Galápagos

I: Planning your trip

Fri, 7 Dec 2012 18:09:06 -0800

a: Going to the Galapagos

Going to the Galapagos is not quite the same as going to a standard tourist destination. The first jolt is that it is a fairly expensive, even though it is located in South America. The second jolt is that you have to decide in advance why you want to go there. You can’t just buy a ticket, go there, and see what you can do.

I suppose you do want to participate firsthand in the almost surreal experience of walking very close to the birds, the marine and land iguanas, the marine and land turtles, the seals and sea lions, and other wildlife, who have no fear of humans and other predators, because they have never been preyed upon. You actually do not realize this until you are there. When Charles Darwin arrived here, it was this unique and fearless wildlife that gave birth to his theory of Natural Selection. As you walk and observe, it may feel as if you are in an artificial world, because this is not what we usually see. Except maybe in Sci-Fi movies. And you may wonder whether this the natural order and the rest of the world is artificial. The dichotomy is real.

Then again, maybe your honest reason to visit here is just to add the Galápagos Islands as a trophy entry in the list of the places you have visited. After all, it is not a bad place to work on your tan.

Some may want a peek without too much effort and too much discomfort. You can go in a luxury cruise-ship, go out in the morning to view what the guides have to offer, go snorkeling or lounge on the sun deck, and be back in the afternoon for a nice shower and an aperitif before the sit-down 5-course dinner with a bottle of Chateau Haut-Brion. With a 12-year old cognac as a fitting end to the day. You can take one of the many combo-tours combining Machu Picchu and the Galapagos for around $5,000. For that you get Machu Picchu and 3-4 nights on a small ship (which translates to 2.5 - 3.5 days of sightseeing) in the Galapagos.

Then again, maybe you are made of sterner stuff and you are actually interested in the myriad of wildlife, which have grown and developed in isolation and go there as a dedicated ecotourist. And if you rather belong to the “Downstairs” company in Romney Abbey, you can tour the islands in a tourist class boat, where accommodations are spartan and the boat will rock excessively in the swells.

Most of us would probably opt for something in the middle. Maybe in a first-class or tourist superior yacht for the standard 7-nights tour. This will presumably give you 6 full days plus two half days at each end of the trip. And with the upper-class vessel, you’ll probably get a good naturalist guide, who will give you a sterling view and feel of the islands and the wildlife. But you could also be a marine biologist and a naturalist at heart. You want to see more. Then go on a first-class yacht, and take the 14-night tour.

And if you are one of them, you will also cringe at this travel journal, because it is obviously not written by a naturalist. But so is 99.9 % of the word population.

b: How to get there.

The simplest way is, of course, to book an 8-10 day tour from your friendly, local tour agency, preferably one specializing in the Galapagos. Of these 8-10 days, at least 2 days will be spent traveling from your home town to either of the two towns in Ecuador from where you fly to the Islands. They are either Quito or Guayaquil. Then you lose two more half days to fly from these towns to Galapagos so, for practical purposes you only have 4-6 full days at your final destination and two half-days at each end. Maybe this is enough to visit 5-7 islands and get a first-rate view of what the islands have to offer. But if you want to see more, consider the standard 14 night itinerary, which is, however, much less available. There are just not that many dedicated ecotourists with fat wallets and lots of time.

How much will this cost you. For the prime periods of travel The National Geographic Expeditions will charge you for a 10-day tour around $6,500/per person for a category 3 experience, $1,500 more if you want to be pampered in a category 5 surroundings, or $1,500 less if you are content with steerage. Add another $1,000 for RT airfare from your residence to Quito/Guayaquil, and another $450 for the airfare between these cities and Baltra in the Galapagos, and you are looking at an outlay of around $8,000/per person. Going with another tour operator is usually not that much less expensive.

But for this price they will pick you up at the Quito/Guayaquil airport and drive you to your nice hotel, included in your price. You get your meals, maybe even a tour of these cities, and they get you to the airport in time for your flight to Galapagos. You don’t even have to stand in line to check in, it will be done for you. It is very safe and comforting, especially after you hear the horror stories what may otherwise befall you in a foreign country where many are more than willing to relieve you of your cash and other valuables and where you need to know some Spanish to get around. You get into a boat where everybody, including the naturalist guides, speaks English, and you can have your whole experience without having to known any Spanish, except maybe “la cuenta” and maybe for the more advanced, “una mas cerveza, por favor”.

Actually, by going with a tour operator outside of Ecuador, you are almost certain to pay the highest price possible. Yacht operators set their prices for the next year a few months earlier and this is the number the foreign tour operators work with. Then there is his markup and his cost for the local support in Quito/Guayaquil. In addition, most of these tour operators only make arrangements with a limited number of vessels.

A good alternative is to contact a local tour operator in Quito, Ecuador. They can find and book you in a cabin from a much larger selection of vessels. And as the departure date approaches they can also find deals for you with considerable savings, because an empty cabin is money lost. You will still have to take care of your flight and stay in Quito, which is not difficult, but you can get assistance in getting your flights arranged to Baltra in the Galapagos Islands. We used Sangay Travel in Quito (sangay.com). They have an excellent website; they list last minute deals for departures in the next month or two for a variety of vessels, and their prices sometimes even include the flight from the Ecuadorian mainland to Baltra in the Galapagos Islands, which is around $450/person. In that case you also get assistance for the flights to and from Baltra.

The least expensive alternative is to fly to Baltra on your own and then find your ship there. The tour operators outside of Baltra obviously don’t like this. So what they do is to preempt all seats on the flights to Baltra, which is allowed based on their yacht capacity, and so you will find that all seats have been sold out up to one year in advance. You just have to go there and get a flight a few days before, as these spaces are then released by the tour operators. But there is usually no problem in getting a seat unless you go in the high season.

The foreign tour operators will also scare you by claiming that it will be difficult to find space on a ship once you are in Puerto Ayora, which is the town closest to Baltra airport. You are told that you may have to wait days before there is an opening. They will also tell you that many, especially the better ships, have a code of honor. They will just give you a very small discount to protect the other passengers, who have booked earlier and paid full fare. And what you’ll get is a lower-rated vessel where the only cabin left is next to the engine room. Nothing like good horror stories to scare away the unwary.

Actually, once you fly into Baltra and get to Puerto Ayora, you will find more than a dozen tour agencies there aggressively offering discounted prices on a variety of vessels for tours of different lengths, from day tours to the 14-day tours.

left: There are many tour operators in Puerto Ayora

In Puerto Ayora I dropped in the “Galapagos Islas Lobos S.A. Travel Agency” on the corner of Ave Baltra and Thomas de Berlanga, and asked what they had for an 8-day, seven night tour in the next day or two. They had available for me a 3-days, 2 nights tour to Isabela using the ferry to go to Puerto Villamil and back and staying in a moderately classed hotel. This is followed by a 5-day 4 nights cruise on a DeLuxe class yacht to Floreana, Española, San Cristobal, and Genovesa. Total price for the 8-day adventure: US$ 1,000.

There was also another option available of an 8 days 7 nights cruise on a first class vessel for $1,400. I said I was going to think it over and the next day she bumped into me on the street (Puerto Ayora is a small town and I don’t really look like a native) and asked me whether I had made my decision. The tours were still available, and she had other 8-day tours I could consider. It seems that, unless you come in a high demand period, such as Christmas. New Year, Easter and the summer holidays, there should always be something available.

c: When to go.

The warmest period is from November to April. The rainy season starts in December and goes through March. You may want to avoid late August to October, because the seas are more turbulent at this time and the boat will rock more. At this time the cold Humboldt current sweeps northwards from the Antarctic, hugging the coast of South America. Even though the Galapagos is close to the equator, the waters can be relatively cold.

February through April are the most desirable months. By that time the southeast trade winds slacken, no longer driving the cold Humboldt current to the Galapagos. The warm waters of the Panama Current will flow south, heading right at the Galapagos. Water temperatures increase by around 10 degrees F.

Try to consider the time around the beginning of December. There is a slow period between Thanksgiving and Christmas and you are apt to get a good deal. There is still a lot of sunshine with maybe an occasional drizzle. We met some passengers on a 48 passenger cruise ship, and they said they had only 23 paying tourists on board. But the boat was fully booked for months starting in the middle of December. Or maybe that was just the PR line to make the current passengers feel good.

