Blogs from Isabela Island, Galápagos, Ecuador, South America - page 3

January 5, 2014 We started our day with a ½ hour drive, through some nice country side, to the Sierra Negra Volcano. From here we began our trek of 2 ½ hours to the top of the caldera left from a recent ( geologically ) eruption of this volcano. This is a beautiful place !! The weather cooperated and the clouds lifted for an exceptional view of the caldera. This crater is about 7 KM wide. Some hot spots remain and steam is formed from rain water filtering into the lava flows. Then the 1 ½ hour walk back to the base. For sure we found a few muscles we forgot we had. This is a significant trek. We only did about 2/3 of the trek that is available as there is a longer trek that ... read more

Helloifor the last time! It was with great excitement that we contemplated our trip to the amazing Galapagos. A very early start saw us on the coach to the airport a 2 hour flight to Batra some 1000 kms from the Ecuadorian coast . It is a very arid small island that was the base for the US during the second world war. A further coach trip to the port where we took a taxi boat across the bay, another coach across the island of Santa Cruz one of the 5 inhabited islands amongst the 16 that make up the Galapagos. And that is when the rain started ! The final port destination was in chaos , what with road repairs carnival time and elections pending. The coach couldn’t get through the road works so we ... read more

Galapagos osa 2 Isla Isabella Torstaina alotettiin aikasin laivamatka kohti Isabellaa. Matka oli jaettu kahteen osuuteen: ensin jumputettiin mahamme jämäkiks matkalla Santa Cruz –saarelle. Kolme tuntia jumputusta, mutta alkushokista selvittyä matka alko sujuun. Aallot höykyytti pikku paattia, joka kiisi talla pohjassa merta päin. Mahan vellominen ehti taantua Santa Cruzilla, jossa syötiin aamupala ja buukattiin hostelli lauantaista eteenpäin. Lento tosiaan lähtee tältä keskimmäiseltä saarelta, jota kansan parissa pidetään ’pääkaupunkina’. Poliittinen ’pääkaupunki’ on kuitenkin San Cristobal. Katteltiin siinä matkatavaroiden kanssa merta, kun paikallinen kalastaja tuli perkaan muutaman kalan laiturille. Kalastaja heitti kalan ripeet mereen ja kymmenessä sekunnissa paikalla oli yli kymmenen hotkoo pelikaania. Perkaajalla tuli vähän hätä käteen, kun ahneimmat ronkki antimia perkauslau... read more

We flew to the islands from Quito, a quaint colonial city with an abundance of churches, each with more gold than the previous one. It was a pity we only had one day in our luxury hotel, but as always there was an ‘incident’. This time it was John falling down the stairs of our two storey hotel room. Suzanne knew not to giggle when she saw the colour and size of his ankle. Bravely he soldiered on! Our home for the next week along with 16 other tourists, was a small boat called ‘The Letty’. We soon got into the routine of breakfast at 07.30, first tour of the day (mostly a wet landing, from a dinghy called a ‘Panga’), followed by a dousing with a hosepipe from Claudia to prevent cross-contamination between islands. We ... read more

To get to Isabela, the third island on our epic volunteering adventure, we had to take two boats across the wild Pacific Ocean. One from San Cristobal back to Santa Cruz, then one from Santa Cruz to Isabela. All in all about 4 hours. To avoid any form of sea sickness, W and las chicas took appropriate tablets. Sadly, instaed of just taking one, they doubled the dosage and spent the whole time sleeping. Okay, they weren’t sea sick, but if the boat had capsized your correspondent wasn’t planning to hang around to wake them up !!! Thankfully neither happened and the journey passed uneventfully apart from the kraken that attacked us. Our voluntary work on the island this week, consisted of absolutely nothing. Just relaxing, looking around the island and drinking beer on the beach. ... read more