May 28-June 4, 2011
“Atención, Iguana”
Pre-departure: I am guilty of spending way too many hours daydreaming of exotic travel destinations. Perhaps it has to do with growing up all over the world, but there’s something enchanting about visiting a foreign environment and creating unforgettable memories through adventures (and sometimes misadventures) in a new place – particularly with my sister!
Jie and I had always been intrigued by the Galapagos Islands, but never considered visiting on our own. It wasn’t until business school, where the combination of extensive free time and unmatched travel advice from adventure-seeking classmates, revitalized the possibility. After bouncing around a few post-graduation vacation ideas, we decided to embark on the vacation of a lifetime – visiting the Galapagos Islands. Vamos!
Transport: Traveling to the Galapagos Islands is by no means easy – after all, the islands’ mystique and their unique inhabitants are a result of their isolation. However, the islands have become more accessible in recent years due to regular flights from the mainland and ease of booking cruise ships online. We planned to fly into Quito late Saturday evening and then fly into the Galapagos islands early the following day to catch a cruise that would tour the islands for 5 days and 4 nights before returning to Quito for another 2 days. Coming from Washington DC, we began our journey with an abominably early 5:25 a.m. Amtrak train ride to Newark airport, and then proceeded to fly from Newark to Miami, Miami to Panama City, and finally Panama City to Quito. By the time we arrived in Quito, it was 10:30 p.m. and both of us were ready to jump into bed…
…But life was not to be this easy. As we left the baggage claim of the international terminal in search of our arranged hotel pick-up, we were greeted instead with a densely packed wall of Ecuadorians, eagerly bobbing their heads and pushing past each other to catch a glimpse of their loved ones. A few creative greeters even held up balloons to increase their visibility. Needless to say, welcome signs for hotel guests became easily lost in the crowd. By the time we reached the exit, not only had we not found our hotel greeter, but we were unable to retrace our steps due to the seemingly expanding crowd. We decided to take a cab to our hostel and crossed our fingers that we wouldn’t get kidnapped or outrageously overcharged.
After observing that our cab driver considered red lights as ‘for reference’ only, we arrived safely at our destination, a hostel called the Secret Garden, recommended to us by a friend. It was located on a cobblestoned hill near the historical Old Town city center. A fully uniformed security guard answered the door when we rang the bell and it quickly dawned upon us that he understood zero English. After some hand waving and creative translations, he finally agreed to let us in. Little did we know, getting through the main door was only half the battle – as the guard led us inside, he spied my large suitcase and in one fell-swoop, embraced the beast and proceeded to stagger up the stairs, with both Jie and I following close behind. As we passed by the sign next to the staircase which cheerily read ‘Welcome! The reception is 5 floors up!’ we both winced for the guard and I silently shed tears of happiness that I wasn’t the one carrying my oversized luggage.
Once we reached the fifth floor reception (mental note: suggest the hostel to relocate their reception to the ground floor), and after waiting for the security guard to recover from gasping and turning mildly purple, we were led to our room and finally able to catch a few hours of sleep for the night.
Mei with massive suitcase (reminder to self: must buy smaller and lighter carry-on!)
Jie in cozy corner of our hostel room
The next morning, we woke up at 4:45 a.m. to get ready for our 7:45 flight from Quito to Baltra Island in the Galapagos. However, when we were ready to leave, the security guard was nowhere to be found! In a semi state of panic since we needed him to call a cab for us, Jie decided to search the grounds for him. She finally found him curled up, sleeping soundly on a couch in the computer room. She roused him apologetically (we were undoubtedly the last people he wanted to see) and asked him to call a cab for us. We successfully reached the airport in time and made our way on a domestic airline called AeroGal to Baltra after transiting in Guayaqil.
Our first meal in Ecuador – breakfast sandwich with plaintain chips at the airport
Surprisingly large Aerogal plane with iguana logo
Galapagos: The weather in the Galapagos is tropical all-year round and was significantly warmer than Quito during this time of year. The wet season runs from November to May and the dry season begins in June. There are many ways to see the islands, ranging from land-based tours, where visitors live on one island and travel to other islands during the day, to cruises, which sail around the islands and stop in different places along the way. I was strongly encouraged by friends who had been before to book a cruise on a smaller yacht, as this would allow access to some of the smaller islands and provide a more intimate experience. Cruises range from budget to high end, and from small yachts to large cruise-ships. They also vary widely based on itinerary and number of nights (i.e. from 3-night cruises to 8-11 day cruises). We booked our cruise online in advance, but once we arrived in Ecuador, realized that there are many last minute cruise options as well which are significantly discounted from their listed price. On arrival to Galapagos, all visitors must pay a $100 national park fee as well as a $10 tourist control card, which goes toward preserving the wildlife.