In addition, this is the start of the rainy season, and the insects, mosquitoes, flies, and wasps have not quite come out of hibernation. It is no fun having to cope with these anthropods. They usually win.

And a bit later the rains will come, which makes it difficult to dry your clothes, because you really don’t have access to electric or gas dryers, unless you are in a luxury cruise ship. Your friend, the trade winds, are often moist. You’ll just have to get used to clothing which are still slightly damp, because you’ll get regular contact with seawater in the wet landings and during snorkeling.

d: Cruise boats.

The available vessels are roughly sorted in four categories.

1: DeLuxe Class. There are two main classes in this category: (a) the large capacity cruise ships with 40 - 100 passengers) and (b) the smaller non-cruise ship boats, including the catamarans which are more stable. These carry the most qualified and experienced naturalist guides on board. The Galapagos Park rules limit visitors to the islands to 16 maximum per group, and they have to be accompanied by a naturalist guide. This is irrespective of whether you go by a DeLuxe Class, or by a tourist class vessel.

The DeLuxe Class vessels have comfortable cabins with private facilities with shower/bathroom, and the food is supposed to be copious and good. The disadvantage of these larger capacity vessels is that since the group size for a landing is limited to 16, there will be some delay in the landings, because they have to be spaced. And having only 16 persons an an island in this unusual surroundings is certainly more pleasing to the soul than when you find 100 people traipsing around you.

2: First Class. These are mostly the 16 passenger yachts. The upper tier of this yachts has high quality, comfort, and good food. The qualification of the naturalist guide is similar to that of the DeLuxe class boats. The lower tier First Class is probably just a tad better than tourist superior class.

3: Tourist Superior Class. Amenities are good and well above basic but definitely less than First Class.

4: Tourist Class. Basic, for tourists, mostly students on a tight budget. The naturalist guide may not even speak English or very poor English

The most graceful vessels in the archipelago are the sailing boats. These are basically motor boats, but they also have sails. For practical reasons the sails are not used very often, because the boats usually sail at night to conserve time. And sailboats are narrower, so they are also the most prone to rocking in the rough waters. The cabins are also smaller because of the smaller width of the boat. And don’t underestimate the sea swells. They can be quite trying for body and soul. These swells didn’t bother us too much, but after a week on board we were very happy to be back on solid grounds.

The catamarans are the most stable. Get on a catamaran if you are prone to sea-sickness. Or go on a large cruise ship.

e: The Tip Top IV.

right: The Tip Top IV with passengers on one of the zodiacs getting back into the vessel.

We had a cabin on the upper deck of the Tip Top IV, a 16 passenger yacht in the DeLuxe category. They actually have 10 double cabins, but Park Rules limit the number of tourists to 16 during the landings.

With a length of 130 ft, a beam of 25 ft, and a draft of only 6 ft, it is really much smaller than the Titanic, and definitely less stable. The vessel was constructed in 2006.

The upper deck has the bridge and 4 cabins; the middle deck, with all the windows, is where the lounge and the dining rooms are situated, as well as a minuscule gym. There are 6 lower cabins, which are closer to the water and are presumably more stable.

So there were only 16 passengers in our group. Mike and Johanna were a German-Austrian couple from Belgium; Grant and Rona were originally from South African, but had moved to New Zealand and are now residing in England; Kate and Daniel were from New Zealand, accompanied by Sophie and Patrick, at 5 and 4 years the Benjamins of the group; CK and Jane were a Chinese couple from Singapore, with Wei and Song. their grownup teenage kids in tow; Peter, British but living in Connecticut; the two of us with a Chinese-Indonesian-Dutch background; and Sima, of Jewish heritage, currently living in California. It was the complete polyglot ensemble.
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left: In the dining hall of the Tip Top IV. Back row, left to right: Johanna, Rona, Patrick, Daniel; next row Michael, Grant, Kate, and Sophie, next row Song, Norma, Hok, Peter; front row Sima, Jane, Wei, and CK.

Having these two young kids on board was a surprise. The parents had to sign waivers before the cruise company allowed them to join, and at first we too were rather apprehensive.

But at the end of the trip they were the darlings of everybody. They kept up with us on our walks; they seldom complained, showed a lot of interest in the environment, and they were cute and photogenic to boot. They ended up being the most photographed passengers on board.

The vessel had a crew of eight.

right: Fabrizio Prado, our licensed naturalist guide.

Our guide was Fabrizio Prado Manzo, born in the Galapagos, handsome, very knowledgeable, and an enthusiastic stewart of the environment. He hails from Puerto Baquerizo Morno on San Cristobal. His self-taught English is fluent, and he is mentioned in the latest issue of the Lonely Planet as a contributor. Here he is explaining the physiology of a marine iguana at the hand of a recently deceased specimen.

II: Cruising the Galápagos Islands

Fri, 7 Dec 2012 15:38:47 -0800

a: Itinerary.

A map of the Galapagos Islands with the itinerary of our tour is shown on the map below. We did not go to any of the islands east of Genovesa, so I have left them out to increase readability of the map below. The days are spent exploring the islands and the associated wildlife; there is also time for snorkeling or paddling around in a kayak. At night the boat goes to the next destination, so not to lose any time, as we try to sleep rocked and sometimes forcibly shaken by the waves.

You will note that Baltra airport is on South Seymour, an island north of Santa Cruz, and that Puerto Ayora is on the south of Santa Cruz. There is a ferry between these two islands where the fare is $0.80 per passenger. (The U.S. dollar is the standard currency in Ecuador). A taxi from the ferry terminal in the north of Santa Cruz will take you to Puerto Ayora over the highlands in about 45 minutes. The fare is $18.

b: Day 1, December 7, 2012. North Seymour.

Our flight from Quito was late and we were hustled from Baltra Airport to the Tip Top IV, which was moored in the adjacent harbor. The boat immediately left for North Seymour island close by for our first walk. We had a wet landing, which meant that the panga (Zodiac) would get on a beach and we had to jump off in a few inches of water to walk up the beach. The walk itself was not that easy, because these islands are volcanic in nature, and we had to navigate on very uneven solidified volcanic lava.

But it was an amazing experience to be able to view the wildlife unafraid from very close by. The first time it takes your breath away. The seals and sea lions actually believe they have the right of way, if their path cross ours.

left: A young seal trying to suckle at his mother, completely unperturbed by the spectators. Park rules do not allow humans to come closer than 2 meters to the animals.

The Galapagos has many frigate birds; you see them everywhere. You have the Great Frigate bird and the Magnificent Frigate bird. These birds are large, with a wing span comparable to that of an albatross, and they are often referred to as the vultures of the sea.

We were lucky to see a Magnificent Frigate bird puffing out his scarlet pouch just a few yards away. This is his call for a female to join him. (see picture above) He was actually a bit further away from the large group of other frigate birds nearby. Frigate birds have claws and they need a perch to sit on; they have trouble walking on the ground.

right: A female frigate bird had just answered the mating call of the plaintive Lothario by swooping down on the male. She is the one with the uplifted wing in the foreground.

This frigate bird was on some low-lying bushes close to the ground, and we didn’t think this Don Juan would attract any female. We were wrong; soon a female swooped down and joined him.

left: Now they are happily together and you can immediately see who is the boss.

There were many other birds and mammals, but I just wanted to mention the swallow-tailed gulls. A pair was mating just about two yards away from where we were, quite oblivious to us. The male had four goes, before the female seemingly disgusted, stalked away. Well, that was more than most men are capable of and she should be satisfied, I would say..

right: A pair of mating swallow-tailed gulls in the dusk.

Dinner on board was made of good ingredients, but the cook wasn’t quite up to the quality of a Cordon Blue chef. What could have been an excellent repast was just good.

c: Day 2, December 8, 2012. Genovesa

We left North Seymour Island at night and motored to Bahia Darwin (Darwin Bay) in Genovesa (see map), a 56 miles traverse through somewhat choppy seas.

