The starting point for the Quilotoa Loop is a town called Latacunga, and when we got dropped off there from Banos we had to walk a short distance to the main bus station. I wasn't sure what our next destination would be, as there are lots of options, but just as we came up to the bus station an approaching bus had a sticker for Quilotoa village itself. So we flagged it down and just hopped aboard and settled in for the 2 hour trip to the main attraction of the whole loop (options included staying the night in a different town before Quilotoa and then hiking for a bit, or overnighting in Quilotoa itself, etc.).
The full loop is 200km, and apparently can be down by hiking, bike or local buses, but the local bus option entails a number of awkward connections - no bus goes all the way around the loop.
So after the lovely journey through the mountains, Quilotoa was an impressive looking volcanic crater lake with strangely green water (nice photos here). We strolled down into the crater of the volcano and around the lake side for a bit before climbing back out and then trying to get transport to the next place (there isn't much to do, or much else to see, in Quilotoa). An option was to spend the night in Quilotoa and then do a full-day hike to another town, but with our rucksacks that wouldn't be too comfortable, and we couldn't get reliable information about any buses back to Quilotoa from that town. In fact, we couldn't get any reliable information about buses to anywhere, Sarah's Spanish just wasn't up to understanding the locals.
Luckily though Sarah got chatting to an Ecuadorian guy who had just come back up from the lake, and it turned out he and his mates had hired a pick-up trick, and there was room in the back for us if we wanted to go back to Latacunga with them. So we took the offer, and rode in the back of the pick-up, something I don't think we've done since Africa. Although it wasn't very comfy, we at least got great unobstructed views on the way, and luckily the rain held off. We even got to see Cotopaxi in the distance, one of the most beautifully famous volcanoes in Ecuador (unfortunately it was the only view we got of it, as later it was shrouded in cloud).
So back in Latacunga bus terminal we got a ticket for the next bus straight to Quito, which naturally enough was leaving in about 4 minutes. So all-in-all it was another hectic but great day travelling, and we managed to get all the way from Banos to Quito in one go, and got in the best bits of the Quilotoa Loop too (well, apart from the hike part).
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Banos
So it was only a short hop to the touristy town of Banos. It's generally an adventure-sport kind of place and also famous for being a jumping off point for jungle trips.
Once we'd gotten settled in we just relaxed for the rest of the first day just strolling around the nice town. The following day we did a hike up to Las Antenas, basically the top of one of the hills that completely surround the town - at the top it has a couple of radio antennas, hence the name. The views along the way were fantastic, and although the main attraction, the volcano Tungurahua, was mostly shrouded in cloud we did get fleeting glimpses of the snowcapped peak (there are some really stunning posters of the volcano towering over the town), but just looking down along the whole valley and the town itself way below us was brilliant too.
We checked out jungle tours later that day, but I really didn't get a good feeling about the tours being offered. They all seemed rather contrived really with a lot of travel to and from the jungle, and then typical touristy 'meet the locals' type setups. Instead I decided that the next day we'd hire bikes do another one of Banos' other big attractions - a 60km cycle to Puyo passing a number of impressive waterfalls along the way. Since a lot of the Banos jungle tours pass through Puyo anyway, I might get a better idea of options from there.
So the following morning we got the bikes sorted and headed off towards Puyo. We stopped at quite a few waterfalls, with the most famous and impressive being the El Pailon del Diablo. You can crawl through a very small natural cave to stand literally right under the powerful flow of water, and the setting was gorgeously jungley too.
So on we went, but after about 30km or so it started raining more and more heavily, until soon we were both completely soaked. So when we arrived at the small town of Rio Negro we just decided to wait under a restaurant roof for a bus to take us back to Banos. Pretty soon a bus came along and the conductor guy clambers up onto the roof and I hand him our bikes, and off home we go. It was a pity not to make it to Puyo, as the route down the valley really was lovely, and it meant I didn't get to check out jungle tour options from there. After the soaking I got I wasn't too keen on the idea of spending a number of days trekking through the jungle and since we don't have proper all-weather hiking gear, it could well have been a bit of a soggy nightmare. So I decided to give the jungle tour thing a miss, it's just something I'll have to try next time, hopefully when I have proper gear.
So the following day we just relaxed again, having a long lie-in and then doing the short hike up the 660 steps to a statue at a lookout point over the town. The views weren't as good as our first proper hike, but this viewpoint is far more accessible. Back in the town we checked out the numerous book exchanges in the nice cafes around the town, and after a great meal at the lovely French restaurant Mariane we decided to leave the next day.
From Banos I wanted to check out the Quilotoa Loop, which is a 200km loop road that passes through some great scenery and a few volcanos and stuff. But according to the guidebook public transport around the loop is very disjointed and therefore very confusing, so it was an early start to just head that direction and see how we got on.
Once we'd gotten settled in we just relaxed for the rest of the first day just strolling around the nice town. The following day we did a hike up to Las Antenas, basically the top of one of the hills that completely surround the town - at the top it has a couple of radio antennas, hence the name. The views along the way were fantastic, and although the main attraction, the volcano Tungurahua, was mostly shrouded in cloud we did get fleeting glimpses of the snowcapped peak (there are some really stunning posters of the volcano towering over the town), but just looking down along the whole valley and the town itself way below us was brilliant too.
We checked out jungle tours later that day, but I really didn't get a good feeling about the tours being offered. They all seemed rather contrived really with a lot of travel to and from the jungle, and then typical touristy 'meet the locals' type setups. Instead I decided that the next day we'd hire bikes do another one of Banos' other big attractions - a 60km cycle to Puyo passing a number of impressive waterfalls along the way. Since a lot of the Banos jungle tours pass through Puyo anyway, I might get a better idea of options from there.
