IN TRANSIT FROM GALAPAGOS ISLANDS THROUGH GUAYAQUIL TO QUITO, ECUADOR

SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 2018

IN TRANSIT FROM GALAPAGOS ISLANDS THROUGH GUAYAQUIL TO QUITO, ECUADOR

We had our last breakfast at Hotel Galapagos Islands today as we had packed our bags and kept them ready for our long journey from the Galapagos Islands to Quito, the capital of Ecuador.

         We thanked Liliana profusely for a very enjoyable and comfortable stay in her hotel and boarded our pick-up van under the guidance of Ricardo, who staged a return.  He told us that he would be taking us on a short detour to see a coffee plantation en route to the airport. 

Visiting a Coffee Plantation:

         About a half hour into our drive, we arrived at a coffee and cacao plantation where all the occupants of the coach received a short introduction on the making of coffee from growth to grinding of coffee beans. We were also told about the cacao plant from which cocoa and chocolate are made. In the adjoining shack, we were offered free coffee and were shown the food products available for sale. We did not buy any but we did enjoy seeing the tropical plants and fruit trees such as papaya, banana, guava, etc. that grew all around us. When we were done, we piled back in the vehicle to continue on our journey to Baltra airport at the northern end of Seymour Island that involved another short crossing of the Ithabacca Channel between Santa Cruz and Seymour Islands. 

Flight to Quito via Guayaquil:

         We flew away from the Galapagos Islands at mid-day and, about two hours later, arrived at the city of Guayaquil, which we found to be extraordinarily modern.  From the air we could see that the entire city was laid out in the design of a perfect modern grid, similar to New York. We took many pictures from the air before we flew to Quito, the capital of Ecuador.  

         We looked high and low for our pick up taxi service at Quito airport but it was nowhere in sight. After trying to call the cab company, we finally gave up and hired our own private taxi that took us to Hotel Akros where we had a reservation.

         Once in the hotel, we checked in and made the happy discovery that this was certainly the best of the hotels in which we had made reservations.  It was in an affluent, modern part of the city—far from the historic district—but we were so enchanted by our glorious hotel suite (Chriselle, once again, had her own bedroom) and the swanky attached bathroom that we did not mind its location off the beaten tourist track. 

         Before we set out for dinner, we used the lobby phone to call our sightseeing tour company to confirm our attendance, the next morning, at the city sightseeing tour. At that point we got quite a shock for we discovered that the city tour that we had booked was not given on Sunday mornings (since most of the churches are closed for visits) but was offered only at 2.00 pm in the afternoon. Needless to say, we could not take the afternoon city sightseeing tour as we had a flight home scheduled at 6.00 pm and needed to be at the airport at 3.00 pm. With no choice left to us, we decided to hire a taxi to drive us to the historic city center so that we could take our own walking tour of it. 

         In search of dinner, we cruised around the neighborhood but although it was only 8.00 am on a Saturday night), nothing other than coffee shops were open. Eventually, it was in the restaurant attached to our hotel that we sat down to have dinner. It was our last dinner and we were keen to make it special—although most of our trip had been tainted by the terrible tragedy of Mukarram’s death. We ordered red wine and margaritas and feasted on wonderful seafood dishes and a special dessert before we eventually went up to our rooms for a good night’s rest.         

         Until manana, adios…