1/2/18
It was another early morning, this time in Guayaquil, in order to eat breakfast and catch our flight to the Galapagos Islands. On the map above, you can see Baltra (where the airport is located) directly above Santa Cruz. The island is small and fairly barren. It was used as an Air Force base for the United States and is still used today as an Ecuadorian military base.
After getting to the Guayaquil airport once again, we had to go through a different security line specifically for those traveling to the Galapagos Islands. It's important that no one brings in any items that could potentially harm the delicate and unique ecosystems found on the islands. They checked our bags again and asked things like if we had any food with us or if our shoes were clean. All of these extra measures were put into place to ensure that no one had any seeds or bugs or animals that could disrupt the natural order of our destination. While the extra security was a strange and new experience, it was easy and we continued on to the bag check and then our terminal.
To get to our plane, we had to walk on the tarmac. It was incredibly windy that day. The flight was smooth and Avianca fed us more. Just before our landing at the Baltra airport, we had to watch an educational cartoon that informed visitors about the ways you should appropriately interact with wildlife and respect the islands. The goal is to keep as much untouched by humans as possible. This means that tourists shouldn't poke any iguanas or try to ride the tortoises, take any plants or try to plant invasive ones, things along those lines. The flight attendants sprayed our carry-on bags with some sort of pesticide before we could leave the plane. I thought about the health hazards this posed to them and us, inhaling the chemicals day after day.
Once we arrived on Baltra, we walked to the airport, which was Leed certified gold, we lined up to go through one final security check. At this point, we purchased entry onto the island. The money we donated went to conservation efforts on the islands. The ticket we received was required to enter and leave. A dog sniffed everyone's luggage before we could claim it, and he was looking for more of those same items we'd been checked for already.
Several buses were waiting outside. Way too many people packed onto one bus and drove about 20 minutes across the island to a dock. The bus traveled down and very steep and curvy road with no guardrails. At the bottom, there was a dock with ferries to take you across to Santa Cruz. The crew loaded everyone's luggage on top of the boat and we climbed down to the seats below. As we crossed the Itabaca Channel, we were greeted by the first and only blue footed booby we'd see in the Galapagos.
A bus met us on the other side. It was a hectic scene. There were so many people in this small parking lot, all anxious to begin an adventure here. We piled into a bus and began to drive deeper into Santa Cruz. One thing that struck me about Santa Cruz was the diversity in such a small island. You could drive 10 minutes and go from what looked like a desert to a tropical forest. I knew from our readings that the Galapagos were so special and different, but it was hard to believe that a place like this could really exist.
Our first stop was two collapse craters called Los Gemelos, which means " the twins". There was plenty of volcanic activity here at one point in time, but as the activity cam to an end and liquid rock cooled, certain areas became unstable. These craters were areas of said instability. Next, we visited El Chato, which is a tortoise reserve. We got to encounter the infamous Galapagos Tortoises up close and personal. They mostly sat around eating the vegetation or cooling off in mud pits. As you can imagine, a creature that large doesn't move too much.
After spending some time walking through El Chato and its lava tubes, we drove to our hotel. Driving across that island really opened my eyes; these people lived so simply and they were so happy. This was the first time I realized that, but it only became more clear when we drove through mainland Ecuador. Hotel Palmeras greeted us in the center of town. It was only blocks away from the beach, docks, and shopping district. Even though December 25th had passed us by, most of Ecuador, including our hotel, was still decorated festively for the Christmas seasons. In a photo below, you can see the tree in front of our rooms.
The rooms weren't ready for a while when we arrived, so we all sat down to relax in the hotel's "lobby" which was outdoors. The weather was perfect. Our hotel rooms were ready so we got changed into our bathing suits and followed Diego to a place he said we could jump into the ocean and go swimming- I think we were all imagining a beach. To get there, we had to cross an inlet on a small water taxi. Then we followed a path past a bunch of fancy resort hotels, by a beach, and through salt flats. Some people actually "harvested" that salt to sell. A cactus forest was next, and then finally we reached the spot. Diego spoke to the man at the top of the steps; our destination was down there. It was a crevice between rocks that filled with the ocean with the tide, and we spent our afternoon in that freezing water, having a blast. It was a waterpark, where people from all walks of life came to enjoy this natural wonder.
Everyone was exhausted when it closed. We walked back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. The people at Las Palmeras were kind enough to cook for us while we were staying there. It was very gracious, but the food wasn't very good. We ate it anyway because it was included. When we'd finished our meal, Lori and Becky talked to us about the biodiversity in Ecuador. Because of its small size, Ecuador is considered the most biodiverse country on Earth. After their presentation, we went to bed. It was a long day of travel, and a few of us decided to wake up early to explore the other side of the inlet some more.
