The Galápagos Islands - Day 1

---

After an even more extensive breakfast buffet this morning it was time to head back to Guayaquil (pronounced why - a - kwill) airport for our flight to the Galápagos Islands. One of the main advantages of travelling in a group is having tour guides to facilitate your way through airports! Gina headed off to a counter to pay the $20 National Parks fee for each of us while Daniel facilitated our passage through the X-ray screening point. If we had been on our own we would have had to queue for each one separately.

After a bit more sitting around at an airport departure gate it was time to board another aeroplane, this time for a two hour flight to Batra Island in the Galápagos Archipelago. After landing it was more queueing. First we queued to pass through immigration where we had to pay US$100 each to be allowed into the Galápagos Islands. Who knew immigration officials had a sense of humour - I nearly died when the immigration clerk asked me to pay the US$100 again - like he'd forgotten that I just had - even though he was holding my passport and the receipt in his hand. Tcht, even an immigration clerk on the Galápagos Islands knows how gullible I am!!

There was no baggage carousel in the Galápagos - just a man outside the shed heaving bags through a hole in the wall onto racks inside the shed. Those of us who had passed through immigration first ran around collecting all the Bunnick labelled bags and suitcases to try to facilitate our passage through customs when the rest of the group cleared immigration. All but two of the bags/cases have a bright red Bunnicktours.com.au luggage strap around their middles. Mine is one of the bags without a bright red luggage strap as my strap failed to make it to Santiago; lost somewhere in a baggage handling area in Melbourne, Auckland or Santiago.

After queueing up again to clear customs we were met by Daniela our National Parks Service guide for the day. Gina and Daniela chivvied us out to the public bus that would take us to the ferry terminal where we transferred to a ferry that took us across Itabaca Canal to Santa Cruz Island the second largest of the islands, but the principal island for tourism. While waiting to depart I saw a guy with the longest, mankiest head full of dreadlocks that I have ever seen. I'm amazed they are letting him on the islands - who knows how much wildlife he might be harbouring in his dreads that could be inadvertently introduced into the island's ecosystem?!

Now that we were on Santa Cruz Island we transferred to a mini-bus exclusively for our tour group. As we started driving across the island Daniela explained the four climatic zones to us - coastal, arid, humid and highland. It was amazing how much the vegetation changed in only a few kilometres. Our first sightseeing stop was at a huge hole left behind by volcanic activity and subsequent erosion.

We continued on to Rancho El Chato, one of the highland tortoise ranches. Here in the highlands it is very lush and green and it is the natural habitat of the giant Galápagos tortoises. The cattle farmers in this area deliberately have the lowest wire of their fences at a height that allows the tortoises to pass underneath so that they can come and go as they please. In fact, the tortoises are such a draw card that many farmers now make more income from tourists visiting to view the tortoises than they do from their livestock.

While we ate lunch on the covered terrace we could see a number of tortoises roaming freely around the grounds. After lunch Daniela took us on a walk to see the tortoises more closely. She pointed out the large females and the even larger males and explained the differences in their shell shapes.

The most amazing fact we leant about tortoises is that the females are quite promiscuous allowing several males to mate with them and then storing the sperm in separate compartments until they make their way to the arid zone where they lay the eggs. Daniela also explained that all the tortoises we could see are mature tortoises because the young tortoises remain in the arid zone until they are about 20 years old when their instincts tell them it is time to make their way to the highland zone to find a mate!!

At the tortoise ranch we were also warned about the manzanilla (little green apple) tree. The fruit is poisonous and even the leaves can cause a very nasty and uncomfortable rash if touched. The giant tortoises are the only animal that can eat the fruit from this tree. Daniela also took us underground to explore a lava tunnel which was formed when the surface of a lava flow solidified, but the inside stayed liquid and flowed out like a river.

From the tortoise ranch we continued on to Puerto Ayora, the main settlement on Santa Cruz Island, where we were taken to the Hotel Silberstein where we will spend the next three nights. While we enjoyed complimentary iced teas (that tasted like black currant cordial) we received another briefing from Gina about what we would be doing over the coming days. Keys to our rooms were allocated and we had just enough time to freshen up before meeting in the foyer at 6.45pm to go out to dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Dinner tonight was at the Pelican View Restaurant and Bar. We had a set menu that started with a tomato salad with a basil dressing. This was followed with fish (maybe tuna? although some thought perhaps mahi-mahi?) accompanied by more salad and some vegetables. Our meal concluded with a birthday cake to celebrate Geoff's birthday. Apparently we will be having a number of birthday celebrations during this tour so we might have to eat a lot of cake!!!

Steps for the day 7,780 (5.69km)

---

Comments

[Janet]

Full on
Enjoyed reading about the start of your adventures. The tortoises are fascinating creatures and it seems such an unusual environment to see them in. Sounds like an excellent outing. It was interesting that the immigration official was able to use humour on you. I was under the impression that we have to take care not to joke with people in this role when entering a foreign country. Seems it is OK to give tourists a bit of a scare though!