Island Time - Isla Galapagos

It all started with leaving Mancora, Peru. My final stop in Peru had been good to me and it was time to go to my 7th country of the trip - Ecuador. Only in South America can a 375km bus trip turn into an 8 hour drawn out snooze fest. We did stop for an hour at the border but still.. I took a day bus at 2pm as my flight was at 845am and I wanted to be on the safe side of things for once. The only problem was that there wasn't really a point in staying at a hostel overnight as my flight was early enough, I decided to sleep overnight in the airport.  Sure enough I arrived in Guayaquil at around 1030pm and the plan was to eat grab some food before sleeping on a bench inside the airport. A short taxi to the airport later and I arrive only to find every single restaurant closed on the land side with no way to go through to the air side. Fantastic. Leaving the airport in search of food I stumble upon a KFC attached to a gas station and have my first meal in Ecuador.. not the best of meals to showcase Ecuadorian cuisine that's for sure.  

I've never slept in an airport before and was wondering what it'd be like. Honestly it was pretty crap. Curled up in a sleeping bag, using another as a pillow, toque over my face to block out the light, arms wrapped through both my bags led to one super paranoid nap. Several uneventful hours later and I finally stepped off my plane into the Galapagos!

Flying over Isla Santa Cruz and Baltra

I wanted to dive on the Galapagos but wanted to do more then a discovery dive which I did in Easter Island. I ended up doing my Padi Open Water course for scuba diving on Isla Santa Cruz, the most populated of the islands. Two days of theory and two days of diving were all mixed together with a ton of Ecuadorian food and lying on the beach at Tortuga Bay. At the end of my course I passed my final exam and got certified to dive!

What do I do?!

Diving is fantastic. Underwater is a world of its own and I've barely scratched the surface of all there is to learn and see. One of the cooler things we saw were three hammerheads circling just a few meters below us at Gordon Rocks as well as a sea lion hunting at Punta Azul. My instructor Freddy was fantastic and really knew his stuff, couldn't have asked for a better guide. 

Hammerheads!

While diving is epic, snorkeling here is just as good. Yesterday I spent the afternoon at Los Tunneles on Isla Isabella and the wildlife was putting on quite the show. Literally. It's mating season in the Galapagos and to see 6 turtles going at the same time as well as a pair of giant manta rays mating was simply amazing. We ended up snorkelling in two different sites were we saw too many animals to list.. But among that list are turtles, white tipped sharks, manta rays, golden rays, sea lions and I finally got to see penguins in the wild. I missed the penguin season in Ushuaia by just a little bit which was quite unfortunate but to see them in the Islands so far away from Antarctica was epic. 

Many turtles engaging in cospicuous activities

One thing I love about travelling is the complete randomness of it. One night I ended up at the diving ship Captain's house who I barely knew having ceviche, popcorn and caipirinhas with a few people from the dive earlier in the day. Last night was going to be a quiet night when on my way back from the beach a few people I chatted with on the boat over to Isabella saw me and called me over for drinks. Few drinks later, my first few attempts at slacklining, and a hearty portion of sizzling parrilla/bbq left me quite happy. People are seriously just friendlier when you're travelling. 

Off to San Cristobal later in the afternoon, one more diving day tommorow and then back to the mainland where I'll be heading to Baños for some rafting, climbing, and tree swinging at Casa del Arbol!

Channy

Instagram - itsnathanchan

November 12, Hostal Lirio del Mar, Isla Galapagos