So the following morning we got the bikes sorted and headed off towards Puyo. We stopped at quite a few waterfalls, with the most famous and impressive being the El Pailon del Diablo. You can crawl through a very small natural cave to stand literally right under the powerful flow of water, and the setting was gorgeously jungley too.
So on we went, but after about 30km or so it started raining more and more heavily, until soon we were both completely soaked. So when we arrived at the small town of Rio Negro we just decided to wait under a restaurant roof for a bus to take us back to Banos. Pretty soon a bus came along and the conductor guy clambers up onto the roof and I hand him our bikes, and off home we go. It was a pity not to make it to Puyo, as the route down the valley really was lovely, and it meant I didn't get to check out jungle tour options from there. After the soaking I got I wasn't too keen on the idea of spending a number of days trekking through the jungle and since we don't have proper all-weather hiking gear, it could well have been a bit of a soggy nightmare. So I decided to give the jungle tour thing a miss, it's just something I'll have to try next time, hopefully when I have proper gear.
So the following day we just relaxed again, having a long lie-in and then doing the short hike up the 660 steps to a statue at a lookout point over the town. The views weren't as good as our first proper hike, but this viewpoint is far more accessible. Back in the town we checked out the numerous book exchanges in the nice cafes around the town, and after a great meal at the lovely French restaurant Mariane we decided to leave the next day.
From Banos I wanted to check out the Quilotoa Loop, which is a 200km loop road that passes through some great scenery and a few volcanos and stuff. But according to the guidebook public transport around the loop is very disjointed and therefore very confusing, so it was an early start to just head that direction and see how we got on.
Riobamba and the Devil's Nose
We arrived in Riobamba in the early evening and after sorting out accommodation (Hotel Los Shyris), and getting train tickets for the following morning we had a great dinner at a cosy little restaurant (can't remember the name), and an early night as the train departs at 7am.
Next morning I'm about to try and find an ATM before boarding the train, but as I pass the train station I can see the roof of the train looking pretty packed already (it was a Sunday, so there were lots of Ecuadorian tourists). So I skip the ATM and just head straight for the train, making sure to rent a comfy seat cushion on the way. I clamber up the ladder on the side of the first carriage, but it's immediately clear that there isn't any space to plonk our cushions. I stroll along the carriages and luckily find a perfect 2-cushion gap in the middle of a packed carriage roof, and so we settle down for the trip.
The train leaves pretty much on time and really crawls along at quite a leisurely pace. It's all very nice and pretty, although the weather was quite overcast (luckily it didn't rain at all). So the scenery was all very nice, but nothing amazing, although maybe I'm just getting complacent. The highlight of the trip though is a descent down a mountain side called the Devil's Nose, which due to the gradient requires the train to switch backwards and forwards a number of times - an amazing feat of railway engineering apparently. But I'm no railway buff or enthusiast and so I wasn't very blown away by it all, although it certainly was a nice day out, and it was cute watching all the local kids run towards the train and waving and shouting as it past - well, actually tourists often throw them sweets, so in fact I suppose it's really just a form of begging, still cute though!
After turning around and ascending back up the Devil's Nose we disembark in a small town and get a bus back to Riobamba. We'd been sitting on the roof of the train for nearly 7 hours, which sounds like an awfully long time, but in fact I didn't really notice it much, and found the whole time quite relaxing (and there enough stops along the way to stretch your legs). We derailed only a couple of times (apparently it can happen a lot more, and although it sounds terribly exciting, I didn't even notice until the train stopped), and each delay was quite short. I should have gotten off the train to watch how the guys sorted out a derailment, lots of people did, but I thought I'd have loads of opportunities, ah well.
So back in Riobamba for dinner, and then the next morning I strolled about the town to check it out a bit as Sarah stayed in bed (I think it's quite a nice town really). I wanted to wait around so that we could have lunch again at my favorite Riobamba restaurant, and because the bus to our next destination, Banos, only took a couple of hours so leaving in the afternoon was no problem.
Next morning I'm about to try and find an ATM before boarding the train, but as I pass the train station I can see the roof of the train looking pretty packed already (it was a Sunday, so there were lots of Ecuadorian tourists). So I skip the ATM and just head straight for the train, making sure to rent a comfy seat cushion on the way. I clamber up the ladder on the side of the first carriage, but it's immediately clear that there isn't any space to plonk our cushions. I stroll along the carriages and luckily find a perfect 2-cushion gap in the middle of a packed carriage roof, and so we settle down for the trip.
The train leaves pretty much on time and really crawls along at quite a leisurely pace. It's all very nice and pretty, although the weather was quite overcast (luckily it didn't rain at all). So the scenery was all very nice, but nothing amazing, although maybe I'm just getting complacent. The highlight of the trip though is a descent down a mountain side called the Devil's Nose, which due to the gradient requires the train to switch backwards and forwards a number of times - an amazing feat of railway engineering apparently. But I'm no railway buff or enthusiast and so I wasn't very blown away by it all, although it certainly was a nice day out, and it was cute watching all the local kids run towards the train and waving and shouting as it past - well, actually tourists often throw them sweets, so in fact I suppose it's really just a form of begging, still cute though!
After turning around and ascending back up the Devil's Nose we disembark in a small town and get a bus back to Riobamba. We'd been sitting on the roof of the train for nearly 7 hours, which sounds like an awfully long time, but in fact I didn't really notice it much, and found the whole time quite relaxing (and there enough stops along the way to stretch your legs). We derailed only a couple of times (apparently it can happen a lot more, and although it sounds terribly exciting, I didn't even notice until the train stopped), and each delay was quite short. I should have gotten off the train to watch how the guys sorted out a derailment, lots of people did, but I thought I'd have loads of opportunities, ah well.
