Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands

Quito

We arrived in Quito and jumped on a couple buses which eventually lead us into town. We rocked up at our hostel just before sunset, which had a really nice atmosphere, not far from the old town square. We managed to actually buy some proper vegetables so could cook our own meals over the next few days. I can’t tell you how much I had missed basic veggies!!!

The next morning we headed into the old town, starting at the main square. It was beautiful and the buildings surrounding it, including a palace and cathedral looked stunning. We took a stroll up towards the city museum which had a few food stalls set up in the back, like a little market…all tasty goods so my hips have told me…




Quito entertainment

 

We walked down a street called La Ronda which is the oldest in the town, recently restored. It had loads of cute little coloured houses and quaint cafes. There were lots of squares we passed along the way with people trying to flog their goods, but mainly covered in helado (ice cream) sellers. There were about 3 on every street, and it wasn’t even a hot day. I think it’s a staple over here!




La Ronda in Quito

 

Further on, we walked through a park where kids were out for the weekend playing out, pedal boats in the lake, picnics and kids firing toy guns to get some sweets (one with a pretty good aim…and a scary grin on his face).

Quito also had a new town, but as it was Sunday the next day, and we were told it wasn’t safe to walk around as most streets were quiet and there were a lot of muggings, we had a lazy day and just planned for our next few weeks.




Ladies doing their thing

Banos




I spy a LLAMA

We headed off the following morning to Banos, a town in the Andes with rolling green hills. We checked in to a damp room, which only got worse over the next few nights due to the miserable weather. The town itself was very touristy, mostly with locals on holiday, but obviously the tourist flow that were going through South America.
On one day, we went on a hike up a hill to get a view of the volcano, one that was still active and has caused the town to evacuate several times in the past. Unfortunately the cloud wasn’t dispersing and we only caught glimpses of the top, but it was a nice refreshing walk regardless. Luke had fun making ‘gobble gobble’ noises at the turkeys at least…and somehow getting a response from them, almost like a full blown conversation.



Waterfalls in Banos

We hired mountain bikes one day for a journey that was pretty much downhill all the way. It was paved, so I didn’t fall over this time (flashback to Kenya’s multiple spills). We passed numerous waterfalls and the views were stunning all the way down. There was one waterfall we had to walk down to which supposedly had the devils face on it, but we didn’t see it. The waterfall was pretty powerful though and we even walked…actually more like crawled under some low rocks to get to a cool view point that had us drenched.

 


The following day we went white water rafting again. A bit freaked out after last time, but I had enjoyed it so much before (up to the near death experience) that I just wanted to try it again. The rapids only went up to a grade 3, as opposed to a grade 5 before, so I was a bit more relaxed at the thought of it. It was a decent price, and for most of it, it was so shallow that we could feel the rocks under us. Our guide seemed a bit mental, with a disconcerting, hyena like laugh and a lack of interest in people’s safety – with helmets hanging off the back of people’s heads and lifejackets unfastened…he wasn’t really checking anyone. But it was fun whilst it lasted, and there weren’t any moments where I felt like we were going to flip. Definitely glad we did it! And the views were pretty spectacular too.




Banos views

Guayaquil

We headed on eventually to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador. The hostel was just a little out of downtown, so we took a bus in the next morning to explore. First stop – Parque de las iguanas. And guess what that little square was covered in? You got it! Laid back, bored looking faced iguanas. We snapped up some pictures and headed down to the Malecon waterfront for a stroll along the new development.




View of Guayaquil from the lighthouse

It wasn’t the prettiest of towns- a huge concrete mess, but towards the end of our walk up the waterfront, we started heading up a hill and through these streets with beautifully colourful houses. And then these steps appeared to lead us up to the lighthouse, all numbered…1,2,3…and they went on and on. Somehow the numbering makes it worse…231,232,233…panting just a little bit…442,443,444. FINALLY! We arrived, and there was a nice view of the next colourful housed hill behind a little chapel. Unfortunately the rest of Guayaquil looked a little bit drab and not the best view you could hope for, but you can’t have everything!



