Galapagos Galloping: Floreana

To me, the reading list is essential for any adventure.  I want to do some research before arriving in a destination.  Upon arrival, I try to deepen my experience by reading works by local authors or books set in my destination.

I read Kurt Vonnegut's Galapagos as I flew out to the islands.  Next, I picked up Margaret Wittmer's Floreana.  Wittmer emigrated from Germany to Floreana with her husband and step-son just a few years before World War II.  At the time of her arrival, the only other inhabitants were a vegetarian German dentist and his wife.  Over the years, a baroness of international acclaim settled on the island before a mysterious disappearance, and the Wittmer's were targeted by the Ecuadorian government for being potential Nazi sympathizers.  Floreana was a surprisingly compelling read, so I was really excited to visit the land that had harbored such intriguing humans and their stories!

But first, we must be greeted by the wild life.

There are maybe one or two hotels and perhaps one or two restaurants.  This is a one road kinda town.  It gets better as you venture towards the interior.

Had to visit with the sea lion and iguana first.

As we ascended to the shaded highlands (and a seriously distinct climate from the shoreline) we were greeted by mating turtles in the wild.  They were busy.  We moved on and gave them privacy.

This guy was unattached.

The Wittmers settled in the highlands where you're likely to stumble across some magical flowers dangling from the canopy.  There was a rare and valued fresh water source.  (So valued that pirates had constructed defense structures around the water!).  In this region, farmers can cultivate European crops.  Closer to the shore, tropical crops are grown.

The Wittmer's home.  Their children still live in the region.  Their daughter operates the farm and their son has a very large tourist operation.

I guess largely uninhabited islands inspire some creativity.  Heinz Wittmer carved this face near the fresh water source.  Archeologists later thought it was proof that Incans had reached the Galapagos.  Most scholars believe that they did reach the Galapagos, but they didn't carve that.

Floreana is one of the most beautiful islands.

Black beach is near Post Office Bay.  A lone barrel stood out in the cove for years while pirates & sailors dropped off messages.  If the message was addressed where the ship was headed, or at least in a similar direction, they took it.  The mail didn't move quickly, but remarkably, most mail did reach it's intended recipient!

Back at shore, the gangs still here!

And fiercely guarded by their iguana security detail.

Galapagan Galloping: Isla Isabella

During February 2013, Kevin & I passed 10 encanted days in the Galapagos.  As I wrote in previous posts, we made our base camp on Isla Santa Cruz, the main island.  Many travelers also spend some time on Isla Isabella.  In fact, many travelers favored Isabella because on this island you can find hostals and hotels directly on white sand beaches.  It is a draw!  If we ever find our way back to the Galapagos, I would spend a few nights on Isabella, Floreana, & San Cristobal.

This visit, we wanted to see as much as possible while still having some flexibility & relaxation.  We felt like we accomplished that well taking days of rest on Santa Cruz's beaches in between tours to other islands.  Our first tour was to lauded Isabella.  It's quite a ways- the speed boat took three hours to reach shore!  Note to travelers-- if you have the choice, opt to sit outside of the cabin.  On the way to Isabella we were inside the cabin.  Between the motion and the diesel fumes, I became truly seasick.

But then we arrived.

A short ways from town proper you come to a lava lagoon that is a popular hang-out with some island flamingoes.  Galapagan islands all have their own unique landscape and animal inhabitants.  This site was truly distinct from Santa Cruz, or any of the other islands.

Wild life abounds.

On Isabella we caught our first glimpse of the famous Galapagan turtles!  We saw them wild on several other islands, but this first sight was at a breeding center.  The population was nearly decimated by pirates who would store & eat turtle meat, introduced animals like goats, & environmental devastation.  This breeding center is working to escalate and stabilize the turtle population.

There are several distinct breeds on the archipelago.  This specific type of turtle has the shell that inspired the name: "Galapago."  "Galapago" is an old Spanish word meaning "saddle."  Spanish pirates thought this shell looked a lot like saddles back home.  The name stuck,eventually labeling the entire archipelago.

Baby turtles!  And teenage turtles!  And mutant turtles!  And ninja turtles!

Our first sighting of blue-footed boobies.

Better boobies.

Best boobies.

The day we visited was overcast-- and stormy at sea when we journeyed between the islands.  The grey sky really increased our ocean visibility.  The waters surrounding Isabella are filled with these small sharks.  I was told they're not fans of eating humans.  Thankfully.

