Blogs from San Cristóbal Island, Galápagos, Ecuador, South America - page 9

Well I´ve been away for 2 weeks now and I´m finally getting into it. Have had a hard week the past week, realisation of were I am, frustration about the isolation, lack of electricity and home comforts and the expoential level of mud and bugs but it´s amazing what a couple of days can do to change your thoughts, especially since the arrival of Cesar, the staions owner and all round Galapogean wonder. The guy emits postiviity in bucket loads so the next 4 weeks are shaping up to be fun filled & action packed, I just know I´m going to learn a lot from this guy. I´ve had the freak out which I´ve heard happens to a lot of voulnteers but I´ve embraced now as the weeks are flying bye and the only way is ... read more

So Im here!! On the last part of my journey... galapagos. Getting here was a pain...lots of waitingg around at quito airport when the plane was delayed. I met a nice dutch girl who speaks english so perfectly I thought she was american! Anyway she was less than pleased when she got on the plane and her seat which was 1 A didnt exist because numbering started at 1 D...very strange..but she did get a seat. It was nice to fly over quito and appreciate its aamazing location and how hilly the actual city is..in fact even now im getting a little twinge of nostalgia for it! We had a stop over at guayaquil 35 mins later so it seemed hardly worth taking off...by this time i was feeling a bit apprehensive, I was all settled ... read more

Much has happened since our last blog entry. May 14...our driver to take us to the airport was supposed to arrive at 7:40 am. Instead we get a call at 6:40am saying he´d be there at 7am because our flight was moved up. Stu hadn´t packed so he tossed everything into the suitcase, we squeezed in breakfast and away we went. Our drivers walks us into the terminal, hands us our boarding passes, we go through security and board the plane without ever having to show ID. "Are you Mr Stu?" is apparently all the ID you need. We arrive in the Galapagos on Santa Cruz island and are taken to a turtle farm where we see huge land turtles that can grow to be up to 700 lbs. After we go to port and visit ... read more

人生初めてのセスナに乗って、２つ目の島サンクリストバル島へ。 セスナの狭い席にぎゅうぎゅう詰まりながら１時間、この距離を船で行くと８時間かかるらしいので感謝。 機内からみる海は魚が翻る様子がきらきらと輝いて見える。 島のホテルにチェックインすると、とても素敵なおじいちゃんとおばあちゃんが出迎えてくれて、 とった写真を見せると、いいね、と言ってくれた。 海に泳ぎに行くと人とアシカが混ざりながら泳いでいる。 少し近寄るとアシカ歩き？で威嚇されたり、逆に海の中ではこっちを不思議そうにみつめては 人間をもてあそぶかのように自由自在に泳ぎまわっている。 浜辺からみた夕日とアシカはとっても絵になる。 夜に海辺を散歩すると、これまた見渡す限りのアシカ、アシカ、アシカ！ 砂浜が見えないくらいアシカがいっぱいだった。浜辺から歩道にはみ出てるものもいて、 熟睡しているお母さんアシカのおっぱいを吸っている赤ちゃんアシカもいた。 でも人間がさわると人間の匂いがついてお母さんに見放されてしまうらしいのでそばで写真をとるのみに。 闇に包まれた砂浜にはオウッ、オウッと鳴く声が響いていた。 ... read more

Auf dem Flughafen in San Christobal wurden wir von Estephan unserem Guide empfangen, der uns sogleich auf unser Schiff "Liberty" brachte. Da wir Lastminute buchten, (damit aber 1800$ einsparten), kriegten wir natuerlich keine "upper deck" Kabine. Die Kabine war aber grosszuegig angelegt. Eine grosse Dusche (immer mit Warmwasser ) und keine Stockbetten. Der Aufenthaltsraum wie auch das Sonnendeck spendete fuer die max. 16 Passagiere reichlich Platz. Die Crew bestehend aus 8 Personen verwoehnte uns mit allem waehrend der Reise. Obwohl Reto jeden Tag mindestens einmal Fisch hatte, war das Essen ausgezeichnet! Ein normaler Tag auf dem Schiff lief folgendermassen ab: Waehrend der Nacht fuhren wir jeweils eine neue Insel an. Meistens um 6:00 setzten wir mit einem Panga (Beiboot) auf die neue Insel ueber, wo wir ein ca. 1 1/2 stuendigen Morgenspaziergang unternahmen. Dabei konnte man ... read more