Guayaquil colours

Galapagos Islands

The next day we were off to the Galapagos! We arrived on Santa Cruz with nothing booked, not even our hotel! Given that everyone usually books themselves on to a massively expensive live aboard going from $2000 upwards, we were really chancing it.

We found a hotel pretty quick and we bargained them down from $30 to $25, by paying up front for 7 nights. We had a pretty good deal considering we thought we were going to have to fork out a lot for the Galapagos. I'll come back to this...

Having heard of this place called Las Grietas, we took a walk down there, taking a little boat first to the start of the trail. We came across it, with kids paddling through the waters. It was a little lagoon enclosed between some rocks. It had clear blue waters, but we didn’t bring our snorkel gear, thinking we’d do it in the next couple of days.

We met a couple from Manchester that night, both vegans like Luke, and went for dinner with them. They told us about their amazing live aboard dive trip where they swam with hundreds of hammer head sharks, sea turtles and sea lions. wish i could dive but think I'd be too claustrophobic.

The next day we went to the Charles Darwin centre to see some giant tortoises. They were pretty cool- no need for action freeze for these slow fellas. We read that they out live us by a good few centuries and that they’re endangered on the Galapagos, as not too long ago, the people here used to hunt them for food!! But luckily, breeding centres are set up on all the main islands.




I'm old...very old




Giant tortoises galore

We saw some iguanas and went down to the fish market to find herons lurking and also a couple of sea lions waiting expectedly under the tables for scraps…and they weren’t disappointed. There was one sea lion who had prime position in between two ladies hacking bits of fish off.




Local fish market with a bin underneath for scraps...

 

We went to a few travel agencies to ask about snorkelling trips, and they all seemed pretty expensive, and everyone had a different idea of what the best place to go was. We decided to head to the tourist office for some impartial advice. Boy were we wrong! He kept on telling us to go travel agency we could trust, and that this other island, Isabela- you couldn’t do anything without a guide, not even go to the beaches!!! And kept telling us to be patient, and that the Galapagos wasn’t an aquarium. He was just clueless!

Luckily that night be bumped into another Manc couple who had just spent a fair few nights on Isabela, and they told us we definitely didn’t need a guide, and to just get the ferry over. We thought about doing it for a day trip, but it sounded amazing, with a beautiful beach, snorkelling for free near the pier and flamingos and tortoises nearby.

So, as you can imagine, we were pretty annoyed at ourselves for paying upfront for a hotel on Santa Cruz when there wasn’t much to do on the island itself, and not a huge amount of wildlife either.

But, as always, Luke (I mean luck) was on our side, and he sweet talked the receptionist into giving us 4 nights money back! So we ran down to the pier and booked a boat to Isabela for the next afternoon. We were so excited for Isabela, it was like it was Christmas eve!

We got up early the next day for a walk up to Tortuga bay, the nicest beach on Santa Cruz. It was a nice walk up there for just about an hour, but when we to the beach, unfortunately someone had dumped their shit from their boat too close to the beach and we were watching brown waves roll in on a stretch of this otherwise beautiful beach.

There were marine iguanas everywhere, lying on the hot sand and rocks, barely moving as you walked by. We walked to the end where there was a beautiful bay, which we would have snorkelled in if not for our lack of time.




Marine iguana up close and personal

 

We picked up our bags and headed to the dock, where we watched pelicans swooping and diving into the water for the catch of the day! Sea lions were also lazing around by the dock, watching people board as they soaked up the rays.

Our bags got checked for any organic produce which we couldn’t take to the other islands, and I got told to empty out my bag of the little bit of sand from the island so it wouldn’t get to the other island?!? Well, whatever keeps the ecosystem safe!