Our morning walk followed a wet landing at Darwin Bay. There were flightless cormorants, as well as red-footed boobies and immature frigate birds. And marine iguanas were everywhere.

left: A red-footed boobie

Then we went back to the boat to get dressed and to came back to the beach to snorkel. The water temperature was 68 - 70 ℉, a little bit on the cool side, and a wet suit is comfortable to have. Wet suits were available by ordering in advance for rent. It was $35 per suit for the whole trip and worth it.

At this location the fish were pretty but not spectacular as in other tropical waters. But there were many turtles swimming around, all very friendly.

right: Norma swimming with a Black turtle

In the afternoon we had a tour in the pangas of the surrounding striated rocks. My knowledge of plate tectonics is minimal, but the rocky cliffs do look nice. In and below the rocks sea lions were frolicking around, as well as the Galapagos fur seals, marine iguanas, red crabs, boobies, and more other stuff. It gets overwhelming to keep up what you see.

There are three species of boobies in the Galapagos: (a) the blue-footed boobies. They are the most prevalent. They have blue feet (obviously) and their head is covered with brown-black rug-like feathers. (b) the red-footed boobies. They have bright-red feet; their neck, snow white when they are young, becomes covered by a soot-like color as they mature. Their beaks are blue. (c) the Nascar or masked booby. There is actually a small difference between these two species, but they are often lumped together. The masked boobies have grey-colored feet, a beautiful white neck, a yellow beak, and black feathers around their eyes, giving the impression of a mask.

The rocky cliffs looked tall and forbidding, but somewhere, a steep path had been chiseled; these are the Prince Phillip’s Steps, which we climbed to get on the plateau, some 40-50 feet above sea level.

left: The Prince Phillip’s Steps landing.

Up there were a surprisingly large number of female masked boobies nesting out in the open, sitting on 1 - 3 eggs. They were obviously not worried about predators. The frigate bird may pose a danger to their eggs, but they cannot maneuver well on flat ground.

The frigate bird and the boobies live in harmony with each other, but the frigate bird may harass a boobie if there is food involved.

right: On the shrub are 3 frigate birds, the middle one is immature. Walking in front is a pair of masked boobies. Frigate birds cannot walk on the flat ground.

The nest of the masked booby female is ringed with an almost perfect circle of white excrement. The female stands up and squirts her poop in one direction, turns a bit around and squirts more poop. Keep on doing this and you get the perfect circle, because they know how they can very reproducibly squirt their poop a certain distance. Humans are woefully deficient in this art.

below: A female masked boobie hatching 2 eggs surrounded by a perfect circle of white excrement.

What is this circle for. Apparently this is the boundary where the fledgeling hatchling is not supposed to cross for safety reasons.

In the slowly failing light we admired a a yellow crowned night heron, and red-billed tropic birds with their long tails and red beaks. And there is an abundance of the Galapagos mocking bird, one the of the 13 species of finches on the islands. The ground finch is the largest of the species.

Before we boarded our ship we circled a local fishing vessel nearby, being accompanied by a large number of frigate birds circling around. The crew was cleaning the fish they caught, which were then salted and stored away. The birds were waiting for the fish offal.

The fishermen are only allowed to fish with line and hook. The rockfish they were cleaning were maybe 4-8 lbs each. We were told that in the olden days the fish they caught were substantially larger, but overfishing has depleted the bigger fish.

d: Day 3, December 9, 2012. Santiago

That night we motored some 30 miles to Puerta Egas (James Bay) on Santiago Island. In the morning walk we had another wet landing, and the road along the coast was strewn with lava rocks. There were thousands of marine iguanas all over the place as well as the reddish crabs.

right: There were thousands of marine iguanas on the lava rocks.

These iguanas are descended from the land iguanas in South America and probably came here accidentally by drifting on some floating vegetation or driftwood. In the Galapagos, they had to adopt to a strictly vegetarian marine diet. They are the only marine iguanas in the world. Their tails are very long, flat in shape to assist in swimming, and about half the length of the whole body.

The iguanas appear to have a good life. There is sufficient food, and they can spend most of their time warming themselves on the black lava rocks. Their skin color mimics those of the rocks, an ancient camouflage against predators and also to absorb more heat from the sun. Their main diet is the Ulva, a chlorophyl-rich algae, which they usually obtain from the growths on the underwater rocks. Because of this diet, their salt intake is much higher than what they need. An interesting sight is these iguanas blowing a strong spray of salt water through the nostrils into the air, up to a foot high. This is to remove excess salt from their system.

There is another reason why they spend so much time in the sun. David Attenborough has shown with infrared cameras that the body temperatures of these animals go down precipitously when diving for food in the cold waters. So when they get out of the water they are chilled to the bone and need to heat up before their bodies can process the food.

Fur seals dotted the landscape, as well as sea lions. To the untrained eyes, these two species look quite similar. But seals cannot “walk” on their flippers; the sea lions do. Seals do not have external ears; sea lions do. Seals cannot raise themselves on their front flippers, sea lions can. Seals swim with their posterior flippers; sea lions with their front flippers.

And everywhere are the red crabs.

left: Two of the many red Sally Lightfoot crabs on the islands.

Our walk ended at the grottos, an area where you can see underwater grottos and pools with clear blue water. There was even a natural bridge crossing over these pools. The picture above Chapter 1 was taken in this area.

Walking back was inland over an easy sandy road.

In the afternoon we left for a walk on Espumilla, a brown sandy beach on Santiago Island. On the way there there were turtles mating in the water. Nothing like a free salacious show as the zodiacs circled the huffing and puffing animals. And just like in a real peep show, there is a lot of thrashing around but not much concrete to see. But people still spend good money to be in the audience.

The male is smaller than the female, and as usual, the male is on top. Copulation is hard work and the female has to keep straining not to drown if the male gets too amorous. And around the mating couple are more male turtles expectantly and impatiently waiting their turn. Multiple coitus is desirable to develop a healthy gene pool for the 300 or so eggs an average female lies. These females lay eggs up to 5 times per year. The picture below shows two marine turtles mating in the water.

right: Marine turtles mating in the water.

On the beach were a number of marine turtles and their nests in the sand of the upper parts of the beach. It takes a turtle hours to walk up the beach, preferably at high tide, to get to the desirable places.

The picture below shows a marine turtle going back to the water. She probably came back from laying her eggs further up the beach. Still, it sometimes takes them up to six hours to find a good place, which is dry, even at high tide, but not too far from the water.

They then dig a round hole where they fit, and then another smaller hole, where they deposit their eggs. This again takes many hours. The eggs are covered by a mucous secretion for protection, and then covered by sand. By the time the female is finished it is many hours later. If it is 12 hours, they can catch the next high tide.

left: A marine turtle going back to the water. In the back are two pelicans enjoying the surf

As we walking there, we saw somebody jogging the length of the beach, about 2-3 miles long. He went back and fro some 3 times. He was the captain of our ship and he was trying to set a good example for us. Nobody followed him.

In the afternoon we had a tour of the northern part of the island from our ship. looking at the high, striated cliffs. We passed Buccaneer’s Cove, now completely deserted. Here is where in olden times buccaneers had a settlement, from where they raided the gold and silver-laden galleons destined for Spain. These ships were actually heading to Panama, where the cargo was transferred on donkeys to cross the isthmus, before being reloaded on the Pacific Coast on a galleon for Spain. For good measure they also raided the ships sailing south from Panama loaded with silver coins to pay the Spanish expeditionary forces.

right: The rock called “The Widow” with behind it Buccaneer’s Cove

e: Day 4, December 10, 2012. Isabela and Fernandina

Our yacht sailed all night to arrive at Punta Vicente Roca of Isabela Island, a journey of around 86 miles. Vicente Roca used to be the president of Ecuador; he is also known for his efforts to sell the Galapagos Islands, unsuccessfully, it appears. The coast was rocky with high cliffs and there was no place to land, so in the morning the pangas just motored around to enjoy the view and the wildlife. There were flightless cormorants around the coast. Because they cannot fly, the area where they can fish is limited and their numbers are declining. There was a huge cave, the Tagus Cove, with a lot of fish in the water.

Somewhat of the coast we saw several sunfish swimming around; a funny hunk of a round fish with a fin on the top. There seems to be also a fin at the bottom and it looked as if nature had some problems giving the fish an acceptable fishy face. These were large fish with a diameter of close to one foot. Looks like the fish has a lot of meat.

left: An underwater picture of a sunfish.

