I’m in the Galápagos!

I had every intention of getting a solid 8 hours of sleep last night. I had gotten settled into my AirBnB for the evening by 5pm and wanted to be asleep by 9pm. Well, that didn’t happen. Talking with my friend, who will be meeting me in Isabela, and finalizing the plans to stay an extra night on Santa Cruz Island re-energized me. Before I knew it, 11:30pm was glaring at me from my phone. Once I fell asleep I slept like a rock, it’s amazing to be uninterrupted by dogs; but that 6am alarm clock rang way too early.

Dragging myself out of bed I took a quick shower to wake myself up; lord I hate a rainfall shower head, and threw myself and my bags back together. I could hear the AirBnB hosts working away in the kitchen and I was sad to be missing the breakfast I’d read about in the reviews. As promised, my host had a cab waiting for me outside and I pulled away at exactly my planned time of 6:45am. The route to the airport took me down the dangerous street I’d been so sternly warned about the day prior. I paid close attention; there were sidewalks and locals walking. I felt that the men yesterday meant the street was dangerous *for me.* I saw a couple women walking alone so maybe because I was an obvious tourist? I don’t know but I am grateful for the warnings I had received. Always better safe than sorry in these situations.

A post from recent travelers on a Galápagos group I started following had many commenters recommending getting to the airport three hours before one’s flight to have plenty of time to get the required transit control card, go through the mandatory baggage screening (both those requirements specific to Galápagos travel), and get thru security. The hardest part was finding the damn transit and luggage screening area where they would inspect my luggage and then seal my bag with a blue tie. But within ten minutes of arriving I had already cleared both. Another ten minutes and I had checked my bag and gotten through security. I was bitter that I could have slept another hour but also very cognizant that I could see the processes taking the full time if it was busy.

The Priority Pass app warned me that the lounge at the airport wasn’t serving real food so I stopped by the airport cafe for breakfast; apparently the only option available was the Desayuno Frances; a croissant sandwich with scrambled eggs. Between the language barrier and the masks ordering was a pain in the ass and too much head nodding meant I paid for extras that I didn’t even want. The meal was pathetic to say the least. I ate the eggs and the meat & cheese guts from the croissant sandwich, drank the orange juice, and called it good.

I still had two hours before my flight and a full hour before I had to be at my gate area so I retreated to the lounge. Only to find that they WERE in fact serving an actual breakfast!!! Grr! Oh well, at least I was able to plug in my devices, enjoy my tea, and mix my assorted hydration concoctions.

As it drew closer to boarding time I started to regret not booking a window seat so I’d have a view of the islands flying in. Lo and behold, my wish came true and I found myself getting to snag that window seat view as I had the entire row on the plane to myself! I was not sad to say peace out to Guayaquil. Meal service on the 90-minute flight included a cold turkey and cheese wrap. Questionable at best.

The flight passed quickly with some more trash TV on my iPad until land started to come into view; the islands!!! I turned to put my iPad and chargers away and when I turned back to the window all of a sudden there was a marine volcanic crater in view! Now I was downright giddy! The crew announced that we’d be landing soon and the flight attendants walked the length of the plane, opening each overhead bin and spraying something (insecticide I think?) on all the luggage overhead.

Finally it was touchdown on the arid landscape, dotted with prickly cactus trees. Baltra Island! I had made it the Galápagos Islands! I was in the second row so first to deplane and first to make it thru passport control. I gladly forked over my $100 entry fee and reflected on how amazing the last couple travel days have been because I haven’t felt rushed at all. Such a game changer for my anxiety!

Luggage was delivered but nobody was allowed near until a control officer had gone through and removed the blue tag from each bag; it must be a security measure to not let people keep the tags; makes sense. I laughed at how dwarfed my normal carry-on sized bag looked amongst everyone’s full-size suitcases.

After gathering my gear I found the Emetebe ticket counter to check in for my air taxi to Isabela. I had purchased a 35 lb baggage allowance and my suitcase weighed in at 35.5. The young man behind the counter waved at the scale and said, “It’s good!” He then told me that the baggage allowance was a total that was supposed to also include the carry on items but we just weren’t going to worry about that. “It’s ok, our secret, don’t tell anyone.” Thank you for saving me $ Emetebe man! He assured me that I would love the co pilot seat I had booked as I walked away. That’s right, I had bought the co pilot seat for this flight! Going through security back into the departures area I was amused by the fuzzy handcuffs in the box of confiscated items.

With a couple hours to spare I stashed my pack in the Priority Pass lounge so I could source some lunch. The little food court was not your typical airport food court. Little ladies and fresh ingredients were visible in the kitchen. I opted for a shrimp ceviche (since they didn’t actually have the encocados today) and a guanabana juice; I love guanabana! I watched as they put fresh pieces of fruit and water in the blender and freshly prepared my ceviche. And it was all delicious.

