Author: Lindsay and Igor

Days 336 – 337: Quito – Part II

We called a taxi to pick us up from our mountain top hotel after breakfast, and ferry us down to the bus terminal in town. As soon as we walked into the ticket area, we were bombarded by hawkers trying to find out where we were going. When we said we were going to Quitos, we were rushed over to a ticket counter and told to buy our seats urgently – the next bus would be leaving in 10min! Hurry, Hurry!

Not sure what the rush was – the bus had no intention of leaving until every seat was sold – we were sitting there for another 20min. When we boarded, we discovered a pair of backpackers sitting in our assigned seats, wearing earbuds and watching Netflix on their phones. Rather than disturb them (God FORBID), the manager directed us to just seat behind them. Fine – the seat had just as big a window, why not? However, 15min later after we had gotten settled, another pair of backpackers came on and the manager told *us* to move to the aisle in front of our original seats as we were now in the newcomers seats – WTF? Why do we have to be moved around to accommodate everyone else? Our new seat only had half a window and didn’t open to boot.

Karma did get the d-bags a little bit. After we pulled out of the station, the bus stopped to let in even more passengers – since there were no seats left, they all had to stand in the aisle. We later learned that this is common on Ecuadorian buses, and the standing price is different from the sitting price. A local guy with a huge bag ended up standing right next to our original seat, and for the whole ride, his stuff and sometimes even his butt would encroach on the backpacker’s personal space. Mwah! Take that, seat-stealers! It was a minor consolation for what was otherwise a long, stuffy and boring 3.5hr. bus ride. Occasionally hawkers would jump onboard to try and sell snacks when we were stopped at traffic lights, then had to try and get back off the bus as it was speeding away (driver didn’t bother to slow down to let the poor vendors off!) – we were so glad once we were back in the city!

Getting Nepal flashbacks – seat-Nazi managers, overcrowded bus, and hawkers selling snacks

We took a taxi back to our hotel in Mariscal and once again hid ourselves away in our comfy Wifi cocoon until dinner.

Revisiting the Mexican restaurant around the corner from our hotel – food was awesome, but warning: HUGE portions!

The next day, our flight to Lima wasn’t until mid-afternoon, so we had all morning to spend in the city. We didn’t have enough time to risk a second trip up Volcan Pichincha via the TelefériQo, so we opted to revisit the Centro Histórico instead. The weather was pretty nice today, so we decided to walk 45min to the Plaza de la Independencia, stopping along to way to shop for essentials we would need for our upcoming trip to the Peru Amazon (more bug spray, leech socks, and Malaria tablets – only USD $0.08 per pill!).

 

We get distracted by a “Chocolate Museum” sign – turns out to just be a República del Cacao shop. Must resist temptation! The chocolate here is WAY over priced – like USD $9 for a candy bar! What is this, Whole Foods?

 

Revisiting the Centro Histórico of Quito in nicer weather – El Panecillo gleams in the distance and La Compañía is surrounded by tourists

We eventually made our way back to the Quito Basilica, which we missed entering during our last visit. We arrived a little after 9AM, so the place was pretty empty. Tourists have two options for visiting the Basilica – USD $2 gets you into the sanctuary only (where no photos are allowed, boo), and a separate USD $2 fee gets you access to the roof and towers. We opted for the latter, (total deal as you get a great view of the sanctuary from the cathedral balcony as well) – we were pleasantly surprised by how much fun it was to run around and explore the roof of the church! Especially surprising was how much freedom they let you have when climbing up the towers – a similar area in the US would have been a safety nightmare, but I guess Ecuadorians assume people are smart enough not to fall off a roof (or if they do fall, they deserve to die – Darwinism is popular here, right?).

 

Making our way back to the Basilica of Quito for a self-guided tour of the towers

 

Feeling like Quasimoto – roaming inside the roof and the clock tower of the church!

 

The clock towers and the bell tower of the basilica, viewed from the roof

 

Climbing the steep, narrow staircase up into the bell tower

Panoramic view of Quito and El Panecillo from the Basilica bell tower

 

Stained glass windows inside the basilica sanctuary

We finally head toward the airport around noon. We wanted to get there a bit early as we read online that foreigners could get a refund for the 14% VAT tax we paid on all our hotels. Unfortunately, what we didn’t read is that we needed a pre-printed official form to submit into a drop box at Security. Not only that, but you have to *print your credit card number* on the form for the Ecuadorian government to electronically issue your refund. Yeah, right. We’ve had enough people hack our credit cards on this trip – we’re not leaving a printed copy of our credit card number for some random government admin to play with.

The flight to Lima was short and smooth. Lima itself, however, was a bit of a shit show. For some reason, Customs took FOREVER as they needed to scan *every* *single* *piece* of luggage (mind you – Latin Americans often travel with 5 suitcases each, as they often load up on clothes and souvenirs when they are abroad – especially when they go to the States). Apparently Peru has really strict import laws – our Customs declaration form told us that we were specifically only allowed (per person) one digital camera, two memory cards, two USB flashdrives, and one electric hair razor. Their clever answer to prevent tax fraud is to create ridiculously long lines at the airport.

We were soon to learn, however, that things don’t speed up once you get out of the airport. Lima traffic is HORRIBLE. It was almost midnight by the time we finally got to our hotel in Miraflores. No time for pictures – must CRASH.

