Galapagos Islands... sea lions, marine iguanas and no ATMs



catching the ferry from Baltra Island, where the airport is,

to Santa Cruz



cookies on the flight to the Galapagos

A conversation with the hotel owner upon arrival on Isabela island

Us: "where is there an ATM in town?"
Hotel owner: "no hay, solo moneygram" (there aren't any, only moneygram)

Us: " you can't be serious" - we had about $60

We've been looking forward to our trip to the Galapagos for months now. After 3 flight changes (trying to unsuccessfully register our visas), we finally made it to the island of Santa Cruz on June 21st and the largest city of Puerto Ayora (PA)  It was cloudy when we came in and our first impression of the town wasn't a good one. We were already a bit sour about having to pay the $100 national parks fee right when we got off the airplane (while the  locals paid $5). Oh yeah and we paid $10 for a tourist card back in Quito before we even got on the plane.



the biggest town in the Galapagos, Puerto Ayora

In PA, water didn't look turquoise green as I expected, it wasn't full of fish and in fact, there was a considerable amount of garbage washing ashore.  The main street is aptly named Charles Darwin (along with everything else from shops to restaurants) and is full of hotels/tour operators. They offer scuba diving, snorkeling, day tours, multi day cruises, bike rentals... And a room.

Due to my penchant for sea sickness, we decided to skip the traditional boat cruise and island hop while doing day tours. The cruises are pretty pricey as well, running around $200 a day for a lower class boat. But this meant I still had to take a 2-3 hour boat rides between the islands. I hoped I brought enough Dramamine.



careful where you walk, you might step on one of these

 Our first tourist site was the Charles Darwin research center, a short walk from town. At least this was free. On the way there, we saw our first wildlife, marine iguanas just basking in the sidewalks. You could literally step right over them. At the research station, we saw some land iguanas and of course the giant tortoises. We're not sure if we saw Lonesome George or not because there were supposedly him and 2 females in his pen but we only saw 2 tortoises. A couple days later we heard that he died so not sure if we saw him or if he was already dead.

This might have been Lonesome George
before he died a few days later



lava tunnels

Couple other cool things we saw were snorkeling at "Las Grietas" (the crevice) which was a cool slot canyon with snorkeling in between. We also climbed up on the rocks a little bit and cliff jumped. We were amazed that we had the whole places to ourselves and then about 30 minutes later, a group of screaming kids came as we were getting out of the water.We also went to Tortuga Bay which is known for its white sandy beach and surfing, unfortunately the waves weren't really good so I didn't get a chance to shred. We also visited the lava tunnels which was ok.

Pelicans waiting for the skin from the fish
that the fishermen are gutting

Perhaps the most enjoyable moment in PA was at the fishing dock. We were walking by on our way to a coffee shop when we noticed the fishermen cleaning their fish and right behind them were a flock of about a dozen pelicans, some iguanas and one sea lion. The fishermen would clean the fish and throw the skin backwards and the animals would fight viciously for it. At one point a pelican had the skin in its gullet with a bit of skin hanging out and it resulted in other pelicans trying to steal it away including another pelican putting its beak around the entire head of it (sea lion gave chase too). And the sea lion, would wait patiently right behind the fisherman, like a cute puppy, begging for food. There were a couple of fishermen so the sea lion would slide around begging from all of them. It got bored really quickly and laid down for quick nap if there was any lapse in action though. It was quite an entertaining 10 minutes or so to watch this whole thing occur.

pelicans fighting for fish skin

Unfortunately for me, I spent 2 of the 4 days in PA confined to the hotel room with the traveler's bug, yup vomiting and you know the other. I saved some $ by not eating for 2 days though... If thats a positive...


Next was the island of San Cristobal. We had inquired at our hotel reception/travel agency about buying this boat ticket prior, and they told us to just show up at the dock a half hour before and not worry about it. At least that's what Liz and I thought they were telling us. When we showed up at the dock, it was full of people and a long line to get your bags inspected for fruits (to check for transfer of invasive species from island to island). We just thought we would get in this line and pay the boat captain when we get on the bost but when I asked a local standing in line, we were informed that we have to go to a certain ticket office to buy tickets. So we hurriedly walked over to there only to find out that there was no more space on boats to San Cristobal but space to Isabela. Isabela here we come!

