RoamingRajuThe Galapagos Islands have been on my wife’s bucket list for the longest time. So in the Fall of 2023, we decided to get that checked off her list! As you may know, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was inspired by seeing the natural life around the Galapagos Islands.
Geography Lesson
A quick geography lesson. The Galapagos Islands are located a few hundred miles west of mainland Ecuador. To visit the islands, one needs to take a flight from mainland Ecuador or take a cruise. There is no direct flight to the islands.
We flew from Denver to Quito (the Capital of Ecuador) through Houston. Quito is a beautiful city. I know you don’t read this blog for infrastructure but the infrastructure in and around Quito is impressive. The roads in Quito were better than a lot of roads we see in the US. The airport is nicely built and the city has a real charm to it. It is a hilly area so you see houses on the hills that look like they are on top of each other. Our flight arrived late at night so we stayed at a hotel near the airport. You will find hotels quite inexpensive in Quito.
No visit to Quito is complete without visiting the equator. Actually, Ecuador means equator in Spanish (learn something new every day)! So first thing in the morning, we set out for Mitad Del Mundo (Middle of the World). There was a nice monument and a bunch of shops and restaurants around the whole monument making it attractive for tourists. You can put one foot in the Northern Hemisphere and the other foot in the Southern Hemisphere (how cool is that)!
After a couple of hours at the equator, we went to the Old Town area. We were staying in Old Town for a night. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the Old Town just walking around and visiting Plaza De San Francisco, Basilica del Vato Nacional, and other monuments. It is a charming place. Because it is a hilly city, walking around is a workout for sure.
Once we returned to the hotel, we decided to find some decent food. Less than 10 steps from our hotel, we saw a sign for a pizzeria. The sign looked attractive so we decided to take a peek. The ambiance was nice and the owner came and started to talk to us—good salesman for sure. Turned out to be one of the better pizzas we have had! After graduating from college, the owner moved to New York for work. While he was looking for work, he worked at a pizzeria for six months and learned a lot about pizza. So, he decided to come back to Quito and started a pizzeria. I love a successful entrepreneur story because every story is unique and you learn so much from listening to them.
Fees and More Fees
The next day, we were ready to go to the Galapagos Islands. It is quite an ordeal to enter the islands. As soon as you go to the airport, you have to go to a government counter and pay $20 per person which allows you the right to fly to the Galapagos Islands. Once we completed the process, they checked our bags for plants, etc., and we were off to the Galapagos. Once you land, you are in for another surprise. You have to get in line and pay a $100 per person entry fee! I wish they would collect all the fees as part of your airline tickets—but that would be too easy I guess😊
The Galapagos Islands are a chain of islands. Only three of these islands are inhabited. The largest amongst them is Santa Cruz Island. To visit Santa Cruz Island, you have to fly to Batra Airport. It is quite interesting how you go from the airport to your hotel. Batra is a small island with only the airport and nothing else. To leave the airport, one has to take a mandatory bus (you can pay $5 per person at the booth outside the airport). After a short five-mile bus ride, we are at a pier. Here you have to take a half-mile ferry to go to the Santa Cruz Island. You pay $2 per person to the ferry guy. Once you reach Santa Cruz Island, the town is actually approx. 25 miles south. So you take a taxi to your hotel.
Cash Only
One thing about the Galapagos Islands is that you must have cash (US Dollars) with you. Most places do not accept credit cards. So from the ferry, to the bus, to the taxi, to restaurants, to sightseeing places, to tour operators, everyone wants to get paid in cash. So make sure you have plenty of cash on you. Also, be sure to keep small bills with you so it is easy to pay people as they may not have change.
It took about an hour or so for us to reach our hotel once we landed. It was quite efficient even with three different transportation modes. We were staying at a boutique place right in the middle of town. The owners were really helpful and gave us a couple of tips and found us a tour operator as well as a taxi driver for our stay on the island. We decided to visit a tour operator recommended by our hotel and booked a day tour to North Seymour Island a couple of days later. Since we were approaching dinner time, we went to a restaurant that had falafel burgers on the menu. It was really good. This was a Saturday before Halloween so we encountered a lot of kids trick or treating. It was fun to watch the kids.
The next morning, we had a taxi pick us up to go to the El Chanto Tortoise Reserve. In my opinion, this is a must-see for any Galapagos Island visit. As we were getting closer to the ranch, I saw a turtle (OK so technically, they are called tortoises but like most Americans, I use the term turtle as an all-encompassing word). It was quite large so I asked the driver to stop the car. I started taking pictures and was generally very excited. The taxi driver must have thought I was bananas. Half a mile away there was another gigantic turtle walking on the road, so again, I had him stop the car.