 

No VAT refund in Ecuador since we didn’t have a preprinted form to drop off. The mayhem continues in Lima as we wait in a 30+ person line to exit Customs

Day 335: Baños

We woke up early the next morning, and after loading up at the delicious breakfast buffet, we caught another private transfer out of town. The drive took another 2hrs. to get to the city of Baños, then another 20min to reach our hotel which was located high within the foothills of nearby Volcan Tungurahua. We arrived around 10AM – a tad early to check-in, so we dropped off our bags with the manager and asked for directions to the famous Casa de Árbol – a rustic treehouse with an “edge of the world” swing that is supposedly an Instagrammer’s wet dream. Our host told us the attraction was a 20min walk away, so we headed off to get our sightseeing of Baños started!

Lindsay napping on the early morning transfer to Baños

 

Our mountainside B&B – cute & cozy with hammocks and lots of farm animals running around

 

Goats and llamas grazing outside our room

 

Our spacious digs at the Las Orquídeas Hostel

 

Taking the steep, forest shortcut up to the Casa del Árbol

We’ve been very fortunate so far in our travels – with only a handful of disappointing exceptions (mostly in China), most places we have traveled so far to visit have been wonderful and totally worth the effort. Casa de Árbol, however, was NOT one of them. Touted by various, “Top 20 Wanderlust Locations you have to Visit,”-type articles as “picturesque,” and “thrill-seeking,” the place is anything but. At least that was our impression when we visited late in the morning on a holiday weekend. Either these “travel writers” have never been here, or they came here 10-15 years ago and the place has become a victim of its own success (I suspect the latter may be true as many of the pictures of the treehouse show different windows, meaning it’s been remodeled at some point).

Here are a couple of updates on the Casa de Árbol for any friends and family who may be contemplating a trip to Ecuador: first, the place is stupid popular with both foreign and local tourists – if possible arrive exactly when they open, on a non-holiday weekday; second, there are now *6 choices* of swings to choose from (four are free with your entrance to the Casa de Árbol, two are pay per swing outside the park; third, if swings aren’t entertaining enough for you there are also kiddie ziplines; and finally, there is nothing “dangerous” about these swings anymore – all of them have harnesses now so you can’t jump off the swing over the cliff (so plan a different suicide method).

 

What they told us we’d see vs What we saw – BUZZFEED LISTICLE YOU LIED TO ME!!!

 

The Casa de Árbol complex is an absolute zoo, with literally hundreds of tourists waiting in lines for 5 pushes on one of 4 swings. LAME.

 

Lindsay is super bummed that this place did not live up to the hype.

 

Cloudy view of Volcan Tungurahua and a cow hiding in the bushes

 

Just outside the Casa de Árbol complex there are an additional 2 swings (one which rotates 360⁰ for thrill seekers) – these are pay-per-ride, so the lines were much shorter

We walked back to our hotel, only happy that we were so close to the Casa de Árbol that we didn’t have to waste money on a taxi to visit that disappointment. We checked into our room, then mulled over our options for the rest of the day. It was already too late in the day to book an excursion like rafting or canyoning (most leave from Baños city around 7-8AM and return after lunch); we didn’t want to spend more time in taxis, trying to drive to the various waterfalls in the area; and finally, Igor was too much of a germaphobe to share the hot springs with what would probably have been hundreds of tourists (once again, we were here on a holiday weekend, so no doubt it was a madhouse).

We ended up simply taking a 2hr walk down the side of the mountain from our hotel into the city. It wasn’t particularly exciting, but it was quiet and scenic – not a bad way to spend an afternoon. But in hindsight, we didn’t give ourselves enough time to do Baños properly – we should have just stayed in Latacunga a second day. Oh well, live and learn!

 

Taking a scenic walk down the mountain into the town of Baños

 

The walk down the mountain is peaceful and beautiful, passing by several rural farms houses and corn fields

 

A quick stop at the touristy Café in the Sky to admire the view of the city below

 

More cows on the trail – MOOOOO!

 

Street art…in the mountains!

 

A mirador with a giant statue of Virgin Mary sits atop a giant staircase leading into town. We pass several exhausted tourists making the strenuous trek *up* to the viewpoint as we descend – poor souls

Once we got into Baños proper, we realized we may have made a mistake – the Carnival madness was in full swing. The kids of the town were gleefully patrolling the streets armed with water balloons and giant cans of foam spray. We proceeded cautiously, hiding behind parked cars and ducking into stores, but we knew sooner or later we would get creamed if we stayed out. We quickly picked up a USD $7 bottle of wine (Viña del Maipo Merlot!) and a giant bag of cheesy bread for USD $2 (we were only trying to ask the price, when the hurried woman shoved a bag of 12 rolls at us – guess we’re going to have plenty of snacks for the next few days!).

With our goods in hand, we searched the streets for a taxi. We finally found one, with streaks of pink residue on the windows – apparently this guy had been a target for foam sprayers! We drove out of the city with the windows rolled up, despite the heat. We let our guard down and rolled down the windows once we were on the mountain. As we were turning a bend in the road, a large car with kids in the back seat drove by and, “PPPPHHHHFT!” Foam spray shot into the car via the open windows! The driver was pretty annoyed, saying he expected this in the city, but, “en el campo?” Poor guy – Carnival is far from over. Luckily for us there were no revelers in our hotel, and we passed the rest of the evening in peace.

 

Relaxing in our room in front of OUR PRIVATE FIREPLACE. Nice.

