On the way to Galapagos

Eventually, my two weeks in Ecuador (mainland) were over, but I still had a week on the Galapagos Islands in front of me.

Again, I had to get up quite early in the morning to catch my flight. (The new airport in Quito was about 1 hour from my hotel.) For all flights to Galapagos, you have to buy a tourist card (for 10 dollars) before you get on the plane, and you have to get your bags checked for any food, plants, seeds, ... (things that could harm the environment on the islands). Then your bags get sealed. (Not always perfectly sealed, depending on the bag. On mine, 2 out of 3 zippers remained open. I guess it's more about the general idea...) Only after this can you actually check in. As I was told several time that this process might take quite a while because of long queues, I was at the airport quite early, 2 hours before the flight. After less than 10 minutes, all was done and I was waiting for my flight. (Although after I was through, I saw that more and more people started queuing up.)

All flight from Quito to Galapagos seem to go via Guayaquil, as did mine. The first part, southwards from Quito, along the Andens, I had a really nice view in all the volcanos along there. As we were heading more towards the coast, it started to become cloudy, and the rest of the flight to Guayaquil and further on to Galapagos was unevenful.

At the arrival in Galapagos, I first had to pay 100 dollar entrance fee (into the Galapagos national park). After getting the luggage, it was checked once more for forbidden  content, and then I was allowed to leave the airport.

The aiport in on Baltra, a small island north of Santa Cruz. Apart from the airport, there doesn't seem to be much on it. Therefore I first took a bus from the airport to the harbour of Baltra (about 5 minutes), and then a ferry to Santa Cruz (about another 5 minutes). It did feel a bit odd as they just put all the luggage on the roof of the ferry. It seems to be ok, as the water in the small channel between the island doesn't seem to be very rough. (I wonder how often a bad fall into the water after all.)

At the other side of the channel, I was taken across the island Santa Cruz with the car, into the main town Puerto Ayora (another 30 to 40 minutes). From here I was supposed to take a ferry to Isabella, where I would stay the next 2 nights. (I would return to visit Santa Cruz afterwards.)

The ferries between the island as small speedboads for about 20 people. In Santa Cruz and Isabella, however, they can't get directly to the pier, so water taxis are used to get from the pier to the ferriers. There are several boats leaving at the same time, with the same destination (but only once a day), hence you have to he careful which boat you are supposed to be on, and listen carefully when the name of your boat is called up.

On the ride itself, there is not much to see (except water). In the current season, however, the ride can be quite rough. I basically tried to sleep a bit, and after 2 hours, we had reached Isabella.