So back in Riobamba for dinner, and then the next morning I strolled about the town to check it out a bit as Sarah stayed in bed (I think it's quite a nice town really). I wanted to wait around so that we could have lunch again at my favorite Riobamba restaurant, and because the bus to our next destination, Banos, only took a couple of hours so leaving in the afternoon was no problem.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Cruising the Galapagos
After our lovely free breakfast at the tour agency on the waterfront we sat and waited to join our cruise. While waiting we met up with an English guy Ronnie, and a Dutch couple Steff and Auke, all of whom were on our cruise. In the end we waited for about two hours before starting our 'cruise', the first part of which involved getting on a bus and driving to a tortoise breeding centre. It was fantastic to see these huge tortoises right up close, as they are well used to humans, and they really are HUGE. Later in the trip we got to see more of them in the wild, which obviously was a nicer setting, and also visited another breeding centre (their numbers were devastated by early settlers and whalers, and so these breeding centre are helping to rapidly build up their numbers again).
So after that wee tour it was back to the waterfront and bringing our bags onto the boat. It turned out that the 2-hour delay was due to a delayed flight arrival and also some problems with the plumbing onboard our boat, which didn't bode very well. Having gotten such a good price on a budget boat I was kinda expecting the worst. I didn't know if the boat was going to be a rust-bucket, or what our cabins would be like, if we'd have our own bathrooms, or if there would be hot water for showers, or anything really!
But arriving on the boat we were all very much surprised and relieved to see that the boat was in really tip-top condition. It was all lovely wood finishes and freshly painted, in fact they were still in the final stages of painting some of it. We were all shown to our cabins, and again I was really pleasantly surprised by just how clean and comfortable they were. We had our own spotless bathroom with hot water, and although it was very small and cramped with the two of us standing up, it was really neat and cosy.
We later found out that the owners of the boat were spending a lot of money upgrading it from an economy class boat to a more upper-class one, and we had timed our arrival perfectly as we got the budget price for a newly snazzied-up boat.
Back in the comfortable common area of the boat we discovered that the continuing plumbing problems meant that 3 of the cabins couldn't be used (all the other cabins were fine, and we never had any problems with the plumbing). It meant that instead of 16 passengers there would be only 11, meaning the boat felt quite spacious and never crowded at meal times. After four days they repaired the plumbing and Ronnie left the cruise (he'd just booked a 4-day cruise), and 1 French guy and 5 Israelis joined the boat, so making up the full complement of 16 passengers for the last 4 days.
So each day basically involved getting up at 6:30am and having a nice breakfast at 7:00am. Then we'd do some morning activity that usually meant landing on an island and strolling along trails checking out the wildlife. Then back to the boat for lunch at 12:30, some relaxing time on the boat with maybe some cruising to another location, and then another island landing or maybe snorkelling (or one afternoon spent jumping and diving from the top of the boat).
The itinerary for this cruise was the best of the few we saw from the various agencies, as it included the southern islands of Floreanna and Espanola (the best islands for wildlife apparently), and also visited Isabela Island. So over the 8 days (really only 5 full days of cruising) we got to see all the 'must see' wildlife that the Galapagos have got to offer. I think the only major critter we didn't see was the red-footed boobie (a sea bird!), simply because they only live on islands we didn't get to (and although we saw millions of marine iguanas on land and a few swimming along on the surface of the water, I never got to see one feeding underwater, which was a pity).
I must say one of the highlights of the trip for me was simply relaxing on the boat drinking the lovely free coffee while watching islands glide past as we moved location or just lounging about in our cabin. In quite a few ways it reminded me of trips cruising down the Shannon river back home, everything was just so laidback. As for wildlife one of the first things we saw was a pelican fighting off hoardes of frigate birds as they swooped in trying to snatch lumps of placenta from a very newly born sea lion, while the mother and squawking babbie got to know each other just a few feet away.
Everywhere we saw loads of sea-lions (on one beach a female had a very large, very raw and very nasty looking bite on her back, with a few triangular teethmarks around it - all very sharky looking), lots of land and marine iguanas, and gorgeous red crabs. Not so numerous were the beautiful white tropical birds with mad long tail feathers, Galapagos hawks, Nasca boobies, magnificent frigate birds (including a good few males blowing out their huge bright red chest pouches trying to attract the attentions of overflying females), flamingoes (you know you've been travelling a long time when you start to become a bit blaise about seeing flamingoes up close, or turtles or sharks), albatrosses (only the 10th largest species apparently, but the couple of young fluffy chicks we saw seemed huge), lots of lava lizards (including two biggish red-headed ones that had a quick 2-second little fight right in front of me by slashing their tails together and then running away), a large pod of dolphins racing along in front of the boat for ages (one guy swimming upside-down and flapping his tail on the surface of the water for some reason, like an escaped SeaWorld performer or something), and of course many peoples favorite, the blue-footed boobies.
It really is one of the weirdly unique, Galapagos-only things - to see these normal enough looking birds, apart from their bright blue feet, just waddle right up to you without a care in the world. The very first one we came across was a female with a fluffy chick in tow. At first we all kept our distance, but as we just stood there the mother and chick both came right up to us. They seemed to be just as curious about us as we were of them, and so everyone got the easiest close-up wildlife photos you can imagine. As we strolled about we passed quite a few more, one was even incubating an egg and wasn't in the least bit perturbed by our group passing by within a couple of feet.