Day 334: Cotopaxi & Quilota Laguna

We had 2 days to explore the areas outside of Quito before we had to leave for Peru. We really should have just picked one location and explored it thoroughly, but – in typical Igor & Lindsay fashion – we decided to do a fly-by of as many sights as possible. Our first stop was Latacunga – the jumping off point for both Volcan Cotopaxi and Quilota Laguna. Here is where we could have really used the two days, as both locations are worth visiting. We managed to book a day tour covering *both* a hike up the volcano and visit to the crater lake, but it was a looooooong day and did NOT run smoothly.

We started the day with a 1.5hr. private transfer from our hotel in Quito to our hotel in Latacunga for USD $60 (surprise, surprise! It’s our buddy Javier again!). We arrived in Latacunga nice and early, around 8AM and immediately asked the hotel if they could help us book a last minute day tour. Even though it was a holiday weekend (most Peruvians had Monday & Tuesday off for Carnival), we were able to secure a driver for the day (although at USD $150, we discovered the hotel was making a 25% commission, as the driver herself only charged USD $110 for the day package).

Normally a day tour including both Cotopaxi and Quilota Laguna would start at 9AM and run until 5-6PM. Since we were booking so last minute, it was understandable that the driver needed more time to prepare and didn’t show up until 10AM. That’s fine – let’s just jump into the car and get this party started! Or, at least let’s get the car started. Not sure what was wrong with this lady’s circa-1982 manual pickup, but she tried for about half an hour to get this stupid car started – every time she turned the key in the ignition, the clunker stalled and the *friggin’ security alarm started going off*. She called her husband on the phone and tried to talk the problem through with him, to no avail. Around 10:30AM, the hotel staff (who had probably been watching out the window this whole time) came out into the street to stare and offer supposedly helpful suggestions. We couldn’t figure out what she did differently, but eventually the engine came roaring to life. With a relived cheer of, “hurrah!” we were finally off!

Cotopaxi National Park was only a 45min drive away, so we started our day with a visit to the volcano. At 5,897M, Cotopaxi is one of the highest volcanos in the world, as well as one of the most active. The town of Latacunga has been destroyed by not one, not two, but by *three* separate eruptions (all in the 1700s – I guess they moved the town a bit further away each time until they found the sweet spot?). In 2015, seismic activity from the volcano caused over 2,000 earthquakes and emitted thousands of tons of sulfur dioxide, although no actual eruption occurred.

Nonetheless, climbing and summiting Cotopaxi remains a popular tourist activity! Although, during our visit, permits to summit the volcano and see into the snow-filled crater at the top had been suspended due to safety concerns. However, we and plenty others braved the cold and the SNOW to hike to the refugio at 4800M. It was wonderfully bizarre to think, just 2 days ago we were under the sea in tropical Ecuador, and now we were tramping through snow flurries and risking altitude sickness on the mainland!

Limpiopungo Laguna in Cotopaxi National Park – great spot for birding, but we were too cold to stand out for very long. Time to break out the thermals and puffer jackets!

 

Snow at the equator…say, what?!?

 

Hiking the last 2KM to the refugio on Volcan Cotopaxi

 

We can just make out the refugio through the snowy fog – we made it!

Successful day-hike on Cotopaxi, in Ecuador

 

He refugio has a selection of snacks for hungry trekkers (incuding a Volcano Empanada as big as your head), however, we are running behind schedule so we turn right around and descend before lunch

 

Going off-trail where the fresh snow is soft and sturdy until we finally reach the road

Snow-capped Cotopaxi

Below the snowline, you can make out trails of footprints that have been filled in with snow flurries

As we reached the parking area, our guide told us to take our time coming down as she ran ahead to try and start the car. And God bless her, she tried. And tried. And tried. She no longer had cell reception at the top of the mountain so she couldn’t call for help. Some of her fellow guides came over to hang out on the driver’s window to see if they could help. After what seemed like an eternity, the engine came to life again. Unfortunately, the late start and all the engine trouble set-backs had really taken a toll on our schedule today – it was mid-afternoon and we hadn’t even had lunch yet! Our guide sped down the mountain as quickly as possible and pulled into the park’s visitor’s center to order our included lunch (trout and French fries, with a side of rice and a salad – which took a good 20min to prepare). Not willing to risk another delay, this time when we stopped, our guide left the engine running in neutral and blocked off the tires with some large rocks!

 

It takes our guide another 30+min to get the truck started – it’s a 3PM by the time we stop for lunch

It was another 3hr drive from Cotopaxi National Park to get to the Quilota Laguna. When we were about halfway there, our guide unexpectedly pulled over and got out of the car to let a man get in the driver’s seat. Were we changing guides? “El es mi esposo,” she explained to Lindsay. We laughed – she had called her husband to come meet us to help her with the car! Hey – you do whatcha gotta do! Her husband must have mastered the technique for starting the pickup truck because we didn’t have any more car issues that day.

 

Carnival celebrations in the small town of Zumbahua, just outside the Cañón del Río Toachi

When we finally arrived at Quilota Laguna around 5:30PM, the place was covered in a thick layer of fog. Our guide walked us into the park, down the path to the first viewpoint and announced that we had arrived. “So, we’re supposed to be able to see the lake from here?” we asked, staring into the white nothingness. “Sí,” she replied. She pointed to the trail heading down into the mist and told us we were welcome to hike down if we wanted – it would take about 20min to get to the bottom, but she warned us that walking back up would be very steep. There were plenty of locals charging USD $10pp for a donkey-ride back up, so we could hire a lift if we felt too tired.

