Santa Cruz, Galápagos... All it takes is time
You know how sometimes we build up the idea of something to the point where we get afraid that the actual experience will be a letdown? That's how I initially felt about the Galápagos Islands. Origin of Darwin's mechanism of Natural Selection for the Theory of Evolution. Home of the largest land tortoises, which used to get carried away (eggs, too) by sailors as a food/water/vitamin C source and harvested for their oil to fuel Quito's street lamps. If you want to see some of what I do for my students and learn something in the process, check out my Nature of Science video introducing the mechanism of natural selection..
But I was finally going to the Galápagos Islands! This was a long time in the making; I’ve been saving this trip for four years. You would have thought that this was going to be one of the first places I’d visit. Naturally I had several goals for this trip, including: spend at least two weeks there as to take advantage of as much as possible (Darwin was there for five weeks); seeing as much wildlife as possible; and dive below the surface to find what lives in the surrounding waters. Also being on these islands, I wanted to relax complete a lot of reading. Still, a thought lingered in my the back of my mind of 'am I building this up to be something more than what I always imagined?' The longer I waited, the greater my anticipation and fear that it wasn’t going to live up to my expectations.
As a child, I was a voracious reader. Some of the books I read over and over were about 'exotic' and endangered animal species. That was when I first was exposed to the Galápagos tortoises and my imagination of one day visiting these islands. Really, this was a trip decades in the making.
As a child, I was a voracious reader. Some of the books I read over and over were about 'exotic' and endangered animal species. That was when I first was exposed to the Galápagos tortoises and my imagination of one day visiting these islands. Really, this was a trip decades in the making.
My original intention was to find a last-minute deal for a cruise around the islands, since it would help with visiting as many islands as possible in a short timespan, seeing a lot of wildlife and take the thinking out of planning for a week. Being human and that humans follow patterns, I deferred making any concrete plans until the two weeks prior to going... my M.O. Many of my trips are planned near last minute for that reason. Like mentioned in my reflection a couple months ago, being an adult is being a person of action. I'm not going to lie. It was still a challenge for me to get out of my apartment and start searching for deals. Partly due to my style of trip planning and partly due to general anxiety. I don't quite know when I started to get high anxiety with leaving my apartment but it sometimes gets the better of me, this experience included. Once I get to where I am going, every thing goes fine and I enjoy myself but that first action to actually sit down and nail out a plan is where I struggle some, which ends up leading to me flying by the seat of my pants. I do enjoy the spontaneity that comes with having loose plans but for the Galápagos, I knew I needed an actual plan. On the day I was going to window shop to a bunch of agencies in Quito, I just kind of self-sabotaged and gave up with the series of minor challenges that I faced. It made me feel kind of stupid for giving up that easily, but I found a new sense of motivation the following day. I just had to reflect on what kind of travel plan is actually aligned with who I am as a person.
In the end, it all worked out for the best. I contacted a number of agencies and quickly realized even a last minute cruise deal was not in my cards. I couldn't justify spending that amount of money for just one week of my trip so I quickly made adjustments. My new plan was to island-hop at my own pace, arrange for full-day wildlife tours ahead of time to specific areas of the archipelago, and fill in the rest of my time with diving and R&R. The cost of my flight AND tours AND lodging amounted to the same cost as most last minute cruise deals I could find. I didn’t need to “break the bank” for this trip, although I knew this wouldn’t be a budget vacation by any standard. For my tours, I had Nature Galapagos do all the arrangements, after I told them where I wanted to go and when. I certainly recommend the agency .
Santa Cruz was the first of my three destinations for my trip to the Galápagos. When planning this trip, I was not sure whether or not to fly into San Cristóbal or Baltra, especially since I thought there was an airport on Santa Cruz. Baltra (aka Seymour Sur) is a smaller island literally about 100 meters separated from Santa Cruz by a channel, so flying here is essentially the same as flying into Santa Cruz. With this island centrally located. I figured it was going to be my pivot point and give me solace.