The lava rock on this particular island was so hot-- constantly internally heated!  The lava rock surrounding this little tunnel of ocean water was a particularly warm and sheltered spot for sharks to sleep.  A whole family is snoozing at the ocean floor.

And around the cove opening, a marine turtle.

More slumbering sharks.

They're kinda cute!

Baby shark slumber party!

On shore, holy iguanas!  February is mating season for turtles, iguanas, sea lions, and several species of birds.  These iguanas are largely females digging to bury their eggs.  Frigates circled overhead to snack on easily accessible eggs.  Many beaches were off limits to humans to protect the fetal iguanas.

An iguana summit.  This particular island off of Isabella proper felt a bit post-apocalyptic.  Sharks, iguanas, crabs, and hot lava rock.  A sweetly closed system that I am so grateful to have witnessed.

I am not that

Not that

I am not

that

person overpowered

I am not

that child controlled

I am

not who you

abused

I am not the

person who was

not heard

not believed

I am

not

self-hating, absorbing your hate, being

hated I am

not

I am not out of control

I am in there

I am there

I am there when you overpower me

and control and determine

and don't believe and don't listen

and can't

and can't

I am there when you hate yourself

and you hate me

and that teaches me to hate me

I am there

But I am not that

Inside those events, inside

those moments

inside that darkness

I am there

the true Self

I am there

the one who knows

that I don't deserve this

that no one deserves this

that you are not right

that you were wronged

that you are doing wrong

that I deserve to be heard

to be believed

to be trusted

to be loved

to be protected

to be believed

to be believed

I am that

I am believed and protected and loved

And I wait here in this

moment in this darkness, in this

hate

I wait

I wait until I can emerge

Until I can heal

Until I can be heard

and believed

and trusted

and loved

and learn

Learn to love myself

to trust myself

to believe myself

To see in you who I really am

to show you who you really are

because I waited

and emerged

and I am here

you can be here too

I am not that

Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos

While in the Galapagos, Kevin & I spent the majority of our time on Isla Santa Cruz.  Each island is distinct and it's worthwhile to venture further into the archipelago.  A lot of travelers told us they favored Isla Isabella. We certainly can see the allure, but I loved all that Isla Santa Cruz has to offer.

It's more populated, but that also offers greater variety in housing and restaurants.  (And populated is relative on the Galapagos.  Population is tightly regulated to protect the natural ecosystems.)  There are also plenty of agencies offering cruises through the islands or day tours.  We checked out a lot of the tour offerings and wound up creating some for ourselves.  Instead of paying a tour company to take us to the lava tunnels and beaches of the highlands, we rented bikes for the day and went independently.

The guy you see below is in the shadows by my bike.

Laguna Las Ninfas is in town proper.  We spent several mornings watching pelicans or simply being by the water.

Quickly, I discovered that my favorite day in the Galapagos was a morning spent swimming in Las Grietas, a nearby grotto, followed by lunch in town, and an afternoon lazing at Tortuga Bay Beach.

From the docks we paid $.60 for a water taxi to take us to the opposite and visible shore.  (Asking for Finch Bay Hotel will do the trick.)  We followed signs for Las Grietas through a harsh landscape.

To arrive here

Many visitors brought their own snorkel mask.  Honestly, I didn't think it was necessary.

Kevin even did one of his epic foolish jumps:

Obviously, between that & the hiking, lunch was in order.  After lunch we liked to hike the three miles to Tortuga Bay.  Honestly, this place deserves it's own post.  The beach is only open between 6 am and 6 pm. The hours are to protect turtles who come onto the beach to nest.  The park rangers diligently enforce these rules.

Three miles of paved trail.  Towards the end of the day you pass multiple local joggers making their rounds up and back to the beach.  And at the end of the road...

Stay tuned for a future post highlighting this beautiful beach.  

I enjoyed basing my time in the Galapagos out of Santa Cruz.  We alternated spending a day on another island with our favorite days of Grotto and beach hopping.  This way, we saw a good bit of Galapagan diversity while still slowing down to a turtle's pace.  Affordably.

Traveling to the Galapagos

In February of 2012, Kevin & I had a night to kill in a Vietnamese port town.  The following morning we would finish our travel in Vietnam by passing a few days on the beaches of Phu Quoc Island.  Our home for the night was largely a place where people lived & worked.  We spent a significant period of time establishing that fact, and that most restaurants were little family hole-in-the-wall eateries.  While we circled the same blocks, Lonely Planet in hand, we saw another couple, obviously Western, doing the same.

