Ecuador, another gem hidden in plain sight.
We began our adventure at the border crossing between Ipiales, Colombia and Tulcan, Ecuador. The two regions divided by a geopolitical boundary were joined by a most unique landscape of agricultural mountainslopes, akin to a patchwork quilt made of beautiful, diverse shades of greens and browns. This landscape lasted almost the entirety of the central Ecuadorian north-south route.
Storytime!
When we first entered the Immigration line, there were atleast 100 of us waiting for over two hours; near the front we realized that one of the police officers was accepting bribes and letting random interluders enter from the side ahead of the rest of us. An older gentleman from Brazil spoke up, saying (in Spanish), "Excuse me, respectfully what are you doing. We have been waiting for 2 hours and in front of us, you are shamelessly letting people go in front". At first the police officer tried to make up some excuse, but then the most beautiful thing happened. The ENTIRETY of the people waiting in line joined in unity and began chanting "no no no" and "Respect! Respect!". Although the story may seem like a fleeting moment in time, the strength of unity dawned on all of us. Of course, the police officer started following normal procedure lest he be stampeded by 200 exhausted travelers.
The other lovely welcome gift we got was a chance to visit the Tulcan cemetery. This is by far one of the most intriguing setups, a harmonious maze of hedge work and sculptures reflecting both Indigenous and European cultures to commemorate their shared dead. Despite the sounds of traffic surrounding the site, inside the walls of the cemetery, all was quiet and still like the death it preserved.
From here we drove to the capital city of Quito where we stayed for a few nights, exploring the city life, before embarking on our highly anticipated journey to....The Galapagos Islands!
The Galapagos Islands
Getting to the Inhabited Islands:
Getting to the Islands and traveling between them were in and of themselves a part of the Galapagos experience.
First of all, one ought to be mentally prepared for lots and lots of FUN EXPENSIVE entry fees and irritatingly time-consuming mandatory checkpoints for everyone to enjoy.
For our journey, we flew from Quito to Baltra Island, then boarded a water taxi to Puerto Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz Island).
One look at that striking electric blue water and any tedium we had felt before was immediately replaced by excitement and awe.
Also, as an unrelated side note, getting on the water taxi reminded me of the many stories of the ferryman on the boat to the Underworld. We boarded this open boat, handed the ferryman a coin (dollar coin that happens to be goldish colored) and headed off into the unknown. These ferrymen also do not speak much and simply hold their hands out awaiting their gold coin.
Puerto Ayora and Isla Santa Cruz
Our first stop: Puerto Ayora. The Islands have a main port city where all the amenities are available and the remainder of the land masses are more or less wild, save for some agricultural communities in the highlands.
We stayed in Puerto Ayora as a home base, and explored as much of this island on foot for those first few days. It took a couple days to adjust to the literally breathtaking heat of the equator as we explored.
Here stood a beautiful beach we swam and snorkeled in called Tortuga Bay. We walked through fleshy cactus forests until we reached this pristine beach. The sand was egg-shell white, velvety soft, and draped by some of the clearest ocean waters either of us had ever seen. Above, the cloudcover changed constantly offering a kaleidoscope of reflective blues and teals on the damp sand below. We were expecting to snorkel in the deeper bay on one end of the beach, but to our most pleasant surprise, we found a remarkably diverse ecosystem in this tiny shallow little lagoon by the rocks. At first, the spot barely looked like a puddle compared to the endless ocean just beside it, but once we got closer and dipped our snorkel-masked heads underwater, an entire underwater world surrounded us, complete with spotted eels, coral fish, a manta ray mother and baby, and of course a bazillion marine iguanas either lounging in the sand or dipping into the water to find a different lounging spot. Watching an iguana scurry across sand like a dopey cartoon character only to glide in the water like elegant dark royalty was magnificent. The marine iguana of Galapagos is the only iguana able to swim, its webbed claws and rudder-like tail make the ocean water just as much of a home for it as the hot sandy beach. So after getting lost in our reverie of our first snorkeling experience in the Galapagos islands, we were handed our exit fee and souvenir: one severe full body sunburn, per person. We absolutely overestimated the strength of our pigment against the Equatorial sun. Still worth it!