A few minutes later, we arrived at the ranch. One thing to note is that the turtles on the ranch are free-roaming. They go in and out of the area without any restrictions. It’s just that the ranch is so big, you find a lot of them on this property. On the tour of the ranch, our guide explained how turtles gather here. We even spotted a 170+-year-old turtle!
The female turtle walks approx. 12 miles to the beach to lay eggs. Once she lays eggs, she returns back to the highlands. The eggs are on their own. Once a turtle is five years old, they have no predators on the island so their population flourishes. When they turn about 25 years old, they instinctively walk towards the highlands and hang out in the highlands. I thought it was quite interesting.
The ranch also has a couple of lava tunnels. The tunnels were created by lava flowing on the land. When the top layer cools down, the bottom layer seeps into the ground.
After a wonderful few hours, we started to drive back. We asked the driver to drop us off at the Charles Darwin Research Center. They are still doing a lot of research on different species on the island and in general, are trying to preserve the island’s natural habitat. The Ecuadorian authorities have done a great job in terms of preservation. Only people who are born on these islands are allowed to live and work here. Even mainland Ecuador citizens are not allowed. This certainly keeps the population on the island under control. Anyway, back to the Darwin Center. We had a nice visit and then went to a small beach right next door. We walked back to our hotel and I must say for some reason, we found ourselves exhausted. We decided to take it easy that evening.
The next morning, we were leaving early in the morning for the boat tour to North Seymour Island. My wife loves bird watching and the North Seymour Island is famous for birds so this was a no-brainer for us. Our tour operator came and picked us up at the local pier. We hopped on a bus to the other side of the island and then hopped on a yacht. The yacht had a capacity of around 26 people and a staff of seven people. There were only five of us on the yacht so we pretty much had the whole boat to ourselves! After a quick 30-minute ride, we got off (it was a wet landing, meaning, you get wet when you get off)! We were at a beautiful beach. After a small walk over the dunes, we came across a lagoon with flamingos (well, one flamingo)! That was a wonderful site to see. After an hour or so on the beach, we were back to the boat (some people decided to snorkel at the beach but I am not a swimmer so I stay away from snorkeling—one of these days, I plan to write about a blog on our Barbados visit so you can read about my disastrous snorkeling experience).
After another 45-minute boat ride, we were at North Seymour Island. It is a dry island but we were able to see so many birds. We saw blue-footed boobies, frigates, sea lions, herons, iguanas, finches, lava gulls, pelicans, and a lot of other animals. It was really interesting to note that from island to island, the vegetation and other life were so different.
After a nice couple of hours on the island, we were back on the boat. They had our lunch ready for us. They had prepared some vegetarian options for us so being on an island where vegetarian options were few and far between, it was certainly nice to see.
Towards the late afternoon, we went back to our hotel. Before dinner, we decided to check out a local lagoon that was walking distance from our hotel. While walking back from there, we came across a street vendor selling Indian Gooseberries (aamla). My wife got excited and decided to get some.
Air Taxi
We were going from Santa Cruz Island to San Cristobal Island. They have ferries that go between these two islands. During my research before the trip, I was asking some questions to these ferry operators. One of them realized that I was very particular in my questions so he told me that even though everyone calls them ferries, these are speed boats that go 40+ miles per hour in rough seas. He said, you will jump off your seats a dozen or more times and we give you two bags for sea sickness and tourists are welcome to bring additional bags. That was the final straw for me. I didn’t think these ferries were the right option for us. So I started to look for options. Turns out there are two air taxi operators on the Galapagos. They fly small planes (smaller than a sub-compact car) that can fit three passengers and a pilot. So I booked that as an alternative to taking a ferry.
The next morning we were off to the airport (taxi, boat, and bus just like coming from the airport). With a quick “check-in” we were ready to take off. Our pilot gave us a brief safety talk and off we went. It was a small 20-minute flight and the weather was perfect, so the views were beautiful. Our hotel sent a driver over to pick us up at the airport. As soon as we settled down, we were ready to go. It was really hot. We walked to the pier and I had a heat stroke, so we returned to the hotel for an hour or so to relax.
After that, our hotel set us up with a taxi driver and we started off at the La Loberia beach. It is a rather small beach but you see so many sea lions and humans sunbathing together. After that, we went to Cerro Tijeretas. It is a beautiful hike and at the top of it, you get to see panoramic views of the entire island. We took all the breathtaking views in and started our way back as the sun was setting. This was the real Halloween day and we saw all the local children trick or treating. It was so heartwarming. After a nice dinner at the pier, our taxi dropped us off at the hotel.
The following afternoon, it was time to fly back to mainland Ecuador and back to the US. With the fear of COVID behind us, traveling is normal again and that is such a relief. We had one heck of a time on the Galapagos Islands. If you ever get a chance to visit, I say this is one of those places where you should grab that chance. Until next time….
