End of the Galapagos, and on to Peru
Day 9
Its our last day in the Galapagos, and we dont have much time to spend before people need to be dropped off at the airport for flights back to the mainland. We're due to be at the airport at 8am, so this means a 5.30am wakeup knocks on the cabin windows were done.
We had moored overnight by North Seymore Island - and at 6am we were all ready to take the small boat across to the island. This Island was mostly interesting as it was the breeding grounds of the Frigate bird - a large black bird that had been following our boat for most of the journey - gliding a few feet above us like some sort of guardian angel.
A few days earlier, Mauricio had told us that the Frigates can't dive into the water like a lot of the other birds on the galapagos, but they still had a taste for squid. So in order to eat this tasty delicacy, they used to chase after the longtailed tropic birds, and grab them by the tail, shaking them until they regugitate their last feed, at which point the Frigate lets them go, and gobbles up the second-hand squid. Nature's mafia has been doing the shake-down racket a lot longer than the Sicilians.
When they are courting the males have a bright red membrane on their throat that they inflate with air, and then use to attract their mate - apparently they mate for life - but if one dies, then the survivor will then go and seek a new partner - so not quite as lonely a life as some other species.
The Blue-footed Boobie was also nesting here. They mark a circle about 2 foot wide with their guano, in the middle of which they sit on and hatch their egg. The baby will stay in this circle until its ready to fend for itself - well, it better had - once its outside the circle, the mother will no longer protect it at all, but will fight beak and flipper to look after the youngers if it comes back within the perimiter.
We had to rush back to the boat to make the short trip over to Baltra Island where the airport is. However, once there we had to wait a little while, as there was another boat unloading it passengers onto the shore - as their dingy came across, there was a Coast Guard boat escorting it, and we noticed military officers on the boat, and several on the shore waiting to greet them. Our Capitan informed us that one of the passengers on the boat was the President of Ecuador - travelling past about 10 feet from our boat. We called out "Hola!" and waved, and the President gave us a big grin, and waved back. Pity we were leaving ecuadore soon, as I'm sure he would have invited us over to his place for a barbeque had we the time (We were such good friends now)
Once on shore, there was a short bus trip to the airport, then a 3 hour wait. Apparently we weren't on the earlier plane that some people had to catch. The airport was not much more than a large shed with a cafe attached, so it was quite a boring wait. We did, however, meet up with 2 of the people from the bus ride out to airport when we came out to Galapagos - remember the ones who suffered travel sickness? Well, as expected, she had gotten sea-sick. Quite badly. On the first half day - so bad that they couldn't stay on the boat, and spent the past 4 days on land at Santa Cruz instead of travelling around the islands. Her and her husband has spent about $6000 between them for the trip, and ended up missing out on most of it. You'd have thought they'd consider the travel sickness when booking a boat holiday!
Back in Quito, we mostly hung around the hotel waiting for our next flight to Peru the next morning.
Day 10
Early wakeup and taxi to the airport. Turns out that the travel agencies had booked Dorn's flight from Quito to Lima to be the day before, while we were still in the Galapagos - he'd spotted this a few days earlier, and got Mauricio to call them and sort it out - which he was told would be no problem. However, when we went to check in, he found out his flight was still reserved for the day before, and he had now missed it. No changes had been made for him. So he needed to buy a new last minute ticket - $600 or so - he was NOT happy.
It got even better up in the waiting lounge - while he was outside making a phonecall to see if the agency would be refunding him the cost of the new ticket, the Anti-Narcoticos man came around with his lovely dog, who took a keen interest in Dorn's laptop bag. Jonathan and I denied all knowledge of the bag, and quickly pointed out Dorn in the hallway to the man :-) Luckily, after a couple of hand searches of the bag, and consultations with the supervisor, they declared "No Problemo" and we were allowed on the plane to Peru.
