7/22, Friday: SFO->Miami->Quito
Spent much of the day en route to Quito, Ecuador (Karl’s
first visit to America’s southern hemisphere). Fortunately it's Central
Time, so pretty easy to adjust. Lila ended up with a migraine from Miami
to Quito, making the arrival in South America’s second highest capital really
painful. Fortunately, she was fine the next day.
The Patio Andaluz, our boutique hotel, was located in the
Old Town – also known as Quito’s Colonial core. The hotel was a charming,
converted home (mansion) from centuries ago. It was conveniently located near
the main square. Accommodations were classic and simple.
7/23, Saturday: Quito and the Andes Highlands
We started the day at 8:30am with a guide and driver who
took us back up to the Northern Hemisphere to explore the Otavalo mountain
region, about 60 miles north of Quito. The Otavalo Market is famous in South
America, especially on Saturdays when locals come for their weekly trades. It
was colorful with bright textiles made from Alpaca and Llamas, spices, fruits
& veggies, and handicrafts. The Otavalenos still wear traditional
clothing. The men have long straight black hair in ponytails, and women wear multi-stranded
gold bead necklaces atop their white and navy blue embroidered outfits. They
are one of many indigenous people in Ecuador. The country, which is the size of
Colorado, was conquered by the Incas (~1000 AD) and later by the Spanish (~1450
AD).
In the afternoon, we returned to Quito around 4pm to explore
the Old City, where we were staying. Quito is an attractive city. It was the
first city in the world to be named a UNESCO World Heritage site. The buildings
in the Old Town date back to the 1500s, and include over 40 Catholic churches
(we didn’t believe the number until we kept stumbling across them every 3-5
minutes walking!). We spent 3 hours walking around – which sounds fine until
you consider we were at 9200 ft. We were pretty exhausted after our
exploration. Fortunately, we found a charming restaurant called Theatrum with
delicious seafood and ceviche (which turns out to be as much Ecuadorian cuisine
as Peruvian).
7/24, Sunday: Quito -> Guayaquil -> Galapagos
Islands (Baltra and Santa Cruz Islands)
We departed the hotel at 5:45am – way too early for a
vacation! The journey to Galapagos wasn’t easy. We flew 30 minutes from the
capital of Quito to the city of Guayaquil, where we refueled and boarded more
passengers. Then we continued to Baltra Island, a former US military base, 1.5
hours away. On Baltra, we took a bus to a ferry to Santa Cruz island. Then it
was another bus to the other side of the island, where we boarded an inflatable
dinghy over some very rough waters to our cruise boat.
A few things struck us by this point. First, what a pain to
get to the boat! By the time we boarded it was around 1pm. There was an older
Danish woman with a bad hip and an older American couple from Alabama. It was
painful to watch them make the transitions across the different transportation
modes. Clearly they didn’t do research to figure out this was an adventure
beyond their physical capacity. Second, the cruise boat was not what you have
in your mind. The “Coral 1” run by Klein Tours (one of the oldest tour operators
in the islands) holds 36 passengers. Most of the Galapagos cruises are around
this size, but some boats hold up to 100 passengers. We had a decent cabin and
a boat full of Australians and Europeans, mainly multi-generational families
who were super fun to travel with. By the end of the cruise, we really got to
know everyone.
At 4pm we went back to the land for a 3 hour journey through
the Charles Darwin Research Center. The Darwin Research area was fascinating,
especially as we weren’t super familiar with Darwin’s journey to the islands.
During the cruise, however, we read a chapter from his journal with The Beagle
through the Galapagos. He was still young in his career, talked a lot about the
tortoise meat, dissecting lizards, etc. At the Research Center, there is
a big focus on preserving the tortoises. They estimate that over 150k tortoises
were killed for their meet in the 19th and 20th
centuries. The tortoises would last a long time (8+ months), required little
food/water, and therefore would be good on the ships to sacrifice when the crew
needed food. The center explains how the tortoises adapted to the various
islands in the Galapagos, showcasing shells for tortoises in the highlands vs.
low fertile lands. This was an early inspiration for Darwin’s theories of
evolution and natural selection. While at the center, we met Lonesome
George, the 150 year old tortoise who is the last of his species. We also
stumbled upon two giant tortoises mating! It was interesting to be able to
stand close to them and learn about the preservation efforts.
Afterwards, we walked through the local, super cute town of
Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz island (one of the few that are inhabited by
humans). There were some beautiful artist boutique shops and lots of outdoor bar/restaurants
playing soccer games on big screen TVs!
