Author archive
10 July 2018
Cruising around Galapagos isn’t a holiday. We had to wake at 0545 for a 0615 breakfast before a 0645 disembarkation for Bartolome. As we got on Bartolome, a sea lion was on the steps. It was so cute, the Israeli girl thought it would be OK to sneak past it, forgetting the 2 metre rule. […]
9 July 2018
Getting going We had to be at the travel agent at 0900 for our pickup for the cruise. We woke at 0700 and after packing and some muesli we got there by foot. We realised on the way there that the white pickup trucks around town were taxis! All this time we thought they belonged […]
8 July 2018
With a cruise booked and confirmed, there was no pressure to do anything today. Which was just as well, because the sky was grey and clouded over with drizzle. After a lazy start, we headed out to the Charles Darwin Centre. In terms of living wildlife there, we saw the giant tortoises in adult and […]
7 July 2018
Morning sightseeing We started our exploration of Galapagos by going to Tortuga Bay. There was a choice of a 45 min walk or a short boatride; we chose the latter but would walk back after. The boat ride turned out to be a mistake. We had to wait for the boat beyond the appointed departure […]
6 July 2018
Today we fly to Galapagos, specifically Baltra (aka Santa Cruz), one of the two main airports which accept flights from mainland Ecuador. Departing Quito After breakfast our ride turned up at 0945 for the ride to the airport. We arrived at 1030 for our 1347 flight. We had heard about the lengthy procedures for Galapagos […]
5 July 2018
After breakfast we took Uber to TeleferiQo and then ascended by the cable car to the summit. It was higher than Mount Cook in New Zealand and similar to Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia. But here it was effortless in a cable car. Text continues after this gallery. We took a short walk and […]
4 July 2018
I woke around 0300 in Quito (around 1000 Madrid) and dozed till 0530 when I thought I could use my time productively. I did a few things on my to-do list that had been postponed for a few times before breakfast at 0800. We headed out at 0930 for a little wander before joining the […]
3 July 2018
We walked to Plaza de Espana to save on one metro interchange to get to the airport. Our nearest metro would require two changes instead of one. It was much easier than our arrival trip except that at peak hour, it was very busy. We hadn’t used our Tourist Pass (for the metro and other […]
2 July 2018
We had breakfast at McDonald’s. The traditional local breakfast is minced tomatoes on toast; the McDonald’s version failed on both parts: the minced tomato didn’t have much colour or flavour while the toast wasn’t nice. Our other choice, the potato tortilla in a bun which much better. There wasn’t much we specifically wanted to see […]
1 July 2018
Free Walking Tour I had booked a free walking tour departing from Plaza Mayor at 1000. Kim took an instant dislike to the guide based on his body language when interacting with the guide’s colleagues. He kept suggesting that we switch to another walking tour. Ignoring him, we continued with our booked tour and the […]