I’ve transferred over to WordPress as Yahoo are closing down the Yahoo 360 site where this used to be hosted. It might take a while to get all the tags and catagories sorted out… (and there are some images missing too)

When I arrive for breakfast Doris informs me that the driver is already here, so we make an early start at about 7:45 – I have a minibus all to myself and a driver who speaks no English! We don’t return the same way we came, but the road is much the same – intermittent speed bumps, and ever present pot holes, until we cross into a new province, where the road becomes noticeably better, no doubt due to the funding from the two toll gates we also pass through.

There are no real hold ups and we get to the airport just after 11. I join the queue at the Aerogal desk, and despite the best efforts of various Ecuadorian queue jumpers, make it to the desk and hand over my reservation number and collect my ticket, before being directed to windows 41-45. I find an empty window, but the girl there speaks no English – she calls a colleague, who, on hearing my accent asks “Are you English? Oh my god, I’m from Ireland” – I guess she doesn’t get to see many people from the British Isles working in Ecuador National Departures… She explains my flight has been cancelled (great!) but I have been reallocated to a 2PM flight, (an hour later). Since I think I had about an hour wait in Quito between arriving and checking for the international flight opening, this is not too bad. She returns to her desk, and the original attendant fills in some forms, then looks worried and calls her back. Because it is still only 11:30 and the flight isn’t until 2, the check in is not open yet, and I need to go away until around 1pm.

There are a few shops in the main hall, including a “Souvenirs Artasinas”, so I am able to get a doll in national costume that I wanted for Harriet, but hadn’t managed to get in Guayaquil. There are also two food concessions, a KFC and a China Wok. Looking at the pictures on the China Wok board, I am not confident I can actually recognise any of the dishes, and I don’t think my phrase book expects you to be ordering Chinese food in Spanish, so I settle for KFC as at least I know what I’m getting. (Or do I? as this is Ecuador, maybe it is Kentucky Fried Cuy (Guinea Pig)?)

Once check-ins open at 1, I am able to check in and everything goes smoothly. Diego is waiting at Quito airport – I’m not sure when he found out I was on a later plane, and we proceed directly from national arrivals to international departures while he explains to me how I need to pay the departure tax and take the receipt to check-in. This is because both the “tax desk” and the check in desk are in a separate hall, and Diego leaves me at the door. However everything proceeds smoothly and after yet more last minute souvenir shopping, getting rid of all my loose change, it is time to board the plane.

People on board who are flying from Madrid to Guayaquil are given blue “Transit” cards, and join us in departures, having been made to get off the plane. They are the first to re-board, followed by the rest of us, and before long I am back in Guayaquil again – It is strange that it has taken me all afternoon to get from one end of the Airport to the other. Strangely, given that they emptied the plane at Quito, we all have to get off and take our hand luggage with us. This of course, means going through another security scan. We are given the “Transit” cards this time and so are first back on to the plane. It is suggested that the reason we had to get off because the plane is being refuelled, but it is still being refuelled when we get back on as we are instructed not to fasten our seatbelts. There are a couple a few rows behind me who did not hear, or understand the instruction to take their hand luggage, so when they get back on, they discover their bag is missing. The stewardesses track it down, it was removed and is in the gangway outside, so is soon retrieved for them, but not their copy of the Zweitung German Newspaper.

Arriving in Spain I again have to change terminals. This involves a ride on the underground train and passing through yet another x-ray/security check – the 4th since boarding the original flight in Guayaquil – It’s good to be so safe!

The lights are working again this morning.

The early part of the morning is spent trying to find out what will happen tomorrow. My itinerary says I will be taken to Guayaquil to fly to Quito, but doesn’t say what flight, or who has the ticket. Janice and Doris (the Mantaraya Manager) can’t understand why I need to go to Guayaquil rather than Manta, which is much closer… I think the original Itinerary I was given, did go via Manta, but I was told that this had to change a couple of weeks before I left. They have called Metropolitan Travel, and are waiting for a response when it is time for us to leave.