Of course this is one of the main reasons the Galapagos is so famous - the timidity of the wildlife. But even knowing this is was still amazing to walk within inches of the birds, sea-lions and iguanas. Having said all that though I must say that I was also expecting there to be vast colonies of life on the islands, since that was what I saw on the 'poor man's Galapagos' of the Isla Ballestas. But in fact we only ever came across fairly small groups of birds. We saw lots of sea-lions, but never in really large concentrations either, like we'd seen in Africa. I wouldn't go as far as to say I was disappointed in this regard, but because of it I wouldn't use the word 'spectacular' to describe the Galapagos (whereas I would use it to describe the Isla Ballestas).
The landscapes also wouldn't be in my 'spectacular' category, although they are lovely (the grotto excursion we took with Steff and Auke to Las Grietas where myself and Steff jumped from the sea-cliffs (Steff was behind me and the local lads took him higher than me - d'oh!), was probably the highlight landscape-wise, although the high views of the coves were nice, and the lava tunnels were interesting too in a 'its just a cave really' kind-of way). Basically the main islands we visited don't climb to major heights (although Isabella does have 5 volcanoes, our trip didn't take us to see any of them), and really for 'spectacular' you need mountains I reckon (although there was an impressive blow-hole along some not-so-high cliffs).
Some of the snorkelling we did was brilliant though. Our first trip had by far the best water visibility and within seconds of jumping into the water I spotted a large white-tipped reef shark swimming very close. The whole group of us were amazed at the number of sea-lions that played with us all too. I had actually scuba dived with sea-lions in Dublin bay, but the visibility there was only a few metres, here it was much, much better and the sea-lions were far more numerous and far more playful - they'd often swim straight towards your face, and then smoothly turn away at the very last instant. I got to snorkel with sea-lions a couple more times during the trip, both times after the cruise had finished - once after a scuba diving trip, and another time when it was just me and Sarah on the beach.
Everyone got to see loads and loads of turtles (both while snorkelling and from land - at one beach there were about 10 turtles visible from the beach, and a couple of them where mating in the breaking surf, while a shark swam about with his pectoral fin popping up out of the water occasionally). I think everyone who snorkelled got to see sharks up close too - some of us got to see loads of them. They were just white-tipped reef and endemic Galapagos sharks, all totally safe and harmless to humans. We also got to see about 12-15 sharks in very shallow water at a natural canal as we walked along the edge, so that was pretty cool too, and even the people too afraid to snorkel got to see lots of sharks that way.
During another bit of snorkelling I saw a penguin shooting around under water. He was so fast I only got to see him for a couple of seconds, but still a mighty impressive sight (we only got to see a handful of penguins on land during the whole cruise). I also saw a boobie shooting back to the surface, having missed his diving entry into the water, and 3 very large rays under a big rock, and a couple more turtles. I also managed to get a good dose of sunburn too, something I was always worried about snorkelling, but it was a price worth paying I reckon (yes, I wore a T-shirt the whole time, and used a factor 50 suncream, but the water and strong sun were still too much).
So when we finished our cruise I decided to hang around for a couple of days to try a bit of scuba diving (we knew at this stage that we could basically pick our departure date, as it was low-season and the airline was very flexible). I was lucky to be able to bargain a good price for a couple of dives to the best local dive site of Kicker Rock - in itself a very impressive rock formation.
It was great because there was only 4 of us diving (Raphael from our cruise and a Canadian brother and sister), and all of us had lots of scuba experience which generally means a longer dive since nervous, inexperienced divers tend to burn up their air quicker (well actually Raphael only had 8 dives, but he was an expert skin diver and so his breathing was excellent - although he did run out of air at the end of the first dive!).
Unfortunately visibility was terrible, but still both dives were pretty good, with lots of large shoals of small fish, a couple of turtles, sharks etc. But the whole scuba trip was completely made for me by spotting a huge 3.5m hammerhead shark swimming directly above me. Due to the lack of visibility I only got to see him for a few seconds, but luckily he was directly overhead, so the sunlight silhouetted him perfectly and his hammer-shaped head was utterly unmistakable, and he was swimming along slowly with that uniquely sharkey swagger. The others on the dive also saw a shoal of small hammerheads, but somehow I missed that.
Poor Steff was going mad when we got back from our dive, as he is a qualified scuba diver (although not very experienced), but he didn't think the expense of diving would be worth it. He was kicking himself all day, and when we came back having seen hammerheads he decided to go the next day himself. I was tempted to go again, but I was satisfied after seeing such a huge hammerhead myself, although Steff did manage to persuade the Canadians to go again. Luckily enough for me though, as their dives were both very short (Steff's inexperience showed by running out of air quickly), and they didn't see any hammerheads. But at least Steff had taken the rare opportunity to maybe see a hammerhead. He was just unlucky I reckon, but at least he won't be kicking himself for the rest of his life for not even taking that opportunity.
Actually, another one of my all-time under water highlights was on this trip too, although I was only snorkelling at the time. I was with Raphael, the expert snorkeller, and it was he who spotted and pointed out to me a group of 9 golden rays swimming along in formation. They were moving along quite close to the surface and the close-knit formation they made with their amazing golden colouration and totally graceful movement was utterly mesmerising - definitely one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen as I dove down towards them.
So all-in-all it raises an interesting question of whether the Galapagos are worth the expense. It's impossible to answer really, as it's so subjective and depends on what your travel budget is. Undeniably it is a unique place in the world, so you can't really put a price on it, since there's no competition. I certainly thought it was worth it, as I loved the whole experience and I could easily have spent another week on our boat (but then I could say the same about many places I've been to).