Our boat had the same 6 Spanish pensioners that had been on our plane. As a water taxi picked us up to drop us about 15 metres from the pier to our boat, Luke and I handed over the 50 cents each for the ride. The Spanish guys weren’t having it though, claiming ‘this is a scam, a con…we shouldn’t be paying for this when we just paid $30 for this journey.’ They were in the Galapagos…I’m sure they had a fair bit of money. They demanded the water taxi took us back to the pier so they could speak to the boss!! The poor water taxi guy is only trying to make a few bucks and this guy’s kicking up a fuss over 50 cents! When Luke eventually got through to him saying that we were going to pay and that the ‘boss’ isn’t going to pay for them, they gave in and paid up, all the while still complaining. Whilst the Captain whispered to Luke ‘don’t tell them it’s a $1 at the other end!’

After a 2 hour bumpy journey, we arrived at Isabela, and after a few more ‘con artist’ complaints from the Spanish, we stepped onto the pier to sea lions lying everywhere…on benches, at the ticket desks, along the boardwalk. So cute!!

We found ourselves a room just before it got dark and went for dinner along the main restaurant road. The town wasn’t more than a few roads, and it definitely had an island feel, with no paved roads, barely any cars and a fair few bicycles.

The next morning, we were up early to get to Concha de Perla for some snorkelling. It’s free and just next to the pier, so we grabbed some wetsuits and were off. You have to walk along the board walk past marine iguanas and stepping over sea lions. We came across a mother with her three pups on the first day and she was barking at us so we were a bit scared to cross her. But Luke tried to gather all his testosterone and with our briefcase looking bag holding our snorkel masks, tried to approach them yelling ‘coming through now.’ He just reminded me of Will (briefcase wanker) from the Inbetweeners….and they weren’t even moving for him. Luckily a local decided to bang his bucket to get them to move. Finally reaching the end of the boardwalk, stepping over many more sea lions, we came across this calm bay. Within seconds, we saw a manta ray nearly 1.5 metres wide. It was incredible just floating above this thing for a good minute. But we got easily distracted by the two sea lions that wanted to play- a mother and a baby, coming within a foot from our masks and swimming around us as we giggled through our snorkels. I managed to get pretty close to a penguin too- he even swam back towards me and I thought his beak was going to go through my snorkel mask! My initial thoughts…how is this happening??? The sea life here just don’t happen to be fazed by people at all. If anything, they’re quite curious, especially when it’s quiet. After lunch, we were back in the afternoon, taking a closer look at all the colourful fish and again, swimming with sea lions- just becoming an everyday thing.




Napping- you need to step over me

 



Lava lizard

We booked ourselves onto a Tunnels trip, a place about an hour’s boat ride from the town. So the next morning, we were up early to meet up with our group and get our gear together. There was a couple from Quito (the guy from Germany originally), an Aussie and the 6 stingy Spanish we kept on bumping into!

Our journey took us across some bumpy waters, past dolphins, sea lions and birds. After waiting for the right moment to breach some huge waves to get near the coast, we arrived at the Tunnels. We floated past giant sea turtles and sea lions and saw these birds called blue footed boobies…with googly eyes and bright blue feet, they’re pretty amazing. They were doing these funny mating dances, and you could also see them diving into the sea, apparently up to eight metres deep to get their dinner!
 



Blue footed booby waddling along




Cross eyed booby

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We eventually took off again to get to their play and feeding zone. We couldn’t swim where we were as that was their breeding zone. After a quick boat ride, we put on the wet suits, fins and snorkels and jumped in. We were told to all stay in a group, but people were still getting ready so I swam out a bit and before I knew it, was swimming a metre above a giant sea turtle!!! Everyone else quickly gathered round so I went off a few metres and found another two. This was paradise! They were so cute, and I just wanted to touch one but knew I shouldn’t.




