Guayaquil and Galapagos- Kaity´s Sola Journey

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Well, after typing a lot the computer lost power and i lost my blog entry, meaning i will keep it short and sweet.

I arrived in guayaquil the next day at about 1pm and spent the afternoon doing the parks, churches, malecon and market. The hostel i was in had a range of vegie foods, so i treated myself to a $4 quinoa burger and salad. There were heaps of nice shopping areas, walking areas and juice bars.

The next day i walked el malecon along the river and headed to las penas where i hiked 444 stairs to a lighthouse and church on a hill. After this i checked out an interesting art museum (free) and took a taxi to parque historical, which was park zoo, part colonial reconstructed town and part botanical gardens. I had the morning to explore, saw eagles, foxes and a 8 day old tapier. IN the botanical gardens i tried teas made from local plants. After getting back to guayaquil i walked some more, hit up a few museums, had a cheap sea food feast and a relatively early night at the hostel. The next day i flew to baltra, one of the galapagos airports. The trip to my first island was an adventure, bus, boat, taxi and boat. A few hours later i arrived in Isabella, the most beautiful island of the galapagos (or so im told). I checked into the hostel then met a group, we strolled the beach, checked out flamingos and then later headed out for a few beers at a beach bar. We ended up having a late night...oh well! Happy hour and dancing.

The next day a 14 k hike around sierra negra an active volancoe woke us up, in the afternoon we checked out tintorerras, a small island made of lava with plenty of wildlife. Then followed a few hours of snorkling with seal pups, turtles, penguins, rays, fish and more! Also we spotted the blue footed boobies! After a cold shower and a big feed with 2 austrian guys i had an early night. The next day was a bit more calm, visiting the wall of tears, sea lava tubes and playa del amor. I walked back to the hostal via the beach and swam until about 1pm when i metup with the guide and another woman for snorkling at concha perla...plenty more animals!

THe next morning i caught an early boat to Santa cruz, checked into a hostal and grabbed an interesting platain, cheese dumpling breakfast, then it was off to a turtle hot spot, lava tunnels and learning a bit about the high land. I then had a chance to change before we headed to santa fe for the afternoon, a small island about 45 min away where we snorkled and explored the sea caves. Plenty of turtles, sting rays, seals, fish and marine life. Although it was freezing! I drove the boat back to harbour!

That night i had a lovely fish dinner and an early night. The next morning i went on a day trip to floreana island which was the first inhabited island of the galapagos. we arrived after a 2 hour boat ride and explored the wildlife and an area once inhabited by pirates, and hippies. Then we had lunch, fresh fish of course, and headed to a snorkling area, which had dolphins, fish, turtles and seals. Another cold swim! Back to santa cruz for my last night! I ended up walked to tortuga bay after the tour which took about 1 hour and explored the beach a bit before having dinner. The next morning i had free until 9am so i woke up and motivated myself to run and swim along multiple bays where there were plenty of marine iguanas. Then a taxi to the airport with a stop at the craters. I flew out of baltra to quayaquil (1.5 hours), stayed on the plane and had a 35 min flight to quito.

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