Joining Alan and I today are Gary and his son Ryan, from Calgary, Canada. Our destination this morning is the archaeological site of Agua Blanca. This is a little way in-land, and has another small museum, although this one is labelled in both English and Spanish. We follow the museum with a walk through the site, observing fauna (both wild and domestic) and flora, the foundations of some of the old ceremonial hut, and a sulphurous pool, whose mud is supposed to be beneficial to the skin and a remedy for sunburn.

We return to Mantaraya for lunch, and Janice has the details for me. I leave at 8:00 and fly at 13:00. They also have the booking reference for me so I can collect my ticket from the Aerogal desk. She’s going to Manta this afternoon with Tom and Nancy and offers to try and change my flight to one that leaves Manta at 8. That would mean leaving here at 5am and spending 5 or 6 hours in Quito before I could check in. It’s a nice thought but I think my journey will be long enough without that early start, so I decline.

After lunch we depart for the beach at Los Frailes. It is a large sandy beach and quite unspoiled. (It is also protected as it is part of the National Park, so you have to pay an entrance fee…) We hike up the beach and climb up the hill to an observation point, where we can look down on the black vultures and pelicans flying below us. Nancy and Tom say they saw whales this morning, but they’ve obviously moved on. We return too the beach, where Gary and Ryan decide to swim, while I decide to go and sit in the shade. (It is the first sunny afternoon we’ve had at Machalilla) and take some pictures of the crabs. They don’t swim for long, though, as they both get stung by jellyfish – I am glad I didn’t join them.

I hadn’t mentioned before, but we were in two cars today, and for some reason I get one to myself. We have just left the beach car park, making our way back up to the main road, when the driver suddenly pulls over, gets out and wanders round kicking all the tyres – they all make a reassuring “boing” sound, so we resume our journey, but it means we are some way behind the others – they were just beginning to think we’d got lost!

Then off to my room to try and pack everything I can to allow for a rapid getaway in the morning – held up only by a problem with the shower. Doris had told me to turn the hot water full on first, then the cold, but to be careful as the hot could be too hot and burn, but needed to be full on for the pressure. The first problem was that neither tap was labelled, but still I had managed so far. Tonight, however, even with both taps full on there’s very little pressure, or warmth, followed rapidly by no water at all. Patience is a virtue though, and after waiting a while, normal service is resumed.  

We are ready at 8:45, but there is no sign of the “little cars” – the taxis that are supposed to collect us and take us down to Puerto Lopez. Eventually the hotel manager decides she will have to take us, so we all pile into her car and drive down the track to the road, where we encounter three motor-trikes – the missing taxis! We change vehicles and proceed to the Mantaraya office in town where our national park guide, Hugo, is waiting. He leads us down the beach to our boat, which is waiting for us, the last passengers – but before we can board we have to push it further off the beach – the joys of being late. Alan had recommended that we sit near the back, but of course all those seats are taken. There is a second national park guide, Julio on board. Neither Hugo or Julio speak English, but Janice translates – we will take about two hours to get to the island, stopping off if we see whales, if we don’t we will spend longer looking on the way back. The sea is “pleasantly undulating”, but the captain steers mostly along the waves, so we have a relatively smooth ride.

Keeping an eye out for whales, I spot a couple of blows off the starboard bow – we head in that direction, and see probably 5-8 humpback whales, either in small groups or separately – mostly just leisurely swimming, though we do see a few flipper slaps, a few lunges and a couple of spectacular breaches as part of the show. Eventually we depart for the Island , arriving approximately midday – we celebrate with banana-cake and banana!

Once we are all ashore we split into two groups. Hugo takes a group of students, while the rest of us go with Julio – in addition to Tom, Nancy, Janice and myself, there are a French couple from Dijon, an Irish couple from Waterford, and a young Ecuadorian couple. Julio shows us a map of the routes, and much discussion ensues, as we have been told there is a “long” 3 hour walk and a “short” 2.5-2.75 hour walk, and it isn’t clear which route is which, or what offers the best opportunities to see the most things (which is obviously what we all want). I suspect it is slightly moot as Julio “recommends” a route which I am sure is where he always intended to take us. (The “best” route probably depends on the time of year, and which species are present or most abundant at the time). Since this route takes us to the frigate bird area, and we never really saw them up close in the Galapagos, this suits me fine.