The Highlands of Isla Santa Cruz:
As we are both extremely averse to hiring guides (unless obligatory) and paying for painfully overpriced tours, we spent one of our days searching for a motorbike rental and finally, after hearing a lot of "sorry, not a thing here"s from rental shops, we came across a random local who rented his personal dirtbike to us for the day. Once you give us a vehicle, we are unstoppable. We woke up early the next morning, got the motorbike and we were off to the races, spending the entire day driving up and down and all around these beautiful green, fertile highlands of the island. We started the day off going to one of the largest Giant Tortoise reserves in all of the Galapagos where we met these beautiful, docile gentle giants. If we could be friends with a wild animal, this would be the one for me. I appreciate their love of slow movement, eating, and naps.
From there we went exploring the different natural phenomena of the island, such as lava tunnels (lots of them), gemelos (giant craters formed by magma blobs that popped and cooled down and then grew forests), and stunning mystical appearing Escalenia forests (an endangered species of moss covered trees being threatened by blackberry overgrowth). Here we could hear tons of Darwinian finches but they are so fast and hide so well, getting pictures of them was near impossible.
Next, for a change of pace, we drove out to this beach a local recommended to us and my goodness, was it worth it. The beach, named El Garrepatos, was so clean, pure in color and clarity, and inviting. Like Tortuga Bay, the sands were so soft I could not tell if anything was beneath my feet or not, the waters so clear that no matter how far into the water I went, the water did not become any more opaque, and its turquoise sheen was so pure the white bellies of the pelicans flying overhead were turquoise in reflection too.
Finally, to end the day, we raced the setting sun driving up to a spot called Cerro Mesa (which made us very grateful for the dirt bike given the terrain) and reached a beautiful highland viewpoint of most of the island. The wildlife, the foliage, the colors, the skies, the wind in our hair and faces - this was one of our favorite days of the Galapagos trip.
The Town:
Puerto Ayora was overall a very colorful little town filled with bars, small restaurants, and hotels, hostels, and airbnbs galore. Our favorite bar was a small one owned by an Ecuadorian husband-wife duo called Bohemian Bar. Overall a fun place to explore by foot and certainly geared toward tourists with the overwhelming majority of businesses being tourism related. We had some delicious seafood with tropical flavors of coconut milk and fruits always mixed into the recipes and some lovely daytime and evening strolls throughout the port-town.
Puerto Villamil and Isla Isabela
To reach Isla Isabela, we took a ferry from Santa Cruz. Neither the waters we sailed on nor the ferry we sailed in were gentle, but at the small wooden port we were greeted by the gentlest of creatures - some playful sea lions, a lone ranger penguin going for a shallow water swim, and more beautiful waters. On Isla Isabela we did a lot of "land by foot" and "water by snorkel" exploring for several days. In the days we were there, the weather would change drastically, going from equatorial sun pounding down on us to monsoon rains flooding the dirt-sand roads of the laid back island. We made the most of both outdoor time and indoor downtime and frankly, we were quite grateful for the mellow days of rain that served as much needed reminders for us to slow down and let the day plan itself out instead of the other way around. Sometimes we (more like, I) need to be forced to relax.
The Oceanworld:
Playa Puerto Villamil
The hostel we stayed at was a hop, skip and a jump away from the long and FREE beach of Playa Puerto Villamil. Here the beach beckoned you to play in the water (unless it was raining) alongside sealions doing their own water acrobatics in the curling waves, and once you felt satisfied with the water world madness, the entirely of the coast was lined with little hammock stocked outdoor bars and restaurants to your heart's desire. Isla Isabela was the place to teach me how to simply relax and take the moment in. Even for someone as fidgety and ADHD as I tend to be, it is quite difficult to Not mellow out when you are lying in a hammock, being rocked to and fro by a sweet smelling ocean breeze, listening to the symphony of ocean waves and bird calls, with the sun begging you to take a nap under the blanket of its warmth.
Concha de Perla
This was our gem of a snorkeling spot on Isla Isabela (also FREE). Here was a beautiful hidden spot and because it had rained all night, many of the tourists had decided not to come so we had the huge mangrove bay spot almost entirely to ourselves, save for a few other adventurous stragglers like us. We walked along a long windy wooden pier enclosed by a tunnel of mangrove branch networks until the lagoon opened up in front of us and before even climbing down all the pier steps to enter the water, a stingray was eating food at the bottom in front of us. Prakash also ventured into deeper waters than he ever had before and discovered, within himself, an abundant love for ocean snorkeling he had never known before. In the water we swam with millions of different coral reef fish, hawkbill sea turtles looking for breakfast, friendly sea lions, and tons of coral reef. As I was more comfortable swimming in stronger currents, I ventured off even further into the tunnels and canyon slots of the mangrove maze, and found a sleeping white tipped shark, another huge manta ray, and so many vibrantly colored coral reef creatures like sea anemones, parrot fish, and so on. Neither of us wanted this day to end, but our pruned extremities suggested a break. Bonus - I FINALLY snagged a photo of one of the many species of Darwinian finches: the yellow warbler!