The driver of our panga claims they are not good to eat. Another crew member insisted on the opposite. Judging from the assured tone of their pronouncements, I guess neither of them had tried this fish. This is how arguments start and grow.

I decided to check and I found out that this was a very bony fish, which makes eating it difficult. On the other hand, people who know how to get the meat out, say it tastes as good as lobster. It is considered a delicacy in some countries, such as Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.

right: The fin of a sunfish sticking out of the water.

This fish, also known as the Mola mola, which is “millstone” in Latin, is actually a very unusual creature. Their main diet is jellyfish, which is fabulous since a lot of us, including me, don’t like those stinging creatures. They do eat a lot of jellyfish, because 100 gr of jellyfish is only worth 4 calories, and yet a Mola in captivity was able to gain 800 lbs in just 14 months.

Molas can also grow to become very large fish, some of them up to 5,000 lbs, and all on a diet of jellyfish. They hold the world record of being the largest bony fish in the oceans. So the fish we saw are actually still quite small. The female Mola can carry a huge number of eggs. A 4’ specimen was at one time found to have 300 million eggs in her ovaries.

For a very entertaining description of the Mola, go to the presentation of Tierney Thys. She is a marine biologist and a National Geographic Explorer.

We went back to the ship to don our swimming gear and went back to the cave for some snorkeling. Lots of turtles were swimming around. A “ball” of smaller fish was moving around with penguins swimming and feeding on the fish. A couple of sea lions were harassing the penguins. They coexist but the sea lions always like to be rambunctious.

left: A turtle in the water. The reflecting light makes for an interesting pattern

In the afternoon we sailed south to Fernandina Island, where we made a wet landing and walked all the way to Punta Espinoza over mostly lava rocks and sandy beaches. Here were lots and lots of marine iguanas, sea lions, marine turtles and large red crabs.

A Galapagos hawk was sitting regally on a promontory looking in the distance and occasionally contemptuously at us.

right: A Galapagos hawk surveying the environment. A pelican in the far distance.

And another hawk, in the bushes with a
banded leg, was feasting on the placenta of a sea lion.

For the first time, we saw another group on the same island we were walking on. It was the mv Eclipse, a 48-passenger ship belonging to Ocean Adventures.

f: Day 5, December 11, 2012. Isabela

At night we sailed through the Bolivar Canal to Bahia Urbana, where we made a wet landing on Urbina Bay (Bahia Urbina). On the nice, short hike, we saw a few large Galapagos land turtles (different from the marine species), and land iguanas, which are also quite different from the marine iguanas. You will see a picture of a land iguana a little bit further below. The marine iguanas have a flat tail to assist them in swimming. The land iguana’s tails are triangular in cross-section and quite hefty. They also have nicer colorations and they live in burrows in the ground.

The Galapagos also has a poisoned apple, so this particular fruit is not specific to Paradise. In either case bad things will happen if you eat it. A surprise was finding a blooming cotton plant. The Galapagos cotton plant is quite similar to the standard cotton bush, but it has a beautiful purple flower. The finches use this cotton to make the inside of their nests soft.

left: A blooming cotton plant.

In the afternoon our boat sailed south to Bahia Elizabeth, where we took the pangas to explore the mangroves around the shores. There were more marine turtles busily mating in the water. I suppose there is not much more in the way of entertainment for them.

And on the coast, before we glided into the mangroves, there were rocks with lots of blue boobies and flightless cormorants on them.

right: Blue boobies on a rock. Note their bright blue feet. No, I didn’t color them with Photoshop.

The zodiac motors were turned off as we slowly and almost noiselessly glided through the mostly red mangroves. There were flightless cormorants; a penguin perched on a rock intently looking at the water below. And the lava heron, a quiet and unassuming bird.

Left: A penguin watching for a snack to swim by.

These penguins are the second smallest in the world; only the blue fairy penguins in Tasmania are smaller.

A lava heron, a small bluish bird, stood silently on a small promontory. She too was watching for a morsel to swim by, either a small crab or a fish, which she can quickly spear.

right: A lava heron also watching for a snack to swim by.

On another rock a Great Blue heron was standing apparently looking disconsolately in the distance.

left: But this Great Blue heron was also looking for fish in the water.

Everywhere were turtles swimming in the water. This is such a beautiful area and difficult to comprehend that at one time some 80 % of these mangrove had been destroyed to make commercial shrimp ponds.

right: A colorful land iguana. Note the long heavy tail with a triangular cross-section. .

These land iguanas grows up to a length of 3-5 feet. They are primarily herbivores, eating the prickly pear cactus, fruits, flowers, pads, and even spines. Sometimes they will also eat insects and carrion. Their estimated lifespan is 50-60 years.

left: The red-billed tropicbird in full flight, one of the most beautiful birds in the archipelago. Picture taken by Sima Gottesfeld.

The graceful tropicbird has a tail, which is as long as the body. They feed on fish and on squid, but they are considered poor swimmers.

g: Day 6, December 12, 2012. Puerto Villamil

At night we motored some 85 miles through some rough water around the southwestern cape of the island to arrive in Puerto Villamil on the south coast of Isabela in the morning. It was foggy and there was a slight drizzle; it did not look very promising. The landing was on floating piers of the small island Las Tintoretas.

The pangas took us at low tide to the pier of Puerto Villamil. On the dock we had to avoid stepping on marine iguanas, as well as their excrements, which were all over the place. Our bus was waiting for us.

This was a covered, otherwise open-air converted truck with several parallel benches on the back.

left: The bus for our transport.

Our destination was the rim of the Sierra Negra volcano, and the bus drove us through rural landscape and some settlements slowly up the flanks of the mountain. It was getting cold sitting in the back of the bus. After about an hour we came to a place at around 900 m elevation. It was cold and it was drizzling. We could have gone back but we had gone so far, so we plodded ahead. We still had to do a rather stiff hike for 30-40 minutes to climb another 200 meters up to get to the rim of the caldera. It was misty and the landscape was completely whitened out.

right: Only a small very friendly yellow warbler finch kept us company. He was quite unafraid and we had to be careful not to step on him.

But after sitting disconsolately for several minutes, suddenly the mist lifted for a few minutes. We could see the astounding 7 km diameter caldera, presumably the second-largest in the world. The huge crater is actually a combination of several calderas. There was time for some pictures, before the mist came back and closed everything down again.

below: On the rim of the huge caldera of Sierra Negra volcano. The caldera is 7 kms across. This looks like a regular forlorn landscape, but it is actually a huge caldera. You can barely see the opposite side.

When we were back in port, we saw customs carefully and thoroughly checking the luggage of a group of young tourists leaving town on a cruise ship. I wonder whether they were checking that no artifacts had been taken along.

We came back to the ship for lunch and then, after a short rest, we were back in town.

Our bus first stopped by a large pond, bordered by high cliffs. This was where an old quarry used to be, covered with either salt or brackish water (I didn’t climb down to taste the water), and in there was a group of pink flamingoes, ostensibly dancing around. What they were doing was walking in a circle and shoveling the mud into the middle of the circle at the same time, where they stick their beak in. Their beaks have a mesh to strain the food from the mud, and that was what they were doing.

Animals are always looking for food. Except maybe the marine iguanas, who seem to make sunbathing their only goal in life.

right: These are real pink flamingos, not the plastic variety so well beloved in Florida.

After this interlude our trusty bus took us to the “Arnaldo Tupiza” turtle breeding center. Here we saw our first huge turtles. Yes, they were in enclosures; and some of them were huge.

In this center on Isabela Island, hundreds of collected eggs of the endangered turtle species are hatched to ensure a higher rate of success. The eggs are collected from the wild, but mostly from breeding pairs.

left: A 12-day old turtle and a turtle egg. These eggs are large.

The ensuing turtles are bred for about 5 years before they are released in the wild. A small electronic tag is inserted in one of their rear legs for tracking purposes. Not all turtles are released. Many are held for breeding purposes. That is why some of the specimens are so old and big.