The beach on Isabela island, very peaceful unlike other islands

 It is the largest of the island encompassing roughly half the land mass but isnt heavily occupied. When we landed at the dock, we were approached by many people asking us about a taxi ride and hotels and we took up an offer for a free ride to check out a hotel (which I don't normally do, I usually walk right by the touts). When we got to the hotel, it was nice and we decided to stay. When we asked the hotel owner about an ATM, he told us "no hay, solo moneygram" ( there aren't any, just moneygram). After we paid for the room, we had about $30 between us, not even enough to get back to the main island. Yikes!

Luckily the hotel had wi-fi and Liz was able to contact her sister to send us $, thanks SWJ! But lesson learned, we should always plan on having enough $ on us to get by if need be. Our credit cards weren't going to get us by here in a town with dirt roads and roaming chickens.



snorkeling at concha y perla



On Isabela, we went snorkeling at a local place called "concha y perla"'( conch and pearls) where a very friendly sea lion was trying to take a nap on the deck, but it was a squirrely one and couldn't lay still in one spot. At one point it literally crawled over my foot and started pushing my water bottle toward the water! They make noises and faces and seem to have personalities. This one had ADHD for sure.

We took a day tour to "Los tunneles" (the tunnels) but not inland but on the coast for snorkeling. Its called that because of the rocks form tunnels in the water. It was about a 45 minute boat ride but on the way, we stopped at a spot to see lots of manta rays and not sure why there were doing it but they kept doing backward summersaults, exposing their white bellies on the surface. During the snorkeling, we also saw turtles and the white reef tip sharks "tintorera"..



a very friendly sea lion







we saw white reef tip sharks here





The surfing was also lacking here sadly but the island of San Cristobal has famous surf spots so we decided to head there. Instead of taking 2 boat rides there, we decided to take a quick 45 minute island hopper flight. The price wasn't actually much more and did I mention I get anxious a out sea sickness? The flight was in an 8 passenger plane and it was a beautiful (and safe) flight.

we spent a few there on Cristobal and I went scuba diving for the first time in the Galapagos while Liz snorkeled. We saw tons of fish and turtles. Not much else happened there, saw more sea lions, tried to find coffee... the usual.

 



 

surfing (not me) at tortuga bay, I think thats red tide,
a dangerous algae



a giant chicken empanada from a cart on the street. $1



the 2nd beach at tortuga bay, no surfing but great for relaxing



Initial invasion of Ecuador - 1st week (Quito,Montanita,Puerto Lopez)

Initial plans...First task: lugging about 400 lbs of luggage into our small hotel room... complete. Second task: sleep... done. Third task: register our visas the following morning... in progress, perhaps for a long time.

After months of preparation and anticipation, Liz and I arrived in Quito on June 12th, 2012. This is it, beginning of our 2 year adventure in Ecuador. The first morning after we got here, we headed to the immigration office to register our visas. We have done our research and knew that we had to register our visas within 30 days or pay a $200 fine. So after a quick breakfast we walked to the office, got in line and told the clerk what we wanted to do.

Us: "Queremos registrar nuestros visas (we would like to register our visas)"

Clerk: "no puede hoy, regresara lunes (can´t today, return monday)

Us: "porque lunes (why monday?)

clerk: blah blah blah blah blah (it was gibberish to us too)

 

 

It was wednesday and we had plane reservation to fly to the Galapagos islands on saturday so this put a wrinkle on our plans. We spent the next few hours at the airline office getting our flight changed back (at a cost of course) so we could come back on Monday and register our visas. However, the next day (thursday) we decided to try asking again why at the immigration office.

