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We
started our South-American trip in
Ecuador. I was slightly apprehensive about going to South-America,
as on my previous trip a few years ago I had been
mugged and shot at in Brazil. Ecuador turned out to be reasonably
safe and during the day we walked around
the town rather comfortably. My friends Otto
and Maris arrived a day after us
and when we all had recovered from jetleg we set out for
the Galapagos Islands. The
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A Giant Galapagos Turtle
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group
Galapagos are an island group about 1500 kilometers out in
the Pacific Ocean and due to its extreme isolation has seen relatively few outside influences. And because of its
unique geography over the last couple of
million years species have developed seperately from the mainland. Darwin, the founder of the evolution
theory, visited the Galapagos islands as part of his research.
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The
only way to tour around the
Galapagos is by boat and we were lucky enough to find a last-minute
deal on the Yolita, which with 12 passengers
and five crew is one of the smaller boats. For a week we went from
island to island, landing at most of them to
observe the wildlife. And so we got to see the giant turtles,
flamingos, sharks, many different kind
of birds like the albatros and the blue footed booby, and sea
lions, sea lions and more sea lions.
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One of the
great things about the Galapagos is that almost all of it is
protected area, and all tourists are accompanied
by a well-educated guide. In this way the human impact on the
wildlife is minimal and the animals can be
easily observed behaving in their natural way. It is quite a
difference experience from visiting a zoo.
Our guide was quite a character, and besides telling us a
lot of details about the Galapagos he was
also a great storyteller. Not always politically correct,
his stories were a good laugh and is was easy to
see he was quite a charmer. Of course life on board a small
boat on the open sea takes a bit getting used
to and most of us spend the first few days in different stages
of seasickness. The first night back
on land I was still rocking back and forth so much I had to
hold on to walls trying not to fall over.
And with the scarce amount of water available you can only
take a two minutes shower at the end of the day
and so within a few days the level of personal hygiene is
not what it should be. But the food was excellent,
most other passengers turned out to be really great people
and every day brought a new discovery of how
beautiful nature can be.
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Quito, the capital of Ecuador
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Maris and Otto, our travel partners for six weeks
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To visit the Galapagos we booked a trip with the Yolita.
To book the Yolita do not use the expensive website, but compare
a few prices at the travel agencies in Quito. Last minute bookings are generally possible and a lot cheaper.
In Quito we stayed at the
L'auberge Inn, a decent
guesthouse with an attached restaurant. Recommended.
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