San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Saturday, December 19, 2015
We hadn't planned to come here at all, mainly because we had seen so many islands by now we were getting a bit islanded out – everything was starting to merge into one.
But fate played it's hand and in the end, we couldn't get a flight off Santa Cruz so had to resort to a 2 hour speedboat ride to Cristobal in readiness for a flight from here on the 22nd.
As it turned out, yes it was very similar to other islands we had seen, but it felt different. There was only a population of 5,000 here, Santa Cruz had been 17,000 and Isabela just 2,000. This really seemed to make a difference. It was quieter for sure, but it seemed friendlier too. More laid back.
dinner with a nice view
The taxi driver that picked us up at the airport introduced himself as Wilmer and offered us a tour of the island. We didn't want to do anything at all the following day but thought it would be a good idea for Jody's birthday on the 21st. So he dropped us off at our hotel and we took his number for later. We were just looking forward to having a day or two just doing absolutely nothing.
Well so much for not doing anything at all the following day. Bryan hadn’t slept a wink all night at Arena Bianca Hotel. Despite being a very large lovely room with a great comfy bed, When the neighbours decide to hold a party until 4am the comfiest bed in the world won’t necessarily ensure you still sleep. Jody however, slept through the whole thing!
Breakfast was nasty too so decision made, after just one night we are moving on again.
hungry
We went for a walk straight after breakfast and came across Stefany’s Lodging Home. The room was a bit on the small side really but it was ok, and it was the same price as the Arena Bianca, but there was no view and the windows faced away from the sea. We asked to see an upper floor room and that was perfect for us. As always there is a catch – it was an extra $30 a night. As always, we had a card up our sleeve and told her that it was Jody’s birthday the next day, could she do anything on the price?.
This seemed to sway her and deal done – lovely upstairs room with a sea view for the same price as the small downstairs room. Perfect.
We dashed back to Arena Bianca then returned to Stefany's with our bags, only to find… yep, loud music blaring out and a pool party. OH no Bryan was looking forward to a snooze!
The lovely Joanna informed us it was a football party. A Quito team was playing Guayaquil in the Ecuador cup final today and the whole family was there kitted out in the two teams shirts. But with a promise the party would be over by 7pm.
We decided to stay and we are so glad we did. The family were really lovely and couldn’t do enough for us. The breakfast was lovely, the beds were comfy and the place was spotlessly clean too. Good choice.
tortoise egg
Wilmer picked us up at 9am on the 21st and sang happy birthday as soon as we got in the car. Our first destination was another Giant Tortoise sanctuary and breeding centre. Here they have a hatchery as well as there were hundreds of baby tortoises. They had many many enclosures with babies up to 8 years old and pens with some that were really, really tiny and were covered in wire mesh to stop the herons and hawks nabbing them.
As we were leaving, 2 giant tortoises blocked our path just as the man came along to feed them. So helpful as ever, we offered to feed these two for him. Wow can they ever eat? In no time at all most of the leaves were gone. No wonder they get so big!
This picture shows an empty egg - no baby tortoise inside before anyone starts jumping up and down saying we shouldn't be holding it!
Next stop - the highlands and the volcano summit as there was a beautiful lake there. Apparently…!
The curse of the clouds hit us again as we approached the highlands and we could see zilch. Nada. Nothing.
Wilmer drove on just a couple of km and it was all bright and lovely again. Seems we are not to be lucky with these volcanoes here at all.
beach master!
However we arrived at the beach to a scorcher of a day. The sky was blue, hot and sunny here yet we are barely 5 miles away from the volcano. Frustrating but we all agreed to try the volcano again on the way back.
The walk to the beach took us about 15 minutes down a path across lava and there was no shade from the heat either. There were lots of little lizzards scurrying around on the path and we were more concerned about stepping on them.
The beach here at Puerto Chino when we finally got there, was beautiful. The water was so clear and was a gorgeous colour of turquoise. The sea lions were blocking our way to the beach and the 2m rule was quite difficult to enforce – these pesky sea lions are proper rebels.
We swam for about an hour in the beautiful water, the sea lions swimming nearby but nothing like the day we had at Santa Fe. These ones were much bigger for a start and we kept a close eye on them.
No luck with the volcano again on the way back so we headed to the tree house. This was the biggest tree on the island apparently and the family that owned it had built a tree house in it years ago. Not only that, there was a secret cave underneath the tree too – for pirates no less. Bryan had a whale of a time down there but fearing the eight-legged monsters, Jody would not venture down there no way, not on your nelly.
big tree house
It was also tipping it down by now and we settled for a cup of hot coffee and a piece of chocolate cake whilst we chatted to Wilmer. Well we say chatted but it was the usual conversation speed with our limited (but increasing) Spanish. We have to keep looking words up in our phrase book then handing the book over for the other person to do the same. It takes a long time to say very much but It’s fun and kills a bit of time.
Wilmer took us back to town and drove us around looking for a nice restaurant for us to visit tonight but everywhere was shut. It’s not as if there is much here in the first place so it doesn’t help when 50% of them are not open.
Never-mind, we decided to eat at Calypso again, where we ate last night. A couple of glasses of wine and we didn’t really care where we ate. But the food was lovely and we spent the evening watching the sea lions that congregate on the beach every evening (and on the footpath by the beach) and make lots of noise. There was such a teeny tiny one we were a bit worried it had been abandoned so we stayed until it's mother showed up again.
We were leaving the next day – leaving the island and leaving Galapagos.
Galapagos has been one of the best places we have been, ever - and we know it is going to be a hard act to follow. But we shall take it with us in our memories and in our hearts. Most places we have been, have at the time, felt like once in a lifetime visits and this did too.
But who knows, many of those other places we have returned to since and we would love to think that one day we will revisit Galapagos.
Who knows? - we never say never!
Now just where are we going to be for Christmas...?
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