But I really don't think I would have enjoyed the whole thing as much on a big, expensive, highly organised cruise ship. A few people on our boat expressed the same opinion - due to the budget nature of our boat all the passengers were quite young and very easy-going (we had a nice older Czech couple, but they couldn't speak English anyway!), and originally there was only 11 of us, making a nice small group (even when full with 16 it still felt a comfortable number). We'd all seen a large cruise ship or two disgorge their fleets of landing craft (OK, the largest 'fleet' I saw had only 4 boats, but each was packed with 16 passengers), while originally all 11 of our lot could be brought to land in a single trip.
So anyway, after nearly 2 weeks on the Galapagos it was time to head back to the mainland. We got the same flight as Steff and Anke, and simply walked the 10 minutes from the Cactus Hostel to the airport. Their computer system was down though, so after a bit of confusion at check-in, we got through and arrived back in Guayaquil effortlessly enough.
After checking a couple of places to stay we all went out for local crab, then back for a wee rest before hitting the waterfront for dinner and a few drinks. After getting ripped off by a taxi driver (charging us full fare for a trip literally around the corner - obviously we didn't know exactly where we were), we hit a cool local bar, but we were all quite tired (except for Steff!), so really it was an early night.
Next morning we headed to the swanky new bus terminal and got a bus to Riobamba, a town famous for a railway trip through the mountains that actually takes you down the face of one of those mountains while you spend the entire journey sitting on a cushion on the roof of the train - now just how could I resist that?
So after that wee tour it was back to the waterfront and bringing our bags onto the boat. It turned out that the 2-hour delay was due to a delayed flight arrival and also some problems with the plumbing onboard our boat, which didn't bode very well. Having gotten such a good price on a budget boat I was kinda expecting the worst. I didn't know if the boat was going to be a rust-bucket, or what our cabins would be like, if we'd have our own bathrooms, or if there would be hot water for showers, or anything really!
But arriving on the boat we were all very much surprised and relieved to see that the boat was in really tip-top condition. It was all lovely wood finishes and freshly painted, in fact they were still in the final stages of painting some of it. We were all shown to our cabins, and again I was really pleasantly surprised by just how clean and comfortable they were. We had our own spotless bathroom with hot water, and although it was very small and cramped with the two of us standing up, it was really neat and cosy.
We later found out that the owners of the boat were spending a lot of money upgrading it from an economy class boat to a more upper-class one, and we had timed our arrival perfectly as we got the budget price for a newly snazzied-up boat.
Back in the comfortable common area of the boat we discovered that the continuing plumbing problems meant that 3 of the cabins couldn't be used (all the other cabins were fine, and we never had any problems with the plumbing). It meant that instead of 16 passengers there would be only 11, meaning the boat felt quite spacious and never crowded at meal times. After four days they repaired the plumbing and Ronnie left the cruise (he'd just booked a 4-day cruise), and 1 French guy and 5 Israelis joined the boat, so making up the full complement of 16 passengers for the last 4 days.
So each day basically involved getting up at 6:30am and having a nice breakfast at 7:00am. Then we'd do some morning activity that usually meant landing on an island and strolling along trails checking out the wildlife. Then back to the boat for lunch at 12:30, some relaxing time on the boat with maybe some cruising to another location, and then another island landing or maybe snorkelling (or one afternoon spent jumping and diving from the top of the boat).
The itinerary for this cruise was the best of the few we saw from the various agencies, as it included the southern islands of Floreanna and Espanola (the best islands for wildlife apparently), and also visited Isabela Island. So over the 8 days (really only 5 full days of cruising) we got to see all the 'must see' wildlife that the Galapagos have got to offer. I think the only major critter we didn't see was the red-footed boobie (a sea bird!), simply because they only live on islands we didn't get to (and although we saw millions of marine iguanas on land and a few swimming along on the surface of the water, I never got to see one feeding underwater, which was a pity).
I must say one of the highlights of the trip for me was simply relaxing on the boat drinking the lovely free coffee while watching islands glide past as we moved location or just lounging about in our cabin. In quite a few ways it reminded me of trips cruising down the Shannon river back home, everything was just so laidback. As for wildlife one of the first things we saw was a pelican fighting off hoardes of frigate birds as they swooped in trying to snatch lumps of placenta from a very newly born sea lion, while the mother and squawking babbie got to know each other just a few feet away.
Everywhere we saw loads of sea-lions (on one beach a female had a very large, very raw and very nasty looking bite on her back, with a few triangular teethmarks around it - all very sharky looking), lots of land and marine iguanas, and gorgeous red crabs. Not so numerous were the beautiful white tropical birds with mad long tail feathers, Galapagos hawks, Nasca boobies, magnificent frigate birds (including a good few males blowing out their huge bright red chest pouches trying to attract the attentions of overflying females), flamingoes (you know you've been travelling a long time when you start to become a bit blaise about seeing flamingoes up close, or turtles or sharks), albatrosses (only the 10th largest species apparently, but the couple of young fluffy chicks we saw seemed huge), lots of lava lizards (including two biggish red-headed ones that had a quick 2-second little fight right in front of me by slashing their tails together and then running away), a large pod of dolphins racing along in front of the boat for ages (one guy swimming upside-down and flapping his tail on the surface of the water for some reason, like an escaped SeaWorld performer or something), and of course many peoples favorite, the blue-footed boobies.
It really is one of the weirdly unique, Galapagos-only things - to see these normal enough looking birds, apart from their bright blue feet, just waddle right up to you without a care in the world. The very first one we came across was a female with a fluffy chick in tow. At first we all kept our distance, but as we just stood there the mother and chick both came right up to us. They seemed to be just as curious about us as we were of them, and so everyone got the easiest close-up wildlife photos you can imagine. As we strolled about we passed quite a few more, one was even incubating an egg and wasn't in the least bit perturbed by our group passing by within a couple of feet.