“Will we be able to see the lake if we hike down?” we asked. She shrugged, “Maybe.” Not terribly encouraging (she and her husband were probably hoping we’d forgo the hike and let them turn home early), but what the hell – we’re only here once, right? We joined the dozens of other tourists still heading down into the crater in the hopes of getting a glimpse of this silly lake.

 

We walk 4KM down the path into the Quilota crater to see the laguna, planning to take a donkey ride back up

Quilota Laguna

First of all, the hike down was a longer than 20min – more like 40min. The entire way we were dodging tourist-laden donkeys and their giant piles of poo. When we finally got about 2/3 of the way down, we found ourselves below the cloudbank and could see the lake – yay! Lindsay thought, ‘Mission Accomplished’, right? She was also starting to get a bit worried – not only had the walk down taken longer than expected, but she suddenly started to notice there weren’t many donkeys coming up the trail anymore and she couldn’t see a stable or anything down below where more might be waiting. “Maybe we should turn back – I don’t think there are anymore donkeys left!” she told Igor. A (stupid) tourist behind her overheard and said, “Oh, no – there are more! A lady told me so.”

So we kept going all the way to the end. Guess what? There were no more donkeys. Damn it – looks like we’re walking back up.

 

Admiring the view of Quilota Laguna. There is a swing set-up at the edge of the crater a la the Casa de Arbol, but we skip it as we plan to do the real thing tomorrow (big mistake!)

The cloud bank continues to lift, giving us a great view of Quilota Laguna

 

As we are taking artsy pictures of dewy grasses, we befriend a sweet chocolate puppy

Screw the horses – puppy, you are all we need to get out of this crater!

 

Daylight is fading fast and we have to make it up an 1+hr, 4KM steep crater before it gets dark!

Final view of Quilota Laguna

It took us a good hour and a half to climb back out of the crater, by which time it was so dark we were in desperate need of a flashlight. Luckily, we caught up to a group that was using their cellphone to guide themselves (and us) up the trail. We found our guide and her husband sitting cozy in their truck, playing on their cellphones in the dark. We hopped in the back and buckled up as the husband took off down the road towards Latacunga as fast as he could. It was a bit nausea-inducing as the road was very winding and he kept trying to pass slow-moving cars, but we made it to our hotel in one piece around 9:30PM. As we were both suffering a bit from car-sickness we didn’t even bother to inquire about dinner – we both took showers and passed out.

Day 332 – 333: Quito – Part I

After a wonderful 3 weeks in Darwin’s paradise, it was finally time for us to leave the Galápagos. However, even though we were departing from the *most populated city* in the archipelago and from the *main airport*, the journey out of the islands could not have been more absurd. First of all, the airport is nowhere near the city of Puerto Ayora (it’s not even on the same island! But I’ll get to that…), so we had to take a USD $20 taxi across the island to the Itabaca Channel (same place where we caught our dive boat the day before). Once we got to the Itabaca pier, we had to catch a short ferry ride across the channel to Baltra Island (this cost fifty cents each, but we didn’t know about the cost ahead of time so we forgot to get change the day before – since the water taxi couldn’t break a twenty we got a free ride!).

Baltra Island is a tiny off the northern coast of Santa Cruz, which used to host a US military base during WWII. After the war was over and there was no need for America to patrol the South Pacific for Japanese submarines, the island and base were “given back” to the Ecuadorian government (how generous). There is literally nothing on the island except the airport and a handful of iguanas. Once the ferry dropped us off at the pier, we had to sit and wait for about 20min until the (free) shuttle bus finally arrived to take us and all the airline employees to the airport. When we got to the airport, we discovered that the LAN counter wasn’t even open yet. We sat at the beginning of the line for an hour until we were finally allowed to check in.

 

Lindsay is baffled by the long, inefficient journey visitors must go on in order to reach the main airport for the Galápagos. Igor is happy once we can relax in the lounge.

Once we arrived in Quito, we had our hotel arrange a taxi pick-up at the airport. Our taxi driver, Javier, was really chatty, and gave us lots of recommendations for our upcoming daytrips outside of the city. Our hotel was located in the trendy Mariscal neighborhood, which is full of bars, restaurants, and foam-spraying youths enjoying Carnival. Our room was cozy and comfortable and had blazing fast Wifi. Even though we had an hour or two of daylight left, we decided to be hermits and just curl up in our soft twin beds and catch up on emails and writing. We needed to conserve our strength for tomorrow.

 

Muesli, coffee and fried eggs – perfect way to start a day of sight-seeing!

Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy and rainy for our first full day in Quito. Even so, we decided to try our luck at the TelefériQo – a high-altitude gondola that rises over 2,700ft and takes a good 20min to ride to the top. On a clear day, one can see an amazing panorama of the city as well as many of the surrounding mountains – including the snow-capped Volcan Cotopaxi. All guide books recommend going in the morning, as clouds and fog tend to roll in in the afternoons. Even though it was already very foggy, we had a small hope that we would either get “above the clouds” or the cloud cover would clear long enough for a picture. Wrong on both points – we saw squat. Oh well, at least we didn’t have to fight crowds!

 

There’s no line for tickets for the TelefériQo gondola up to the peak of Volcan Pichincha, as the mountain is covered in thick clouds

 

Even though the view is incredibly foggy, at least we get our own car!

 

Igor shrugs as we confirm there is NOTHING to see at the top of the mountain – just lots of mist

 

Dew-covered grasses at the top of a cloudy Volcan Pichincha

 

Going for a short nature walk on top of the volcano – we can’t stray too far from the vistor’s center fear of getting lost in the fog!

