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Published: March 21st 2010
Next morning we strolled across the road to the two hotels we were planning to use (which were right next door) to enquire about their rates for our second night and using their internet. $132 a night plus taxes. Yikes! We'd been told they'd be cheaper than the Grand Hotel which was only $90 a night. We ran into the owner of the boat again in the souvenir shop/office downstairs and said we'd like to stay a second night. Ok, he said. $40. I reminded him he'd metioned a refund of our boat fares - $50. Ok, we'd work something out. In the end, we never sawe him again, nor the refund but we stayed a second night regardless at no cost, so we were happy. We used the Hotel Miconia's internet nextdoor (just buy lunch or a cup of tea and they're happy). This probably saved us the best part of A$300 as we wouldn't have otherwise kbnown about Bellavista Suites - not in any of the guides. I can recommend them. Clean, comfortable and cheap.
After breakfast and emails we caught a taxi to take us to the highlands. We'd already checked with the tourist office as to
where to go. She recommende a taxi to go to the National Park breedinf centre. there we saw more giant tortoises in a semi-wild environment. We'd only see truly wild tortoises if we went to the far north-east of the island. A long slog, and no gaurantee of finding them. He took us over to see the view from a nearby peak of the surf beaches (pretty spectacular) then drove us back via a small town where he stopped at a small local tourist attraction - the tree house.
This was built in a 300-year old Ceibo tree, supposedly the largest and oldest tree on the Galapagos islands. The tree house was very cute - tiny but enough for two people, and even had beer in the fridge! You can stay there for $15 a night (pp). The owner showed us around his lovely garden with a few artefacts, including a bbq/dining area walled with beer bottles. There was also an underground room under the tree - just a rectangular cell with some crude murals, but he was proud of it. See me emerging from it into the daylight!
I noted in the guest book we signed in
Sealions and water taxis
Typical dockfront scene Pt Baquerizo Morenothe treehouse that no one had been there for 4 days, and 10 days prior to that. It was the off season so business was clearly slow.We went into the stifling hot souvenir room where I bought a carved wooden stingray for $9 and also paid him the $1 each entry fee to see his treehouse. I think he appreciated the business, that's still quite a lot of money around here.
Back at Puertto Baquerizo Morene for lunch, we try the Miconia again (we'd had dinner there the previous night), as they have wi-f. In the "lobby" (just a semi-outdoor area, like much of the Galalapagos) were some others, turned out they weren't staying there either, they were off some yachts moored out in the harbour. We were next to an American who lived with his wife aboard and were just sailing the world at their leisure. He was a boat delivery captain, sailing new boats to their owners wherever they might be in the world, she did life-coaching and could work anywhere from the boat. They were on their way to NZ where they would stay for about a year to collect more money for the next leg
of their journey.
Also there were some Australians (from Melbourne!) cruising - they had been in harbour for about three weeks. Puerto Baquerizo Moreno was the only port yachts could stay at in the whole Galapagos, and they could only sail around the islands - no landing. If they wanted to visit other islands, they had to use the commercial services or tours, just as we were. Access is very tightly controlled to preserve the integrity of the islands.
I did a few more hours work over lunch (well, a couple of hours; it was slow as in some places Outlook cannot connect to my smtp server and therefore won't send emails, only receive; this means using the iinet browser to send which is slower to coordinate with Outlook). Mid afternoon we caught a taxi to a nearby beach for a swim. When we got there, there were already a few tourists and as many sealions enjoying the water and the sun.
After dinner that night as we strolled back to the hotel, we passed a beach absolutely covered in sealions - I'll upload the photos in the next day's blog.
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Ross
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Heddon
I don't suppose you guys want to come home. It really sounds quite like paradise.