Not much to say about Lima - it was a stopping point to meet everyone we'd be doing the Inca Trail with, and staying overnight before heading to Cuzco - its a bit dirty smelly city, with not much of interest for tourists - so we only ventured out for dinner and to find a supermaket to buy some snacks
Its our last day in the Galapagos, and we dont have much time to spend before people need to be dropped off at the airport for flights back to the mainland. We're due to be at the airport at 8am, so this means a 5.30am wakeup knocks on the cabin windows were done.
We had moored overnight by North Seymore Island - and at 6am we were all ready to take the small boat across to the island. This Island was mostly interesting as it was the breeding grounds of the Frigate bird - a large black bird that had been following our boat for most of the journey - gliding a few feet above us like some sort of guardian angel.
A few days earlier, Mauricio had told us that the Frigates can't dive into the water like a lot of the other birds on the galapagos, but they still had a taste for squid. So in order to eat this tasty delicacy, they used to chase after the longtailed tropic birds, and grab them by the tail, shaking them until they regugitate their last feed, at which point the Frigate lets them go, and gobbles up the second-hand squid. Nature's mafia has been doing the shake-down racket a lot longer than the Sicilians.
When they are courting the males have a bright red membrane on their throat that they inflate with air, and then use to attract their mate - apparently they mate for life - but if one dies, then the survivor will then go and seek a new partner - so not quite as lonely a life as some other species.
The Blue-footed Boobie was also nesting here. They mark a circle about 2 foot wide with their guano, in the middle of which they sit on and hatch their egg. The baby will stay in this circle until its ready to fend for itself - well, it better had - once its outside the circle, the mother will no longer protect it at all, but will fight beak and flipper to look after the youngers if it comes back within the perimiter.
We had to rush back to the boat to make the short trip over to Baltra Island where the airport is. However, once there we had to wait a little while, as there was another boat unloading it passengers onto the shore - as their dingy came across, there was a Coast Guard boat escorting it, and we noticed military officers on the boat, and several on the shore waiting to greet them. Our Capitan informed us that one of the passengers on the boat was the President of Ecuador - travelling past about 10 feet from our boat. We called out "Hola!" and waved, and the President gave us a big grin, and waved back. Pity we were leaving ecuadore soon, as I'm sure he would have invited us over to his place for a barbeque had we the time (We were such good friends now)
Once on shore, there was a short bus trip to the airport, then a 3 hour wait. Apparently we weren't on the earlier plane that some people had to catch. The airport was not much more than a large shed with a cafe attached, so it was quite a boring wait. We did, however, meet up with 2 of the people from the bus ride out to airport when we came out to Galapagos - remember the ones who suffered travel sickness? Well, as expected, she had gotten sea-sick. Quite badly. On the first half day - so bad that they couldn't stay on the boat, and spent the past 4 days on land at Santa Cruz instead of travelling around the islands. Her and her husband has spent about $6000 between them for the trip, and ended up missing out on most of it. You'd have thought they'd consider the travel sickness when booking a boat holiday!
Back in Quito, we mostly hung around the hotel waiting for our next flight to Peru the next morning.
Day 10
Early wakeup and taxi to the airport. Turns out that the travel agencies had booked Dorn's flight from Quito to Lima to be the day before, while we were still in the Galapagos - he'd spotted this a few days earlier, and got Mauricio to call them and sort it out - which he was told would be no problem. However, when we went to check in, he found out his flight was still reserved for the day before, and he had now missed it. No changes had been made for him. So he needed to buy a new last minute ticket - $600 or so - he was NOT happy.
It got even better up in the waiting lounge - while he was outside making a phonecall to see if the agency would be refunding him the cost of the new ticket, the Anti-Narcoticos man came around with his lovely dog, who took a keen interest in Dorn's laptop bag. Jonathan and I denied all knowledge of the bag, and quickly pointed out Dorn in the hallway to the man :-) Luckily, after a couple of hand searches of the bag, and consultations with the supervisor, they declared "No Problemo" and we were allowed on the plane to Peru.
Not much to say about Lima - it was a stopping point to meet everyone we'd be doing the Inca Trail with, and staying overnight before heading to Cuzco - its a bit dirty smelly city, with not much of interest for tourists - so we only ventured out for dinner and to find a supermaket to buy some snacks