Galápagos Islands

"How paramount the future is to the present

when one is surrounded by children."

                                          -Charles Darwin

After serious and sober debate, our curiosity broke us and we scraped together enough cash to head out to the Galápagos.  We were far from disappointed as it turned out to be worth every cent. 

The map below shows our trips during our one week stay, where we used Puerto Ayora as our base for our excursions rather than paying for 4 tickets on overnight ships which were quite a bit more expensive (and we had heard a number of stories about sea sickness).  A good decision it turns out for a family with youngerish kids because it allowed us to have more flexibility as Niko and Kaia never ever wanted to leave one magical place after another.

============================================

Santa Cruz & Puerto Ayora

View into water from ferry loading ramp at the airport:  Already we suspected this might be the right decision

Airport ferry service

All fears of having made the wrong decision simply melted away when we sat our first morning at one of the many outdoor restaurants in Puerto Ayora and enjoyed fresh juice and a great harbor view of boats bobbing on turquoise water, palm trees swaying, seals and iguanas lounging, pelicans trying to steal breakfast from fisherman cleaning their catch, thousands of bright red crabs, and frigate birds.  And all of this just off the main square! Plus after months of living in places higher than most of the summits in the Alps, just breathing the lush equatorial warmth was in itself a thick, rich treat.

Preparing for the 10PM rush.
Eat Street in Puerto Ayora: Fresh grilled prawns in saffron-coconut sauce...

===================================

San Cristobal, Kicker Rock, and Santa Fe

From Puerto Ayora, there are speed boats to most of the other 13 major islands in the Galápagos (there are more than 50 islands and islets in all).  Speed boat is a misnomer as most are not so speedy, frequently break down, and the ones we ended up on were not carrying enough life vests so there was a lot of scrambling whenever water patrol was anywhere in the vicinity. (Note to Grandparents: we always grabbed OUR life vests first!) Our first day we caught an early boat to an island east of Santa Cruz called San Cristobal, with side snorkling trips to Kicker Rock and Santa Fe.

Note:  in a pinch boats double as Mother Mary shrines.

After a bumpy 3 hour boat ride, and a short hike, we reached "la loberia" --which you can think of it as a day care center for sea lion pups.  This was our first intro to Galapagos' life below the surface, and Kaia's very first snorkling trip ever.  The colors were incredible with too many brilliantly colored fish to track so it felt like swimming in confetti, with big sea turtles calmly floating by, and curious sea lion pups checking us out in our funny snorkling gear.  Since our camera does not fare well in water, the underwater highlights of the trip will remain undocumented.  Thank goodness for google to snatch a few jpgs reminding us of the experience. 

It was otherworldly spending time under water face to face with these creatures inspecting each other.  

Meanwhile, the general above-surface-atmosphere at la loberia was best described as: 

Puppies, puppies, everywhere!!!

Literally hours of this.  Surely, Kaia's ideal vacation so far.

Next stop was Sleeping Lion Rock, aka Kicker Rock, to snorkle and dive with the hammerhead sharks.....  The current through the channel where the swimmers were supposed to go was rough and choppy, which was enough to keep me, the kids, and most of the other passengers on the boat.  But Derk, two women, and a few other men all jumped overboard.  Several men in the water changed their minds and tried to clamor back onto the heaving boat as it almost crashed into the canyon walls.  As planned, the remaining swimmers were swiftly sucked by the current into the gap, surrounded by jelly fish, but for better or worse, did not see any sharks.  Derk's comment afterwards: A pretty cold, dark, creepy and generally all around unsettling experience.

Most people come here to see this

Kicker Rock: The canyon on the right is where they send sacrificial tourists to the hungry sharks (aka shark "viewing").






The last stop of the day was Santa Fe, a trip accompanied by dolphins, for a quick snorkle in a calm lagoon with sea turtles, loads of parrot fish, and one penguin teasing the few remaining swimmers who weren't completely worn out by the whole Kicker Rock experience.

                                   ==========================================

Floreana

Floreana Welcoming Committee

Our destination for another day trip was the island of Floreana, including a visit to a pirate hide out and tortoise research station.  Parental good judgement aside, we were allowed to ride on top of the bus, ducking to avoid branches on the way to the tortoise corral to see these ancient creatures up close.


Little known fact: If you put a tortoise on its back in the bottom of a whaling ship, it will remain alive--and edible--for more than a year. No wonder there are so few left.

Wrapped up a fabulous day by eating fresh fish and snorkling off of a volcanic black sand beach with sea turtles.  Not too shabby.

                                        ==========================================

Isabela

We decided to spend several days on Isabela island, hiking to a volcano caldera, snorkling with young sea lions, and walking around an island covered in baby marine iguanas and large sea lions.

From Puerto Villamil, you can reach some of the more remote parts of this youngest of islands (after Fernandina). One glorious day we rented bikes after breakfast to see how far we could go.  Beginning about 5 minutes outside town, we found mile after mile of white--and utterly empty-- beaches, surrounded by endless black lava flows, cactii, and bushes exploding with tiny yellow or red or blue flowers.

As if that wasn't enough, everywhere we looked, we found strange (and - unlike the Amazon - mostly benign!!!) creatures: colonies of snorting marine iguanas, curious seal pups, fluttering little black finches, jet-black lava lizards, black butterflies, solid black bumble bees.  It's no wonder Darwin found so much inspiration here.

Beach front cemetery

bike security service

a tough day at the office

What started as a bike ride, turned into a day at the beach.

Can you find the iguana?

...and absolutely perfect water...

iguana central - seriously covered

Can't you tell we're in a meeting?

The next day, we prepared to climb shield volcano Sierra Negra to see the largest and most active caldera in the Galapagos (most recent eruption in 2005).

Other Isabela Memories: Harbor boat rides, swimming with rafts of juvenile sea lions, and checking out hundreds of baby iguanas camouflaged against the rocks

Niko's most memorable souvenir:
Gift of a hat from the captain

                       

Human, sea lion, and marine iguana beach mates

Yvonne waiting for her beer.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives.
 It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."

                                                             -Charles Darwin

Iguana Park

After several wonderful months in Ecuador, a bunch of things came together which allowed us to extend our family sabbatical.  A life with choices is a great thing, but it also means making some really tough decisions!  In our case, it was whether to stay in Ecuador, or seize the opportunity to check out some other great place on this continent.  We chose the latter.  After a continent-wide school search (the biggest and most challenging piece of our puzzle), we discovered a little Chilean school near Patagonia.  The decision was made and within short order, we had vet papers for Quilo, a new Lonely Planet-Chile book in hand, and four tickets to Santiago.

But we had one piece of unfinished business in Ecuador. The whole time we've been here, those strange and mysterious islands off the coast were tempting us -- but somehow we just couldn't justify the cost. Yet how could we be so close, and not see the Galápagos?  For a family with youngerish kids, how interesting could variable beak lengths of finches on different islands really be? Or would we be irked every time we look at a world map and see how near we were? Finally, we consulted the 7 and 9 year old Oracles who simply responded: "Go!"

This is how we got there:
The 5 hour drive from Cuenca to Guayaquil is stunning as it weaves its way through Cajas National Park and drops 2500m from the mountains to the coast.

We didn't have much time to explore Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, but did make it down to Iguana Park, where hundreds of land iguanas roam around the main square and hang out like pigeons do in most other parks around the world. They resembled a convention of cranky old men who have indefinitely taken over the central square, and provided more than ample entertainment for all of us.

We then found a kennel for Quilo to spend the week, and hopped a plane for the Galapagos.