While visiting the Island of Isabela, we put our bags down at the following hotel.
We are now back on the main Island of Santa Cruz, after three wonderful days on Isabela, the largest of the Islands. This quiet Island, with few tourists, provided us with both activity and tranquility. We stayed in Puerto Villamil, a friendly little town with streets of sand. We spent the first day walking on multi-coloured lava rock around the summit of the second largest crater in the world, Valcan Sierra Negra and a smaller active volcano, Volcan Chico. We traveled by horse for part of the journey, which was Phil´s first time as a cowboy! The next morning we had our most enjoyable snorkel, with sea turtles and rays, and fish of very colour. We spent the afternoon biking, on very well managed paths, by the vast beach front, where the sand is as soft as flour, and by internationally recognized wetlands. The wetlands are dense mangroves with small salt water pools in close proximity to the ocean. It is all so beautiful and humbling.
Around every corner there are spectacular sights of animals co-existing right before our eyes. Our last two days have been primarily spent snorkeling around two different islands fairly close to the one we have been staying on. Around one rock formation, called Corona del Diablo (the Devil's Crown), we snorkeled by a giant sea turtle, three white tipped sharks, many sea lions, a manta ray and thousands of fish, which the previously mentioned feed on. I could hardly keep from choking on my snorkel gear (especially when I realized I had just swam over a shark, who thankfully cared less about me, Phil, of course, was thrilled and turned back for a photo)!
We touched-down on Santa Cruz Island this morning around 11AM. We went through security, retrieved our luggage, and caught a ride to the small village of Puerto Ayora (the hub of the Galapagos Islands). We checked into Hotel Flamingo at 12AM and wandered down to the waterfront. It didn't take long to see our first marine iguanas, sally lightfoot crabs, and lava gulls. After a lunch, we strolled along the shoreline towards the Charles Darwin Research Station. We watched brown pelicans, great friggatebirds, and two galapagos sea lions. At the Research Station, we saw Lonesome George, the last survivor of the distinct Pinta Giant Tortoise subspecies. We spent time with many other giant tortoises and iguanas. It was absolutely incredible. The Charles Darwin Foundation website (www.darwinfoundation.org) features news, updates, and background information, and tells you how you can make donations or join the foundation.
We just spent three days in one of Ecuador´s top tourist spots, for both locals and foreigners, called Baños. We arrived just as Carnaval was starting and were able to join in on the fun of this very exciting fiesta, as well as take part in some outdoor activity. Early in the morning on our first day we enjoyed a hot springs bath (hence the name of the town), and then headed just outside of town to catch a glimpse of the active volcano, which actually erupted a couple years ago. It is an amazing sight to see the smoke puff out of a volcano, something prehistoric about it.
We arrived safely in Guayquil after a very interesting and extremely crowded 7 hour bus ride. We managed to accomodate a snoring man - sprawled out on the floor at our feet, we had mud sprayed all over our heads, and the girl behind us vomitted on our backpack. It was great. We are currently staying at the Dreamkapture Hostal and very much looking forward to flying to the Galapagos Islands tomorrow morning at 10AM.
We are currently staying at the following hostal in Baños, Ecuador. We will be here until the morning of January 4th. We will then be heading to the city of Guayaquil for one night before flying to the Galapagos Islands on January 5th.