We climb the 180-odd steps to the top of the island, then set off, pausing to examine various flora (including something that looks like a bit like a horse chestnut, but turns out to contain a little loofah) and fauna (like a friendly stick insect). After side-stepping blue-footed boobys that have decided to rest in the middle of the path, we come to an area populated by magnificent frigate birds. Some are flying about, while many are resting in the trees including some males who obligingly puff up their throat sacs and display for us. Julio then gives us the choice of walking further and seeing more of the same birds, or returning to give longer for snorkelling. I’d sooner go on, but as I am in an obvious minority, we return back to the boat.  

Hugo is waiting for us, but the students have returned on a different boat, so we have more room now. We sail round to below where we were watching the frigate birds, then have lunch of fresh fruit and “doorstop” sandwiches, before those wishing to snorkel take to the water. Although the sun came out while we were on the island, it has clouded over again, so I suspect that visibility won’t be brilliant, and several fish have come close enough to the surface that I can probably see them clearer from the boat with my glasses on than I would in the water without. Tom and Janice also decline. The swimmers don’t stop in too long, and confirm my suspicions by reporting there wasn’t much too see, so we head for home. We head back taking the faster, more direct route across the waves, making for a much bumpier, and wetter, ride than the journey out. None the less it is still broken by an encounter with 3 or 4 whales – not quite as active as this morning, but they come much closer to the boat – however in view of the amount of spray and water about, I decide to just watch and not photograph the encounter.

Tom and Nancy leave tomorrow, and initially we think that we will all be going to Los Frailes beach in the morning, but at dinner Janice tells me I will be with Adam again tomorrow, visiting Agua Blanca in the morning and Los Frailes in the afternoon.

As I approach my room, I spot a small gecko on the floor. He runs and hides under the door, then invites himself in – it’s a good job I’m not scared of lizards! I’m busy filling in my diary before going to bed when suddenly all the lights go out – power cut or generator failure? The lights outside soon come on again, and my bedside light starts working, but the main light does not come back on (nor the bathroom light).

Once more I had a note shoved under my door yesterday to say my departure is an hour later than originally suggested, so I make myself available in the lobby for 9 am. Shortly after 9 Julio and Debbie arrive. They are to take me to Mantaraya. Julio is driving, and doing most of the talking – in fact Debbie sleeps for about half of the journey! We have been driving for about an hour when Julio decides we should stop for breakfast at a lodge we are passing. It looks very plush, with a swimming pool, a pond with geese, lots of saddles (so presumably horses) etc. Apparently they make their own cheese too, which Julio claims is excellent. He tells me the service here is normally good, but we end up here for almost an hour.

It was cloudy and cooler than yesterday in Guayaquil, and as we reach the coast the cloud develops into a thick mist, then rain, before brightening up a little with the sun finally braking through as we reach Mantaraya at about 1:45. It is a charming place painted yellow, blue and white, with domes and towers. The rooms are not numbered, but each has a different animal on the door – I am in “Shark”. I just have time to drop off my stuff as dinner is served until 2, then I am to meet the guide and two other guests at 3 for an afternoon excursion.

When I get to the dining room there is an American couple and a Spanish speaking family with two young children in there. The Americans are Nancy & Tom, who are on the same trips as me this afternoon and tomorrow. Our guide this afternoon is Alan, who is taking us to the Salango Archaeological Museum. This is quite small, but contains lots of artefacts found locally from a number of different cultures that lived in the area between 3000BC and the arrival of the Spanish in 1532. Although all the labels are in Spanish, Alan explains to us about the different cultures, and when they were around, etc. Many of the artefacts were discovered when foundations were being dug for a factory – Alan remembers the archaeologists coming to recover them when he was a child.

After about an hour we return to Mantaraya to be briefed about tomorrow. We leave at 9, but with a different guide, as Alan is going to collect some more guests. Although the cloud has returned, it is still warm and dry so I sit on the terrace by the pool, where I can look out to sea, in case a bored whale should chance by (none do), and catch up with my diary once more.

