with a lovely harbour for ship viewing but a little on the touristy side. The highlight was hands down Tortuga Bay ( so great we visited it twice) a 45 minute walk from the center of town. The beach was gorgeous and could rival any I have seen throughout the world boasting pristine white sand, countless iguanas, and surfing sealions and tortugas (OK they weren't really surfing but they sure were having fun in the waves)! At the end of the beach strip there is a trail that reaches a laguna with waist deep crystal clear water.. out of this world! We also visited the Charles Darwin Center where Loansome George lives.. the last remaining turtle of his species. They have tried countless times to find him a lady but the chemistry is just never quite right.. luckily for George he is in a habitation with two girlfriends and despite the fact all eggs are infertile he is still permitted romantic rendezvous 😉 . On our second night in Puerto Ayora we were reunited with Mike and Gail who were ending their Galapagos adventure and we were beginning. They had found a beautiful hotel and we enjoyed wine and cheese for the evening.. a nice change from the fried fish and rice the majority of our meals had been consisting of.

After Santa Cruz it was off to Isla Isabella, the largest yet most seldom visited island in the Galapagos -a two hour ferry ride from Santa Cruz. We were greeted at the dock by David a confident and very intelligent 19 ish? year old. He recruited us to come see the hotel Gran Pez. it was a nice wood building that had just been constructed. Upon our arrival we met Oswaldo a friendly fellow who ran the place.. the rooms were clean and cozy so the deal was done.. we now had a temporary home! The place had attracted a diverse group of travelers, 2 Americans, 2 French, 1 Swiss, 1 Italian and us two Canadians. The common language was Spanish so we did our best to communicate.

Isabella was an absolute gem the streets were made of sand the the vibe extremely mellow... no one was in a hurry for anything. Despite the relaxed atmosphere there were many activities and it was easy to do as much or little as you desired.. we opted for the later and packed the days full. Well all days were packed full except for one particular case.. we were on Isabella for the Ecuadorian census (which only occurs every 9 years) which meant in all people must remain in their homes from 7am- 5pm.. those found moving about would be given a fine.. this included tourists. We were confined to the Gran Pez but it wasn't all bad it was forced day of reading, writing and Spanish practice... The census workers (high-school children) finally showed up around 3 and it was all very un-climatic just a few questions for our host Oswaldo and that was it. With the census behind us we more than made up for any lost time. We rented bikes and explored the beaches and ended up discovering a lava cave, mangrove laguna, and a gorgeous view point that looked out over the island. I went snorkeling at Las Tintoreras some small islands close to Isabella and saw turtles and penguins. Ali and I did a hike to Volcan Chico and Volcan Sierra Negra.. we were told to prepare for a 24km hike but in reality the hike was mellow and much shorter than expected ( you can see photos of us at the crater attached).. it was fun but in comparison to the crater in Quilotoa Ecuador it was not as impressive. The days flew by quickly and the dynamic at Gran Pez was starting to feel like a family.. and we were getting mighty good at making our own Caipirinha's.. cachaza (sugarcane alcohol)+lime+sugar= delightful.. therefore we decided to move on as a group. Our two French friends Antoine and Simon and the Americans, Diego and Guiermo, or “Super Chino” as he was affectionately nicknamed continued on to Isla San Cristobal together.

We arrived on Cristobal and began with the usual hunt for accommodation.. this time we scored! We ended up with the top level of a house for $5 a night each. who ever said the Galapagos was expensive? Cristobal - was lovely ( it seems hard to go wrong with any island in the Galapagos) and famous for its large number of sealions, it was more developed than Isabella but less than Santa Cruz and once again we found no shortage of things to do. On our first day we visited Playa Loberia which was absolutely packed with sealions... you had to avoid tripping on one! It was here I had my most intimate encounter with Galapagos wildlife. I was reading my book minding my own business when I felt a lick on my toe.. a baby sealion (or lobo as they are called ) stopped by to say hello! Well he didn't stop with the foot but instead came right up my leg and onto my stomach for a snuggle.. so cute! The cuteness was only slightly overshadowed by my concern that the mother might notice and not find it so lovely. But on a beach full of lobos I seemed to go unnoticed and the little guy lingered in my lap and then proceeded to investigate all my things.. my purse , book, shoes (check out the photos). I am not sure how one determines their spirit animal but for the moment I will say mine is the sealion. After a day at the beach we returned to the casita (a small house for the non - Spangish speakers ) and discovered that Antoine loved to cook and he decided to make a feast for the group.. shrimp, tuna, pasta the whole deal. Our place had a blender and fresh boozy smoothies were made courtesy of Diego. I pleaded to add another Vienetta ice cream cake (see my previous Ecuador entry for all things Vienetta) to the mix but our dinner budget had been exhausted.. the Galapagos was treating us very well in the food department. “Turning food into adventure” was the household phrase coined by Diego and we managed to do it quite well. The next day we snorkeled and explored more beaches first Las Tijeretas and then Punta Carola, it was here we then had another encounter with a sealion this time we were lucky enough to come across a momma giving birth. This was a painful process and sadly the story did not have a happy ending, after all the labour of love the baby did not survive. It put a damper on my spirit but a very special experience all the same. After another full day Antoine decided to cook yet again.. this time fresh tuna burgers AND I got my Vienetta ice cream cake for dessert... the simple pleasures can be so wonderful sometimes. On our third, and final full day on Cristobal we did a day tour to Leon Dormido or ”Kicker Rock” this was the ultimate snorkel experience. The rock had a canal dividing it into two and this is where the journey began. We jumped out into the open ocean and our boat pulled away- I was assured the boat would meet us on the other side of the channel. In the water we were surrounded by 100's (OK maybe not 100's but it sure felt like a lot) of Galapagos Tintoreras... aka sharks! This took some getting used to and my internal dialogs continued reminding me they were harmless. Less frightening sea life included tortoises, rays, and fish. We were in the water with these creatures for about an hour which was a big deal for a girl who usually doggy paddles along the beach for ten minutes max. I was exhausted after the full day excursion but the group's energy kept me going.. it was our final night on Cristobal so we needed to end things off right. Ali suggested a game- there is no name for the game but I will give a brief explanation. Each person is given a piece of paper to write a sentence on ( in Spanish of course!) then you pass the paper to the person beside you and they draw the sentence, then they pass it to the person beside them who looks at the drawing and writes a sentence describing the drawing ( they cannot see the original sentence it is hidden) – this continues around the circle until the original author of the sentence has their paper returned to them. Much like the game telephone you likely played as a child the story gets very convoluted. The majority of sentences resulted in crude Spanghish translations - silly but it kept us laughing for hours.. and with that game we said good-bye to Galapagos.

I highly recommend any traveler putting these islands on their list and consider skipping a cruise we found the self guided adventure deliciously wonderful!

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