Tuesday, October 8, 2013

September 29 to October 4- Our trip to the Galapagos Part 1


Our week long trip to the Galapagos Island of Santa Cruz was finally here.

 I’ve decided to write two posts as we did so much and took too many pictures. Part 1 is of our flight and things we did on Isla Santa Cruz.

We had spent the night in Guayaquil as our flight was leaving early in the morning because according to the TAME airline representative, we should be at the airport two hours ahead of flight time.

Before you go to your airline counter, you have to go to the ‘Control de Transito de Galapagos’ counter to pay for ($10) and get a Tarjeta – present either your passport or your Cedula if you have one. Then they check your luggage through the x-ray machine to make sure you are not taking anything to the islands that would interfere with their unique environment. A zip lock is then put on your luggage and off you can finally go to the airline counter to get your boarding pass. Thus the two hour time at the airport as you have to line up at each.

The flight from Guayaquil is relatively painless- less than two hours. The airport for Isla Santa Cruz is actually located on Isla Baltra separated by a short straight of water from our final destination. On arrival at the terminal, make sure you go into the entrance labeled ‘Residents’ if you have your Cedula. The airport staff will try to direct you into the visitor line but just flash your Cedula and insist on the resident entrance. And you will be glad you did! Not only is the line much shorter but instead of paying a $100 environmental fee you will only pay $6 ($3 if you are 65 or older).

                                                 The modern Airport on Baltra Island

 
Buses waiting to take you to the Ferry dock for the short trip to Santa Cruz Island

 
                                                               The Ferry Dock

 
                                               Off we go to the other side
    
 
                                                           The map of our Island

 
The Island of Santa Cruz actually has three different climate zones. On the north end (near the airport) it looks a lot like the desert in Arizona. Lots of cacti and shrubs that resemble the Palo Verde tree and lots of sunshine. Then you head south into the highlands and slowly the scenery changes.

First, trees bare at this time of the year but full of foliage during rainy season, so we were told.

 
Then almost like a rain forest and,yes, it was raining every time we passed this way

 
As we went down the other side we passed some huge trees covered in moss and lots of meadow land.

 
And finally the small town of Puerto Ayora, our final destination.

In town we first went to the dock to get a water taxi to take us to our hotel.

 
                              The taxis waiting for customers. Cost is 60 cents or $1 after 7PM per person

 
                              Arriving at the beautiful Angermeyer Waterfront Inn

                         http://angermeyer-waterfront-inn.com/

 
                                                             Our beautiful room

 
 
                                                                Our views out over the bay

 
                                          Our breakfast or dinner area overlooking the water

 
                                      Our room included a wonderful  breakfast buffet

 
This hotel is in gorgeous surroundings. Our friend Elsie is the manager and part owner and made us feel very welcome. This is a perfect place to stay if you prefer, like us, staying on land  rather than a boat cruise. We had opted for day boat trips instead. This way we could also explore the many sights on this island.

First we decided to take a walk to Las Grietas located a fair walk from our hotel. The first part was great, a good path, good footing leading to the closest beach.

 
After the beach, the path became a little more difficult. We passed many huge cacti that had trucks almost like trees and as tall. These are called Opuntias and seem to develop tree like trunks once they reach 10’ plus.

 
                                          We also saw our first sea lion. This seems to be their normal state- sleeping

 
The last 800 metres were nasty. Luckily we had good hiking shoes as the path- what there was of it- consisted of volcanic rocks – some boulder size. It took us a good 45 minutes to negotiate this hike but the end result was definitely worth it. Too bad we didn’t bring our bathing suits.

                                 The end leading down to the water

 
                                                                          Beautiful scenery

 
The kids did bring their bathing suits and had a great time jumping from the cliffs- oh, to be young again!

 
We took several trips into the town of Puerto Ayora to shop, sight see and eat. We found a great Pizza joint that actually had craft brewed beer- Uwe was in heaven.

 
The streets in town were exceptionally clean and easy to navigate. No sudden drops or doggy poop. And lots of art galleries with some pretty hefty priced but beautiful  items. And of course, lots of souvenir shops.

 
The best place in town was the fish market for entertainment. There were many scroungers of both the winged and flipper variety.

 
 
 
 
Near the far end of town was the Charles Darwin Center where the babies of giant tortoises are raised and then released back to their island of origin once they are 5-6 years old.

 The path around the complex is easy to hike and gave us the opportunity to see both fully grown tortugas and the baby hatchlings.

 
 
 
 
On yet another day we hiked to Tortuga Bay Beach. Along the path we again saw the giant cacti called Opuntias. Very weird- trunks like trees with cactus on top.

Though the path is easy walking the distance is 2.5 kilometers to the beach and another kilometer at least along the beach sand to where we saw many of the sea iguanas.

 
                                                   The beach stretching far into the distance

 
                                                       Sea turtles come to lay eggs here

 
                                              A sea Iguana actually swimming into the beach

 
                           To give you an idea how large they are beside my 6’ husband- LOL

 
                                                            And there were many many

 
                                 The very tranquil beach surrounded by mangrove trees at the very far end

 
                                                              And a lazy beach visitor

 
On our way back to town we took a little side trip through the Ninfas Lagoon- this is where the sea water meets the river water. It is a very tranquil place to visit, very quiet, with only the birds singing and fish splashing in the water.

 
Our final Island trip was into the highlands of Santa Cruz. For this, we hired a taxi. All the taxis in town are white 4 wheel drive pickup trucks and we soon found out why. Though most people in town speak some English, taxi drivers do not. We found a driver, Andres, near the pier and after negotiating a price of $30 to $35 for the 3-4 hours, we took off to our first destination.

This was at the very top of the highlands where it’s always misty and rainy. There were walking paths along the many scenic cliffs which had been formed by the land sinking down into the lava tunnels.

 
                                                Beautiful scenery

 
 
Next we were off to the Tortoise Reserve where there were many many large tortugas living in the wild. Here we had to pay a $3/ person entrance fee. At the parking lot were several souvenir shops and places to grab a quick snack. This was probably my least favorite place as we had already seen so many of these tortoises everywhere.
                                     The path was easy and pleasant

 
                                                           You could get quite close

 
                                                   There were many

 
Our last destination along yet another bumpy, dirt road was to the Lava tunnel. This tunnel was walkable and had an entrance at each end with around several hundred meters between.

 
Down a staircase we went. Our driver stayed behind and was to meet us at the other end.

 
Though there were lights all along, it was still difficult to see where you were stepping.

As we progressed, the footing became worse and worse until finally we were climbing hand over hand along boulders. Not for the faint of heart- LOL. OK, so we finally got close to the end and came to an area that I refused to navigate! Those of you that know us well know that I’m reasonably adventurous but…..

This next section was only 1 meter high ( 3’ for my USA friends) and you had to crawl under this for about 5 meters. And it was muddy!! That of course was the final straw for me- crawl under miles of rock with only 3’ of room PLUS mud- no way. So we walked all the way back the way we had come. Our taxi driver was of course waiting for us at the other end. Other people who had passed us told him that the crazy gringa and her husband had turned back so he did come back laughing to pick us up.

Our last night on the island, we were invited to our friend Elsie’s house in town. She has a cute rental an easy walking distance from the pier. We had many good wines , lots of pizza and good conversations in English as well as our broken Spanish with her other guests, Teppy, the owner of Angermeyer Inn and his friend, Alex.

 
So finishes Part 1 of our fantastic week on Santa Cruz Island. Stay tuned for Part 2, our boat trip to see all the animals along with their babies on North Seymour Island.

 

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