Of course this is one of the main reasons the Galapagos is so famous - the timidity of the wildlife. But even knowing this is was still amazing to walk within inches of the birds, sea-lions and iguanas. Having said all that though I must say that I was also expecting there to be vast colonies of life on the islands, since that was what I saw on the 'poor man's Galapagos' of the Isla Ballestas. But in fact we only ever came across fairly small groups of birds. We saw lots of sea-lions, but never in really large concentrations either, like we'd seen in Africa. I wouldn't go as far as to say I was disappointed in this regard, but because of it I wouldn't use the word 'spectacular' to describe the Galapagos (whereas I would use it to describe the Isla Ballestas).
The landscapes also wouldn't be in my 'spectacular' category, although they are lovely (the grotto excursion we took with Steff and Auke to Las Grietas where myself and Steff jumped from the sea-cliffs (Steff was behind me and the local lads took him higher than me - d'oh!), was probably the highlight landscape-wise, although the high views of the coves were nice, and the lava tunnels were interesting too in a 'its just a cave really' kind-of way). Basically the main islands we visited don't climb to major heights (although Isabella does have 5 volcanoes, our trip didn't take us to see any of them), and really for 'spectacular' you need mountains I reckon (although there was an impressive blow-hole along some not-so-high cliffs).
Some of the snorkelling we did was brilliant though. Our first trip had by far the best water visibility and within seconds of jumping into the water I spotted a large white-tipped reef shark swimming very close. The whole group of us were amazed at the number of sea-lions that played with us all too. I had actually scuba dived with sea-lions in Dublin bay, but the visibility there was only a few metres, here it was much, much better and the sea-lions were far more numerous and far more playful - they'd often swim straight towards your face, and then smoothly turn away at the very last instant. I got to snorkel with sea-lions a couple more times during the trip, both times after the cruise had finished - once after a scuba diving trip, and another time when it was just me and Sarah on the beach.
Everyone got to see loads and loads of turtles (both while snorkelling and from land - at one beach there were about 10 turtles visible from the beach, and a couple of them where mating in the breaking surf, while a shark swam about with his pectoral fin popping up out of the water occasionally). I think everyone who snorkelled got to see sharks up close too - some of us got to see loads of them. They were just white-tipped reef and endemic Galapagos sharks, all totally safe and harmless to humans. We also got to see about 12-15 sharks in very shallow water at a natural canal as we walked along the edge, so that was pretty cool too, and even the people too afraid to snorkel got to see lots of sharks that way.
During another bit of snorkelling I saw a penguin shooting around under water. He was so fast I only got to see him for a couple of seconds, but still a mighty impressive sight (we only got to see a handful of penguins on land during the whole cruise). I also saw a boobie shooting back to the surface, having missed his diving entry into the water, and 3 very large rays under a big rock, and a couple more turtles. I also managed to get a good dose of sunburn too, something I was always worried about snorkelling, but it was a price worth paying I reckon (yes, I wore a T-shirt the whole time, and used a factor 50 suncream, but the water and strong sun were still too much).
So when we finished our cruise I decided to hang around for a couple of days to try a bit of scuba diving (we knew at this stage that we could basically pick our departure date, as it was low-season and the airline was very flexible). I was lucky to be able to bargain a good price for a couple of dives to the best local dive site of Kicker Rock - in itself a very impressive rock formation.
It was great because there was only 4 of us diving (Raphael from our cruise and a Canadian brother and sister), and all of us had lots of scuba experience which generally means a longer dive since nervous, inexperienced divers tend to burn up their air quicker (well actually Raphael only had 8 dives, but he was an expert skin diver and so his breathing was excellent - although he did run out of air at the end of the first dive!).
Unfortunately visibility was terrible, but still both dives were pretty good, with lots of large shoals of small fish, a couple of turtles, sharks etc. But the whole scuba trip was completely made for me by spotting a huge 3.5m hammerhead shark swimming directly above me. Due to the lack of visibility I only got to see him for a few seconds, but luckily he was directly overhead, so the sunlight silhouetted him perfectly and his hammer-shaped head was utterly unmistakable, and he was swimming along slowly with that uniquely sharkey swagger. The others on the dive also saw a shoal of small hammerheads, but somehow I missed that.
Poor Steff was going mad when we got back from our dive, as he is a qualified scuba diver (although not very experienced), but he didn't think the expense of diving would be worth it. He was kicking himself all day, and when we came back having seen hammerheads he decided to go the next day himself. I was tempted to go again, but I was satisfied after seeing such a huge hammerhead myself, although Steff did manage to persuade the Canadians to go again. Luckily enough for me though, as their dives were both very short (Steff's inexperience showed by running out of air quickly), and they didn't see any hammerheads. But at least Steff had taken the rare opportunity to maybe see a hammerhead. He was just unlucky I reckon, but at least he won't be kicking himself for the rest of his life for not even taking that opportunity.
Actually, another one of my all-time under water highlights was on this trip too, although I was only snorkelling at the time. I was with Raphael, the expert snorkeller, and it was he who spotted and pointed out to me a group of 9 golden rays swimming along in formation. They were moving along quite close to the surface and the close-knit formation they made with their amazing golden colouration and totally graceful movement was utterly mesmerising - definitely one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen as I dove down towards them.
So all-in-all it raises an interesting question of whether the Galapagos are worth the expense. It's impossible to answer really, as it's so subjective and depends on what your travel budget is. Undeniably it is a unique place in the world, so you can't really put a price on it, since there's no competition. I certainly thought it was worth it, as I loved the whole experience and I could easily have spent another week on our boat (but then I could say the same about many places I've been to).
