Galapagos Day One

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Greetings from the Galapagos Islands.

We started our day early. Up at 5 am to leave for the airport at 6 am. 7:40 flight to Baltra via Guyaquil. Flight was good, had a great view of the mountains around Quito as we left. I was sitting next to a nice couple from Toronto who are on their honeymoon. They are staying at a different hotel and plan on doing a lot of scuba diving. Landed on Baltra at around 10:30 (we've come west, so we're now in a different time zone). Bus from the airport to the pier took around 10 minutes, then across the canal to Santa Cruz Island in a little boat. On another bus for 3 visits before heading to the south side of the island for another 5 minute boat ride (REALLY little boat) to the near the hotel. They claim it´s a five minute walk from the pier to the hotel, but it felt longer. Our group is now up to 15 people, the 8 of us that were on the Globus Peru trip, Wilma who joined us in Quito yesterday, Brenda and Mathew from New Zealand, and 4 people who I assume are from somewhere in South America and who seem to only speak Spanish.

Our first stop on Santa Cruz was at a couple of what the guides called sink holes. They didn´t do much for me, they just looked like tree filled round gaps in the earth. The second visit was the cool one! We saw the big tortoises. And man, those things are huge. They hiss at you if you get too close and they actually move pretty fast. We had a quick lunch near the tortoises (no turtle soup, don't worry), and then our third stop was at a lava tube. The best thing for me was seeing an owl sitting near the cave entrance.

Right now I'm sitting in the restaurant area of the hotel looking out at the pool, and it's really funny, there are a bunch of birds (it looks like some cormorants and something else duck-like) sitting in the pool. Beyond the pool is the bay and in the distance, I can see more islands. Oops... here goes one of the hotel workers trying to get the birds out of the pool....

The hotel is nice, there are apparently only 21 rooms and they all face the bay. Each one has a little deck in front, with a hammock. We're supposed to have a meeting at 4 pm, and I´m wondering if one of our people is going to make it, he was awfully comfortable in his hammock. Once again, there aren´t any clocks in the room, something that truly irritates me. But I´m not going to stay irritated for long, it's too pretty here. So I'm off to look at the scenery before our meet up.

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Comments

[Mindy]

Galapagos Day One
Sorry to anyone who got 2 notifications about this, I had to correct a couple of typos.

[Haviva Horvitz]

Don't you have your iPod with you?
Don't you have your iPod with you? That should work as far as a clock, not to mention an alarm. Besides, you are on vacation. Time should not matter as much. (Of course, I realize that you need to meet the group at specific times.)

[Mindy]

Alarms
Using an iPod as an alarm uses up the battery very quickly, something I learned in South Africa. The main reason I was looking for a clock was to verify the time, we thought we'd changed time zones but were not sure.

[Mari]

Galapagos
Hi-I'd love to see those giant tortoises so what's the island like? Sounds like you are enjoying. Can't wait to see pictures didn't know you enjoyed birds. I've had my run too when I nearly lost an owl on broadway once tell you more next time.

[anonymous]

galapagps
Sounds great, especially the turtles. Eileen and Bert

[Bill]

Galapagos
Sounds like you're having the trip of a lifetime!! I'd like to see a picture of you riding a tortoise or at least being chased by one! NY is unseasonably warm today, high of 75 degrees... Yanks playing tonight for World Series berth :-) Be safe and keep sending your updates.... hope you are having a great time - Bill

[marie gonzalez]

Wow I wish I was there, that is what I call a vacation. Have fun.