The waters were rough that night, but we slept well – and
early! - with the rocking of the boat.
July 25, Monday: Espanola Island (Punta Suarez &
Gardner Bay)
One of the highlights of the cruise was our first full day:
Espanola island. Animals were abundant and interesting, but also fearless of
humans. In fact, this is common around the Galapagos – the fact that animals
will go along their daily life without concern for the tourists who pass through
during the day. It made touring the islands extremely special. The guide
claimed it’s because humans don’t disturb them. The Islands are part of a
national park and highly regulated.
While on Espanola island, we saw green and blue footed
boobies (birds) performing an awkward and amusing mating dance. There
were marine iguanas everywhere with their red and black markings. They stayed
closed to each other to stay warm. We also saw Galapagos doves, a variety of
mocking birds and finches. The best part for us was the Albatross birds. An
estimated 12k bird pairs (they are monogamous for life!) inhabit this island –
all but a fraction of the world’s population. Since it’s nesting season, we
were able to see many small albatross birds. We also went to the cliff to see
the “Albatross Airport” where the birds take off and land over the ocean. To
top it off, we also saw the Albatross doing their courtship fencing with large
yellow beaks. It was a spectacular morning!
In the afternoon we went to another part of the island,
where we snorkeled with sea lions and stingrays. The beach was full of sea
lions and their pups. One was doing a performance in the water for Karl. In
general the snorkeling was ok, but not great. The water was a little cold (we
were in wet suits) and murky. Despite being near the equator, the fish weren’t
as colorful, differentiated, or clear as in the Red Sea.
From the boat, we saw a school of dolphins – at least 150.
It was an amazing sight to see such a large school as they raced alongside the boat.
In preparation for our trip, Karl bought a new camera lens
from one of his brother’s friends. It’s a 200-400mm lens. Basically, it’s the
size of one of our daughters! Needless to say, there were a lot of photo buffs
on our cruise. They all had lens-envy of Karl’s massive attachment. On this
day, and the ones that followed, he was regularly asked about it by other
touring groups, as well as jealously and jokingly teased by our fellow
travelers. It was pretty funny.
July 26, Tuesday: Floreana Island (Punta Cormorant,
Champion, Post Office Bay)
The highlight of today was supposed to be the flamingos at
the foot of the volcano, but they weren’t there. Instead we hung out at the
beach watching birds dive into the water to catch fish – blue footed boobies,
swallow tailed gulls. More marine and lava iguanas, as well as orange and blue
colored crabs along the volcanic rock. In the afternoon, we had 2
excursions. The first was a dinghy ride around another volcano. The birds were
abundant and unbelievable. Karl got some stunning photographs. The final stop
of the day was to the oldest post office in the islands, established in 1793 as
a way to spy on the whalers. Over the centuries, people leave unstamped post
cards in a barrel. Visitors would pick up a card to hand deliver. We picked up
2 postcards from Cupertino and 1 from Healdsburg!
That night, we took a 2 hour nap on the top deck under the
stars. Since it’s winter, the sky hadn’t been clear. We were told the South
American summer (Dec-Mar) is a beautiful time to visit – the weather is warm,
the days are sunny, and the night skies are clear. That said, we thought this
time of year (“winter”) was great because of the nesting/mating season.
27th: North Seymour Island
What a great way to end our adventure! North Seymour Island
is home to the frigate bird – a beautiful black bird with a 2 meter wing span.
The males puff up their scarlet throat sacks to attract females. During our 1.5
hour hike, we saw many frigates - puffed, flying/soaring above, and in
massive nests that housed several of the big birds. We even saw a few babies.
There were also a few blue footed boobies, iguanas, and sea lions – but the
frigates made this island very special!
We boarded the boat and headed back to Baltra island to
catch our flight. Less than one week had passed, and the trip was already
beyond our expectations. The Galapagos islands are an amazing sanctuary to
wildlife we’d never seen before. We definitely recommend the adventure to
people who enjoy nature, photography, or a truly unique experience! Just
make sure you take comfortable enough shoes that you can walk over the
lava-rocked islands and go in & out of boats with ease (we loved our
Keen’s).
It was much easier getting back to the airport than when we
first landed. At the airport, we finally cell service and were able to
reconnect to civilization. The best news was that the girls were weaned from
their bottles! Our trip was a great introduction to the Galapagos islands, and
we’re already talking about our next trip. From Baltra Island, we flew to
Guayquil, where we then had a car waiting to take us to the coastal city of
Salinas, Ecuador.
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