November 14th 2014
I wake up early after a night of restless sleeps in hosteria San Carlos and, after a brief but tasty included breakfast I climb into my airport transfer van (5USD) and head to Quito’s new airport. Then the mission becomes simple, find a working ATM.
It ends up proving harder than I thought as though the airport has 4 different ATM’s none seem to want to accept my card at first try After maybe half an hour of trying I do manage to get 800 USD out, not as much as I’d hoped but enough to start me off.
After having my bagged checked for living organisms I am allowed to check in. In order to preserve the stunning biological diversity and uniqueness found on the islands there are strict guidelines as to what you can bring with you. Seeds, Fruits and Vegetables are a big no no.
My roundtrip flights cost 360 CAD on Avianca, but of course that doesn’t include the 10 USD fee you pay at the Quito Airport for Galapagos flights, and the 100USD$ national park entry fee you pay upon landing. Still, I have a strong suspicion Galapagos will be worth the money.
As I sit in the airport I take advantage of the free wifi long enough to find a place to stay in Santa cruz then they’re calling my flight and I’m boarding a plane full of even more excitement than usual. The Galapagos has been on my dream list for as long as I can remember, my childhood filled with stories and pictures from my parents trip some thirty years ago.
The flight is interminably slow, and stopping in Guayaqil is salt in the wounds, though ti is amusing to watch the gringo percentage multiply as we take off from Guayaqil bound for Baltra airport, a small island just north of Santa Cruz which holds the main town of the Galapagos: Puerto Ayora (Ayorta).
We land almost two hours later descending towards blue seas and a scrub covered dark grey islands. Already I can tell the animals of Galapagos are quick learners, as Baltra seems more wasteland than wildlife paradise. Once we climb off the plane our bags our brought onto the conveyor belt in arrivals but we’re told to wait by two police officers and a german shepherd.
After a brief delay they toss a ball up onto the luggage and up jumps the dog, climbing over all our bags nose to the ground. He’s not looking for drugs or guns or anything like that, this is the galapagos, he’s looking for fruits, veggies and seeds.
Once the two officers are satisfied we all collect our bags and head to the free airport buses. They drive maybe twenty minutes through the dry brush land of Baltra leaving us at a small pier at the channel between Baltra and Santa Cruz. There our luggage goes up on the roof of the ferry and we climb aboard paying 1 dollar as we cross the clear blue waters in perhaps ten minutes. There’s a sea lion sitting on the buoy half way across, the first true sign I’m in the Galapagos.
Once we land on Santa Cruz I’m quickly directed into a bus which costs two dollars and crosses the better part of the island in the next hour ending up in Puerto Ayora at the main pier. As we speed through the surprisingly smooth road the landscape starts to shift. From brush land, to hauntingly dead forests of white tress, to lush green undergrowth once we reach the highlands. The changes are drastic and hard to ignore, even the temperature seems to drop too fast.
Once in town I climb off and hail a white pick up truck which serve as taxi’s on this island. I’m quickly off to Galapagos Best Home stay at the edge of town. All taxi’s within the town cost 1 dollar making them easy to use, especially if you’re more than one person.
I arrive and am quickly shown to a very clean and comfortable 4 bed dorm complete with kitchenette, private bathroom, air conditioning and somewhat usable wifi. The cost is 20 USD and while it’s very comfortable it’s too far from the center of town to be convenient. And 20 $ is more than you need to spend, that said everyone there was lovely.
After a few minutes rest I head back into town in search of food and hoping to start the job of finding a last minute cruise. Food is fulfilled when I stumble upon a bustling pair of street food stalls tucked in behind the central marketplace of town, maybe ten minutes walk from the main pier. For 3 USD I sit down on a concrete ledge with a plate full of potatoes, a weird cross between cabbage and corn, and a heaping portion of what I understand to be beef intestines. It’s both delicious and affordable, and since that later can be somewhat elusive in the Galapagos I’m pretty pleased.
A few minutes later I come closer to the center of town and the tourist agencies start to appear. I eventually pick one at random and wander in. I’m greeted by a man who doesn’t seem all that interested in my business though he reluctantly makes a phone call or two and outlines me a few options each costing about 1500. It’s take it or leave it, he has no interest in bargaining, and doesn’t seem to care either way if I buy it or not.
I leave with a little information and surprisingly enough experience more or less the same ambivalent attitude in the next three agencies. They’re not rude or anything, just not very interested in selling me on what they have to offer, or on spending much time figuring out what else they might sell me.
I’m starting to wonder how to proceed when I wander into Sea moon travel and meet Betty as well as Thomas and Christian, two travellers who’d sat behind me on the flight in. Betty is friendly and likes to talk and joke in both English and Spanish and soon the three of us are sitting down negotiating a boat. Betty has us intrigued by Guantanamera, a tourist superior boat with an ideal North West itinerary which hits both the islands I decided I most wanted to see; Genovese and Fernandinha. It’s friday night and the boat leaves sunday morning for an 8 day 7 night cruise. I’ve been offered a berth on the boat at 1600 and 1500 by another agent, but with the three of us we have some leverage and manage to get an offer of 1300 per person, and a case of beer for Thomas and Christian.
We still can’t decide, it’s at least 300 dollars more than I wanted to spend, but that seems like it might well be unavoidable. Betty says it’s a good boat and I couldn’t ask for a better itinerary. We try for 1200 but Betty’s not budging, even after Thomas keeps repeating “You’re breaking my balls in Spanish.” She laughs but the price doesn’t come down.
We go for a brief walk and talk about it, deciding to visit one more set of agencies. I know we’ve got the deal I want when I go into the next agent and tell him the deal I’ve got and ask him to beat it. He can’t and doesn’t seem to believe my price is real. We decide to live by Drake’s motto YOLO or Thomas’ better idea # LTD (Living the Dream).
Together we head back to Betty’s and agree to commit. We give a deposit and wander back into the streets of Puerto Ayora. I’m nervous about the amount of money I’ve just shelled out but irrepressibly excited about what’s to come. After an ice cream and a drink I head back to Galapagos Best home stay to get some sleep and figure out how I’m going to get the rest of the money out to pay betty on a saturday. But that’s a story for the next entry.
