The Galapagos Islands!!

I will be writing various informative posts for other bloggers about my time in the Galapagos, because I found most of the information I used to plan this trip on other travelers' blogs. But they are going to involve helpful pictures and maps, so they can't be posted until I'm stateside with a computer at my disposal. So for now, a short summary of my trip to the "Enchanted Islands".

We arrived Saturday, July 5, to Baltra airport, and after passing through the most strict customs you will find anywhere, we rode a bus to a ferry to another bus to Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz. We had nothing planned, nothing concrete, nowhere to stay. We asked a kind lady on the bus (who turned out to own a newspaper stand in town) where to find the hostels. She pointed us to the street parallel to main street (Av. Baltra) and off we went with many other homeless travelers. After chatting with multiple, we chose Hotel Flamingo. The hostal they run is behind the new hotel in the old building, so we could get a good price on a room with 2 single beds and a private bathroom. Oh, and a fan, because air conditioning costs extra. It also included coffee, tea, and purified water (you cannot drink the tap water on the islands). The only thing I forgot to negotiate/look for was a kitchen. I had hoped to remember the importance of that when looking around, but forgot. Though since we are flexible and intelligent, we figured it wouldn't be too hard to improvise.

We got to see and do a lot while we were here, so instead of giving you a day by day account, here is a list of the places we went and things (mostly animals) that we saw there:

• Tortuga Bay - finches, lizards, marine iguanas, fish, pelicans, mangroves, cacti; also where marine tortoises lay their eggs (this happens at night)
• Main port/Academy Bay - small sharks, fish, sea lions, pelicans, crabs, sea gulls; where boats come and go for day trips and access to other islands
• Charles Darwin Station - land iguanas, giant tortoises, finches, lizards; the site where they are working on regrowing the tortoise population through breeding programs
• Laguna de las Ninfas - rays, spiders, mangroves; where salt and fresh water mix
• El Mirador - a collapsed lava tunel 2 km outside of Puerto Ayora
• Garrapatero Beach - bugs, finches, seagulls, frigates; beautiful beach on the other side of the island that sometimes has flamingos and ducks
• Playa de los Alemanes/Punta Estrada beach/Las Grietas - frigates, seagulls, crabs, fish; three different points along a walk on the other side of the main port
• Kayaking through Academy Bay and adjacent waters - pelicans, blue-footed boobies, ray, crabs, marine iguanas, sea lions, fish, other birds, mangroves
• Puntudo/Media Luna - birds, crickets, dragonflies, many new species of plants; a long muddy hike to see the top of an old volcano (we think?)
• Los Gemelos - a pair of craters we are going to visit on the way to the airport tomorrow

Our big day trip was to Isla Floreana, which will get its own blog post once I can add pictures. I will link all my other blog posts to this one once I write and post them. It was a really fun trip to see another island and go snorkeling (with a marine tortoise!), though the 2 hour boat ride was not too fun, especially since Steph unfortunately got seasick on the way over. My thoughts on the usefulness/benefits of day trips here in the Galapagos have changed, and that will also be added to my post about Floreana.

This trip has definitely been an adventure. Planning has been very day-by-day, hour-by-hour, but we got to see a lot of cool flora and fauna. We made the trip our own and did the types of activities that we enjoy, and I think that was definitely important. Flexibility, spontaneity, and a willingness to adapt are important to have when approaching the Galapagos on a budget. We ate lunch out almost every day and just had the $3-4 "almuerzo" menu that looked the most appetizing as we walking around reading the whiteboards. Breakfast was bread and fruit, and dinner was tomato/avocado/cheese sandwiches (except on the nights we splurged and went out). The in between times were filled with peanuts and granola, and occasionally an additional fruit or ice cream purchase. We worked really hard to keep a low budget, because we wanted to experience the Galapagos that we had already paid for, with our $110 of entrance fee and visa to come to the National Park. And I think we accomplished it pretty well. Obviously I would do it differently if I could do it again, but that's always the way it is. I'm glad that so many people encouraged me to visit the Galapagos since I was already in Ecuador, because it is an amazing place to see.

I leave with sun burn and sun poisoning, a few bug bites, a few purchased souvenirs, and hundreds of photos. Nothing much else can be taken from these islands. The mantra "Take only photos and leave only footprints" is something that they follow pretty strictly here, and we have tried to do the same. I look forward to sharing all my pictures with all of you soon!