Plaza Foch, the main tourist plaza in the mariscal district of Quito

Us: "Queremos registrar nuestros visas (we would like to register our visas)"

Clerk (same one as yesterday): "no puede hoy, regresara miercoles (can´t today, return wednesday)

Us: "porque miercoles (why wednesday?)

clerk: blah blah blah blah blah (it was gibberish again)

the view of the city from our window

our street, our apartment is where the car is parked
on the right, that is our security guard

At this point, having received 2 different answers in 2 days, we decided to just forget about registering our visas and dealing with it when time comes. Since we had just moved back our plane tickets to Galapagos and had a few days we headed to the coast for some beach and surfing, the popular surfing town of Montanita.

this is a typical hotel, cost $15/night

fresh ceviche right on the beach

I have to say I was a bit dissapointed in the town. I´ve heard lots of great things about it and a few surfing friends told me I have to surf there. For the couples days I was there, the waves were crummy, the town was impossible to sleep at night with the pumping disco, and the whole town had a sewer problem (so it always wreaked). There was a nice beach and a nice vibe of tourists and locals but the lack of quality waves was the major dissapointment for me. Liz tried surfing for the first time and she was a great sport but its a tough sport to learn. The town was obviously very catered towards tourists so it didnt feel very authentic to me as well. But even so we enjoyed our few days, eating fresh ceviches on the beach, going for a run on the beach at sunset and just enjoying being near the ocean. But after a few days in town we headed north an hour to a fishing town of Puerto Lopez to go whale watching.

the sleepy fishing village of puerto lopez,
 about an hour north of montanita

Our whale watching tour ($35) included a hour and twenty minute ride to the "Isla de Plata" (silver island) where we would have a chance to see Humpback whales, a quick hike around the island (aka: poor man´s galapagos) to see some birds and a boat ride back. We weren´t dissapointed as we saw a few whales and on the island saw the famous "Piqueros Patas Azules" (blue footed boobies).

Isla de la plata, the poor mans galapagagos

the blue footed boobie
piquero patas azules

red frigate bird

After Puero Lopez we returned to Quito and toured around Old town Quito. We really liked it. They had beautiful colonial buildings, narrow cobblestone streets and lots of nice stores and restaurants. We only spent a night in Quito before packing up again and heading to the Galapagos... finally!

one of the beautiful colonial buidlings
in old town quito

inside the cathedral

Liz and Sung's road trip



Surfboards on top. The flower is making a cross-country
trip to Liz's mom in cleveland

     


"Are we sure we packed everything? Ok, lets go" (pull out of driveway and drive down the    street) "Oh wait, where is my cell phone? I think I left it on the roof of the car" (stop car and look on roof) "its not there, lets drive back and see if it fell off somewhere on the street" (drive back to house very slowly while scanning the road for my cell phone) "oh there it is!"
 



Our official road trip started on the morning of June 1st after scrambling to get everything done. We actually didn't receive our visas until May 31st so we were sweating bullets on that one a little bit. We sold stuff on craigslist, had a garage sale, crammed a storage unit full of stuff and packed Liz's little Golf full of our belongings we will be taking to Ecuador... and left my cell phone on the roof.


The first stop of our road trip was to spend a few days in Minnesota visiting my friends. As soon as we got to my friend Alan's, we unloaded our bags, and drove to Lake Calhoun to go for a bike ride around the lakes. We just spent 2 days driving in the car and were anxious to get out and stretch our legs a little. On our way to the bike shop to rent bikes, we saw a "nice bike" kiosk where you can rent bikes by the hour. Done. For the next 3 days, we met friends, ate, drank beverages, drove somewhere else, repeat.

I wish I were an Oscar Meyer weiner
that is truly what I'd like to be...

Stop two was Detroit to visit my family. For the next 2 days, my 2 nieces, ages 5 and 3, hung on me and boy was it tiring... but they're so cute! We went on a sand dune jeep ride, Ford museum, went to a casino (where Liz won $60 on a slot machine and immediately withdrew her $... she's not a high roller) and had yummy korean food.

My 2 nieces and nephew, ages 5, 3 and 1 month

Liz in the "Rosa Parks" bus

This is one of the original copies of the
Declaration of Independance

Liz refusing to give up her seat... like Rosa Parks

Next was Cleveland to visit Liz's fam. As we were driving through Michigan, we decided on a quick pit spot to visit a winery. Lets just say that it wasn't Napa wine. Quick highlights: Parade the Circle, gun shooting, Cleveland Rock Gym and yes... more food.


So we are actually leaving for Ecuador in the morning. So how much luggage do we have?

• 1 surfboard bag weighing 70 lbs
• 4 suitcases weighing 50 lbs each
• 2 carry-ons
• 2 backpacks

Cause I'm leavin' on a jetplane
don't know when I'll be back again
Oh baby, I hate to go