After getting to the Guayaquil airport once again, we had to go through a different security line specifically for those traveling to the Galapagos Islands. It's important that no one brings in any items that could potentially harm the delicate and unique ecosystems found on the islands. They checked our bags again and asked things like if we had any food with us or if our shoes were clean. All of these extra measures were put into place to ensure that no one had any seeds or bugs or animals that could disrupt the natural order of our destination. While the extra security was a strange and new experience, it was easy and we continued on to the bag check and then our terminal.
To get to our plane, we had to walk on the tarmac. It was incredibly windy that day. The flight was smooth and Avianca fed us more. Just before our landing at the Baltra airport, we had to watch an educational cartoon that informed visitors about the ways you should appropriately interact with wildlife and respect the islands. The goal is to keep as much untouched by humans as possible. This means that tourists shouldn't poke any iguanas or try to ride the tortoises, take any plants or try to plant invasive ones, things along those lines. The flight attendants sprayed our carry-on bags with some sort of pesticide before we could leave the plane. I thought about the health hazards this posed to them and us, inhaling the chemicals day after day.
Once we arrived on Baltra, we walked to the airport, which was Leed certified gold, we lined up to go through one final security check. At this point, we purchased entry onto the island. The money we donated went to conservation efforts on the islands. The ticket we received was required to enter and leave. A dog sniffed everyone's luggage before we could claim it, and he was looking for more of those same items we'd been checked for already.
Several buses were waiting outside. Way too many people packed onto one bus and drove about 20 minutes across the island to a dock. The bus traveled down and very steep and curvy road with no guardrails. At the bottom, there was a dock with ferries to take you across to Santa Cruz. The crew loaded everyone's luggage on top of the boat and we climbed down to the seats below. As we crossed the Itabaca Channel, we were greeted by the first and only blue footed booby we'd see in the Galapagos.
A bus met us on the other side. It was a hectic scene. There were so many people in this small parking lot, all anxious to begin an adventure here. We piled into a bus and began to drive deeper into Santa Cruz. One thing that struck me about Santa Cruz was the diversity in such a small island. You could drive 10 minutes and go from what looked like a desert to a tropical forest. I knew from our readings that the Galapagos were so special and different, but it was hard to believe that a place like this could really exist.
Our first stop was two collapse craters called Los Gemelos, which means " the twins". There was plenty of volcanic activity here at one point in time, but as the activity cam to an end and liquid rock cooled, certain areas became unstable. These craters were areas of said instability. Next, we visited El Chato, which is a tortoise reserve. We got to encounter the infamous Galapagos Tortoises up close and personal. They mostly sat around eating the vegetation or cooling off in mud pits. As you can imagine, a creature that large doesn't move too much.
After spending some time walking through El Chato and its lava tubes, we drove to our hotel. Driving across that island really opened my eyes; these people lived so simply and they were so happy. This was the first time I realized that, but it only became more clear when we drove through mainland Ecuador. Hotel Palmeras greeted us in the center of town. It was only blocks away from the beach, docks, and shopping district. Even though December 25th had passed us by, most of Ecuador, including our hotel, was still decorated festively for the Christmas seasons. In a photo below, you can see the tree in front of our rooms.
The rooms weren't ready for a while when we arrived, so we all sat down to relax in the hotel's "lobby" which was outdoors. The weather was perfect. Our hotel rooms were ready so we got changed into our bathing suits and followed Diego to a place he said we could jump into the ocean and go swimming- I think we were all imagining a beach. To get there, we had to cross an inlet on a small water taxi. Then we followed a path past a bunch of fancy resort hotels, by a beach, and through salt flats. Some people actually "harvested" that salt to sell. A cactus forest was next, and then finally we reached the spot. Diego spoke to the man at the top of the steps; our destination was down there. It was a crevice between rocks that filled with the ocean with the tide, and we spent our afternoon in that freezing water, having a blast. It was a waterpark, where people from all walks of life came to enjoy this natural wonder.
Everyone was exhausted when it closed. We walked back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. The people at Las Palmeras were kind enough to cook for us while we were staying there. It was very gracious, but the food wasn't very good. We ate it anyway because it was included. When we'd finished our meal, Lori and Becky talked to us about the biodiversity in Ecuador. Because of its small size, Ecuador is considered the most biodiverse country on Earth. After their presentation, we went to bed. It was a long day of travel, and a few of us decided to wake up early to explore the other side of the inlet some more.
Photo used under Creative Commons from petrr