We are talking about land turtles here, which are different than the marine turtles. Some of these land turtles become very large as they reach 100 and more years of age. They are much larger than the marine turtles. In this center five species, all from Isabela, are bred. The ratio of males to females bred here is roughly 1:4. The female is more important to the survival of the species.

right: Large land turtles bred in the Arnaldo Tupiza turtle breeding center. There are around 350 turtles in this facility.

There were 13 land turtle species in the Galapagos. Two have become extinct. Lonesome George, who died in June 2012, was the last of a species, so there are now only 10 species left. Five of them are found on Isabela.

One of the species bred here, the one from Cinco Cerros, looks different because their shell looks flattened instead of rounded. They are called the “aplastadas”. At one time they were threatened to extinction because their nests were attacked by a certain species of ants. They have now have a healthy stock of these turtles.

The Breeding Center is nicely laid out, with a lot of opportunities to take pictures of these turtles in their holding pens. You see turtles over a hundred years ago, and also newly hatched turtlelettes, as well as the unhatched eggs. The place is laid out as a park, with pleasant winding paths and gardens with many native plants, such as the manzanillo, mesquite, prickly pear, etc. There is a building with good informative explanatory displays of the work in the Center. At the end is a box for donations to keep up the work. Please give.

Later that afternoon the bus took us to the beach adjacent to the small town. There is a small, beautiful church where the stained glass windows show the specific Galapagos wildlife, such as the blue-footed boobie, the frigate bird, the penguin, etc.

At the end of the day we gravitated to a bar on the beach where the drink in vogue was the coco loco. This was a cooled coconut, freshly chopped open to give access to the juices, to which is added a thimbleful of white rum. $5 each. Good for the mouth, the soul, the local economy and the conversation.

The meat of the coconut, if the fruit is not too old, makes for a very tasty snack. So Fabrizio had the coconuts chopped open, from which he scraped the meat into a big plastic bag to take to his crew as a treat.

As we were waiting for our Zodiacs on the dock of the town, he bumped into a very comely young colleague, who was leading another tour. The plastic bag ended up in her purse.

h: Day 7: December 13, 2012, Floreana

The night was spent usefully by crossing over to Floreana, where the morning was misty with a slight drizzle. Many more cruise boats were dotting the bay, because Floreana is a popular stopping place for most cruises before the passengers disembark the next day in Puerto Ayora.

Black beach, southwest of Post Office Bay, has the lurid history most often discussed by visitors. In 1929, Dr. Friedrich Ritter, a dentist, arrived here with his mistress, Dore Strauch, where they lived as Robinson Crusoe did for some three years. Being a dentist, he knew that it would be disastrous if they had tooth problems during their stay so, before their departure, he had all of his and her teeth pulled out and he had dentures made. The story goes that they lost one denture, so they had to share the other one.

The Wittmers came in 1932. They were German farmers from Bayern. Later the same year a woman, who claimed to be Baroness Von Wagner de Bousquet, came to the same island with her two lovers, Lorenz and Philipson. Soon she claimed the island as her own, and her autocratic and selfish behavior created much bitterness in the small community.

One day in 1935, the Baroness and Philipson disappeared without a trace, leaving all their belongings intact in their abode. The Wittmers claim they had come by in the morning to tell them they were leaving for Tahiti. Lorenz was found a few months later mummified on a deserted beach of Marchena Island, quite a distance to the north (see map). There is a lot of speculation of what actually happened, which keeps the rumor mills happily churning away.

So that morning we left our mother ship in our pangas for a wet landing on Post Office Bay. A number of fur seals on the beach were snoozing away not much caring for our presence. Here too were the red Sally Lightfoot crabs busily scurrying around.

left: The mailbox in Floreana.

Some 50 yards inland is a mailbox, installed by a man named Hathaway in 1793. The original mailbox was probably in the pile on the left; the current one on the right certainly looks younger than 200 years old. You drop your mail in, correctly addressed but unstamped, and hope the cards and letters will sooner or later reach their destination. This is not an official Ecuadorian mailbox, but it is something which has been apparently successfully in operation for these 200+ years.

In practice most of the mail will reach the recipient in 2-3 weeks or so, which is better than the 4-5 weeks projected for the regular mail. Why?. Well, if you are a traveler, and most of the people coming to this desolate mailbox are obviously travelers, you drop in your mail, then you rifle through the stack of mail. If you see an addressee close to where you live or where you will be soon, you take the mail along. You can then deliver the mail personally or affix a stamp for local delivery by your friendly local post office staff. It is now a fun system, but the concept has been in operation for some time, as we also saw in Iceland. We sent a postcard to ourselves and it arrived in three weeks. But it is probably not a good idea to commit information about your Swiss bank accounts to this mail.

It was a short walk to the beach on the other side of the island at Punta Cormorán. Turtle tracks on the beach from the water to the higher regions where they have laid their eggs show very recent activity by these mammals. Some of these tracks suggest that these turtles may have spent up to 6 hours just to get to the area where they could lay their eggs. And another six hours to get back.

right: Turtle tracks from the nest where she had laid her eggs back to the sea.

On our way back we saw more than the usual number of finches. They start becoming very active at this time of the year. This is the start of the rainy season and the influx of their preferred food supply, the insects. This is the time when they start courting; then they build a nest together from dried twigs and vegetation in the shape of a large ostrich egg with a small entrance away from the weather side (2 weeks). These nests are about 6 - 9” tall, depending on the species. The inside of some of the nests is comfortably lined with wool from the cotton plant, which conveniently starts opening their buds at this time of the year. Two weeks to incubate the eggs, and another 4 weeks to hatch the eggs, grow the youngsters, and then teach their newborn to fly.

These finches were derived from just a few birds blown in from Costa Rica, based on the closest resembling species in Ste Lucie Island in the West Indies. This happened centuries ago. They were probably seed-eaters but in the Islands there were many other available food sources with no competition, so now 13 species of finches and 2 species of warbler finches have developed from this one species to avail themselves of these opportunities. For comparison, there are 436 species of finches in the world. There are also no hummingbirds or parrots in the Galapagos Islands.

left: A Yellow Crowned Night Heron trying to eat something she can barely swallow..Just like what a lot of us always try to do.

Later that day, there was deep water snorkeling off Champion Point. Michael made a video with our recently acquired underwater camera of a sea lion frolicking around him.

The waters are also bountiful in species we don’t usually see. On the right is a picture of a school of surgeon fish, taken with our recently acquired Lumix underwater camera.

right: My brother-in-law, Guy, an international aquarium fish expert, tells me they are called Tangs, or Yellowtail Surgeon fish, because they have a very sharp appendage near their tails that they can flick out if they are threatened. Most Tangs advertise that sharp "knife" in some way to keep potential predators away. These particular tangs call attention to their weapon by the zebra pattern on the body where the tail is attached. These tangs are probably too large as aquarium fish.

We then motored around to look while some of us when kayaking in the sea kayaks.

below: A colony off female sea lions and their pups.

There was a colony of female sea lions and pups; the master sea lion was swimming around somewhere protecting his harem.

If you are a male sea lion, you better stay away. Unless you are big, strong, and ready for a fight.

At the end of the morning, some of us took the sea kayaks for a spin.

right: And here is Daniel, the big guy in the back, and Hok training for the sea kayak championships in the coming Brazil Olympics

After lunch, the boat lifted anchor and sailed north to Santa Cruz. The captain invited us to look at the bridge. It is a lot of work to handle this ship because it doesn’t have an autopilot and somebody always has to be at the wheel. But the ship does have a lot of navigational stuff as well as provisions to handle emergencies. They don’t want to lose any tourist passengers. Bad for business.

We arrived in Puerto Ayora at dusk. It was still drizzly outside.

III: Puerto Ayora

Fri, 7 Dec 2012 14:50:47 -0800

a: December 14, 2013. Puerto Ayora.

To all good things there is an end, as we packed our suitcases and left them in our cabins in the early morning. We were sorry and sad that our marine adventure had come to an end; on the other hand, there was also some joy about getting away from the constant rocking of the boat and the continued reuse of damp salty clothing. We boarded our zodiacs to go to the port and then to the bus which took us to the Charles Darwin Foundation Center.

