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Published: September 1st 2008
When I left England last October I never dreamed that I would end up in the Galapagos, land of the giant tortuga, the archipelago that is home to wildlife that exists nowhere else on the plant, totally fearless wildlife that you can practically rub noses with. But, I was in Ecuador, at the end of my holiday, already over budget and I thought ah feck it, whats a little bit more debt?? After all the inevitable will happen soon enough, I will make my million and my little jaunt in the Galapagos will be but a tiny drop in the ocean of my heaving bank balance! 😊
So on August the 20th I found myself sat on a plane bound for Santa Cruz the most central of the Galapagos islands and home to about 18,500 people. i had booked onto an 8 day land tour which was going to take me to the islands of Santa Cruz, Floreana, North Seymour, Isabela and San Cristobal. Doing a land tour, as opposed to one of the famous Galapagos cruises, basically means that you stay in hotels on the islands themselves instead of on a boat. This gives you the advantage of being
able to go out drinking at night and, if you don't like your group, the opportunity to ditch them for a few hours each day! Luckily for me though there was never any need to do a disappearing act, I had a really great group. We were 8 in total with our guide Marlon. There were 2 French men, Phillipe and John-Jacque (or JJ), who for the first few days we all thought might have been gay lovers but turned out to be a far less interesting widow and bachelor, 1 French lady - Myriam and 3 Italian Stalians - Leonardo, Sebastiano and Marco Mandingo (self proclaimed, lacking evidence). We were also joined by 3 nice Israli guys for a few days in the middle of the tour. Isralies by the way would make excellent husbads! They are the most mature, well mannered and chivalrous of all of the nationalities that I have met. Quite the opposite to the Italians! 😉
Before coming to the Galapagos I read that no amount of hype can prepare you for such a close encounter with nature. And its true! The first thing that I noticed when we arrived in Santa Cruz was
3 iguanas walking down the street! Sat in the tree behind them were half a dozen HUGE pelicans! And lounging around on the boats in the docks were sea lions! Its hard to describe the feeling you get when you first see this, its almost like being in another world!
On our first full day we took a day trip to Floreana, an island which is home to a mere 100 people and has an extremely interesting history. Among its first inhabitants were a couple of European families and a Baroness and her 3 lovers. In the following years a number of mysterious occurred and they were never solved! On the way to Floreana we saw a whole school of dolphins jumping and diving through the waves. We jumped boat so that we could swim with them but once I was in the water I couldn't see them at all! Similarly in the afternoon when we went snorkeling there was a shark! Apparently. Again I didn't see it. I did however see the giant sea turtle swimming below me and the sea lion that playfully swam around me and tried to headbutt me! On Floreana island we were greeted
at the dock by beautifully coloured marine iguanas basking on the rocks and walkway! In the highlands we visited the famous giant tortoises which are so big they are more like dinosaurs!
On our second full day, or day 3 of the tour, we went to North Seymour island to see the Blue Footed Boobies (which are not breasts on blue legs, sorry boys). They are very surreal creatures, very cute birds with shockingly electric blue feet! The chicks are like little balls of cotton wool with stuck on beaks. Whats interesting about the boobies is that each year the parents hatch 2 chicks, even though they only want one, in order to make sure that one makes it to adulthood. What happens is, the stronger of the two takes all of the food from the mother. As it continues to grow it pushes the other one out of the nesting area. Once the mother is sure that the stronger one will survive she completely abandons the other one and leaves it to die. Next to most of the nests we saw the remains of the unwanted children. We also saw the courtship display of the frigate bird, the
male puffing his huge red throat out to attack the females, and a gigantic land iguana.
The next 3 days were spent travelling to and around Isabela. We visited the Wall of Tears which was built between 1946 and 1959 by prisoners out of huge blocks of lava as a punishment. It is 100 metres long and 7 meters high. The prisoners worked under extremely harsh conditions and many died during its construction, hence its name. On day 5 we hiked up one of the volcano's on Isabela. the original plan was to take horses but the bad weather had made the paths too muddy and dangerous. So there we all were, caked in mud, slipping and sliding all of the way up! What we found at the top was worth the trek though, (and i probably needed the exercise - I'm back on the ice creams and beers!) a huge volcanic crater (second largest in the world) and beautifully coloured lava rocks with shimmering flecks of purple, green and gold.The rocks were so nice that I couldn't stop myself from ´borrowing´ a few pieces! Marlon if your reading this I apologise, I know you wont be very happy
with me, but its not my fault. I have a terrible disorder, I'm like a magpie, if I see something shinning i just have to take it!
From Isabela we went back to Santa Cruz to visit some lava tunnels and then onto San Cristobel. San Cristobel is, in my opinion, the nicest of the inhabited islands that we visited. Its the capital of the Galapagos and is home to about 7,000 people and probably just as many sea lions! The sea lions completely take over the beach and make great entertainment, especially in the late afternoon when the babies are looking for their mums for feeding time. The noise they make is thunderous! And it sounds a lot like someone burping and vomiting! They have absolutely no regard for each others space and haul themselves right over the top of anyone that's in their way, stamping on they´re face and squashing them!
We didn't do too much at San Cristobel, which was nice as I think we were all getting pretty worn out. We went to El Junco lake and had a nice leisurely walk around it and then for more snorkeling. This time we went out
to Lions island where the sharks hang out! And this time I did see them! There must have been about 15 of them swimming right beneath us! The ride back turned into a bit of a booze cruise as Marlon had brought far too many beers and after that it was pretty much downhill all the way. Mandingo took half his clothes off on the dance floor, Leonardo feel over and headbutted me and Marlon, well Marlon tripped over, fell through a gate and ended up sprawled out on the floor in the street!
That was our last night in the Galapagos, the next morning after breakfast and a quick look around the information centre it was back on the plane for the mainland. It was a brilliant 8 days, one of the highlights of my travels, something i will certainly never forget.
When I got back to Ecuador I went straight to Montanita on the coast. I have to say, i wasn't all that impressed, and it sure as hell didn't live up to the hype other people had given it. It seems to be full of people who think that they are too cool for school.
Theres a big Rastafarian vibe but most of it seems fake, very over the top, half the people look they are playing dress up. Still I stayed for 4 nights as I was too lazy to move anywhere else! Wed and Thurs were pretty quite but when the weekend came around it was rammed and the nightlife was great. Cheap cocktails, loud music and the beach. Perfect.
I'm sat in Guayaquil bus terminal now waiting for an over night bus to Quito. I figured i´d have a couple more good nights out before my plane home on Wednesday. Not that I feel like I have a home anymore! I'm looking forward to seeing you all again but other than that (and getting my hair fixed and having my clothes back) I'm dreading it. I think I'm going to find it hard to be back in the UK after such an amazing crazy year. It been full of ups and downs the whole way through. Some of it has been god awful, other times Ive felt on top of the world. One things for sure, its never been boring! I not sure what I'm going to do next. I have
some ideas, but you know me, they´re all a bit hairbrained!
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Roger
non-member comment
Hi Laura, You don't know me but I randomly stumble across your blog and got addicted to reading it. Just like to say that I'm so jealous of you that you get to travel for 5 months! I wish I was with you hehe :) Anyway Keep us updated on your adventures! Roger.