Day 1: Our cruise ship was called Yolita II, a yacht built in 2008 and holds 16 passengers and 8 crew members. We were originally assigned to a different boat, but were luckily upgraded at the last minute to this one. Our guide was called Washington Perendes, a hilarious and knowledgeable Ecuadorian from Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos. Of the 16 guests, about half were French-only speaking passengers from France, 2 were students from Canada, 2 were students/backpackers from Israel, 2 were Spanish and 1 was an American Spanish teacher taking time off to travel. The most amusing part was that nobody could speak French, so Washington ended up having to pantomime half of the time to communicate to our French audience.
Yolita II Yacht
The Yolita II was a gorgeous boat featuring an abundance of deck and common areas, comfy sofas, beds and air-conditioned rooms. Our itinerary was for a 5-day, 4 night tour. Each day was filled with activities, and we were briefed on our itinerary and the wildlife we would see the evening before. Below was our yacht itinerary:
Day 1: Baltra – Bachas Beach
Day 2: Islas Plazas – Santa Fe
Day 3: Espanola: Punta Suarez – Bahia Gardner
Day 4: Floreana: Punta Cormorant – Post Office Bay
Day 5: Charles Darwin Station – Baltra
Once we arrived on the boat, we had a short orientation, were introduced to each other, and were assigned to our rooms. Jie and I were on the upper deck in cabin #10 with windows facing the ocean. The rooms were fairly spacious for cruise standards, featuring two twin beds and a sparkling clean bathroom.
Our room – Cabin number 10 on the upper deck
Relaxing on the deck with our faces against the breeze (where we spent many afternoons after the morning excursions)
Leaving the boat on a dinghy to get on shore
Lunch on the first day was satisfying and consisted of a delicious filet of fish drizzled with a creamy, tangy glaze, accompanied by vegetables and roasted potatoes. Following lunch, our first stop at 1:45 p.m. was at Bachas Beach, a beautiful stretch of white sand on the coast of Baltra Island. While we were there, we spotted a lone flamingo and heron standing on the rocks on a reservoir. We also saw red, juicy-looking crabs sunbathing on the rocks, blue-footed boobies flying in flocks swooping above our heads, and black marine iguanas lounging on the rocks. Washington taught us that the beach was made primarily from ‘fish poo’ (i.e. coral that had been digested and excreted by the fish which was washed up to shore). We also learned that flamingos are pink because they eat a lot of shrimp, iguanas are vegetarian and eat seaweed, and crabs molt as soon as their shell becomes too hard, thus restricting movement (we saw many empty crab shells on the beach). We spent the rest of the time on the beach snorkeling and saw a variety of fish near the coral. However, the water was slightly cloudy that day and didn’t provide the best visibility.
Bachas Beach with leftover remnants from early sea voyager visits
Juicy-looking crabs
Marine iguanas who snort out sea water from their noises
My hat from South Africa for $10 came to good use!
What were the odds? We found a fellow jumping-fan in our guide, Washington! This was like our third attempt
After returning to the ship, we had some free time where we napped and relaxed until 6:15 p.m. At that point, Washington showed us a presentation he made introducing the wildlife we would see on all of our days on the cruise. This was followed by an introduction and toast of the crew members, and another scrumptious meal consisting of tender roasted chicken with potato salad, veggies and rice.
Day 2: We started the day early with a gorgeous breakfast spread at 7:00 a.m. (we had to agree again on how amazingly delicious the food was – serious kudos to the chef!).
What we looked forward to whenever we heard Naldo (bartender / waiter / tech guy / maybe cleaning dude / fresh-juice maker / bearer of good news of food ready) ring the bell
The day’s full itinerary written up on a board the night before
We then had our first landing at Islas Plaza, where we were greeted with sea lions frolicking in the water near the shore. As we hiked across the rocky island, we also saw several yellow land iguanas which feed off of the Opuntia cactus and become territorial during mating season. After climbing to the top of the island, we were lucky enough to see a sealion waddle across our paths and slither down the cliff back into the water. We learned that all of their muscles are in their upper part of the body. Another fun fact – sea lions are ridiculously smelly. My tennis shoes after the trip smelled like sea lion and even three tightly tied plastic bags could not mask the smell.
Sea lion in the water
Opuntia cactus (great sounding name!)
Yellow land iguana
Swallow-tailed gull
Look, we match!
