Day 11:
Today Yoshi awoke me at 5am trying to tell me to get up because she booked a SCUBA trip and had to be ready by 7:20 am. I informed her that her time change was wrong and she had two hours to kill before heading to go SCUBA and to wake me up again then. She sat in the room and read or did something while I vaguely slept.
She awoke me again this time at 7:20 and we said our good-byes. It’s fun to meet so many great people on the road and have intimate moments together sharing space, experiences, language, laughs, and crossing cultural barriers. The sad part is you meet so many great people you’d like to continue to have in your life, but know that you likely won’t ever see them again unless by chance your paths cross again.
I got up to head to the bank to get some money and it told me I had reached my limit for the day and I couldn’t withdraw any money. I ran into Alex on the street and he asked me if I had the money and I told him about my ATM woes. He questioned whether I had the money and I assured him I did. He told me to check the ATM on the other side of town because sometimes if one doesn’t work the other one will. We agreed to meet at the office in 15 minutes. I headed over to Banco Pacifico and sure enough it worked and I was handed another $500. I headed to Iguana Travel to meet Alex, but he wasn’t around. I headed towards the dock where I last saw him and ran into him within a few minutes. We then headed back to the office where I tried on some snorkel gear to bring on the Flamingo and headed out to the hostel to pick up my bags. Alex assured me my guide would be waiting for me.
I headed to Liro Del Mar and checked out. I left the keys at the front desk and told the girl that I would be leaving and the Japaense girl, Yoshi would be staying another night but was out for the day SCUBA diving and would pay upon her return. (Damn my Spanish is getting good!). I then got some breakfast and took a taxi to the bus station with all of my bags for $1. I arrived to the bus station and was checking out the stores while I was waiting for the 9:30 bus (I missed the 9:00 one). I turned around and the entire bus station was gone…SHIT. I ran outside and everyone was already on the bus ready to go. I threw my bags under the bus and jumped inside. Apparently I didn’t realize that you had to buy a ticket inside and they never asked for it so I got a free ride. The last buses I rode you paid once you were inside the bus.
I took the 45-minute ride back to the ferry dock. I took my bags from under the bus and moved them to the roof of the ferry. I jumped on the ferry to make the short crossing back to the other side. When I got to the other side I walked up the stairs and grabbed my bags off the top of the ferry and then went to get on the bus where there were lots of people waiting. They didn’t’ have a place to put your bags under the bus so I had to carry them on the bus.
We made the short 5-minute ride to the airport and I had my bags and walked off the bus. I didn’t walk 20 feet when a man approached me and asked me I was on the Flamingo. I said yes and he told me there were two other people waiting for me to head to the boat and we would wait for a bus to take us to the port that was 5 minutes away. He told us we would only have to wait a few minutes, but that turned into an hour. The bus wouldn’t leave until it had enough passengers to fill it so we were waiting for a flight to come in so that the bus would fill up and we would head out. During that time I met Stina who was a blonde haired girl from Norway. She was really nice and was traveling through South America and Central America for about 6 months and was already 2 months into her trip. I also went to grab some candy and water at the airport and upon my return to my bags the bus was ready to go and we jumped on it. Her friend Oslo was also from Norway and they met earlier when traveling during a GAP tour for Brazil and Peru and were sharing some expenses along the way. He was quite quiet while Stina and I chatted it up.
We took the short ride to Baltra, a military area where the Flamingo was waiting for us. There were some seals hanging out on the benches and an iguana on the dock. Our guide told us not to get close, as it was a sea lion bachelor pad for all the rejects that weren’t quite big enough. We took some photos and waited for the shore boat to come pick us up.
We jumped on the shore boat and put on our lifejackets for safety. We took a short ride to the boat where we were met by the crew and a few of the passengers hanging out in the eating area. We were led to our cabin and I put my bags down and headed up on deck. I started to meet a few more people and soon they started to get the tables ready for our lunch. Our guide then came down and explained what we would be doing for the rest of the day and tomorrow.
I was the only native English speaker on the boat. There was a couple from Germany whose names I suck at remembering (sorry – the girl is in Quito for a few months working at the embassy in Quito while her boyfriend was visiting on holiday), Mita from Holland (traveling for 9 weeks), Petra and Dominic from Switzerland (traveling separately each for about 6 months), Stina and Oslo from Norway (each traveling for about 6 months, maybe more), and Martin and his wife from Northern Italy (on holiday). All of them spoke German except Oslo and me. The girl, Stina, could understand German since she took 3 years in school, but wouldn’t speak any. The Italian couple were from a part of Italy that was German speaking. A few were here just on holiday, but most of us were long-term travelers of 2 months or more.
Lunch was ready and I was asked if there were any certain foods I didn’t eat. I let them know I was allergic to mushrooms and I didn’t like fish. Tuna steak was for lunch so I got a big batch of rice instead. Lunch always starts with a bowl of soup and then comes the main course… which are very large portions. I ate as much as I could and told them not to serve me so much because I wasn’t a big eater (They never listened and always served me a ton of food- that mostly went to anybody else who wanted it or waste.)