Ultimately, we decided to share a table & had a wonderful night swapping travel adventures & getting to know one another.  They were traveling the world & had been on the road for a year.  I asked them their three favorite places.  Their response:  The Galapagos, New Zealand, & Namibia.

This is generally how Kevin & I set our next destination.

This past fall I booked two tickets for Quito, Ecuador.  As my research developed I learned that travel within Ecuador would be fairly inexpensive.  The Galapagos, on the other hand, is notoriously expensive.  The biggest obstacle is that you have to purchase an additional flight.  & this isn't like a $40 domestic internal Vietnamese flight.  This is like a real flight, often around $500 from Quito or Guayaquil.

Kevin & I talked about whether or not we could afford this adventure.  There's plenty to see and do on Ecuador's mainland.  We didn't want to be irresponsible or greedy!  We also weren't big on a cruise.  The top-rated cruise for the Galapagos is run by National Geographic.  It costs several grand, but features delicious food and world-class nature guides.  Alternately, you can island hop and stay in their hotels if you would prefer less time on a boat.  Again, I looked into some of these hotel rooms.  Discount rooms were close to $300 a night.

You can book budget cruises online or less expensively at hostals and travel agents in Quito.  We looked into some of that.  It's a really mixed bag.  You may pay $800 a person for 4 nights and 5 days to stay on an oily clunker, eating terrible food with drunk backpackers.  Or, you may luck out and meet wonderful people while seeing more of the archipelago.  While Kevin & I perused brochures in Quito a sunburnt Australian told us he'd just returned from three weeks in the Galapagos.  We asked him if it was possible to go on a budget.  He said, "First.  Not if.  You HAVE to go.  And yes, you can budget."

He & his wife stayed at hostals on several islands.  They rented boats for transport, which turned out to be easily arranged at the main docks.  Kevin & I nodded each other.  We'd book a flight and figure it out when we landed.  That's generally the game plan.

We tried a few travel agents but couldn't find an enticing fare.  We went to an internet cafe (always an exercise in frustration with Ecuador's reliably horrible internet connections) to research fares.  It took diligence and patience but I was ultimately able to book us two tickets.  With the dates set, we continued our overland journey, knowing we had to be at the Guayaquil airport by February 14.

We flew into Isla Baltra, the main airport on the Galapagos.  Passengers pay $100 to enter the national park (& you have to have that in cash) & are efficiently ferried onto buses.  The bus took us a short distance to a ferry, where we were greeted by these guys.

That's how it is in the Galapagos.  Ridiculous.  Seals (or sea wolves, translated from Spanish) behave like a cross between Golden Retrievers and drunks.  It's bright and improbable and real.

On the other side of the ferry we paid a fare for the public bus to take us to Santa Cruz town.  Taxis run about $18 vs around $2 for bus fare.  Once in town, we caught a quick taxi to Red Mangrove, the one hotel I knew to request.  Obviously, the hotel was far outside of our budget, but we decided to get lunch while we got our bearings.  While waiting for sushi and tempura we met this fellow.

Properly fortified & enchanted, we walked along the water's edge towards town.  There are plenty of hostals and hotels.  Some are gross concrete institutions that charge a reasonable $10 a night, while some seemed (from the outside) downright hip.  We found La Peregrina for $50 that first night.  It was all that was available.  It cost twice what we hoped to pay, and twice what we usually paid on the mainland, but that's often the case in the Galapagos.  We decided to put our bags down and continue exploring in the morning.

I was also concerned about eating vegetarian in the Galapagos.  In my experience, island food is often pretty limited.  A lot of archipelagos have to get food shipped in from the mainland, or diets revolve around fish and fruit.  The Galapagos had a surprising range of food given the micro-climates on many islands.  Food wasn't great (it's really not great, by my tastes, anywhere in Ecuador) but I certainly had plenty of vegetarian options.

The following morning we found a hostal for $25 a night that would accept credit cards!  Our prayers were answered.  That meant we could extend our time in the Galapagos.  Ultimately, we changed our return destination from Guayaquil to Quito to connect directly to our home-bound flight.  The change only cost $20 and enabled us to stay for 10 days in the enchanted Galapagos.