Sea lion basking in the sunshine
After returning to the boat, we took a nap and then ate another satisfying meal starting with potato and corn soup, followed by beef stew with veggies and rice. In the afternoon, Jie and I tried on wetsuits to bring with us for our afternoon snorkeling trip. Washington took us on the dinghy near Santa Fe island to swim in areas that would have baby sealions, all sorts of fish, sea turtles and more. We made four dives in different areas of the ocean. We saw an amazing array of sea-life, including baby sea lions that swam up close to us, and a few people spied a huge Galapagos shark. The highlight for me was seeing a sea turtle and following its graceful motions for a good couple of minutes. We also saw schools of hundreds and hundreds of tiny silver fish, a scorpion fish, a lobster and a type of fish that had tiny electric blue polka dots. It was simply astonishing how much wildlife was teaming in these waters!
Snorkeling sistahs
Schools of silver fish
On the dinghy back from a dive
Sea turtle (Finding Nemo did a Great job of depicting them!! So true to life)
After coming back from snorkeling, we quickly showered and headed out to our afternoon hike on Santa Fe island. Here, we were greeted with an army of sea lions lazily lying on the beach, soaking up the sunshine. There was one dominant male that was making a lot of noise. Then we followed through with a hike to see parts of the island and came back to view the sea lions some more.
Communicating with the sea lion
There were TONS of sea lions, no exaggeration
Sea lion family
Ying and Yang sea lions
We came back to the boat at 5:30 p.m and were greeted with a snack of fried yucca (delicious!) and fruit juice. At 6:00, we had our briefing and saw a National Geographic documentary on the Galapagos islands which featured amazing footage of the Galapagos wildlife. Dinner followed with basil pesto pasta as appetizer, shrimp in a tangy creamy sauce as the main and a delicious dessert with a pie crust and coconut/cornmeal filling made into a custard texture.
The epic dessert
Day 3: At 5:30, after a night of violent rocking on the boat, we woke up to a cheerful morning call by Washington who blasted rooster crowing noises through the loudspeaker. We then had breakfast at 6 and left for Espanola island at 6:30 because we wanted to be the first ones on the island to see the wildlife near the trail. Espanola is the oldest of the Galapagos Islands and is slowly dying. It is also one of the most spectacular islands to see wildlife and is famous for species such as the Waved Albatross which breed only on Espanola and are only present between April and December. When we arrived at the dock, we were greeted by sealions, crabs and a crowd of marine iguanas lying together in a heap on the rocks. A huge sealion laid smack in the middle of our trail, and Washington came to the rescue by making sealion snorting noises and motioning for it to move. However, the big buy decided to bulldoze over two baby sealions in the process, making it both funny and unfortunate at the same time The first bird was saw was the Yellow-crowned night heron standing alone on a rock. After nearly stomping over several camouflaged iguanas (there were many shouts of ‘attencion, Iguana!’) as we trekked through the rocks, the second birds we saw were the masked boobies and also passed by a baby masked booby on the way. Boobies have forward-pointing stereoscopic vision, which allow them to judge distance accurately and pinpoint their prey, even underwater. This forward looking aspect of their eyes gives them a rather comical appearance and hence their name (‘booby’ refers to the Spanish word bobo, meaning clown or stupid). When boobies spot fish, they wheel in the air until they are directly above their prey, then plummet downwards before folding in their wings. They hit the water at the speed of an arrow from a height of about 20m, and grab the unsuspecting fish before it has time to flee. Jie saw one of these in action when we were snorkeling yesterday, which she declared to be fascinating. Then, right in the middle of our path were two blue-footed boobies, and we stopped to take pictures and marvel at their stunning blue feet.
Masked booby
Blue-footed boobies - LOVE their feet!
Following this, we went over to where the waved albatross were – these are simply amazing birds and the largest in the islands which have a mating season from mi-April to June. They can have wing span up to 7 m and weigh up to 4 kg. We saw pairs clucking and bowing at each other in courtship next to blue-footed boobys. These birds mate for life, and both the males and females take turns to sit on the egg.
Waved albatross
Finally, we approached a cliff where there was a blow-hole that spurted up water whenever waves crashed against the rocks and formed a rainbow whenever the sunlight hit. It was one of the most magical and beautiful places I have seen.
Blow hole
Jie and I in front of the blowhole rainbow
TONS of marine iguanas everywhere. We had to be careful about not stepping on them!
Attack of the iguanas! Atencion!
Came back to the boat for a snack of pomelo juice with mini cheese sandwiches. We then lounged and took a nap until the bell rang for lunchtime. Had a lunch of potato, corn and fish soup, followed by tuna with sweet and sour, tomato and onion –based glaze with baked yucca fries and a dessert of jello.
In the afternoon, we went snorkeling, where we swam with baby seals that came up close to you (they had mesmerizing blue eyes). Jie saw a sting ray and we saw a myriad of other fish. There was also a dark spot on the ground that looked like rocks at first, but turned out to be a swarm of fish.