While waiting in line to order and for my food, I was surrounded by a group of high school students from Fordham Prep Academy, who were in the islands for a class trip. They were truly a vile little group of loud, no personal space obliging, snarky kids. Lord help the next generations.

Eager for my air taxi I made sure I was at the little gate ten minutes before boarding time. And I waited. I saw a couple other folks lingering and confirmed that they too were headed to Isabela on the nine-passenger plane. Our departure time came and went; nobody had come for us still. I heard an engine rev on the tarmac and watched a little plane take off, a little plane that looked remarkably like the one I was supposed to be on. And apparently it was that one. Finally the gate agent came over to inform the little group of six that there was a problem with a flap flapping properly so the plane is headed to San Cristobal to get a new flap and will be back for us in an hour. The agent directed us all to head to the lounge to wait, promising he’d come get us as soon it’s finally go time. At least I have more trash tv downloaded on my iPad. A little finch flew over and landed on the charging station in front of me as to say, “Look, here’s some wildlife for you!”

Finally, at 2:23, almost 1 1/2 hours past the original departure time I heard a small but loud engine off in the distance. Could it be?! I took out my earbuds and stood to look out the window, the flight mates nearby saw me and did the same. Sure enough, our little Emetebe plane had arrived! Within three minutes the Emetebe agent had us all following him out onto the tarmac and by 2:30 my butt was in my seat.

This was a SMALL plane. I thought I’d been one small planes before, the one I took to the Arctic Circle in Iceland was super teeny tiny but this took the cake, Aside from one four passenger flight school plane I’d flown in this was the smallest. Crawling into the copilot seat was thrilling and scary as shit at the same time. What if I accidentally bumped something?!

We’d be flying at a high altitude of 4,300’ and should be on the ground on Isabela in 30 minutes. Having only a lap belt did not give me much peace but hell, if something went wrong a seatbelt wasn’t going to do much. As we took off I started to consider the fact that if something were to happen to the lone pilot next to me, there was nobody else to land this plane and the whole lot of us would be screwed.

My anxiety dissipated, only slightly, as I watched Baltra Island grow further away from us and saw the coastline with the shimmering bright blue waters. Fingers of lava spreading into the sea created these beautiful reefs. I relaxed further as the white noise of the engine and the slow drifts of the plane started to practically lull me to sleep. This felt like complete peace.

After a brief cruise above the blinding clouds, the shaky plane began descending as little islands dotting the sea came into view. I’d never been so happy to feel the wheels of a plane touch down on solid ground again!

The air taxi was taking care of my transportation to my AirBnB and my driver, Christian, was waiting for me when we landed. With a 90 minute delay my afternoon plans were now pretty screwed up due to timing of when the tortoise breeding center closed and when the sun would go down. Christian asked me my plans and when I stumbled he, oh so conveniently, pulled out a laminated sheet to show me. He does highland tours so if I was interested in going during my stay let him know. Well, how about now? This could solve my predicament of how to spend my afternoon! His tour would go by five landmarks and only one of them I was going to see during my stay given my current plans. We arranged for him to come back and pick me up at my AirBnB in half an hour so we could get through the two-hour excursion before the sun went down.

My AirBnB, the Sandy Feet House, is super adorable and cozy. The fact that it is RIGHT ON THE BEACH doesn’t hurt either. I hastily did a light unpacking and changed for my first foray into the island! I didn’t even take the time to go dip my toes in the beautiful turquoise sea.

And then I waited, and I waited. My 3:45pm pick up time dragged on and after 25 minutes I figured if he didn’t show in the next five I was chalking it up to a flake and heading out on foot instead of wasting any more daylight. Just as the clock was about to strike his truck pulled up in front of Sandy Feet. I grabbed the key and was ready to go but when I tried to lock the door it simply would not lock. I probably messed with it for close to ten minutes before my guide came to see what was going on. He tried and couldn’t get the lock to work either. I messaged my AirBnB host but no response was coming through. I was not going to waste my time and not see this damn island because my door wouldn’t lock. The area had to be safe, my host had left the house unlocked for me to let myself in. I didn’t like the idea but I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice. I hid my cash and important documents under a mattress in the second bedroom, shot off an annoyed follow-up message to my host, and left the damn place unlocked.

The terrain was really cool but I had a hard time taking it in because my stress of the unlocked house was distracting. I tried to talk myself down but could really have used a positive energy to help me with that. My guide kept getting calls and after about 20 minutes on the phone and about 10 phone calls he pulled up to the first stop, the Sucre Cave. After a brief walk through some grassland, we arrived at a fissure in the ground. It was quite eery and I realized that this was going to be dark!