The Land world:
We spent another couple days exploring the inlands along a hike to Mura de las Lagrimas (Wall of Tears) with its many pitstops along the way. Mura de las Lagrimas itself is quite a sad testament to the human ability to torture fellow man, but it seems important for them to maintain this landmark as a reminder. Everything else about the hike revolved around the beautiful and mostly untouched natural beauty of Isla Isabela. Along the hike, the landscape kept changing, with lava gravel as our path and ocean sand and mangrove earth as our surroundings. We walked through so many intricate cactus forests with these beautiful burgundy and rust orange cactus bulbs that would bloom into canary yellow flowers, a yummy treat for all the visiting finches. A viewpoint built in the middle of the path that required some stairclimbing showed us a 360 degree view of the island complete with huge hills and volcanoes inland and the beautiful coastline we had just come from. In the mangroves were lots of wild Giant Tortoises, snacking, napping, or just lounging in the shade. The wildlife array was a treat, with beautiful crabs of vivid coloration, dragonflies, sea lions, marine iguanas, land lizards, blue-footed boobies, pelicans of many different shapes and colors, hermit crabs, and all different types of Darwinian finches. What a wonderful few days of land exploration
The Wetlands world:
During a rainy day we decided to do some more aimless meandering and came across this lovely small marshland pool that was filled with coral pink colored flamingoes and many other marshland birds. I also did not know flamingoes could fly until we came here. A humble wooden bridge allowed us to enjoy the view of the flamingo lagoon in silence as we observed the different animals interact: ducks gliding, flamingoes carefully stepping here and there swinging their heads under water every now and then in search of food, skinny heron type birds following the flamingoes to snag a bite themselves. I loved watching the flamingoes walk, like an elderly person content with their lifestory thusfar, meandering through a park hunched over with hands clasped behind his or her back. At the end of it as the rain subsided and the sun started to break through, we were given a beautiful rainbow arc that was reflected perfectly onto the surface of the otherwise still lagoon. Even our rainy day adventures had such lovely sights in store for us.
Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and Isla San Cristobal (our favorite island)
While the other islands boasted primarily tourism centered activities and siren-songs, Isla San Cristobal was our favorite island because it was truly a local community that happened to have tourist related activities available on the side. Unlike the other islands where we stayed in a hostel and an Airbnb owned by a European ex-pat, here we stayed in a guesthouse Airbnb of a woman who is originally from the island and works as a lawyer there. The neighborhood was a true normal town, complete with grocery stores and a local school and basketball court where a couple local teams would play every night. The food stands and restaurants were a mix of normal everyday spots and restaurants, but the things that stood out to us were the far more affordable prices (not based purely on the western dollar or euro value) and the actual presence of members of the local community eating and drinking at these places. It changed the entire vibe of our experience to be in the midst of such a community because now whenever we asked for tips or help, the answer was more often a genuine one and not one marred by the intent to sell something. It finally felt like we were meeting Galapagans, not tour vendors. We ALSO discovered one of the best shwarma joints either of us has ever had the pleasure of eating at, a small hole in the wall owned by a Jordanian immigrant and his ridiculously adorable chubby faced infant son with his Ecuadorian wife. This shwarma was magnificent in its simplicity and authenticity of preparation. It was also a fun global unity moment to me when I realized here we were, two Indians from America conversing with a Jordanian in Spanish on an island of South America listening to Arabic music. How delightful.
The Oceanworld:
As with the other islands, there was no paucity of oceanworld magnificence here either. In front of the main port itself was an entire colony of sleeping sealions, filled with new mothers and their newborn baby pups nursing and playing and napping. I was so mesmerized watching these cuties cuddle and nap with each other that I forgot to take more photos, but the photos would not have done justice to the cuteness anyway. The teenage sealion napping on its belly on the rocks is my favorite photo - prone position daynap.
