I am loving the Galapagos Islands!

Wednesday

I was far too tired to write anything yesterday or maybe I should say I was far too busy to write.

After getting to bed about 2:30 am and having to leave the hotel at 6:00 am the next morning it was certainly a long day. My luggage didn’t arrive! I left my information at the airport and they assured me that it would be delivered the next day to the hotel. I didn’t really know what to do except to carry on and see what happens. I did know that it might mean I was without my luggage for the entire Galapagos experience. They still don’t know where my luggage is.

Our guide that was to meet us at the hotel Wednesday morning (at 6:00) never showed up. We waited for quite a while and then the hotel drove us to the airport. There was a guy at the airport to help us. He had our boarding passes – well, everyone’s except mine! I was beginning to think that maybe I wasn’t supposed to be here. He did have my park pass to the Galapagos, which you need though. You have to go through a special security check to go to the Galapagos, just for environmental reasons. It took a little time – which we didn’t have as we were already late. They were calling our names, rushing us on a bus and speeding across the airport to get on the plane.

To get to the Galapagos you have to take a plane from Quito to Guayaquil, another small airport closer to the coast. It is about a 45 minute ride. At the airport there is a 45 minute wait while the plane and your luggage is sprayed, they also fill the plane with fuel as well. The flight to the Galapagos is about an hour & a half from there. It takes a while to get through the airport once you do arrive and it certainly felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. It looked like a dry barren land. There is a $100 charge to get in -the Galapagos is 97% National Park. They also check your luggage again just to ensure that you have no food etc., this is after there is a special security check at Quinto as well. I, of course have no luggage.

We took a 45 minute bus ride to the town of Porta Auyora, where we were to meet our tour guide & board the boat. It was raining, still warm but raining.

We transferred to the boat and had some time to settle in, we had a little lesson, some direction and were given our rooms. We had a nice lunch and then headed back to Purto Ayora, which is on Santa Cruz Island.

We visited the Charles Darwin centre. The Galapagos Islands are a national park. There are 13 major Islands. The park is the institution that controls the preservation of this environment, assisted by The Charles Darwin Research Station.

At the Charles Darwin Centre we had a tour which was unbelievable. We got to see the famous Galapagos Tortoises, which can live up to two hundred years! The Charles Darwin Centre is also the training centre for the naturalist guides who accompany all visitors to the islands and members of the international scientific community often come to study at the station. We got to see the real Lonesome George!!! There are so many iguanas here – different kinds, with different colours depending on what they eat.

We went back to the boat and had a great dinner. We all headed to bed right after supper which seemed so early but it was such an exhausting day and if course I really had next to no sleep the night before. It s also an early start in the morning. We will sail about 7 hours during the night.

I’m going to say so long now – here’s hoping my luggage is at the hotel as I still don’t know anything.