 

Apparently this is a mirador…

 

Church at the top of the mountain: what they told us we would see vs what we actually saw

 

The peak of Pichincha is neary 4,000m – enough to cause altitude sickness for some people, so the visitor’s center has an oxygen “bar” available with several flavors of air for patrons to sniff (Lindsay’s not buying it)

 

As we descend back down the mountain, we finally get below the cloud cover and get a decent view of Quito from the gondola

After the TelefériQo, we caught another taxi into the “Centro Histórico” of Quito (we had a moment of difficulty explaining where we wanted to go to the driver – apparently the literal translation of “Old City” AKA “Ciudad Vieja” didn’t ring a bell). The taxi dropped us off at the Plaza de la Independencia, from where we could stroll through the quaint alleyways and admire the many Gothic and Baroque-style churches in the area. The rain held off util the early afternoon, but once the drops started coming down, we decided to retreat to the hotel, only coming back out for dinner. We had one more day in Quito planned before we flew off to Peru, so we still had time to hit everything we missed.

 

El San Francisco and El Sagrario – two of the city’s many, many churches

 

The entrance and bell tower of the Cathedral of Quito

 

The façade and domes of La Compañía – considered by many to be Quito’s most beautiful and ornate church. Lindsay forked over the USD $5 entrance fee to check it out (Igor stayed outside surfing the web on his cellphone) – the interior is covered top to bottom with gold leaf, so there’s definitely a of bling. Of course, no pics allowed inside.

 

Lindsay startles a large flock of pidgeons in front of El San Francisco. No, that is not bird shit on her jacket – we are in Quito the weekend of Carnival and all the kids are running around with bottles of foam, spraying people. Mostly they target their friends and leave tourists alone, but one little boy took a shot at Lindsay before running off

 

Walking through the alleys of Quito’s historical center, where we get a glimpse of El Panecillo – the statue of the Virgin Mary

 

Street art in the Plaza de Arenas

 

Outside the Quito Basilica. You can climb to the top of the bell tower for USD $2pp, but we decide to save this for when we return to Quito in a few days – hopefully the weather will be better and we’ll get a good view of city

 

Peruvians LOVE avocados…almost as much as we do! Lindsay is loving the guac on her burger, and Igor has the audacity to suggest his guacamole-filled quesadilla is on par with Lindsay’s homemade version!

Day 331: Gordon’s Rock & The Lava Tunnels

We couldn’t leave the Galápagos without one last dive. One of our friends from the liveaboard dive trip had recommended Gordon’s Rock – a trio of rocks off the northern coast of Santa Cruz island known for strong currents and lots of Hammerhead Sharks. We seem to bring good (or bad) luck when it comes to currents, as the water was incredibly mild today. As a result, we didn’t see any Hammerheads, but there was more than enough sea life to leave us satisfied!

After a quick scrambled egg breakfast at the hospedaje, we grabbed a taxi into town and met up with our tour group at the dive shop at 7AM sharp. There were 7 divers and two guides, so we all hopped into 2 taxis and drove 45min across the island to the Itabaca Channel where we would catch our boat. Once we were all aboard, it was another 45min of navigation to reach the dive site.

Once we arrived, the two dive masters split us up into two groups, based on experience. Now that we had a whooping 40 dives under our belt (!), we were in the “experienced” group! The rest of the divers were even more of beginners than we were when we arrived in the islands – they all had gotten certified together a few weeks ago and only had 10 dives each! We were really happy we got to go off on our own – the tour included photos from the day and when we looked at their shots, it’s clear that we had the better dives!

 

After our briefing on the dive site, we back-roll into the water. After Darwin & Wolf this is child’s play!

 

We spot a HUGE 50+ school of Golden Rays

 

Oooooo, barra – Barracuda!

 

One dive down! We take an hour break before plunging into the water again, on the other side of Gordon’s Rock

 

This sea lion is convinced that fins are in fact chew toys

 

This bitey lobo gets upset when our instructor won’t let him eat his scuba gear, and zooms off in a huff

 

The sea lion makes a pass at another diver’s fins before finally leaving us alone. He seems to prefer colored fins, and as Igor and Lindsay were wearing black fins, the sea lion didn’t attack us (boo.)

 

We saw dozens of moray eels in Darwin & Wolf, but a ZEBRA Moray Eel is something new!

 

A slow-moving sea turtle seems to be getting a car-wash from a group of Angelfish

 

More rays: an Eagle Ray soars overhead while a Marbled Ray hides below in the rocks

 

A pretty starfish and a lobster

 

Big-ticket items: White-tipped Reef Shark and a giant Manta Ray

 

After drying off, our hosts serve us lunch: a delicious fish curry with lentils – yum!

Our tour ended around 1PM, and we were back in Puerto Ayora an hour later. We dropped off our rented dive computer at the agency and then started looking for a taxi to hire for the afternoon. We had heard about some lava tunnels in the island’s highland’s and wanted to check one of them out. A few taxis offered as a tour package for USD $50 to see the tunnel, some sinkholes and visit a giant tortoise farm, but we had already visited 3 giant tortoise centers by now and did not want to bother repeating. We finally found a taxi driver who told us he would take us to the lava tunnel for only USD $20 which seemed like a deal (of course, he neglected to clarify that he wanted USD $20 *each way*). Luckily for us, he drove us over to the sinkholes as well “for free” so we didn’t feel quite as ripped off at the end of the day.