Here, in nice landscaping, a major effort is going on to reestablish the land turtle. Turtle eggs are hatched from eggs collected in the wild or from the turtles in captivity. The newborns are allowed to grow in pens until they are about 5 years old, after which they are released in the wild, similar to what is being done in the breeding center in Puerto Villamil. In the Darwin Center emphasis is placed in restoring the health of four turtle species, i.e., Pinzon, Santiago, Española, and Santa Cruz. As mentioned earlier, 5 other species native to Isabela are being restored in Puerto Villamil. The 10th species, San Cristo, is healthy and does not require any handholding for survival.

left: Sophie and Patrick checking the quality of the leaves collected as food for the turtles. It looks they had some concerns.

Lonesome George used to live here. He died here on June 24, 2012, at an estimated age of 120 years. He was from Pinta, where the turtle population had been ravaged by visiting ships as a portable food source, and Lonesome George was the only survivor left. The Center tried to resuscitate the species by placing two females with him in his later years. No luck. Well, if you are 100 years old and you get two nubile females to share your bed, you may also not be able to do what is expected. You would probably be on the lookout for a fourth to complete a foursome of whist.

The Center is attractively designed with winding paths, lined with native trees, large cactus plants, and other foliage and is worth a visit. Turtle pens are dispersed over the area. It also looks that they would benefit very much from more funds to do some much needed upgrading, because many areas look a bit tired. There are actually not many very old and large turtles in the Center.

We then all walked back to the bus, where our luggage was waiting and took off. The two of us had decided to stay another two days in Puerto Ayora; the others were driven to Baltra to catch their planes home or to their next vacation destination.

right: A Galapagos small tree finch enjoying the nectar from a cactus flower. Picture taken by Sima Gottesfeld.

In the Darwin Center there was also a surprisingly large number of small tree finches everywhere.

b: The Galapagos Suites and the Charles Binford kiosks.

We were dropped off at the Galapagos Suites, a nice place in the middle of town. It was just a few blocks from the main drag, the Avenida Charles Darwin. Josie, the owner, gave us arguably her best room, a separate pavilion on the side of the main structure. It was spacious, with skylights for more natural lighting, and actually designed for handicapped access. The furniture was modern with an Italian touch, influenced by her daughter who had studied in Italy. And there was free Wi-fi with good connection, which allowed us to catch up on our mail.

Breakfast, in the outdoor patio, was excellent, with lots of fruit and eggs cooked to order. There were fruit juices, toast with marmalade, etc. Josie can also get a taxi and arrange a tour for you to a turtle “ranch” and to a lava tunnels; she has two taxi drivers she usually calls upon. But neither of these two drivers speaks English, so be forewarned. If you speak some Spanish these guys are very nice, informative, and helpful.

left: The fish market of Puerto Ayora.

For lunch we walked down to the Avenida Charles Darwin to check out the eating places. We walked by the small fish market, where the fishing boats drop off their catch to be cleaned and sold.

Close by is La Guardina, a restaurant where all tourists seemed to gravitate to. So we avoided that place and chose to eat at Garapata Restaurant instead, a block further away. A bowl of locra, which is the specialty Ecuadorian potato soup, a grilled fish plate, beer and water, ended with a bill of around $26. This include 12.5 % tax and a 10 % service charge. The tax was mandatory if you wanted a bill, the service charge varied from restaurant to restaurant.

Then we decided to walk to Tortuga Bay, which someone in our hotel described as one of the most beautiful bays he had seen. But we were late. We were there at 4:30 pm. From the gate of the park it is a 25 minute walk to the first bay and another 20 minute to the second bay. And the park closes at 6 p.m. They do open at 6 a.m. A hiker came back as we were debating what to do. Asked what he saw, he excitedly described seeing a blue-footed boobie not more than a few yards away. Well, we had seen a lot of these boobies at much closer range.

So we just walked to the port to sit and enjoy looking at the terminal as people came and left in water taxis for destinations around the island from the various slips. There were quite a number of cruise ships in the harbor.

right: Kiosks on Charles Binford Street in the evening.

In the evening we walked to Charles Binford Street. It was just a few blocks away. Just after 6:30 p.m. or so, a few blocks, starting from Avenida Baltra, are closed to vehicular traffic. The road is then filled with tables and chairs. These are the kiosks, where they serve food under the open skies from establishments lining the street. It was just like the hawker’s markets in Singapore or the roulottes in Papeete.

You can order all the standard dishes you find in the area, but the main draw is indubitably the large lobsters, the langostos, or the smaller langostinos prominently displayed.

left: Some of the colossal lobsters displayed in the kiosks of Charles Binford Street.

So we chose a humongous langosto specimen from the tray shown at left for $25, which we estimate would have weighed around 6 lbs.

The lobster was grilled and served with two side plates of french fries and a salad. Add to this a bottle of beer ($3.50) and a bottle of water ($1.00), and they were happy when we gave them $31. I didn’t ask for a bill, because I suspect that they then had to add tax to the price.

c: Rancho Primicias.

The next day Josie served us a very nice and leisurely breakfast of fruits, cereal, eggs, and toast. She had also organized a taxi driver for us to take us to the highlands to Rancho Primesias and the lava tunnels for $35.

Umberto, the taxi driver, spoke very little English, but after asking him to “hable mas dispacio”, or speak more slowly, I could follow most of his Spanish commentary. He came from the mainland between Quito and Guayaquil some 8 years ago and is extremely happy living here. He has a good job, it is a small community, everybody knows everybody, and there is no crime. Where he comes from, which is a small town between Quito and Guayaquil, life is dangerous, he claims. He is single and happy, so he looks appraisingly at all the eligible ladies coming into his view.

Rancho Primicias is in the highlands of Santa Cruz some 20 miles out of Puerto Ayora. A $3.00 entrance fee is assessed to enter the ranch, which probably started out as a commercial turtle breeding establishment. Now the turtles are everywhere and go everywhere. You see them at the side of the road and in the fields as you get to the ranch. But the ranch is nice because you can get drinks and food, and the bathrooms are clean. There is of course also a tourist shop for souvenirs.

left: A huge turtle walking in the fields of Rancho Primesias.

In the fields behind the buildings are dozens of behemoth turtles, many presumably more than 100 years old. They too are used to humans as they slowly lumber along or, mostly, just lie down somewhere for their extended siestas. If you accidentally step into their poo, it is not a disaster as stepping in the droppings of a dog. Or worse, stepping in the carcass of a whale. Because the droppings of turtles are just matted weeds and it doesn’t quite cling to the bottom of your sandals.

We were lucky to see so many turtles here. In a few months most of them will migrate to lower elevations. This is not an official breeding establishment. Most of the turtles are of the Santa Cruz species, but there may be one or two other species of turtles present

As we walked around, a huffing and puffing noise attracted us to two of these giant tortoises. They were busy in the primeval process of procreation and grunting loudly and regularly in the process. Well, they were really making a go of it and we were told that the encounter will last anywhere from one to two hours. One hundred years old, no viagra, 1-2 hours copulation time. Well, they obviously have much more staying power than we have. Especially if you also consider that the guy on top is at least 100 years old and didn’t care about the audience. He’ll beat John Holmes anytime. Consider that George Burns once famously said that after you become 90, sex is like shooting pool with a rope. Well, in modern society, that age limit is probably considerably lower.

right: Two turtles mating.

Somehow “two turtles mating” seems to sound very well in the rhymes on the Twelve Days of Christmas, but I don’t suppose many would approve.
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With the land turtles, the male is larger the female and he takes his normal position above the smaller female. Remember that with the marine turtles the female is larger, because otherwise she will be drowned if a much larger turtle pushes on her in the water.

d: The Lava Tunnels.

There are quite a number of lava tunnels on the island. Our driver took us to the entrance of the lava tunnels just a mile or so further away from the ranch. These tunnels are amazing and can be of almost any size. These are natural tunnels in the lava fields created when the hot lava from the volcanic eruptions flowed over the landscape.

At the entrance we came in, the tunnels were about 10 feet wide and some 20 feet high with a reasonably smooth walking surface. Further down the tunnel becomes smaller and the path becomes more difficult to traverse, going over boulders and smaller rocks.

left: A lava tunnel close to Rancho Primesias.