We are joined for dinner by Janice, who will be our guide tomorrow – and the plans are already changing. They have decided it will be busy tomorrow, so we will leave 15 minutes earlier, and must bring all of our details and passport numbers down to breakfast so they can organize the national park tickets for us while we eat.

The saga of the Travellers Cheques

It Guaytakes me most of the morning to sort out changing some travellers cheques. It all started back in Quito, where the hotel would not change my travellers cheques as they didn’t feel the countersignature was sufficiently like the original one. Then the Cambio at Quito Airport won’t change them because they don’t think the original signature on two cheques are sufficiently similar, and suggest I need to go to American Express, so now I am in Guayaquil I set out to do this. I ask at reception. “American Express Newspaper?” they ask. This should have been a clue that things were not going to go well. Next stop, the tourist information office, where after much scratching of heads, they suggest I go to the Banco Guayaquil, as they have some sort of affiliation with American Express. At the bank I ask at the information desk for travellers cheques – they send me to the second floor. When I get there the security guard treats me to a torrent of Spanish, before directing me to a cashier who tells me I need to go to a Tourist Exchange. I tell her that they had told me to come here, so she suggests the Banco Boliviarno two blocks down. When I get there, I once again ask at the information desk, where I am directed to windows 14 and 15. There is a single queue for windows 13 to 20, but before I can join it, I have to pass another security guard. He does not think they do Travellers Cheques, and after consulting with someone else (I’m not sure if he is an employee or just a bystander) they decide I need to go to the Banco Central. On the way I pass the Banco del Pacifico, and to save time, I decide to try here first. The security guard here is right next to the information desk, so this time I actually get to join the queue, and – finally – change some travellers cheques

I am already downstream of my hotel by now, and only a block up from the river, so I decide to walk the other half of the Malecon 2000, from the imax cinema (Offering either Batman or Kung Fu Panda, but as both are probably dubbed in Spanish I decide to pass) down past a pleasant looking park area to the Bolivar/San Martin monument, the back to the hotel. The sun has got very hot, so I decide to shelter in the air conditioning for a while.

Once it is cooler, relatively speaking, I set off for Barrio Las Peñas, only a bit further out than where I was this morning. It is a hill which contains some of the oldest parts of the city, and many small art galleries and workshops. There is a lighthouse on top of the hill, and just below that an area with some model pirates and a number of old cannons (or canyons as Jorge told me yesterday when recommending it), and a few other historical artefacts, all labelled in Spanish and “Spanglish” – some of which is reasonably clear and some makes no sense whatsoever. The steps up the hill are all helpfully numbered – there are 444 of them, and with the heat, you are glad of the chance to stop and look in the galleries and shops on the way up!

When I get back down the hill, I decide I should still have time to go to the far end of the Malecon 2000 walkway to some craft shops I saw yesterday for some souvenir shopping now I have my money sorted. Unfortunately when I get there, even though the shops seem to still be open the security guards, for some inexplicable (to me at least) reason have closed off access to that section of the walkway, so you can’t actually get to them.

In an attempt to get a meal served in the right order tonight I go around the corner in the opposite direction, to the restaurant attached to the Ramada hotel. The menu here is in both English and Spanish, and is large and varied. As I am now on the coast I go for Sea Bass in a creole sauce, with rice and plantain chips. Very good, and I do get all the courses in the expected order – Success!

We are up before the sun and manage to be the first zodiacs into the mangroves, so get to see the trees thick with egrets explode into life as they wake up and take flight. There are also a handful of pelicans around, swooping over the water, then diving with a huge splash. We sail up to a shallow inlet where we wait and watch as a number of turtles, sharks, and rays make their way back to the open ocean as the tide falls, before following them out into the bay where a large flock of boobies are putting n a wonderful display of synchronised diving as they fish for their breakfast – which reminds us that it is time for ours – so we return to the boat to feed, and to fetch up our bags, (and retrieve our shoes) ready for the trip back to the airport.

The airport is a bit chaotic, with several boats-worth of passengers all arriving together, but Franklin ensures we all get checked in alright, and also arranges us Galapagos Park stamps for our passports – they look much more decorative than the official Ecuador ones!

