TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 2018
FLIGHTS THROUGH THREE SECTORS: IN TRANSIT FROM LIMA TO CUZCO, FROM CUZCO TO QUITO AND FROM QUITO TO THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS
Today was devoted entirely to traveling from Cuzco in Peru to Baltra airport on Seymour Island in the Galapagos in Ecuador. Since our flight would leave Cuzco airport at 5.40 am, we were picked up by pre-arranged mini-van at 3.30 am and driven there in order to arrive at 4.00 am. We flew by LATAM Airlines from Cuzco to Lima where we arrived at 7.00 am on the very day that our friend Mukaram would be cremated. His cremation was scheduled for 6.30 pm. Of course, we were all still in deep shock and extreme mourning and still in a state of disbelief and denial. Our connecting LATAM flight left Cuzco two hours later at 9.00 am—which left us only enough time to find our way to our departing gate for our journey to Quito, capital of Ecuador. We had a very nice touch down in the city that is ringed by the Andes Mountains and seems to be built in tiers on its lower slopes—all this was clearly evident from the air. It was 11.30 am when we arrived in Quito. We did not have much time there either as we had yet another connecting flight that would transport us to Baltra airport. We were struck by the irony of the fact that the last words we had spoken to Shahnaz before we took our leave of her at Lima airport was that we would see her and Mukaram at Baltra airport. Little did we know that by the time we reached Baltra, Mukaram would be no more and the family would, in fact, be participating in his cremation. It was truly unfathomable and throughout the flights, we were in a very somber mood as we each tried to make sense of the events that had transpired.
In Quito, we had to go through a series of formalities that involved buying a permit card to visit the Galapagos Islands that cost us $20 a piece. That done, our baggage was very carefully screened for any biological material—flowers, fruits, animal, bird or insect life. It was obvious that screening is both strict and necessary (as it is in Hawai’i) as the islanders do not want to introduce any life that will be detrimental to the delicate eco-system that they have tried so hard to preserve.
Our final flight left Quito at 1.00 pm and, two hours later, after flying over the Pacific Ocean for what felt like forever, land—a series of islands actually—became visible in a haze. We touched down at Baltra airport on Seymour Island at 2.30 pm local time which was one hour behind Quito time.
We had finally arrived at the Galápagos Islands! Another Bucket List item could be ticked off! From the air, this part of the Galapagos appeared dry and arid—like an endless desert. We had a great number of formalities to go through upon disembarking. Once again, our baggage was screened with a fine comb. We also had to pay $100 each for a visit permit or entry card into the Galápagos Islands. When it was all done, we were able to leave the airport precincts to meet with Ricardo, our tour representative, who had organized transport for us to our hotel.
We piled into the large bus with a number of other passengers and drove through arid waste lands for about 20 minutes to a ferry pier from where we had our baggage switched into a small ferry to cross the Ithabacca Canal that runs between the South side of Seymour Island and the island of Santa Cruz—a crossing of no more than fifteen minutes. However, this crossing provided our first impressions of the wonderful and abundant wild life of these amazing islands for they were teeming with bird life. As soon as we were aboard and wearing our life jackets, Ricardo began to point out the interesting species of birds whirling all around us—we saw pelicans, storks, cormorants as well as black frigates and blue-footed boobies. Yes, birds with the most peculiar names and the craziest characteristics are to be found here.
An Introduction to the Galápagos Islands:
So here is a little introduction to these most interesting islands. The Galapagos consists of an archipelago of 13 islands that are scattered over a wide expanse in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Ecuador. They lie exactly on zero latitude, i.e. directly on the equator (after which the country Ecuador, of course, is named). Of the 13 islands, only 8 are inhabited. Most people arrive in the Galapagos and board cruise ships on which they spend 4-6 days sailing from one island to the next. The most popular and inhabited of the islands is called Santa Cruz, and its busiest town is called Porta Ayora. This is where we would be based for the next 4 nights as we hoped to take in some of the most intriguing bird and animal life on the planet.
A Surprise Tour of Sant Cruz Island:
However, much to our surprise, Ricardo had a tour planned for us even before our arrival at our hotel. He told us that he would be taking us to a couple of interesting places as a bonus. As we had not paid for this tour, we had mixed feelings about it. We had been awake since 3.00 am and had been looking forward to relaxing in our hotel. Instead of which we would need to traipse around locations of which we had no idea what to expect.
Still, we decided to make the best of it. Ricardo piled the four of us and one more passenger called Rene Hemmings, a German photographer, into a mini-van that then took us through the heart of the island of Santa Cruz towards the south. As we drove deeper into the island, the vegetation turned dramatically and we noticed our surroundings get much more green and verdant.