These islands are all volcanic and the cave was a lava tube with stunning mineral formations glittering like gold overhead. Water filtered through the lava and dripped onto my shoulder. The air in the cave was cool but not cold and the droplets of water felt remarkably refreshing. The only light was that of our iPhone flashlights and I tried to take my time putting behind my stress and taking in this beautiful serene space since no picture would ever be able to do it justice.

I was starting to get excited and was feeling eager for what was to come as we left the cave but the sleepy energy of my guide and the phone calls he kept receiving were a little annoying and did nothing for my energy levels. I studied the few homesteads we passed; in the yard of one a woman was making quick work grabbing chickens from their coup to slaughter. She had to have been at it for the afternoon because a row of naked dead chickens hung beside her.

My guide turned the truck into Campo Duro Farm Lodge where we would explore the local farming practices and see giant tortoises that roamed the property. Bring on my first tortoises! Apparently there was a clear path we’d be taking and I was excited when I spotted baby mangoes on the trees overhead, oh how I wish it was mango season now! In addition to the mangoes, the farm grew all sorts of sweet deliciousness such as papayas, bananas, citrus, avocados, passion fruit, and more.

Unfortunately the walkabout the farm was pretty lame. I’ve seen a freaking orange tree before. The most exciting thing about it was the shriek I let out when something furry suddenly crashed into my legs from behind. A dog that I had not heard coming had apparently joined the tour and scared the crap out of me. He sniffed me intently and then turned on his heels and left again. Aside from the canine distraction, the highlight was the fresh branches of bananas and baby bananas, (oritos I think they’re called) that had been harvested and hung for visitors to try. Both were delicious and a welcome snack but I actually favored the flavor of the thumb sized little baby bananas more. I observed the size of the bananas on all the trees as they continue to debunk our theory at home that large bananas are all freak GMO fruits.

My guide led me to a small pond and pointed with a shrug, “They are sleeping.” Sure enough, two tortoises, neither really large, were sound asleep in the muddy water. Hmm. “There are more on the other side, maybe they are awake.”

Before heading to the other tortoise area though we’d walk up to the giant Ceibo tree. This was listed as a tour highlight and I had not realized it was part of the farm stop. The massive ceibo tree is estimated to be about 150 years old and was gorgeous. The marbled bark was a rainbow of colors through the folds of its trunk. Little spiked nubs dotted it; sparse in some areas and dense in others. This tree was actually pretty damn cool. After 150 years it had it’s own ecosystem with mosses and ferns growing on it’s trunks and limbs. It was really awesome but you can only stare at a tree for so long. I had a hard time getting my guide moving again as he was deep into his phone.

As we rounded back towards where we started he waved into a field, another sleeping tortoise. Just a shell in the grass. We didn’t even stop walking and within a minute we were back at the front and walking out. My tortoise disappointment was fierce.

Just a minute down the road he turned the truck onto a narrow dirt path to Mango Viewpoint. It was cloudy and dusky but we ascended the few steps and short plank walkway to the 360 views at the top of the little hill. It was cool but to be honest, the landscape wasn’t that interesting with limited visibility and low light.

The last stop would be the Flamingos Lagoon. However, there were no flamingos, we didn’t even get out of the car. “They must be at the other lagooon, we’ll go there.” The other lagoon is only a block or two from my AirBnB so this did not seem tour stop worthy. And as we pulled up to it I still didn’t see any flamingoes. We at least got out of the car this time but, yah, not a flamingo to be seen. The sun had just gone down so this was not a surprise to me.

While the afternoon wasn’t overly exciting I’m glad I got to see the cave as I would not have made it there otherwise. And as a bonus, Christian drove me by the new Isabela sign that had been erected just a week or so ago and was only about 200 yards from the house. My guide spent the majority of the time on the phone but I had him to serve as a driver and photographer so it was good enough. When I asked how tourism was doing these days he informed me that it was about 50% of pre-COVID levels so I understand that it must be hard to stay motivated when your business depends on it.

I rounded out my evening with a delightful dinner at Maestro de Casa. I was disappointed when I realized that I couldn’t get a glass of wine like I’d so hoped for but the delicious ensalada and encocado de mariscos (tuna, shrimp, and octopus in a coconut milk broth) made me forget all about it. Walking back, loose dogs roamed the streets, two stayed perfectly in tandem shoulder-to-shoulder and decided to join me for part of my brief walk.

I hate to say it but today felt a little tedious. I don’t want to use the word disappointed but I’d hoped for more magic than I received. I am optimistic for what tomorrow has to bring! And I am excited to try to get more sleep.