A couple hours passed from landing in the airport, walking across the tarmac, through ‘customs’ and shuttling to the opposite side of the main island to the town of Puerto Ayora. I’ve got to say, there are a couple of other smaller pueblos you pass through before you get into the city-proper and I found it quite odd that still these were autonomous towns. That is, until I made it to San Cristóbal and saw satellite images of the expansion of the major ports. Puerto Ayora has swelled to limits of the other towns over the last five decades and continues to do so as the population grows from births, immigration and demand from tourism. Puerto Ayora is the largest of the Galápagos cities and it was no wonder how it's grown to absorb the other towns.
My first 24 hours in the Galápagos were something of a nightmare. I was honestly convinced that I am cursed for traveling. After being dropped off by the shuttle, I navigated my way through the streets to find my hostal, passed through the courtyard and approached the door that hung a sign “abierto.” The lights were off, lock locked and not a person in sight or sound. I peered through the windows, called any available number (all out of service) and wrote a note about how I was going to return shortly after eating something for lunch since the “24 hour reception” clearly was closed. Two hours passed and it remained a state of desolation. I again checked my reservation for contact information and managed to get a working number and left a message. In the meantime I started reading reviews of this place and they were actually scathing. "Bedbugs" was one of the more shocking items repeated in reviews, as was "shared bathroom". I couldn’t stand to wait anymore and I wanted to dump my bags so that I could begin this vacation so I got on my phone, opened my travel app, booked another room, and wrote a second note outlining why I was leaving. In case you are wondering, this is Hostal Fragata and I strongly recommend against booking here.
Then it was a matter of checking into my new place, Hostal Brisas del Pacifico. As I got up to the reception desk, they proceeded to inform me that their internet wasn’t functioning. I petitioned them for a room, which they obliged, as my bank card was charged for my four night booking. All I had to do was complete the check-in process in the morning. Feeling down on my luck, I was contemplating receding into the darkness and not come out til the morning but rather I took a nap, went out for dinner and settled in for the night and hope for a better tomorrow. In the morning, I was informed by the receptionist that there were no available rooms and I was essentially kicked out. I again had to petition them for a refund for the room I had already paid for and, again, they obliged after I just stood there and waited until they felt too uncomfortable. It wasn’t even 24 hours since landing and I had to find a third place to make as my temporary home. Does this stuff ever happen to any of you? How do you cope or deal with these issues when they do arise? Please leave comments below because I seriously felt like shutting down and ending my trip prematurely. I had two-and-a-half weeks to go and, if this was how the rest of my time would be, I would have a complete mental breakdown. Thank you, mom, for talking me off my metaphorical ledge.
Third time was a charm as I found Hostal Costa del Pacifico, checked-in with no issue and was provided a lot of helpful tourist information from the young receptionist. I finally had a place to call “home away from home” on the island and could finally get on to getting on. A day lost due to unforeseen inconveniences. I have learned to be patient with the ‘hospitality’ industry in these smaller towns but this was something else. Thank you to my mother for providing me assurances and encouragement because, otra vez, I was ready to call this quits. Onto a more positive note...
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| On the walk to Tortuga Bay |
The rest of my time on Santa Cruz was lovely. I more-or-less stayed true to my travel style by doing no more than one big thing a day. After my check-in to hostal #3, I hiked along to Tortuga Bay. A rocky, dry tropical forest densely packed with tree-like cacti and near-naked, twisted trees acted as my pathway to the beach. Marine iguanas and black tipped sharks aplenty. It was my first time dipping into the water and, to my surprise, the water temperature was cold! I half-expected it to be warmer, though it explained why sea life is so rich and diverse in the archipelago.
The following day diving on the northern side of the island, between Baltra and Seymour Norte. It was incredible being on a large sailing ship (though propelled by an engine) and going down for the first time in a year. We saw several turtles, acres of garden eels, varieties of sharks (a couple hammerheads, a Galápagos shark, and a white tip), a school of barracuda, and swarms of other sea life. The first dive went spectacularly. About halfway through the second dive, we changed directions into the current which I was not expecting. Struggling to keep pace and finding myself “gasping” for air, I made an executive decision to do an emergency surface. This anxiety is starting to creep its way into all aspects of my life. It was embarrassing for me but the right choice. I also decided at that moment to not continue diving until I make progress with all that’s affecting me in therapy.