We then took off and went to our first stop, Plazas Island. It was a semi-wet/dry landing. We pulled the shore boat up to some rocks and jumped from the boat to some rocks that we had to climb over. I changed my lens on my camera and got ready to take some photos of the wildlife. We first came across the Frigate bird where the male has a big red pouch that blows up really big when they are trying to pull the ladies. Our guide told us the bird was confused because there were not females around and he was just practicing pulling out his red pouch. There are two kinds of Frigate birds here on the Galapagos Islands the Great Frigate Bird and the Magnificent Frigate bird. They are large and black with long wings, hooked beaks, and forked tails.
We then came across the Galapagos Hawk who was flying in the air waiting for some scraps. They are endemic to the Galapagos and are found on most islands in the Galapagos catching their prey which includes lizards, young iguanas, rats, grasshoppers, etc. There were a few Frigate birds that were within 15 feet of us with a baby chick begging for some food. He was hollering and screaming and finally the mother bent over and puked into the babies mouth. We watched them feed and then the baby chick started hollering for more. It was amazing to be so close to nature.
We followed the path to a Blue-Footed boobie who was just chilling out. There were several younger ones around, but they weren’t old enough to have blue feet yet. The boobies lay up to 3 eggs as a sort of insurance policy, but usually only allow one to survive. Survival of the fittest. The boobie family (red, blue, and Nazca) are incredible divers and plunge to a depth of 8 meters to catch their prey. They are colorful, interesting, and a pleasure to watch. Sometimes they do a little dance for you.
We came across a dead blue-footed boobie and our guide went on about how he saw that exact bird alive just a few weeks ago when he visited the islands and that his brother killed him because the Boobie birds only allow one of their eggs to hatch and live as part of a survival of the fittest type of thing. We walked a little further and saw another dead bird and again we got a wild story about how he knew exactly what happened to him. Sheesh. My guidebook was right when it said the backpacker boats don’t usually have very good guides.
We then were on the look out for some iguanas that were in mating colors of red and yellow. We saw several trails of Iguanas, but were having no luck. We would see their tracks and their fresh poop and finally we came across a fairly large iguana that was hanging out on the path. In the National Park we are only allowed there with a guide and only allowed on a designated part of the island that is clearly marked. The National Park decides what boats can be at what islands at certain times and when they can go to shore with the passengers to visit the islands.
The iguana was about 3 feet long and was quite large but of normal colors and not mating colors. The land iguanas grow to about 3 feet at their largest. Their yellowish-orange belly and brownish red back make them more colorful than their cousins the marine iguana. The land iguanas live in the more arid portion of the islands. They mainly eat prickly pear cactus by eating the pads, fruit, and spines.
The cactus provides both food and water for the land iguana who can go without fresh water for a year. They find shade during the day and burrow into the ground at night.
We walked a bit more and came across some lava lizards that I don’t remember much information about because I was fooling around with my camera when the guide was talking. We ended up on the coast where we saw many sea lions. They were walking around and lounging about. They usually lift their head up if you get close just to check you out and then go back to lying down or whatever they were doing.
We then saw an iguana in the distance with mostly mating colors, but still not fully there. We walked along the coast and enjoyed the beach and the nice surf and sea lion activity. We then met the boat where we walked to a rock and a sea lion was lying there. We crept past it to get into the shore boat and headed to the Flamingo.
We were welcomed with a small snack of popcorn and went upstairs to lounge on deck where we got to know each other a bit more. The rest of the people on the boat (minus the Norwegians that joined me at the airport) were on an 8-day cruise and we were joining them for their 2nd half. They went up to the Northern part of the islands and now we were heading to the Southern islands of Santa Fe, Española, Floreana, and ending on the main island Santa Cruz (where we started).
We all chatted it up until dinner was ready around 7pm. We had some sort of chicken and it was okay. Everyone then went up on deck and we all talked and started drinking. Dominic had two bottles of rum and the ship offered bottles of beer that you could buy by putting a tick next to your name on a paper on the wall in the kitchen. They also offered coke. I don’t like either so I was SOL on special drinks.
The sunset was absolutely amazing and we were in a peaceful harbor to sleep and hang out for the night. Early in the morning (around 5am) we would start our passage to the next island, which would be around a 2-hour navigation.
After some good laughs and sitting up on deck, watching the night sky and experiencing several shooting stars I headed down below to go to bed. What a great way to end an amazing day.
The bed the assigned me to was really small and on top. As the boat rocked I felt like I was going to fall off and I was really uncomfortable and in pain so after an hour or so of that, I decided to climb down into Dominic’s bed and sleep there until he came down below to bed. I could hear them up on deck from my room having a good time… He never came down and fell asleep on deck instead. Lucky me!