The flight is mostly smooth and incident free, and as on the way out, about half the plane seems to disembark at Guayaquil – this time, however, I am among them. I am met by Jorge, from Metropolitan Travel who takes me to the Hampton Inn, giving me enough ideas of places to visit for a week!

The hotel room is still being cleaned when I arrive, so I have to wait in the bar, but this is no great hardship as they also give me a voucher for a complimentary drink, and it gives me the chance to get my diary up to date again. Mind you the promised 25 minutes is a bit of an under-estimation… When I eventually get to my room it is on the 11th floor, right next to the lifts, despite being so high up there is no real view due to the other tall buildings.

There is a big statue commemorating the meeting of Simon Bolivar and Jose San Martin at the end of the street, down by the river, and a riverbank walk – Malecon 2000 – which I follow up to some craft units, then back through the shopping arcade below. The other nearby attraction is the Iguana park, and as I’ve not seen enough iguana recently I head there. These are “Tree” Iguana – the green ones that are most familiar from zoos. The best time to see them, I’m told, islate afternoon as they spend the mornings up in the trees warming up. The park is only small and there are a number of iguana in the trees and on the ground, while I am watching when I suddenly notice someone wave. It is Christopher and Christiane from the Cachalote who are also staying in Guayaquil tonight before flying home tomorrow.

Another interesting meal tonight at a grill house just around the corner from the hotel. I order chicken soup and “baby beef”. The beef comes first, and if it’s a baby I dread to think what the parents are like! Needless to say, the soup turns up when I am about half way through the beef. For pudding, I order fresh fruit without cream. The waiter fetches a glass dish and a plate which he puts on the counter and looks at the group of chefs on the other side. They ignore him. Eventually he wanders round to their side of the counter and picks up the dish and disappears round the back, emerging with the bowl full of strawberries, which the chefs then take and, between them fill a piping bag with cream. (I know I ordered ‘natural’ rather than ‘con cream’ . I think it is like the Monty Python ‘Spam’ sketch – it’s only a little bit of cream…)

We arrive at James Bay, Santiago overnight, so it is nice and calm when we awake, and although the top of the volcano is shrouded in dark clouds, it is otherwise clear and bright. As it is our last full day we have three landings today, a wet one this morning, and a wet and a dry one on Bartolome this afternoon.

We have not got far off the beach at James Bay, when we come across a great blue heron stalking his prey – we watch for a while, but don’t actually see it strike. Once we get to the other side of the headland, we are looking for fur seals, though finding mostly marine iguana. There is an interesting geological feature there, known as Darwin’s toilet – a natural bowl in the lava that fills and empties as the waves roll in and out, complete with an authentic flushing sound. We eventually find a young fur seal pup swimming in a small inlet. He puts on quite a show for us, but will insist on staying in the darkest corners making photos more difficult. Just before we leave, he is joined by a young sea-lion, seeing them side by side makes it obvious they are different species.

In another inlet Franklin spots an octopus and we all rush to see it, just in time as it is heading back to the sea. We also encounter a couple of lava heron to go with the great blue we saw earlier.

The beach is quite busy (by Galapagos standards) when we return, and we are only one of several snorkelling groups – which makes it difficult for me to spot who is part of our group once I take my glasses off – especially as part of the beach is “off limits” for snorkelling as there is a young male sea-lion there who may prove aggressive (and no-one feels like going to find out).

As soon as everyone is back on board the Cachalote we set sail again for Bartolome, having lunch on the move. We are just in the middle of our pudding when dolphins are spotted. It is a huge school of maybe 150 bottlenose dolphins who swim around us, some leaping out of the water, and several bowriding along the front of the ship. We all rush out to watch them – lunch will have to wait!

The ship anchors in the bay off Pinnacle Rock at Bartolome. We have two trips out here this afternoon. A wet landing to explore the beach and swim/snorkel (making two snorkelling trips today as well), returning to the ship for a quick shower, then back to climb up to the peak opposite the pinnacle (by means of a boardwalk and steps, not real mountaineering) to look down at the parasitic cones (or fumaroles) left by previous eruptions. We stand at the peak and watch the sun go down over the bay.