As tunnels go, they would be pitch dark. But here it was not difficult to see, because somebody has kindly strung a long line of electric bulbs for illumination. Umberto tells me the ranch has set up this lighting system and they pay the electric bill. So this is where part of the $3.00 entrance fees goes.

Umberto drove us back to town and dropped us at the port for lunch. We decided to go to El Descanso del Guia, because almost all the patrons look like they were locals. There were a few foreigners there, but they looked lost, first looking furtively around and then ordering from the printed menu. They were then served the regular restaurant menu served from the kitchen through a special counter; the plates were nicer looking, but the food was higher priced. And the bill included tax and service.

However, you can also do as the locals do, which is to buttonhole a waiter and order the plato del dia of rice with either chicken (arroz con pollo), meat (carne), or ceviche. They will add some slices of deep-fried plantain or popcorn as a side. The food comes from a serving station in the front of the restaurant, where they just ladle the stuff on your plate. You can come by and look what they have. At the end of the meal you beckon the waiter and give him $4 for the plate of the day. Plus the money for additional orders like soup and drinks, of course. No paperwork, no receipt, no taxes. Or just give him a $20 bill and wait for the change, if you are not sure how much it is.

We took a taxi to get back to the hotel. In Puerto Ayora, taxi rides are $1 each for trips within the city.

In the evening we went back to the kiosks at Charles Binford Street and had another lobster dinner. This one lobster was smaller, because we really had trouble finishing the one the day before. It was probably around 4.5 lbs and they charged us $20 for the meal. We had our fill of lobsters for the time being.

d: Going back to the mainland.

The taxi took us across Santa Cruz island to the north. It was a 45 minute drive and the fare was $18 for the ferry crossing at the South Channel. Here we had to cross the channel to get to South Seymour Island, where Baltra airport is located. The taxi driver took our luggage and deposited them on a platform where there was more other luggage. We were then ushered down a stairway to enter the ferry and then we noticed that the luggage platform had morphed into the roof of the ferry. It was a 15 minute ferry ride for the crossing and the fare was $0.80. At our destination we climbed the stairs to get to the street level and then we realized why the luggage was on the roof. The roof was at the same level as the street at both ends and it abuts the road when the ferry is parked. Which was nice, since there were no porters and we had to haul or roll our own luggage to the bus stop.

Since there was nothing else in South Seymour except Baltra airport, the only buses are provided for free by the airlines, either TAM or Aerogal. There was no queue and we just had to shove and get a place inside the bus while carrying our luggage inside as soon as the bus arrived. It is really not as bad as it sounds.

Of course we were too early and we were one of the first passengers to check in for our flight in the old airport. We passed the new airport still under construction, but it looks like they may have it in operation by next year. It may even have air-conditioning and fewer dead cockroaches inside.

We had a direct flight to Quito as we waved goodbye to this wondrous place. Did we see a lot. Yes, a lot to last us during our lifetime. How much did we see?. Actually not everything. You glance at your Galapagos wildlife guides, and you note that you have missed more than half of the species mentioned there. Anyway, we have seen the most visible wildlife; the marine and the land turtles, the boobies, the sea lions, the fur seals, the brown-red striated craggy cliffs, the marine and the land iguanas, the finches, the frigate birds, the penguins, the flightless cormorants, the beautiful red Sally Lightfoot crabs, the Galapagos hawk, the swallow-tailed gulls, many species of herons and much more.

The flight time from Baltra to Quito was just over two hours. The plane was less than half full, and we could easily have come an hour later for checkin with no problems. This is not the US, so we were served a free hot lunch on board. That was nice. When was the last time you had a free hot lunch on a US domestic flight?

IV: Quito

Fri, 7 Dec 2012 13:49:54 -0800

a: The Vieja Cuba.

We stayed three nights at the Vieja Cuba, a small, well-recommended 3-star hotel in the La Mariscal District, rated four stars and ranked #17 of 103 hotels in Quito by TripAdvisor. It was a very nice hotel, reasonably priced, but the rooms were small and it can be noisy, especially if you have the misfortune of having a big group of travelers come in late or leave early in the morning. The staff was very helpful and they are almost always there to help carry the luggage upstairs. And also going downstairs, especially if you make a lot of noise dragging your suitcases over the stairs. They also have free Wi-fi in all their rooms and a PC for communal use. That was nice.

We stayed one night in room #1, which was small and just above the first flight of stairs, and then later in room #6, which was sunny, larger and fronted on both La Niña as well as Diego the Almagro. This used to be an older mansion, which had been converted into a hotel. The walls are very thick. So it stays quite warm even in the chilly evenings. Bathrooms are very small.

A large breakfast is included and officially served starting at 7:00. But the staff is exceedingly helpful and if you drop in at 6:30 a.m. they will run and serve you as fast as possible. Which was juice, cereal and yoghurt, fried or scrambled eggs, and toast with jam, ham and cheese. In the morning the hotel can get you a taxi in minutes; in the evening it takes longer. Taxi fares are reasonable; $1 for short trips, $8 to the airport.

There are quite a number of restaurants in the area just a few blocks away, including McDonald’s if you are so inclined. McDonald, as well as the Burger King close by, were really not that inexpensive. Surprisingly, they only serve dinners. You cannot just drop by and get an order of french fries.

There is a restaurant just across the street. Another restaurant close by is the Hasta La Vuelta, which had a very decent menu. This place has two seating areas, one posh with linen tablecloths and wine glasses, and the other a bit more cafeteria style. The first night we were there we shared the two specialties of Ecuador, the potato soup and the fritada. The potato soup is called locra and of you want to splurge, you order the Jahuarlocra, which is the basic potato soup plus tripe and blood sausage. The fritada is another Ecuadorian specialty. On the plate are served 3 - 4 pieces of deep fried, almost crisp pieces of pork, chicken, beef, and another piece of meat. Could be dinosaur, because it was tough. The plate is adorned with a mashed potato patty, fried plantain, avocado, and a salad.

Another interesting item on their menu are their huge empanadas, mostly air, but quite spectacular. Service was good. The atmosphere was average.

On another evening we had dinner at Mama Clorinda, highly recommended by our Grey Line tour guide. We actually wanted to go to the more highly rated Casa de mi Abuelo, but we kept taking the wrong turns and never found the restaurant. The food at Mama Clorinda was quite tasty and good.

right: The Seco de Chivo at Mama Clorinda

They were well presented and the service was above average. We had the lengua a la criolla (tongue) for $8.49, and the seco de chivo (lamb stew) for $11.49. The lengua actually tasted better.

b: Quito City Tour

Quito is definitely a nicer city than just a jumping place for the Galapagos. In the Jan 4, 2013 issue of the Wall Street Journal, Quito is mentioned as a place you may want to consider to get a second residence. The elevation of the city is around 9,000 feet, so the weather is cool and pleasant, even though you are smack on the equator. There are many interesting sights and if you have more time, there are other tourist attractions in the area around Quito. Taxis are inexpensive, and the fare is usually just a few dollars. But you have stay with the official yellow or white official taxis, because problems have been reported of tourists robbed by drivers of unlicensed taxis. Taxis do drive very fast. When they come to a stop sign, you would expect, as a law-abiding driver (there are not many of these left) that they would stop, wait a second or two before proceeding. No, they go through at full speed. Well, they do slow down a bit so to stay below the speed limit as they charge through the intersection.

As for tourist safety, you just have to be wary and very careful, especially if you are alone or travel in a public bus. But you have to be that way almost everywhere in the big cities of the world. Quito has a population of around 2.2 million. Compare that against Oakland, that city across the Bay from San Francisco in California, which has a population of around 450,000; Oakland had at least 127 homicides in 2012. I don’t know the number, but for sure, for Quito this number should be substantially less, even though there are 4 times more people living there. If Quito had 127 homicides in 2012, there wouldn’t be a single tourist on the streets.

We took a Grey Line tour, which seemed to be the most comprehensive and was yet very reasonable at $37/per person for an all-day tour. Actually there were only 4 people on our tour, making it almost a private tour. Private tours for 2-4 are usually listed at around $150 for a day.

1: The Basilica.

This is a large, elongated cathedral, where the front looked in much better condition than the back. This Roman Catholic church is located in the historic center of Quito and is the largest neo-Gothic basilica in the Americas. The inside of the cathedral is huge.