Of the two natural formations, the lava tunnel was totally the coolest! The entire island of Santa Cruz is an extinct volcano, formed a little under 1 million years ago. The many lava tunnels on the island were formed when slow moving flows of magma started to cool and formed an outer crust. The crust insulted the lava inside allowing it to continue flowing down the island, draining the inside of the tunnel when the eruption ceased. The resulting tube-like cave was pretty spectacular – the majority of it was wide and high-ceilinged, with only one blocked off section that narrowed to a crawl-space (would have loved a tour guide to explain that part of the formation – where my Seabourn geologists at?).

The sinkholes were pretty, but unfortunately we’ve been spoiled by so many cool experiences this year it’s hard to “WOW” us. Though they look like calderas, these sinkholes are *not* volcanos – they were formed when underground lava flows ceased, leaving unstable caverns. When the caverns collapsed, the sinkholes were created. Yes, very nice, but do they have manicured gardens at the bottom like the Umpherston Sinkhole in Australia? No, indeed.

 

The Lava Tunnels in the village of Santa Rosa are located on private land, so no park guide necessary

 

Igor descends into the darkness

 

Inside the lava tunnel – the cave is lighted, so no flashlight necessary

 

The lava tunnel is one of the coolest caves we’ve visited on this year-long trip!

 

The mottled walls of the lava tunnel

 

While the majority of the tunnel has a high ceiling, there is one spot where the opening is so low, you have to crawl on your hands and knees to get out

 

As Igor climbs the stairwell out of the tunnel, he spots a little owl trying to sleep in the darkness! Poor girl did NOT appreciate the flash photography

 

Our taxi driver stops on the side of the road and lets us take an unauthorized self-guided walk by the Los Gemelos sinkholes

 

Sheer rock cliffs encircle each of the jungle-filled holes

 

Lindsay poses on the other side of the sinkhole, surrounded by the Scalesia forest

Los Gemelos Sinkholes, in Santa Cruz Island

We returned to our hospedaje in the early evening – plenty of time to pack up, cook our final self-catered meal of the trip, and kick back with our first (and last) bottle of Ecuadorian wine. Farewell, Galápagos!

 

Clever trickery, Ecuador! This bottle of wine has a label CLEARLY designed to mislead consumers into thinking it is from Argentina – the back label “story” even talks about tango. However, when Lindsay read the fine print, the winery is located in ECUADOR! How was it? Meh. Good enough for two backpackers in a hostel.

Day 330: Las Grietas & Tortuga Bay

There are quite a few free-ish swimming/snorkling activites around Puerto Ayora, so we decided to rent a snorkel from our host for USD $5 for the day and explore the Las Grietas swimming hole and the beach at Tortuga Bay.

To get to Las Grietas, you do have to pay for a water taxi to shuttle you across the marina, but it’s only USD $0.80 per person. A 20min walk along a path that is mostly well-marked will lead you to a narrow canyon filled with pristine, turquoise water. However, if you want to experience the natural beauty in peace and serenity you have to get there EARLY. We arrived around 9AM and we were the second couple to arrive, so not that bad. By the time we left around 10:30AM, the place was crowded with close to 30 people, including some who came with tour guides (why…?).

The water itself is amazingly clear, but don’t expect to see any cool fish – while the Las Grietas swimming holes are connected to the ocean, there are a series of rock piles that block the majority of sealife from coming in. The big draw for many tourists is the ability to jump from the platform or from the rocky sides into the deep water (easily 10+M).

 

Walking past a small area of salt flats on Santa Cruz – the local community gathers the salt after the tidewater evaporates and uses it for dry-salted fish

 

We spot a Giant Blue Heron hunting for fish as we walk along the trail

 

The trail to “Las Grietas” – a swimming hole located inside volcanic crevasses

 

We are (almost!) the only ones here this early in the morning

 

The visibility is absolutely perfect! The water here is brackish – a mixture of salty seawater and rain runoff from the highlands. Too bad there isn’t a single fish!

 

Igor takes his turn in the swimming hole and discovers that there are more swimming holes beyond the rocky end – you just have to get out of the water and walk (very carefully!) over the slippery stones

 

*There* are the fish! Igor finds several schools in the hidden pools at the back of the swimming hole

 

Lindsay tries to keep a cool head as we explore the cactus-covered trail and viewpoint near Las Grietas

 

We walk past the near-empty German Beach on our way back to the marina. It looks laid back and serene, but don’t let your guard down! We overheard a teary tourist the next day complaining that someone stole her cellphone out of her bag when she was swimming here. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!

 

CIGARETTE BUTTS. One of Lindsay’s pet peeves is when smokers toss their cigarette butts on the ground as if their trash it somehow not considered littering. Well, this artist shared her frustration and beautifully illustrated that all those tiny butts add up to a LOT of trash that is poisoning our oceans and cluttering up our landscapes. Well done!

Since we were still wet and had our swimsuits on, we decided to stay out and walk over to the beach at Tortuga Bay. The 2KM hike was pretty punishing in the hot mid-day sun, and neither the (mostly uphill) path nor the beach offered any shade. What made it worse, was that the water in the beach was strictly closed to swimmers – it’s another surfers beach! We each found a way to get into the water for a much needed dip regardless, but the beach itself was pretty disappointing. In hindsight, we should have returned to the Charles Darwin Center where the popular Playa de la Estacion is located. Sure, it’s overrun with tourists, but there are cool fish and sea lions to play with.

