The tranquil Galapagos and the evidently dangerous hub of Quito

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The Galapagos islands were the next destination. In a word, the archipelago is a freaky reality for 10 days of the land based Gap tour. This freaky reality involved close encounters with all things wild and alive…turtles, sealions, fish, frigate birds………..with no fear of humans and a playful, novelty instinct that lead to great photos and plain fascination. Sealions ply the promenade of Santa Cristobel’s main town as though it is (and it is!) their home, defending at times proudly (especially the ‘alpha’ males) or just plain comically with waving fins or aggressive nudging, the slab of sand/ rock/ concrete where they live.

Our first day involved travelling from Quito, via Guayaquil, and plunged straight into the action with a wet afternoon downhill bike ride, with rain, roads and fog……and resulting in early carnage for one who was whisked off to hospital for stitching and dressing of upper body wounds. We ended up at a natural rockpool for a swim after all that fun, paddling in a volcanic landscape of land iguanos, sealions, lizards, and red or black and yellow spotted crabs. A sunset had, a tired first night dinner and bed for the next day which involved more action.

Being a weekday, more shops opened including a convenience store for those extra if costly fruit or munchies we all wanted and were advised against bringing from the mainland. Heading off after a nice breakfast at a local café, the modest 20 person boat cruised to secluded coves, the deep waters of Kicker Rock, and allowed us an amazing time snorkeling on 3 occasions with playful, mating, or playful and mating sealions. Afternoon rains starting, we headed back to shore mid-afternoon for the Interpretative Centre tour, a hill walk to see old Charlie Darwin resplendent with hollow animals, a relaxing swim at Playa Mann with many holidaying mainlanders, and our choice of evening. Promenading and fiesta making as usual was the public sport that night, entertainment given loudly and heartedly by an entourage of…sealions.

The following morning was an 8am departure for Floreana island, which would take 3 hours and during which we failed to get some snorkeling in due to tide times and increased wind. Unfortunately for two poor sharks and thanks to a meanly placed long-line, we got held up untangling the mess, our guide having to lodge a report as this was clearly illegal practice on the ‘fringe’ (actually inside!) of the Galapagos marine reserve. Turns out it was locals and perhaps that was the reason chicken was on the menu 4th meal in a row!

We grew to dislike chicken in the coming week, and finally after some actual preparation on Gap’s and the meal providers part we got our ‘desserts’ when we headed to Isabela island the following day. The Floreana island family were not the convivial types nor ones to welcome visitors, or so they conveyed, and I was happy to part from the lovely black sand island with wee swimming cove and a large land turtle nature park in it’s highlands for the windier and wilder shoreline of Isabela. This hotel was strategically near the beach for the 2 days spent there, and an afternoon of learning about marine iguanas at a small sanctuary boardwalk, being led past flamingos, to a remote lookout and moderate sized lava tunnel we were well cooked in the 400% humidity. Ordering up a cool beach after all that activity, several of us jumped in the briny, leading for some to cocktails, odd discotechs, poorly timed service at restaurants or just an early night for an impending climb of Volcan Chico.

Of which was worth the 18km wander, especially as our quiet but granted unwell guide Julio allowed us the grace of driving up to 853m altitude to start the ‘ascent’ to approximately 1100m. Clearly a walk in the park compared to Macchu Piccu, I felt like I had transported myself back to the Tongariro crossing plus a few more degrees centigrade being equatorial. The volcano recently erupted in 2005, has a crater 10km wide, and the chain of calderas form a moon-like landscape of parasitic cones, flattened lava flows and endless chunks of scoria and cacti. To isabela’s west are the more active islands which we steered clear of, only to admire the falling black clouds on their summits, a sign of being in the tropics. Sparing our hunger until the allowed checkpoint and arriving back to base early, time was nigh for relaxing, beaching, and for some…those lovable and so I am told cheap cocktails.

So after a lovely, welcome buffet BBQ that night with…fish on the menu!.......it poured and poured. The humidity was so heavy I sweated all night like a maniac and the exterior doors that faced an open balcony had condensation in the morning. Out check-out was not to be until midday, so with another early swim and healthy breakfast we headed out for an hours snorkeling amongst sedentary turtles, swimming reptiles (marine iguanas look like mini-crocodiles from afar!), crazy colourful fish, an iguana sanctuary at Islote Tintoreras and a quick dip in the turquoise harbour before being back for our final lunch there.

2 hours in a boat to Santa Cruz later (including being locked accidentally in the ships loo where nobody heard me screaming above the drone of the revving motor) and we settled in briefly to the 80s style Grand Hotel of Puerto Ayora. But we quickly left to view the Charles Darwin research station for tiny turtles, Giant turtles, Lonesome George the potentially gay turtle of 100+ years age and colourful yellow land iguanas known to become up to 170cm long in comparison to their shorter 110cm maximum marine counterparts. Heat getting to us all by closing time at 5pm, we split for souvenir shopping, shop trawling, icecream and for some……….cocktails.

The final activity day was a bit cruisier, leisurely crawling out of bed at 7am for a swim at playa de estacion before a hearty hotel breakfast and 3 hours out on the trawl for more wildlife, this time in the 'highlands'. Think banana plantations, overgrown grass paddocks, underground lava tubes.... a little slice of Far North QLD, and a stinker of a day for humidity. But a tour would not be complete without some souvenir shopping and I walked away from the usual stalls housed near tourist attractions having negotiated cruelly a 2USD discount on a hat that was 'tresce' dollars in Puerto Ayora. I must have been so polite to have asked podria usted un discount por favor she caved and I got it at offerred price. I have not figured out the actual etiquette of where and where not to barter. The afternoon was a great end to the trip, walking for hours in the heat to get to this wee oasis aside the surf beach of Tortuga bay. Putting aside the stench of mangroves, it was heavenly, and topped off with a dousing in the surf with the locals catching waves on the way back to town.

Final dinners had and emails exchanged, the trip ended in Baltra where we parted company with our helpful guide, lost an hour back to the mainland, and into the evidently dangerous metropolis of Quito once more. It is very dangerous, so much so one must taxi any distance where there are no people or traffic. Taking their advice, I made a trip to the historic centre, sighting some incredible frescos in the cathedral and the heady heights of El Panecillo from the Plaza Grande. The friendly taxi driver, lets call him Julio like every other male Latino, assured me of my safety in this particular part of town, in contrast to the hotel's advice where there was much ado about walking and great emphasis on supporting the taxi drivers...but who am I to question local advice and what really is 4USD or so when safety matters. The annoying thing was we sped past a market, artesanal, 200m from the hotel and loads of people around. Gutted!

So onwards to the Amazon in a remote lodge and maybe that elusive nana nap that keeps being......elusive.

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Photos

A volleyball match
Who said wildlife is confined to land mammals or ocean going mini-crocodiles and elephants with shells

Two land turtles on Floreana
Nobody likes a crowd when they're eating..........