The front, where the altar is located, is the oldest part of the structure. It was constructed using funds from the state’s budget; it was “easy” money and the builders could spend more to enhance the church. The back doesn’t look that spiffy, because a lot of the money had to come from donations. People like to go to Heaven, but it is often hard for the Church to make them cough up the required funds for passage.

left: The newer part of the cathedral has typical wildlife of Galápagos.

The older part has the standard gargoyles sticking out from the outer walls, the newer part has local animals of Ecuador as decorations. You see the turtle, the iguana, the sea lion and others.

The church is huge inside. And the light from the stained glass windows made for some very nice pictures.

right: A wonderfully executed stained glass window in the Cathedral showing The Last Supper. Judas is shown on the front right. The artist did not merit the poor guy a halo around his head.

The basilica is technically unfinished. If it is ever finished, local legend claims the world will come to an end. Maybe we can use that threat to get the US Congress to do something useful for a change.

2: El Panecillo and the Statue of the Virgin.

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Quito is roughly divided in three sections. The rich live in the North; the historic center is in the middle, and the South is where the poor try to survive in a valley which is often covered by a layer of smog. Tourists stay in the North and and visit the historic center during the day. The South is best left alone.

El Panecillo is a 200 meter high hill between central and southern Quito and from the top there are nice views of the surrounding city as well as the mountains. It is 3,016 meters above sea level, and quite visible from many parts of Quito, especially because there is a 33-meter (45 meter from the base) tall madonna standing there. She had been assembled from some 7000 pieces of aluminum, and is supposedly the largest aluminum statue in the Americas. The Virgin stands on top of the globe as she squishes a snake under her feet. Or maybe it is just to get some traction because the round globe would be too slippery. She also has wings, which is unusual for a Madonna, but I suppose the artists put those on to make it easier for her to fly to Heaven. A bronze placard affixed to the monument shows her to be the Woman of the Apocalypse, as described in Revelation 12:1-18.

left: The Apocalypse Virgin raises her right hand in benediction of the affluent North; her back is turned towards the penurious South.

The Virgin faces North and has raised her right hand to bless affluent North Quito. Her back is turned towards the poor in the South, choking in the smog. That is how life usually is.

3: The Iglesia de San Francisco

This was the first Christian church built in Quito. Construction began just one month after the Spanish arrived in 1535 and it was built over an ancient Inca temple. To lure the indigenous to the interior, there are many combinations of indigenous and Christian symbols. The interior is baroque and beautiful. A picture of the interior is shown above. Yes, there is a lot of gold leaf there. Entrance is free.

right: The Iglesia de San Francisco as soon from the market plaza, where there was an exhibition of current pictures on display.

The church fronts the central market place of Old Quito, where there is also an ancient fountain used by the population to obtain fresh water. Across this plaza is the Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesus.

4: Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesus.

This Jesuit church in the center of historic Quito is well-known because of the profuse use of gold leaf in the decorations inside. There is gold leaf everywhere, especially in the large central nave. The baroque architecture is ornate. It took the Jesuits some 160 years to finish the church in 1765. Two years later they were expelled from Ecuador by King Charles III. Wow, that hurts.

An entrance fee of $3.00 is charged for the visitors. For that you will also have access to the clean bathrooms in the back inside the building. That was nice.

The church is built in the shape of a Latin Cross, with central, northern and southern naves. The central nave is 26 meter high and the sarcophagus of Mariana de Jesús de Paredes is located in the base of the central altar. She is the patron saint of Ecuador, protecting the country from typhoons, earthquakes, hailstorms and other aberrations of nature.

I am sure she never applied for the job, because when she died everybody thought she would RIP. Now she is kept busy in having to transmit all these messages, bribes, and pleas to the right department in Heaven, probably with a minimum of clerical staff and an office budget to help her out. It is a 24/7 job.

Outside the church Norma bought 5 shawls from an older Inca woman for $10. She said she lived three hours away by bus.

right: An Inca selling shawls in front of the church.

5: The Plaza Grande

It was a short walk from this church to the Plaza Grande, also known as the Plaza de la Independencia (independence from Spain), which is bordered by Carondelet Palace, where the president has his offices, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Archbishop’s Palace, the municipal buildings, and the Plaza Grande Hotel.

Every Monday at 11:00 a.m. there is the ceremonial changing of the guards at which the president will appear personally from the balcony of the palace to address the people.

left: Changing of the Guard in front of Carondelet Palace.

It was a nice, 30 minute ceremony, with lance-carrying soldiers in dress uniforms on horses and on foot, and a marching band thumping and blaring out martial music. President Rafael Correa Delgado appeared on the balcony, gave a short rousing speech, and stayed there for the whole ceremony. He is on the balcony of the Palace on the left of the picture.

He has a PhD from the University of Illinois,and he also has the highest public approval ratings of all South American presidents.

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In the middle of the Plaza is a monument to the second independence. Spain reconquered Ecuador after they gained independence at their first try. The second independence proofed to be more permanent. The monument shows at the bottom a lion skulking away, the personification of Spain. And in the back of the lion are the vestiges of the Jesuits.

right: The Monument commemorating the Independence of Ecuador from Spain and the Jesuits. In the back is the Ecuadorian flag waving over the presidential palace.

With just small differences, Ecuador shares the same national flag with Bolivia and with Venezuela. They were one country under Spanish rule. The Ecuadorian flag has a coat of arms in the middle; the Bolivian flag has stars, and Venezuela has retained the original flag design with no additions.

We walked back to the Market Square where our bus was patiently waiting for us. That was the nice thing about this tour, because it is extremely difficult to find parking and a taxi in these narrow alleys. But the large bus has tourist status, so it could park next to the Market Square.

Somewhere on the sidewalk we saw this woman selling some favorite local desserts, called pristiños and buñuelos. These are typical of Ecuador. Pristiños are prepared from a blend of flour, butter, oil, egg yolks, baking powder and milk; pressed into sheets and then deep fried. You eat them covered in honey, which can be further adjusted in taste with vanilla, cloves and a lemon peel.

left: Pristiños (in the front basket) and buñuelos ( in the back basket) for sale. These popular desserts are dipped in honey prior to consumption.

The buňuelos are deep fried balls of a blend of flour, butter, sugar, and lemon rind. They are served dripping in honey or in a special sauce of flour, brown sugar, heavy cream, butter, and vanilla.

They are so good the Ecuadorian Board of Dentistry should consider endorsing these.

We then drove through the crooked streets of the central town in the direction of El Mitad del Mundo, well outside the city of Quito. This was not easy but our driver was experienced and good, navigating some very steep streets. Traffic was kept moving and controlled by lady traffic officers in spiffy uniforms. The men officers stand back and give orders.

6: El Ciudad Mitad del Mundo

The grounds of El Mitad del Mundo, or the Center of the World are in the north of Quito. There is a 30-meter tall massive monument. On the top is a huge globe lying on its side, so the equatorial line on the globe is shown vertically in a plane corresponding to the real equator. This huge structure was erected to commemorate the first Geodesic Mission of the French Academy of Sciences to determine the exact location of the equatorial line. This line presumably runs through this monument and then continues on an orange line clearly drawn on the pavement. And in the subsequent years, countless tourists have had their picture taken straddling this line, with one foot in the Northern and the other foot in the Southern hemisphere, with the massive monument to modern French technology in the background.

Recent measurements with modern GPS technology have shown that the French were wrong. The equator is actually about 240 meters north of the marked line. That is exactly where the preInca Indians said it would be, a thousand years ago.

But this doesn’t deter the locals of making the place a nice tourist trap; there are restaurants, handicraft stores, souvenir kiosks, a planetarium, and a miniature model of Quito. And you can still make pictures straddling the imaginary line of the real equator. What difference does it really make whether it is there or 240 meters further up north. Your Aunt Edna wouldn’t disinherit you, and you won’t live longer or shorter because of this error.

right: Norma straddling the equatorial line at Mitad del Mundo

Now, of course, a new rival museum has sprung up at Inti Ñan, close by down the road, where the true equator is actually believed to be. It is also an interesting tourist trap. Nothing like free enterprise.