9th April- and another location!
We were picked up at 05:30 and taken to the airport. We condensed the stuff we will need for Galapagos, and left a lot of our luggage at the hotel, rather than lugging everything on planes, buses & boats. The hotel made us a packed lunch for breakfast & we headed off. The airport was surprisingly easy to get through & our guide Edwin completed all of the necessary paperwork on our behalf. You have to buy a tourist card to access Galapagos, and must show this on leaving too. It is $20 dollars. Liquids are allowed on flights, at any quantity, so we didn't have to separate anything from our bags and everything just went through a scanner. The only things they are really strict about are not taking any seeds or plants, as this could alter the entire ecosystem of the islands. As we were getting ready to board, we could see what looked like puffs of smoke ( clouds?) coming from Guagua Pichincha, the active volcano on the outskirts of Quito, only 8kl from the city. We flew to Guagil, where some passengers got off. I remembered talking to Uncle Bill about this, as it has a large sea port, so is one of the places he stopped at as a Chief Engineer aboard ship. He is really well travelled and his memory is so sharp from years ago, it makes it all the more upsetting now his short term memory is being ravaged by altzeimers & vascular dementia.
We remained seated and some new people got on, before the flight continued on to Baltra Island. The plane is a good mix of nationalities and ages, and there is a surprising number of families and young people on board. For some reason I thought it would be full of oldies doing their bucket list trip, but it's good to see the mix. Can you imagine doing a trip like this as a child? What a fantastic introduction to nature & the need for conservation.
We had to sign a declaration form stating we were not carrying anything prohibited into the islands and it stated there's a hefty fine if this is not followed. Just shy of $700 per item. As we approached, our first glimpses of the islands brought surprises. Firstly, it is much bigger than I thought. It was also strange to see such an expanse of land with nothing on it, other than the reflection of the clouds above. Only 3 of the islands are inhabited. The plane was sprayed before we got off to prevent any transfer of bugs to the island.
We stepped off the plane & the heat hit us. We walked across towards the terminal and saw 2 big land iguanas before we got there! The airport is the first fully ecological airport In the world. We walked through disinfectant soaked mats & under a corridor of solar panels to a breezy terminal filled with huge fans, all powered by the sun. The whole experience was easy. There is a fee of $100 per visitor to enter, payable at the airport. Sniffer dogs run back & forward across hold luggage and all hand luggage is scanned again.
Daniella our local guide informed us that there is an airport on Galapagos, as the government allowed the USA to have a military base here during WW2. You can still see the concrete bases of the buildings in the surrounding area.
After a short bus ride costing $5 we arrived at the ferry terminal. The water was clear and bright blue & turquoise. I would have loved to have taken off my hiking boots and soaked my feet for a while.
The small ferry took no time to cross the water and our mini bus & driver was waiting for us on Santa Cruz Island. Galapagos is part of the ring of fire. Basically the archipelago formed through magma forming volcanoes under water. The hot lava forcing upwards and cooling once it hit the elements to form lava rock. The islands have a lot of active volcano's. Daniella explained that Galapagos volcano's do not have aluminum and lower silica present, and so are not "shell volcanos" meaning when they erupt, the lava oozes and flows towards the sea, rather than having a violent eruption throwing lava up into the air. Galapagos volcano's are shield volcano's.
There are a lot of regulations in place to protect the islands. 97% of the area is national park. So permission must be sort for all tourist activities..
As we boarded the bus, a pelican flew past!
We drove up to 500 metres above sea level where the vegetation was lush. The rain started just as we got off for our first stop. A huge sink hole. Daniella explained there are a series of large sink holes on the island, caused by the flow of lava beneath the ground, some lava is above, but cools quickly when it hits the elements, changing the landscape. The liquid lava below the surface causes lava tunnels, which can then collapse, making the sinkholes. The rock here is very unstable, so can't be walked on. There were a lot of finches enjoying them though. There are officially 15 varieties of finch on the islands, however they are waiting for official recognition for a further 2 species.
We then headed off to a privately owned ranch, passing fields of cows and egrets. They have a symbiotic relationship were the beautiful white egrets eat ticks from the cattle. We saw 11 giant tortoise's just on the drive up to the ranch. They are free to roam anywhere they wish. An interesting fact for you- the tortoise has an exoskeleton, so the shell is part of their skeleton & there spine runs along the inside of the shell, not like a snail or hermit crab, who are a separate entity to their shell, using it purely for protection. So tortoise have nerves in their shell & can feel touch & pain if the shell is damaged. Also if you look at the underside, males are concave and the female under shell is flat. Also male tails are longer and curved, whereas the female tale is short and straighter. We literally saw dozens of giant tortoises. We also walked through one of the lava tunnels, described as a young tunnel at less than 500,000 years old. This was apparent as there were not yet any stalagmites or stalactites formed yet.
We had a delicious lunch at the ranch, washed down with lemon grass tea, and then went on to the Charles Darwin Research Centre, where there is a tortoise breeding programme. Tortoise eggs are incubated as the temperature dictates the gender of the baby tortoises. Once hatched, they are numbered and colour coded to recognise which island the tortoises belong to. The island species are not mixed. The tortoises are kept in captivity until they are 7 years old & then released into the wild on their specific island. This programme started after black rats and cats were introduced to the islands and threatened the future of the tortoises. Both introduced species eat the eggs of the tortoises, so threatened their survival, particularly as tortoises don't reach sexual maturity until they are 25 years old. They were literally being wiped out. The tortoises are big enough to not be at risk from predators by the time they are 7.
On the walk to the breeding programme we saw bright orange & blue crabs- the centre is right next to the beach, lots of marine iguanas, basking in the sun, who weren't bothered in the slightest that we were there, and even more lava lizards, which have beautiful markings- the females also have a bright orange chin. It seemed unusual for the female of the species to be the colourful one. I can't believe we have seen so many different species on day one. I had to pinch myself that it's real & I am actually here! I feel blessed.
After this, we checked in to our hotel, Hotel Deja vu, which is really nice. Our room is spacious, and well decorated, with a lovely balcony, air con and a fridge. We stripped off, got into our bathers and headed to the hotel pool, which was like a warm bath. It was blissful after a long day. We then went into town & had dinner at mojito restaurant, which had a 2 for 1 deal on cocktails. The Margherita's were stunning, so we had 4 & the stroll back to the hotel in the warm air was lovely. The moon was big and a deep yellow colour in the sky. It felt like the perfect night after a perfect day. We have another early start tomorrow, which is just as well, as we had managed to find out where the night club was, and if we didn't have to get up early, would have definitely headed there, or at least I would. Graeme has been really sleepy today, after a poor night's sleep last night. He fell asleep on the plane, on the bus and pretty much instantly when we got back to the hotel. I think the altitude, heat & humidity has got to him over the last few days. I, on the other hand, feel fine. I think this climate really suits me. I love being in amongst nature too. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.
Night night,
Caroline
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