Sea turtle

 

Our guide was pretty good, and found us some sea horses- a good 20cm long- bigger than any I’d seen before. And some white tipped reef sharks in some caves and just sleeping in the ground. We floated with a school of about 20 eagle rays and 15 golden rays, and all the while, bumping into a good 20-30 sea turtles overall every now and then. I felt like I’d seen everything I wanted to see in the Galapagos at that point. And after an hour and a half in the water, even with a wet suit, I was shivering! My fingers were so prune like they had started to hurt, and my lips has even wrinkled from the cold. I can see why a poor old lady on the same day on another boat had lost her wedding ring- her fingers will have shrunk!!

It was a great trip, and we were excited to pick up the underwater photos the boat guys took with their go pro later on. We decided to go for a snorkel back at Concha de Perla when we got back again, and swam with another couple sea lions and watched some penguins dot about on the water.

We tried to pick them up that evening but they were closed, and the next day was a Sunday so also closed. We spent our last day snorkelling at Perla again in the morning and then visiting the bright pinky/orange Flamingos in the lagoon, which led up to the giant tortoise breeding centre. There were tortoises at all different stages, some tiny, but about 5 years old already, some medium, but older than me and the giant ones who were 80+. We sat down by a gate to watch some of the little ones, and they all started coming up to have a look at us…some crawling on top of each other to get a peak through the cracks. I could have easily popped one in my bag, but I don’t think I’d get through customs.



Flamingos in the lagoon




Tortoise pyramid

We had a delicious dinner (well I did, Luke just had beans and rice, and a solitary cucumber they called a ‘salad’) of fish. And whilst they were using their bbq, they tot out the hairdryer to do the top of the meat and heat the coals??? I found it hilarious but it seems they were all at it, in practically every restaurant!! Common practice I guess…

We got up early to get our underwater photos from our Tunnels trip, and the shop was finally open. As we handed her our memory card, she tried to load the photos but couldn’t find them. And it slowly dawned on her…she had let one of the Spanish pensioners use her laptop to get the photos and he must have cut and paste instead of copied and paste!!! I was so angry. Everyone on our boat that day had left the island, so we were livid. We’re still waiting, but if luck is on our side, the girl from Quito will be able to send them across to us as luckily the woman in the shop had her phone number. Fingers crossed! I’m sure there was a great photo of me and a sea turtle pouting in there…

Our last morning had us snorkelling again, and whilst we swam with the cutest sea lion pup on this planet for a good 10 minutes, we managed to catch up with a slow moving penguin and float just behind it. And as there was nobody there, we found a sea turtle all to ourselves, and followed him around watching him chomp away and skim the surface.




Marine iguanas sunbathing

 


Always on this bench EVERYDAY

We were sad to leave Isabela, but took our boat back to Santa Cruz so we could catch our flight the next morning. Unfortunately a German guy didn’t hold up so well whilst we were hitting the waves…nearly made everyone else on the boat sick too. Yuck!!

When we got off at the pier, we managed to catch a feeding frenzy as pelicans dived at full speed into the water and sea lions were dashing around catching their…catch of the day!

After one last night on the Galapagos, having dinner with all the locals down a street lined with tables that were packed out with everyone tucking into fresh seafood and tasty looking lobsters, we set off the next morning and arrived at the airport in plenty of time. As our flight took off, we said goodbye to the bright blue waters and amazing wildlife. So sad to think we weren’t going to swim with sea lions and penguins everyday!!

Guayaquil

We had one night back in Guayaquil before we took a bus to Peru. After a quick word with an Irish and a Welsh guy who had just come from that way, they recommended Mancora instead of Trujillo. Mostly because it was warmer. So we decided on that beach…the last we’d see for a while as it was going to start getting bitter cold.

We boarded our bus and headed for the hills. Apparently this border was notorious for being the worst in South America. But funnily enough, it was one of the easiest border crossings we’d ever done and we were off to Peru…home of the Inkas.

Goodbye Ecuador, Goodbye amazing Galapagos- I’ll definitely be back one day!!!