We have hardly got back on board when it is time for our farewell dinner. The captain and crew join us to say goodbye, receive our vote of thanks, and share another of Richards “secret” cocktails. Pudding is another surprise, a magnificent chocolate gateaux with a special message iced in to the top “Galapagos thanks you” in Spanish. Franklin then shocks us with the news that we have a 6 AM start in the morning for a dingy cruise through some mangroves, and he wants to get there early before the other boats scare the roosting egrets. Since everyone still has to pack and there doesn’t look like being much time in the morning, this soon breaks the party up.

We set sail this morning around 4 to 4:30, arriving at Urbina Bay on Isabella as we eat breakfast. We have a wet landing on the beach, and have just arrived in time to see a lone baby turtle making his way down to see a lone baby turtle making his way down to the sea – he missed have missed his alarm call.

This whole area was uplifted from the ocean in 1954, so has plenty of coral and barnacle encrusted rocks some distance in land. Plants quickly moved in to the newly exposed areas, and following them came plenty of land iguana (who seem to enjoy lying in, or right beside the trail) and several small and medium ground finch. The last part of the hike is a scramble over some large lava boulders on the beach, where we find marine iguana, lava lizards and flightless cormorant.

It has remained cloudy but very warm all morning, so the visibility for snorkelling is not particularly good, so half of us decide to skip the snorkelling and return to the ship, while the rest go in search of turtles and penguins.

We set sail over lunch for Punta Espinosa on Ferdinanda, where we make a dry landing and walk across lava and beach to see mostly marine iguana – it is a nesting area for them, and we do see some young ones. There is also a young (less than one week old) sea-lion pup, who doesn’t seem to keen on entering the water. On the other side of the isthmus is a marine turtle resting on the beach. According to Franklin it has been doing this for some months, even though according all the studies, it shouldn’t!

We return to the ship and set sail to round the northern tip of Isabella, crossing the equator twice. We are looking for whales and mola mola (ocean sun fish) – we have hardly started when we encounter a pair of Bryde’s whale. We subsequently pass a shark (species unknown), a mola mola, a manta ray leaping out of the water, and some fur seal swimming across the bow. Then at about 5:45 the captain invites us all on to the bridge to watch as we cross the equator. Richard (the steward) serves a cocktail which Franklin assures us will help us to see the red line that runs around the equator if we drink it all!

The sailing this afternoon is quite smooth until after dinner, when we have obviously turned a corner and things start to get a bit more rocky.

We arrived at Isabella overnight, so it is nice and calm when we awake off Punta Moreno. It is warmer and clearer again this morning, although the tops of the volcanoes are still wreathed in clouds. Franklin briefs us over breakfast. We have a lava landing this morning – we have already done “wet” and “dry” landings, is this something new? It turns out to be a dry landing on to the lava plates left by previous eruptions. These can be nice and smooth in places, and quite jagged and sharp in others, with large cracks and some quite thin and less stable parts, making some parts of the trail more challenging.  

We see a large colony of marine iguana, some blue footed boobies, flightless cormorant, and they typically uncooperative penguins on the boat ride in, then walk across the alien landscape, with many cactus and the odd bit of wildlife – flamingo, stilts, moorhen, lava lizards etc.  

We return to the boat and kit up for a snorkel trip by dingy. Franklin says this is area is a good spot for turtles, and we have to see 5 before we are allowed back on board. I’m glad to say I fulfilled my quota, although without my glasses I couldn’t see the octopus, even when Franklin points right at it. (I’m not the only one not to see it, so I don’t feel too upset).

The boat sets sail again while we are eating lunch to move around the coast to Elizabeth Bay. We are not landing here, but do get a prolonged zodiac cruise after the captain has got us to do a second boat drill to prove we were listening to the instructions last time. The zodiacs take us into the mangroves, where we proceed by paddle rather than outboard motor. We even manage to find a cooperative Galapagos penguin ( he obviously didn’t get the memo), as well as pelicans, turtles, cormorant and various fish including a school of golden rays. Chris is also surprised by a close encounter with a playful sea-lion that brushes against his foot which was dangling in the water.

This evening after dinner we go star gazing, but unfortunately the combination of a bright ¾ moon and cloud on the horizon make it less than ideal conditions.