But I really don't think I would have enjoyed the whole thing as much on a big, expensive, highly organised cruise ship. A few people on our boat expressed the same opinion - due to the budget nature of our boat all the passengers were quite young and very easy-going (we had a nice older Czech couple, but they couldn't speak English anyway!), and originally there was only 11 of us, making a nice small group (even when full with 16 it still felt a comfortable number). We'd all seen a large cruise ship or two disgorge their fleets of landing craft (OK, the largest 'fleet' I saw had only 4 boats, but each was packed with 16 passengers), while originally all 11 of our lot could be brought to land in a single trip.
So anyway, after nearly 2 weeks on the Galapagos it was time to head back to the mainland. We got the same flight as Steff and Anke, and simply walked the 10 minutes from the Cactus Hostel to the airport. Their computer system was down though, so after a bit of confusion at check-in, we got through and arrived back in Guayaquil effortlessly enough.
After checking a couple of places to stay we all went out for local crab, then back for a wee rest before hitting the waterfront for dinner and a few drinks. After getting ripped off by a taxi driver (charging us full fare for a trip literally around the corner - obviously we didn't know exactly where we were), we hit a cool local bar, but we were all quite tired (except for Steff!), so really it was an early night.
Next morning we headed to the swanky new bus terminal and got a bus to Riobamba, a town famous for a railway trip through the mountains that actually takes you down the face of one of those mountains while you spend the entire journey sitting on a cushion on the roof of the train - now just how could I resist that?
Friday, October 10, 2008
Finding a cheap cruise in the Galapagos
I must say my first impressions of the Galapagos weren't that great. The airport was OK but nothing special. Transport to the main town involves a short free bus ride to a ferry across a narrow channel, and then a cheap local bus for the 45 minute trip to the town. The buses and ferry were just the normal fairly crappy contraptions, and the journey passed by a couple of small but dirty and untidy little villages. Strolling around the main town itself didn't dispell the general impression of the whole place being quite grubby really. This all came as a bit of a surprise, since all you hear about the Galapagos from the guidebooks, the internet and other travellers (after the animals and Evolution of course), is how expensive everything is - so I expected the place to be a lot more affluent looking.
Anyway, our first priority was getting accomodation sorted, so Sarah strolled around while I watched our bags and had a beer! She got a reasonable price at the Hostel Sir Francis Drake and so with that sorted we explored the town a wee bit more. It was pretty mad just strolling down to the pier and walked up to pelicans, marine iguanas, bright red and yellow crabs and sea lions all lounging around and not much bothered by all the humans. We just took it easy for the rest of the day really, deciding to wait until the following day to tackle the nasty job of trying to find a cheap, last-minute cruise around the islands themselves (by far the best way to see most of the islands and the wildlife, as access to nearly all the sites is strictly controlled and you need to be part of a group).So early the next morning we strolled about the town popping into the offices of various cruise ships (all mad expensive), and then the tour operators mentioned in the guidebooks (a lot cheaper, but still pricey). It quickly became clear that everywhere was offering the same kind of deals for the same kind of price, the cheapest price we found for an 8-day cruise being (US$1050 each).
Although I was half thinking I might just do a cheaper 5-day cruise instead, we'd been quoted US$1100 in Guayaquil, so I decided to just give them a ring and see if their price had dropped, as we knew their cruise was starting the following day and that they originally had 5 spaces to fill.
So over the phone they quoted the lower price of US$1000, but their cruise departed from a different island (San Cristobal) that would be a hassle for us to get to, and I felt a bit nervous about booking a trip over the phone, and I felt that was still a high price so I said 'No thanks!'. As I'm about to hang up the guy suddenly says he might be able to go lower, but he'd need to check with his boss. He asked me to phone again later that afternoon, and that if we did go for his cruise we could catch a speedboat to San Cristobal the next morning in time to meet the ship (basically these guys literally wait right up to the last minute to try and get the best price they can).
In the meantime we strolled about a bit more and checked the speedboats to San Cristobal, only to discover that all the speedboats leave at 2pm and wouldn't arrive in San Cristobal until about 4:30pm - i.e. there were no speedboats in the mornings at all. That meant that if we took this cruise we'd have to book it immediately, check-out of our hostel and get the 2pm speedboat that afternoon - it was now 1pm!
So we ring the guy back and explain that we need his very best price now, and he tells Sarah his new price is $900 each, and so right there and then I decide we'll take it! While checking out scuba diving options the evening before, we'd heard from an English girl who married a local guy that any cruise under $1000 was a fantastic price, basically impossible to get, although later we discovered that a Dutch couple on our boat got the very same cruise for $800 (and later we meet another couple who got an 8-day cruise for $750, but on a really crappy boat - although they got upgraded to a brilliant boat due to overbooking!!). So basically the whole system is a bit screwed up, but now in low-season I reckon anything is possible if you're prepared to shop around and push your luck a bit.
I'm mentioning all these prices by the way, even though the tour operator asked us not to discuss our price with anyone, because a Spanish couple on our boat paid $1500 each. Now I know last-minute prices are always better (and by last-minute I mean literally that, not the day before a cruise or anything - our guy only came down to $900 because we had to catch the speedboat 45 minutes later), but $600 per person extra is basically daylight robbery. I didn't have the heart to tell that couple they'd been rightly ripped-off, especially as they'd gotten that price from the wife of an Ecuadorian 'friend' (one of the Spaniards is working here in Ecuador)! So basically I have little sympathy for these tour operators - I don't know why they can't just offer everyone a fair price. Also I couldn't get any reliable information on the Internet about what a fair price for an 8-day cruise would be, so maybe someone searching for 'Cheap last minute Galapagos tours' will find the information above helpful.