It’s a loooooong walk in the sun to reach Tortuga Bay

 

The white sand beach is big and pretty, but has zero shade. We find some sticks someone left in the sand and use them to build a little shelter. It helped a lot, until a douchebag park ranger tells us it’s “not allowed.” WTF? Is a little red wrap going to scare off a turtle or something?

 

The surf is really strong and signs warn that swimming is too dangerous. Lindsay walks all the way down the beach and finally finds a sheltered tidal pool where she can take a dip to cool off. Igor flat-out ignores the warning signs and jumps into the waves. He lived.

Day 331: Puerto Ayora

Our stay at Isabela Island has been a blast – our favorite island of the Galápagos! – but all good things must come to an end. It was time to return to Santa Cruz for our final few days in the archipelago. We booked the last two seats on one of the many ferry-shuttles the night before for the excruciatingly early 6AM departure time. Since our new hotel was all the way on the other side of town, we booked a 5:30AM taxi to take us to the pier. We were pretty annoyed when the guy showed up and started honking 10min early – turns out he was planning to pick up multiple passengers on the way. We were even more ticked off when we realized that the cool weather in the morning meant it would have been an easy 20-30min walk – we didn’t even need the taxi! As a result, we were a bit grumpy when we arrived at the pier and once again had to stand around like chumps as the typical ferry chaos ensued: everyone jammed onto the tiny pier, waiting for their boat to be called. Oh well, at least the bio-security inspectors didn’t confiscate our to-go breakfast, which included both fruit juice and fresh fruit!

 

Waiting in the pre-dawn darkness for our 6AM ferry

So, on our last two ferry experiences, we tried to sit on the upper deck seats. Both times we were told *we* were not allowed (even though other tourists were – not sure if there was a bribe thing goin’ on, or what). This time, however, Igor didn’t bother to ask and just climbed up, motioning Lindsay to follow. There were already 3 people up top, but the five of us just fit on the bench. This was definitely the best seat in the house: instead of sitting along the edge of the boat’s interior, we actually got to face forward, and of course the view was awesome!

 

We finally get a top-deck seat! It’s far more comfortable and we have a refreshing breeze

 

We get a killer view of the sunrise! It would be perfect if condensation from the roof didn’t keep dripping on us – after a good 20min of wiping down the boat, the dripping finally stops

Even though this was by far and away our best ferry experience in the Galápagoes, it was also our weirdest. About halfway to Santa Cruz, our boat slowed down and met up with another speed boat just sitting in the middle of the ocean. The captain started instructing anyone who had a flight to catch to transfer to the other boat…so while the two boats were bouncing up in down in the waves, people had to crawl across the railing from one ferry to the other. The sailors then started transferring bags – good thing we were watching from above as we had to yell at them to leave our luggage alone! Once the correct bags were taken, the second ferry took off and sped away ahead of us, while we plodded along.

We guessed that our boat must have been having engine problems, as we were significantly slower than than all the others, which were soon out of sight. Igor watched as the captain and his first mate spent the rest of the ride tinkering with the boat’s wiring (he thinks they must have fried one of the wires, as the radio stopped turning on about an hour from port). Whatever – we weren’t in a hurry. All the other passengers that were sharing our top-deck seat had left by this time, so we had plenty of space to stretch out and even take a nap. We arrived in Puerto Ayora after 9AM – well over an hour after everyone else, but the comfort was totally worth it.

Sadly, the Captain Max Hostel didn’t have any rooms left for our second stay in Puerto Ayora, so Igor found us a “hostería” or guesthouse on the outskirts of town called Patty’s House. It was far (a 20min walk – downhill going into town, but uphill coming back) but since taxis were only USD $1.50 anywhere within Puerto Ayora, it wasn’t a big deal. We checked in and checked out the apartment – it was bare bones, but the kitchen did have a hotplate and a few cooking utensils, so we planned to self-cater for the next three nights, especially once we caught a glimpse of the amazing spread of fresh tuna at the fish market!

 

The Puerto Ayora fish market is in full swing when we walk by in the late morning – check out that fresh Yellowfin Tuna!

 

The fish market is surrounded by hungry pelicans, waiting for scraps

 

Birds aren’t the only beggars – a sly sea lion hides behind the counter. Whenever the fishmonger turns his head, the lobo hoists himself onto the counter trying to steal a snack!

In the afternoon, we finally made our way to the Charles Darwin Research Center – a scientific compound at the edge of town that houses an educational walking path, museum, Giant Tortoise Breeding Center, as well as facilities for the 200+ team of scientists, educators and interns that work to conserve the islands’ unique ecosystem. It may be a bit nerdy, but we couldn’t *not* go. And while we were sweating bullets at times, the place was pretty interesting.

The most notable figure within the education materials (besides Darwin himself) was Lonesome George, and the sad tale of his species’ extinction. Thanks to the plundering habits of pirates (who would collect 100s of tortoises as they passed through the islands in the 1600s to store *upside down* for months at a time in order to have fresh meat on their long voyages) and the introduction of feral goats and pigs (who over-grazed the island’s vegetation leaving the tortoises nothing to eat), the population of Giant Tortoises was absolutely decimated. By the 1970s, 2 of the subspecies were extinct, and a third – the Pinta Island Giant Tortoise – was down to its *last surviving member.* Lonesome George – an 80-something y/o male was that very last of his kind. The scientific community searched far and wide, combing the zoos of the world to try and find out if a female was still around (there was even a USD $10,000 reward!) but none were ever located. In an effort to preserve some of his DNA, many attempts were made to mate Lonesome George with some females from Volcán Wolf – considered the closest biological match. Even though a handful of eggs were laid, none of them ever hatched. Lonesome George died in 2012.

