We woke up to a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Guayaquil. We weren't sure it was an earthquake until it was confirmed by the news. It freaked us all out a little bit. It was definitely a weird sensation. We did end up going back to bed though afterwards.
My left foot was still a little swollen when I woke up (it had a been swollen for a few days). We think it was an ant or something that bit me. Carlos rubbed some menthol and squeezed out the stinger/excess fluid the night before.
At around 8:45am, we left for the Guayaquil airport to head the Galapagos Islands. We nearly missed our flight at 10:40am. There was a lot of traffic getting to the airport, and we had to get a tourist card and scan bags before checking in which we didn't know beforehand (no clear instructions anywhere). We ended up with time to spare before boarding the plane…but it felt like a close call.
The flight to the Galapagos was about 1 hour and 50 minutes (Guayaquil to Baltra Island). When we arrived, we had to go through customs (you get your passport stamped and everything) and pay the tourist entrance fee. A very cute dog sniffed all of our luggage. To get to Santa Cruz from the airport on Baltra, we took a free bus and then a boat (80 cents). To get to Puerto Ayora, we had to take another bus. The cheap buses were full so we had to take a private bus ($4/person). It probably a much better ride than the cheaper bus. It was cool to see the unique landscape of the island during the bus ride. When we arrived in Puerto Ayora (main town on Santa Cruz), w met with Alexis’s mom’s friend and she took us to our hotel. It was a nice room on the top floor with air conditioning. It was much hotter on the islands than I was expecting (online weather forecasts weren't accurate at all).
We got ice cream bars (I got coconut!) and walked to the Charles Darwin Research Station. It was free to enter, and it housed a lot of tortoises. We even saw two mating. Next we went to a very beautiful beach next to the research station to do some swimming. There were amazing birds flying all around. Very picturesque. The water wasn't too cold and was very clear and beautiful.
For dinner, we went to the Kiosk Street. We heard it had good but relatively cheap food. I bought too much food (two plates of food) because I was starving. I had bollo de pescado and cazuela marina (included lots of seafood including octopus and lobster). After dinner, we had to catch a cab on the way back to our hotel because we were confused about how to get back. We were so tired that we went to bed soon after we got back to the hotel.
My left foot was still a little swollen when I woke up (it had a been swollen for a few days). We think it was an ant or something that bit me. Carlos rubbed some menthol and squeezed out the stinger/excess fluid the night before.
At around 8:45am, we left for the Guayaquil airport to head the Galapagos Islands. We nearly missed our flight at 10:40am. There was a lot of traffic getting to the airport, and we had to get a tourist card and scan bags before checking in which we didn't know beforehand (no clear instructions anywhere). We ended up with time to spare before boarding the plane…but it felt like a close call.
The flight to the Galapagos was about 1 hour and 50 minutes (Guayaquil to Baltra Island). When we arrived, we had to go through customs (you get your passport stamped and everything) and pay the tourist entrance fee. A very cute dog sniffed all of our luggage. To get to Santa Cruz from the airport on Baltra, we took a free bus and then a boat (80 cents). To get to Puerto Ayora, we had to take another bus. The cheap buses were full so we had to take a private bus ($4/person). It probably a much better ride than the cheaper bus. It was cool to see the unique landscape of the island during the bus ride. When we arrived in Puerto Ayora (main town on Santa Cruz), w met with Alexis’s mom’s friend and she took us to our hotel. It was a nice room on the top floor with air conditioning. It was much hotter on the islands than I was expecting (online weather forecasts weren't accurate at all).
We got ice cream bars (I got coconut!) and walked to the Charles Darwin Research Station. It was free to enter, and it housed a lot of tortoises. We even saw two mating. Next we went to a very beautiful beach next to the research station to do some swimming. There were amazing birds flying all around. Very picturesque. The water wasn't too cold and was very clear and beautiful.
For dinner, we went to the Kiosk Street. We heard it had good but relatively cheap food. I bought too much food (two plates of food) because I was starving. I had bollo de pescado and cazuela marina (included lots of seafood including octopus and lobster). After dinner, we had to catch a cab on the way back to our hotel because we were confused about how to get back. We were so tired that we went to bed soon after we got back to the hotel.