El Chato Tortoise Reserve:
About a half hour later, after a slight drizzle had dampened the air and the earth, we pulled into El Chato Tortoise Reserve, where as Ricardo explained, we would be seeing the islands’ famous giant tortoises in their natural habitat. We would be led on a walking tour by Ricardo through vast grounds and, before long, we began to see the tortoises. They were humongous to say the least. However, the rain had played a number on their movement and most of them remained inert for the entire tenure of our stay there. What was also quite fascinating about the venue was that it was a wild guava orchard. Guavas happen to be the tortoises’ favorite food—as, in fact, it happens to be my favorite fruit! We reached out to the lowest branches and plucked some ripe guavas off the tree and found them to be pink as roses and delectably sweet. Of course, we kept munching on freshly-plucked guavas throughout our stay in the reserve.
It was not long before Ricardo gave us a few facts about the habitats of the tortoises on the Galápagos Islands. They have been around in this part of the world since pre-historic times and have never had any predators—except, of course, somewhat disgracefully, human beings. As a result, they grew to enormous proportions over a hundred years which is their average lifespan. Between the 16-18th centuries, pirates and whalers who came aboard on their vessels, found these gentle, docile animals and began to hunt them down—for their meat and for the oil that they used for their lamps. On many of the islands, therefore, the giant tortoises became extinct. There is a great deal of scientific research being conducted on these islands today to try to study, preserve and introduce endangered species into their natural habitats. Thankfully, the Save the Tortoise program had been very successful and they are multiplying rapidly and can be seen today on all the inhabited islands.
As we walked through the reserve, we arrived at a lagoon where we saw about a dozen giant tortoises of varied sizes wallowing in the water. They too remained immobile as the rain continued to keep their heads hidden in their shells. When we had taken our fill of photographs with the tortoises, had walked with them quite fearlessly as they are far from shy or abashed, we went on for a long walk to the next item on our agenda.
Exploring the Lava Tunnels:
An abundance of lava tunnels are to be found all over the Galápagos Islands, an interesting result of the volcanic activity that has taken place through the centuries in this part of the globe. Due to seismic and geological action, gases that had collected in the core of the earth pushed the earth forward above them. They then evaporated and left these long tunnels that can now be explored. There is not much to see inside the tunnels. Except for the fact that they are very low, very narrow and pitch dark (and lit by electric lights), they would probably be of most interest to geologists or other scientists.
When the walk through the tunnels was over, we stopped for a refreshing cup of hot lemongrass tea, chatted a bit with our fellow-passengers and then piled back into the mini-van for the ride to our hotel.
Checking into our Hotel:
Checking into our hotel, Hotel Aquamarine, offered one more annoying experience. We discovered that our hotel had given away our rooms (probably because the tour had delayed us as they thought we were no shows) and were trying to shove us off to a two-storied private house that resembled an Air B&B. They told us that it was a place that was connected with their hotel. As I climbed the stairs to the second floor, I realized that they were trying to pull a fast one on us. I showed them our registration number that clearly proved we had confirmed accommodation. I protested about the haphazard arrangements, but again, since we had woken up at 3.00 am and been on the go until 7.30 pm, I was not about to create too much of a stink. However, I did let the hotel personnel know that I was far from happy about the arrangements. Later, Llew told them that he would be lodging a complaint with our travel agent in the US as well as giving them a bad review on social media.
In a triple bedroom with attached bath that had no air-conditioning, no telephone and no reception, we attempted to settle down when Llew arrived to tell me that they were moving us to another hotel that was on the next block. And so we found ourselves in Galápagos Islands Hotel that we first decided to check out before we moved in our things. Danny, the hotel assistant, drove us there. We were quite content with the new place and soon enough we were ensconced there. Liliana, the receptionist, welcomed us, gave us the room key and saw us to our new rooms on the upper floor. This was a six-bedded room that was really huge as was the en suite bathroom. We did not waste too much time getting settled in before we realized how hungry we were and decided to go out for dinner.
Our first meal on the Galápagos Islands:
Our friend Blair (who was deeply focused on food), had found out that there was a whole row of little restaurants that offered typical Ecuadorian food on the island of Santa Cruz and we set out to find it with a rather sketchy map. When we eventually found the street, our inability to speak Spanish led us to believe that they would not accept US dollars even though this is the official currently of Ecuador. Poor Llew set out to find an ATM or a Currency Exchange place as we had no Ecuadorian dollars. A whole 45 minutes later, during which I was on tenterhooks wondering where he had sauntered to (given his poor sense of direction and lack of a map), we ordered a bottle of beer and tried to stay calm. Then Chriselle and Blair went out to find him and returned 10 minutes later drawing a blank—much to my greater alarm. Luckily, five minutes later, he arrived and all was well.
We ended up ordering Shrimp Encocado which is Shrimp in Coconut Sauce and Fish and Shrimp Encocado (both national Ecuadorian dishes) that were both delectable and reminiscent of Manglorean Coconut Milk Curry. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal despite our fatigue and our misadventures.
We also ran into serious trouble trying to find our hotel when it was almost midnight and after we had been up since forever. Overall, my mind blanked out and stopped working altogether. I left it to the others to figure out a route which they eventually did but not before making the entire operation feel like a major ordeal. These were some of the inconveniences we encountered in our travels, but we took them in our stride because that is exactly what travel throws at you.
Back in our hotel, we all passed out as soon as our heads hit our pillows.
Until manana, adios...