Anyway, after a very panicky 45 minutes of running to the bank because the tour operator would only accept a cash transfer (and then Sarah thinking she'd have to queue in the massive queue for a cashier, but then going to the customer service desk instead!), doing the money transfer amazingly quickly in under 5 minutes, running back to our hostel to pack, running to buy the speedboat ticket, running down to the pier, and then running all around the pier looking for the right speedboat, we finally set off for San Cristobal island (25 minutes late!).
The speedboat was pretty much full with 12 people onboard, and had 3 outboard motors totally a mighty 500 horsepower, so we screamed along bouncing around quite a bit, which was great fun and reminded me of the dodgem's at Funderland. On the trip out we saw a huge manta ray jumping straight up out of the water, but it was a fair distance away (we saw another one doing exactly the same thing, only much closer, a few days later from the cruise boat while we were sitting chatting with some of the other passengers over coffee (it jumped 6 or 7 times)).
So safely on San Cristobal we had to walk a bit to find a hostel (I later discovered I had walked right past a big street map on the pier!), but settled into the lovely Hotel Cactus for the night. We went for a delicious cheap local dinner that night and checked out the local tour agency office to make sure they were expecting us. They were really nice, and they were expecting us, and even told us we could have a free breakfast the next morning at their restaurant before joining the cruise at noon. So as happy as Larry we strolled back to the hostel and looked forward to our Galapagos cruise the next day.
Monday, October 6, 2008
First stop in Ecuador - Guayaquil
We did have to get off the bus at the Peru/Ecuador border after all, ah well, but it was just the usual formalities, and we arrived after only 25 hours in Guayaquil (the guidebook said it could take 29 hours). The journey was the most comfortable yet as we had huge very comfortable seats (the bus only had three seats across each row), and I reckon I had the best sleep ever on a bus. They also showed a number of decent movies too that really helped pass the time.
Most people only use Guayaquil as a jumping off point for flights to the Galapagos or for access to the beaches on the coast. It was quickly clear why, as the town isn't really that nice, although it has it's nice spots I suppose. We had the possibility of getting a flight directly to the Galapagos on the day after we arrived, but I decided we might as well check out the town a bit. I also wanted to check out a couple of Guayaquil-based tour operators for Galapagos tours, and also to take our time checking the various flight options.
So the following day it turned out that the flight options were quite limited, although the main airlines did have a slight discount for low-season, so we just booked for the following day with TAME. We only checked one of the main tour operators in the town, mainly just to get an idea of the prices - so that we'd know to try and get cheaper prices once on the islands themselves.
So with our flights booked we explored the town itself a wee bit. One of the main attractions is a small city park famous for it's hundreds of resident iguanas. I think we timed our arrival well, as all the lizards were out and about feeding on cabbage leaves. It was quite an impressive sight to see a couple of hundred large lizards crawling up and down the trees and lazily feeding, mostly oblivious to all the humans staring at them and taking photos.
After the park we popped into a couple of museums. The first museum was putting on little ethic shows for school kids (including a cool sacrifice scene, followed by a burial scene, all accompanied by cool modern Andean mystical music), and the second one had mostly religious art and sculptures, but our guide was a cool, funny local guy who'd spent a couple of years studying in Ireland.
That night we had another stroll down the newly completed waterfront, which is all very modern and nicely done, followed by a drink in a cool bar that seemed to be having a Battle-of-the-Bands competition and then another cheap dinner in a lovely local restaurant.
The next morning everything was all really easy-peasy getting to the Galapagos - a local bus for the 10 minute journey to the brand new airport and an effortless check-in and departure (15 minutes early in fact). 90 minutes later and we're touching down on the main Galapagos island of Santa Cruz - mad!
Most people only use Guayaquil as a jumping off point for flights to the Galapagos or for access to the beaches on the coast. It was quickly clear why, as the town isn't really that nice, although it has it's nice spots I suppose. We had the possibility of getting a flight directly to the Galapagos on the day after we arrived, but I decided we might as well check out the town a bit. I also wanted to check out a couple of Guayaquil-based tour operators for Galapagos tours, and also to take our time checking the various flight options.
So the following day it turned out that the flight options were quite limited, although the main airlines did have a slight discount for low-season, so we just booked for the following day with TAME. We only checked one of the main tour operators in the town, mainly just to get an idea of the prices - so that we'd know to try and get cheaper prices once on the islands themselves.
So with our flights booked we explored the town itself a wee bit. One of the main attractions is a small city park famous for it's hundreds of resident iguanas. I think we timed our arrival well, as all the lizards were out and about feeding on cabbage leaves. It was quite an impressive sight to see a couple of hundred large lizards crawling up and down the trees and lazily feeding, mostly oblivious to all the humans staring at them and taking photos.
After the park we popped into a couple of museums. The first museum was putting on little ethic shows for school kids (including a cool sacrifice scene, followed by a burial scene, all accompanied by cool modern Andean mystical music), and the second one had mostly religious art and sculptures, but our guide was a cool, funny local guy who'd spent a couple of years studying in Ireland.
That night we had another stroll down the newly completed waterfront, which is all very modern and nicely done, followed by a drink in a cool bar that seemed to be having a Battle-of-the-Bands competition and then another cheap dinner in a lovely local restaurant.
The next morning everything was all really easy-peasy getting to the Galapagos - a local bus for the 10 minute journey to the brand new airport and an effortless check-in and departure (15 minutes early in fact). 90 minutes later and we're touching down on the main Galapagos island of Santa Cruz - mad!
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