 

Igor walks the “Tortoise Trail” at the Charles Darwin Research Station

 

Learning is fun! We read about the pirates that hunted many of the Galápagos Giant Tortoises into extinction, and the various modern efforts to rebuild the surviving populations

Luckily, George’s fate was not shared by all the Giant Tortoises – there was one really great success story! Around the same time as George’s discovery, the population of the Española Giant Tortoise was down to only 13. Breeding attempts between the last 2 males and the 11 females weren’t looking too good, until another world-wide search yielded a stud in the San Diego Zoo. No one knew exactly when this guy was acquired (sometime between 1900-1950?), but he was soon taken back to the Galápagoes where he got BUSY. This well-endowed reptile fathered over 800 babies over the decades and is credited with single-handedly saving his species. (Although, I’d like to point out how SEXIST that statement is – after all, the females who laid the fucking eggs should get a little recognition, no?)

 

Baby and adult tortoises live in pens in the Charles Darwin Breeding Center until they are old enough to return to the wild

Tortoises aren’t the only species endanger of extinction – the poor Mangrove Finch is down to under 100 individuals thanks to avian illness (which prevent adults from reaching sexual maturity) and the accidental introduction of a parasitic fly (who lays its eggs in the finches’ nests so that the larva can crawl into the baby birds’ ears and EAT THEIR BRAINS). In an attempt to save the Mangrove Finches from the zombie bugs, a team of scientists have been collecting the eggs from the wild for the past 2 years, and hand-rearing them in captivity until they are old enough to be released. So far, the project has seen moderate success: the number of surviving babies had doubled each year. Keeping our finger crossed for these little guys!

 

Visiting the Charles Darwin Research Station – Lindsay discovers a little too late that the tortoise photo-op was for kids. Her big adult butt won’t fit!

Of course, the real highlight of the day was the AMAZING dinner we had back at our hospedaje. Lindsay whipped up her black bean and corn salsa, while Master Chef Igor cooked a *perfectly* rare tuna steak. We even treated ourselves to a rare bottle of wine for USD $10 (booze is incredibly expensive to import into the islands, but the selection was slightly better in Santa Cruz) – salud!

 

The best and freshest USD $2.50 tuna we’ve ever had in our lives! That guy was swimming in the ocean this morning. Tonight – he’s in our bellies!

Day 328: Isabela Island – Day 4

The only activity we had yet to do on Isabela was to go snorkeling in the Concha de Perla cove – a site right next to the pier (thus within walking distance) that is known for penguin sightings. Seeing the only tropical penguin in the world was one of the main reasons we came to Isabela in the first place, so it was a must-do. We rented a set of snorkels and fins from an agency in town the night before so that we could walk over first thing in the morning and hopefully have the cove to ourselves. One other couple beat us by a few minutes, but the place was big enough that we all had plenty of space to enjoy the sea life.

 

Early morning snorkeling in Concha de Perla – jumping off the dock into the cool, clear water

 

Swimming through schools of fish, and passing over a huge Marbled Stingray

 

A school of a dozen stingrays flap by underneath us

 

PENGUINS!!! At last, we find a pair of Galápagos Penguins, hunting for small fish in Isabela Island

 

The penguins are not shy, but they are only interested in fish. Once the school scatters, they dart away into the blue

 

Sea lions rolling around in the water next to the dock

 

Lindsay and a sea lion check each other out below and above the surface

 

A marine iguana clings to the side of the dock

 

When Lindsay gets out of the water, she can’t find her sunglasses, which she left sitting on the bench. A pair of a lions are now sleeping directly below…maybe they are lying on top of her glasses? It takes a few minutes of carefully poking the lobos with our selfie stick to get them to move over enough to verify the sunglasses are gone

 

We finally have to conclude that someone came and took Lindsay’s sunglasses. Igor remembered seeing a sketchy guy show up all by himself without a snorkel (and without sunglasses!) – he even caught him on camera. Other than that guy, we were the first ones to leave the cove, so there was no one else to take the glasses. THIEF!!!! (Thus concludes Sherlock Lindsay. Igor suggested she report it to the police, but she felt a bit silly given it was a pair of USD $5 glasses. Whatever – they didn’t even have UV protection – I hope that guy goes blind.)

We technically didn’t need to stay on Isabela another night, as we had plenty of time to make the 2PM ferry to Santa Cruz. However, the ferry was unpleasant enough during the cool hours of the morning – we couldn’t imagine suffering through the crowded, bumpy ride in the heat of the afternoon. Our hotel didn’t have availability for another night, so we had to move our stuff across town to the Volcano Hotel. Totally worth the effort tho, we got a huge room with an amazing view of the beach. After check-in, we once again spent the hottest part of the day hiding indoors with the AC on full blast, then emerged to do something incredibly productive: build sandcastles on the beach!

 

Our new, oceanview hotel room – nice upgrade!

 

Igor the sand artist creates a giant iguana on the beach

 

Lindsay loves her handsome, talented baby!

 

We finish the iguana just as the sun sinks below the horizon. While there is still a little bit of light in the sky, our fellow tourists walk over to Igor’s iguana to take pictures

 

Lindsay orders with her stomach – a ridiculously big, extra large pizza. By the time she finished her last slice, she felt like her tummy would explode.

 

Our hotel room has two full-sized beds. Igor says, “Honey – I love you – but I am so happy I have my own bed tonight,” as he passes out. I love too, you. Sleep well.