Over the holidays, we spent almost two weeks in Ecuador, primarily to visit the Galapagos Islands. It was absolutely magical – to be surrounded by so much nature – in one of the special places in the world.
Seeing marine iguanas, gigantic tortoises, and sea lions in
their habitat was just amazing. Add to that the multitude of birds, including
the elegant frigates (in flight), huge pelicans and even those boobies with
blue feet (and red too), the magic increase tenfold.
I decided to write about our experience because we did not
find a lot of information on the web. While our travel agents gave us as much
info as possible, the descriptions were mostly one or two sentence descriptions,
max 3. I had to cross-reference with
guidebooks to make some refinements due to our limitations.
That said, I am splitting this guide into three parts, each
part concentrating on an island. I did not expect to write a lot, but my initial draft
was rather long. There was just so much to share – mostly good, but also some
suggestions.
Delivering it in three parts will give me time to edit it in pieces. Oh wait, it may actually be four because the food article is separate (This is a food blog after all). OK – I may
write five because I may want to do a piece on Quito. That’s more fun writing
than I’ve done in a year.
Hope you enjoy my adventure with me and Hubby.
Isla San Cristobal
Anticipation - Travel To The Islands. Our travel to the Galapagos from Quito was pretty uneventful. We were
escorted to the airport by our guide Tony. Tony guided us through the maze and possible bureaucracy of
the airport.
Entry to the Galapagos is through its own special gate, Tony, who we think knows everyone in the airport, helped us with everything: the check-in, including our carry-ons (Gracias, Tony) and fees. You need $20 per person in Quito, then $100 per person when you get to the Galapagos.
The flight was about three hours in total, including a
40-minute stop-over Guayaquil. Unfortunately, you really cannot leave the
airplane, but 40 minutes really go by fast. With a guide, airport pick-up was relatively easy. We did have to wait for
our ride and almost missed lunch.
The Island. Everything
is San Cristobal was close together. From the airport to the restaurant was probably a 10 minute ride through paved (barely) two-lane roads.
From the hotel to the restaurant, it was
probably a leisurely 10-minute walk. We passed by souvenir shops, other hotels
and it was very pleasant. It had a low-key beach town vibe, similar to Half
Moon Bay in California.
We also went during Christmas, so I think we ran into a town
fiesta. The town center was filled with people in various Christmas costumes. Then, the town priest came and led everyone to a gathering hall. It was pretty neat and gave us a local touch.
Accommodations.
We stayed at Casa Opuntia – named after the prickly pear cactus that grows on
the islands. I loved our hotel. It was Mediterranean style and near the beach.
Our room had a great view of the pier. You could hear the sea lions barking
and see them playing in the water from your room. It was just so calming. If I
had a choice, I could stay in San Cristobal one or two more days. It was that
relaxing.
My husband thought it might be worth mentioning that there
is no television set at Opuntia. In fact, in any of our hotels, we either had
no TV or a non-working one. I did not really miss it. That said, we had OK WIFI
– which is something that I did not expect at all. That is actually what I did
in my “rest” time: Post on the ‘gram to practice my Spanish. My other pastime was to listen to birds – so
soothing.
Food: For lunch
and dinner, we enjoyed our meals at Giuseppe’s. It’s a wonderful cozy Italian
place. We were warmly welcomed and enjoyed generous portions of polenta or
pasta with seafood and wonderful desserts. The seafood is so fresh. As Giuseppe
called it – it’s “Sea to Table”.
Guiseppe's desserts were usually rich cream-based that sometimes feature local fruits: maracuya (passionfruit) mousse (shown below), rich ice cream with lucuma, or affogato - simply rich vanilla ice cream with a shot of espresso. I just had to be cautious because I am somewhat lactose sensitive.
Our hotel, Opuntia also had a fabulous breakfast. Unlike the
usual buffets, they have covered food. I think primarily to prevent Darwin’s
moochers aka the finches from getting the food. A very beneficial side effect
is that it’s healthier for folks with immune system issues (again like myself).
They also provide omelettes from scratch – delicious.
Tours: We really only had two half days in San Cristobal. The itinerary for the first day was to go to Cerro Tijeretas, Punta Carolla Beach and the interpretation center. We were expecting a ride, but it ended up being a long walk. We walked through the sea lions beach next door to Punta Carolla and up the hill. Since we are slow walkers, we only had 10 minutes at the interpretation center. Our guide was kind enough to call for a taxi to go the back of the hotel.
The itinerary for the next morning was going to the Centro de
Crianza de Tortugas Terrestres or Tortoise Breeding Center. This was quite a
ways from town so we took a taxi (whew). Although we went between wet and dry season, it also started to rain. We later learned that this is expected since each region in the islands have their own microclimate. The climate is different from the coast to the highlands. No app can accurately predict the weather. One guarantee though: it's always cooler in the highlands.
At the center, we were greeted by one of the gigantic
occupants. At first, I thought it was a statue, but he started moving his head.
It was my first encounter with these gorgeous creatures, and I was in awe –
it’s like being in a Spielberg film in real life (a choice between Jurassic Park or E.T.).
The tour of the facility was about an hour. We saw tortoises of all ages – including 1-2
year olds. The walk is fun but can be a bit challenging, since it was through
rocky and muddy paths. Through the walk, you will encounter many of the Centro’s
residents. So watch out for those rocks. It may end up moving.
Our next stop was supposed to be at Junco lagoon, but the
visibility was not the great due to the weather. We ended up having great Ecuadorian coffee and homemade chocolate bread at El Ciebo (Food, as you know, is one of my favorite subjects, so this was great). We also drove away from the rain and enjoyed an hour or so at Playa La Loberia looking for iguanas. Our guide was big on removing plastics from the beach so I helped him pick up those pieces (that is my wheelhouse, as well).
Points of Improvement
Our experience at San Cristobal was actually pretty good and
proved to be a great start to our Galapagos experience. We had few complaints,
but here are some points for consideration.
- The end of the tour was a bit awkward. Our lunch seemed to be rushed by the guide manager so that she can show us the office where our luggage was stored. I feel that this was not needed because everything was close together and the office was across the street from the dock. A better approach may be to give us a map to the office or show it to us that morning. We had one and a half hour that we could have used to take a more leisurely lunch. We just spent it in town walking around (which is something that we frankly had enough of).
- I think the 4-hour walk on the first day was a bit extreme. Granted, it might have taken less if we did not travel all day from California just the day before (and also from Quito that morning). We would have paid extra if we had a ride from the hotel to the interpretation center and back, just for convenience. The walk from the beach where the seals were to the Interpretation had very little value-add. It was also in the middle of the hot Ecuadorian sun (uh, it's at the equator).
Hasta luego!
Tour provider:
- Galapagos Travel Center
- DARScuba, Av. Charles Darwin, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, San Cristobal Island, Ecuador (Booked through Galapagos Travel Center)
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