Blogs from San Cristóbal Island, Galápagos, Ecuador, South America - page 6

Today was the day that Mom and Dad were supposed to be arriving in San Cristobal for a long awaited visit. At 6:30am I got a call from Dad at the Guayaquil airport, and he frantically informed me that there must have been a mistake when they booked the tickets. They were about to board a plane to Baltra, which was a totally different island! They had already tried to switch their flight, but the one to San Cristobal was full. It was too late for me to catch the 7am boat to Santa Cruz (which is beside Baltra) so they would have to fend for themselves until morning. I spent the day trying to get them on a different flight, and finally to my relief the Aerogal office informed me they were on the right ... read more

Today was my fellow volunteer´s last day in the Galapagos. He would be heading back to Basecamp in Quito for a couple days, then back to New York. A group of us went out to kareoke to celebrate, and I showed those South Americans a thing or two about how to hit the notes of "As Long As You Love Me" by the Backstreet Boys and "Africa" by Toto. ... read more

To celebrate the end of the year my family took Me, Jon, and a few of their friends out for supper at an Ecuadorian BBQ. We never go out for dinner, so this was very special. The main street and malecon were flooded with people. I didn´t know this many people lived in San Cristobal! All of the teenage girls had their hair and makeup done, and wore really fancy dresses that had me thinking I was at my prom again! At 11pm me and my American friends had our own little celebration - it was midnight at home! A popular tradition here is to construct lifesize paper dolls in the weeks leadig up to new years. These dolls could be made to look like yourself, a friend, or maybe an idol in your life (I ... read more

Islas De Galapagos, Isla Santiago, 19-10-1990. It only takes a bottle of Pampas Red Wine to get me happy, courtesy of Maria and Juan who kept it hidden in their backpacks untill El Momento Magico which I presume must be now, sitting on top of the boat in a small bay called Buccaneer's Cove at the west side of Isla Santiago, a beautifull bright sunset adds to our mellow mood though the flamingoes in the bay seem keener on getting a last evening meal before retiring for the night then admiring Mother Nature's last wonder of the day before darkness will descend... The first bottle of Pampas goes down Gringo throats like they are lubricated with fig oil and gets our moods open and happy, exchanging travel stories as backpackers the world over do, experiences on ... read more

Tomorrow is the first day of my boat cruise adventure! I am very excited to get off my island for a couple days and to have a change of scenery. Each island in the Galapagos is very different, and they call this type of boat cruise holiday “Island Hopping”. The group consists of 13 main islands, 5 smaller islands, and over 100 rocks and islets. All the islands vary in age, causing them to have different rock formations, vegetation, and animals. The boat I am taking is called Guantanamera and it holds 16 passengers. During the days I will be having guided tours of the islands, and at night I will be sleeping on board while we cruise. We eat all our meals on the boat. ... read more