May 27, 2019
This morning we got up early to catch a plane from Quito to the Galapagos. The total trip is about 800 miles and took 4 hours, mainly because we had a stop in Guayaquil to exchange passengers. The flight included an amazing tour of the volcanoes as we descended from Quito to Guayaquil. We were on a plane full of school children many of which have probably never been on a plane or traveled any distance from their homes. According to our guide the previous day it is near impossible for residents of Ecuador to afford a trip to the Galapagos islands.
When we arrived on the island of Santa Cruz we were greeted with almost 90-degree heat and humidity to match. We then spent time in yet another line to pay the entrance fees and board a hot bus to take us to the ferry to go to Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz. We then boarded a water ferry to take us across the small channel to the island of Santa Cruz. From here we got a taxi to take us to the hotel.
During this ordeal, we managed to have someone else’s luggage put into our taxi, even after Kevin repeatedly told them “No es mi maleta.” The drive to the hotel took about 30 minutes and at times was a little scary, there are almost no rules on the road. We had reserved a room at the Hotel EspaƱa that had three beds, enough for the family. Kevin had one thing on his mind getting the next day’s activities booked and Sarah had another, getting food. Sarah won, and we ventured out to get both activities accomplished.
We found a restaurant that was open (many were not as it was the middle of the afternoon). We found that many of the restaurants have fresh fruit juice drinks made from local produce for very cheap prices. After lunch, we began the search for a tour operator that still had some openings for an excursion the next day. We walked by several agencies and settled on one.
At the tour shop, the lady at the desk went through many different options that might be available. The one that agreed upon would visit two islands and include hiking, snorkeling, and lunch. The tour included hiking around North Seymour Island, which is home to iguanas, Frigate birds, Blue Footed Boobies, and lava lizards. The other island was Mosquera island and was the location of the snorkeling excursion. Kevin had planned on going snorkeling the first day, but we had run out of time and the beaches would be closing soon, so we needed to find another activity. After consulting with the tour operator for recommendations we decided to go to the giant tortoise ranch El Chato and see the tortoises up close.
Our hotel arranged for a taxi/guide to take us to El Chato tortoise ranch. The ranch allows you to wander around and observe the tortoises in “wild”. We were able to get within 6 feet of the tortoises and watch wander and eat. Annaleigh and Noah were also able to crawl inside the old tortoise shells. The weather has been rainy but cleared for us as we entered the ranch and we were able to walk around in the sun.
After El Chato, we were expecting to hear back to the hotel, but our guide Walter has other ideas. He took us to the lava tunnels to walk through and eventual crawl through a spot about 1 meter by 2-meter hole. The lava tubes are essentially caves where magma flowed out of the volcano. This tube was 500 meters long and in places 20-30 feet tall. When we exited the tunnel out guide had another surprise, he took us back into the forest a couple hundred feet to a shack where a pair of owls were nesting. Both owls were not very happy to see us and made some very impressive posturing at us.
We again got in the taxi expecting to head back to the hotel, but again our driver wanted to show us more. We got to see some of the local fruit farms and then he took us on to a place called Los Gemelos. Los Gemelos Is a pair of calderas that are 200 meters deep. We walked around one of the calderas and then drive a short distance to see the other one. After all that we headed back to our hotel and then on to dinner and to bed.