Blogs from Galápagos, Ecuador, South America - page 12

Friday 5th December 2014 On Wednesday we moved from the hostel to the Hotel Albemarle, by the beach. One knew one was in a hotel immediately, because there was a hairdryer in the bathroom; haven´t seen one of those in weeks! We didn´t actually get to use it! We also had a balcony overlooking the sea. Wow! We backpackers really know how to rough it! Thursday was another very special day, because it was the first time we have managed to take photographs of sea lions underwater, whilst snorkelling. When swimming off the beach, they rarely come close enough to photograph, or if they do, we don´t see them. One can be swimming along, see a sea lion on the beach and the next minute they have swam past and away out to sea. So, on ... read more

Tuesday 2nd December 2014 When we arrived here on Isla Isabela from Santa Cruz, we planned to stay just two or three days. However, such is the beauty of this little Paradise that we are staying five days until Friday. Flights on Friday are full, except the over-priced “executive” flights, so we shall be braving 83 kilometres of ocean in a silly little speed boat once more, and paying $30 each for the pleasure of doing so! We contemplated staying until Sunday (our flight back to Quito is on Monday) but with the absence of banks or ATMs and very few places taking plastic, we need to get back to Santa Cruz and hope that the ATMs over there have some money left in them by the time we arrive on Friday evening; if not, plenty ... read more

Friday 28thNovember2014 The Inland Highlands: Santa Rosa We hoped to see some giant tortoises today. We didn´t expect to see hundreds of them. The inland highland areas of Santa Cruz Island are quite lush, with untouched vegetation that the tortoises thrive on. Sadly, elsewhere, as mentioned in a previous blog, their habitat has been destroyed and numbers have decreased. Not here, however. The Santa Rosa region is an oasis for these magnificent gentle giants. One has to be careful driving along the tracks, because they don´t understand the Green Cross Code and they amble along all over the place, at leisure. We left the hostel early in the morning and went with a guide (just the two of us). He was a lovely character, but not particularly knowledgeable and informative, as one expects a guide to ... read more

“The earth is not a legacy from our ancestors, but a loan from our children” Native American Traditional (quote on our bathroom wall) We have only been here twenty four hours and we have already seen more wildlife than we expected to see in a fortnight. This place is incredible! John has already taken 203 photos and Viv took 65 before the battery died (must remember to charge up every night). We have swum in a lagoon with Marine Iguanas, seen Giant Tortoises, Land Iguanas, Booby Birds (but not the blue-footed ones yet), Pelicans, Cormorants, a small Ray, Sea Lions and numerous Darwin Finches of different colours and sizes. We haven´t hardly started yet, not having left the town of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island, where we are staying. We left Quito early ... read more

1000 kms off the Ecuador Coast lie several small islands. Together they are known as the Galapagos Islands and this is where I´ve been the past two weeks. Typically when one thinks the Galapagos Islands they think nature, rich pensionsers and well off honeymooners and as 90% of my flight from Guayquil consisted of the last two groups, this only served to reinforce my expectations! However Galapagos really took me by suprise, the nature and scenery was spectacular but all the other stuff I did not expect ! ARRIVAL Travelling solo and having done little to no research of the islands meant I had little to go on when I arrived Sunday evening the 26th of October. One thing that stood out though was the prices - between double and triple for supermarket, pharmacy good etc. ... read more