After coming back, we had a few minutes to shower, and then left for Gardner beach on Espanola, which was a stretch of white sandy beach with sea lions lounging and basking under the sun. Jie and I had fun taking jumping pictures with the sea lions. A sting ray also swam by close to the shore.
The guide and crew thought Jie’s name was pronounced TM instead of TN. We didn’t try to correct them.
Jumping shot turned awry when the sea lion reared its mighty head and scared us!
I was told to pull my head back more for the jumping shots… may have pulled too far!
When we came back, we had freshly made peach juice (delicious!) and a snack of fried mini bananas with slabs of feta cheese. Dinner was an appetizer of asparagus (green and white), avocado, corn and hearts of palm with thousand island dressing. Lunch was tender chicken paired with a bean salad, cauliflower and dessert was a yummy, dense banana bread pudding with chocolate sauce.
Day 4: We woke up to another morning call by Washington wishing us good morning in 5 different languages followed by Spanish music over the speaker system. The first thing we did was go snorkeling near Devil’s crown at 7 a.m., which was a sunken volcano teeming with wildlife. We were the first ones there, and this was our best snorkeling trip yet – we saw a group of 4 white-tipped sharks, school of barracudas, octopus and a bunch of beautiful starfish. It was surreal to swim next to each other with such strong currents as everyone moved in sync as the current swept us back and forth, creating the illusion of floating (we also had our wet suits on, so I thought we looked like super heros!)
Devil’s Crown – the snorkeling crew
Stingray
Barracudas
Huge turtle
Pretty starfish
After snorkeling, we came back to the boat and quickly changed to step on shore to Floreana island. While I was in the shower, I heard exciting noises and shuffling noises around the boat - dolphins! I rushed out and there was a group of 15 or so dolphins who swam next to our boat and rode the waves with us. Jie and I hung over the front nose of the yacht and stared, entranced by their graceful slices through the water.
Dolphins
On Floreana, there was a post office left over from before, and mail is delivered via visitors to the island who exchange their own postcard with another one left in the box that is close to where they live. I picked out a few addressed to New York. It was interesting to read some of them as well. Back on the boat, to Floreana island we saw a group of 15 or so dolphins swimming next to our boat and riding the waves.
On Floreana, we also saw some pink flamingos in a swamp made of fresh and sea water. Then we proceeded to a lava tunnel, which was basically a dark cave with some water. Finally, we headed over to the beach, where we did some more snorkeling near the shore. This time around, we found a group of almost 20 sea turtles who came right up to us as they were swimming and feeding. One came so close to me that I touched its shell! It was beautiful and mysterious at the same time to see these large sea animals so close and in their natural setting. After finally getting our dose of staring at sea turtles while they obliviously went about their normal activity, we headed back to shore and played soccer with the crew members on a field near the beach.
Flamingo
Jie and our guide pretending to be flamingos (except the flamingos we saw were standing on both feet!)
Post office
Ninja pose, at the request of our guide who referred to us as the 'Ninja chicas' (apparently Taiwanese = Japanese = All East Asians the same)
Playing soccer with the Yolita II crew!
We had a few hours to spend, which we did reading up on Quito and lounging on the deck. We had a snack of popcorn with pieces of salami which we decided was a winner snack combination.
At night, we had a presentation of pictures and movies that Washington took of us and we realized that he sneakily had his camera and was shooting candid pictures and videos of us the whole time! His underwater pictures were amazing and he shared all of them with us. Then we had a toast with the wonderful crew members and had our farewell dinner. For dessert, the cook made a cake for us that wished us good luck from them – Jie and I decided that we also had the best crew ever.
Cake
After dinner, we went to Santa Cruz to explore the city a bit more and ended up at the Rock to have some drinks with the other guests on our boat.
Day 5: On our last day, we went to visit the Charles Darwin Center, where we saw old tortoises and learned about conservation on the island:
Charles Darwin Research Center
Tortoise
It was then time to say goodbye to everyone and fly back to Quito. We took a morning flight and arrived on the mainland in the afternoon. Our first stop (at the request of Mei) was to visit the supermarket Tia to pick up South American snacks. Our favorite was the Ferrero Noggy and blue oreos!
Snack shopping in Quito
Ferrero Noggys (still eating them now – bite sized hazelnut chocolate goodness)
Amazonian Oreos?
We followed by visiting an artisanal market and had dinner at Zazu, which was a restaurant which garnered rave reviews online However, we didn’t bring the address with us, so ended up asking the cashier in a cafeteria we passed for directions. She advised us not to walk alone and told a guy who was cleaning up the place to accompany us. After walking around in several circles, we finally made it to the restaurant. Dinner was amazing though and well worth the hunt! We shared an appetizer of stone crab salad:
For our main, Jie had fish in banana leaf :