Aside from diving, I only arranged one other tour. It required me to be on Santa Cruz, but the destination was two hours northeast by boat. I was going to Isla Bartolomé, location of several iconic natural formation in the islands. There’s Pinnacle Rock, a narrow isthmus connecting two sides of the island with golden sand, and dozens of volcanic craters found on this speck in Pacific ocean, right off the coast from Isla Santiago. After summiting on Bartolomé, my group headed for Sullivan Bay nearby on Santiago to go snorkeling… where we passed five Galápagos penguins! During snorkeling, the ocean was teaming with life. We caught glimpses and extended views of a shark and several turtles, fish, fields of urchins and sea cucumbers, and some featherduster worms. The amount of wildlife seen until this point was almost overwhelming. Where was I supposed to look!? The videos I took here, and everywhere else, reveal my inability to focus on one point for too long because each second introduced something new, different, and equally exciting. My favorite part of snorkeling here was watching a parrotfish defecting white sand— undigested rocks that passed through their alimentary canal that was covered in the algae they were voraciously consuming. Being able to see these organisms in the wild and interacting with each other, their surroundings taught me so much about these unique creatures.
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| Isla Bartolomé , with Pinnacle Rock and Playa Dorada in the background. Further behind, Isla Santiago |
Already it was Saturday and it was time to take a speedboat to San Cristóbal with a 2 PM departure time. That left the morning open, so I ventured to the Darwin Research Station. This is where they take collected eggs from tortoise nests on each of the different islands, hatch and raise them until they’re big enough to be repatriated to their original islands. Between invasive rats (eat the eggs and babies) and goats (eat the food source), the tortoises didn’t stand much of a chance on their own in the wild. Now with those invasive species under control, there’s hope. Each year hundreds of tortoise eggs are hatched at the center and, to date, 5,456 have been repatriated to their origin!!! That gives me warm fuzzies. The station is where you can visit Lonesome George, now taxidermied, and learn about the conservation efforts underway here. I opted to see Lonesome George in a Spanish-speaking group… my understanding of the language is not too bad and many scientific terms are Latin in origin; I wouldn’t have too much difficulty understanding. The guide, however, singled me out and started firing away questions quickly. Now, there’s a (true) stereotype that gringos will answer any question asked of them “si.” That’s exactly how I reacted as the guide was asking one question after another and another til I got tripped up, answered “si” to a question that was not “si” and this heifer standing next to me started making fun of me as I corrected myself. The rest of the day, I walked around with a cloud overhead and I failed to enjoy the rest of my visit. When I ended up on Santa Cruz for my daylong trek from San Cristóbal to Isabela, I visited the center a second time and made up for my initial 'negative' experience. The work being done here for conservation and preservation is so inspiring.
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| Lonesome George, housed at the Darwin Research Station, Puerto Ayora, Isla Santa Cruz |
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| Feeding time at the Darwin Research Station |
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| Feeding time at the Darwin Research Station |
The third time I was on Santa Cruz was for the final two days of my trip, before returning to Quito. It marked my second time seeing adult tortoises behaving naturally in their native habitat. This happened during my by-foot excursion to a small tourist spot called "El Mirador de los Túneles," a lava tube with a diameter of 10 meters! While I am no geologist by any means, I was struck with awe by being able to spend two weeks to witness the effects of geologic processes that have been occurring for eons, which provide us with evidence of how the planet we call home was formed. While my time on Santa Cruz was a bit piecemeal and filled with ups-and-downs, I really enjoyed this island.
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| Isla Bartolomé |
Two weeks remained in this trip. The other two islands were going to offer different and unique experiences… next one being San Cristóbal.
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| El Mirador de los Túneles |
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| Giant Tortoise near El Mirador de los Túneles |
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