Isla San Cristobal had many spots for oceanviewing, beachplay and snorkeling. I have mentioned several of the spots we stopped by down below in the list of free/cheap spots to check out. One of my most enjoyable moments was at a beach called Playa Punta Carola which was a lovely beach with much more rough sand as it was all made of shell fragments and pebbles. Here Prakash attempted to go to a farther side of the beach as the waves were getting intense where we were playing, however instead of finding a new spot, he came across a mother sea lion who started barking and chasing after him as her pup was playing in that spot. Hilarious for me to watch, hilarious for him maybe 5 minutes later.
Of course, watching the mama sea lion give kisses to her pup and play in the water together made it count as a happy experience through and through.
Our absolute favorite spot was La Loberia (a sea lion colony beach), a much more remote beach approximately 1.5 miles from the town center, where we went twice. The first day we went was around sunset and so we spent our time there enjoying the beautiful views and watching the many many sealions interacting. I had fun watching hermit crabs scurry across the sand and one hermit crab inspect an empty shell, likely figuring out if it could be a suitable upcoming home or not.
We returned the next day armed with our snorkeling gear, sunscreen, underwater camera, and drinking water and ventured into what soon became our favorite snorkeling spot of the ENTIRE Galapagan adventure. This bay of the ocean was open watered and wide mouthed, giving rise to tons and tons of diversity. I cannot even begin to explain how mesmerizing this experience was: the colors of the sealife, the emotions of the animals down under, the synchronized movement of huge schools of fish, the iridescent colors of ocean water on sand enhanced by moving sunrays from above, the feel of the water as the current took us where it wanted to give us the tour of its home, the energy of the giant green sea turtles swaying at the bottom of the ocean, the delicate, elegant flow of the stingrays swimming along the oceanbed, the hawkbill turtle's multicolored shell reflecting off ocean colors like a discoball as it swam to the surface. Bonus find: certain marine iguanas turn red or green to attract their mates and we happened to be there during mating/breeding season - photo of a red splotched marine iguana below!
Without realizing it, we spent hours and hours exploring the bay and were so happy with our day that we were perfectly content walking home in pouring rain for the 1.5 mile trek back. Plus the island smelled like lemongrass in the rain and Prakash saved 3 dragonflies from drowning on the way. Best day ever.
ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD
While Galapagos holds a special place in our hearts for its marvelous wildlife and ecosystems, we were turned off by a couple issues.
Firstly, seeing locals treat the environment quite terribly (tourguides throwing trash into the ocean or broken glass beer bottles in the middle of iguana breeding grounds that have literally been roped off for the purpose of protecting those breeding grounds), while charging Only foreign tourists exorbitant entry fees in the name of conservation was very disheartening and noticeably dulled the otherwise vibrant sheen of the infamous name "Galapagos Islands".
Secondly, while I understand that tourism generated income is crucial for the community of the Galapagos, the extent of price inflation and nonsense "tours" that were basically scams, in our books, was quite alarming.
Places to visit for Free:
I am including this specifically because while we were on the various islands we noticed MANY tours and tourgroups paying money to visit Free places. We calculated the true cost versus inflated costs of these tours and noticed some of these tours were as bad as charging $2000 for $500 worth of site-seeing or $250 per person for entirely free spots easily reachable by a $35 ferry instead. For this reason, we are listing all the spots we went to over 12 days that were either free or had a nominal entry fee:
ISLA SANTA CRUZ:
Tortuga Bay (free) - swimming, snorkeling
El Chato Ranch - giant tortoise refuge ($10pp entry for galoshes and tourguide)
Playa el Garrapatero (free) - the most pristine beach EVER
Los Gemelos (free) - collapse craters created by giant magma blobs and endangered Escalenia forest
Cerro Mesa ($5pp) - beautiful hike or bikeride up a small mountain to get a 360⁰ view of the entire island
Las Grietas (free, $1 water taxi) - we were supposed to go to this but ran out of time. This is a canyon with water to swim and snorkel in and looked awesome
Walk through Puerto Ayora to Darwin museum (free) - small cool stops along the way to visit for swimming, bird watching, etc. A little ceramic mosaic garden commemorating a local Galapagan artist
ISLA ISABELA
Playa Puerto Villamil (free) - At the East end of the beach near the "Isla Isabela" sign is a proliferative breeding ground of Galapagan marine iguanas (also free)
Hike to Mura de las Lagrimas (Wall of Tears) (free) - 7.5-8 mile rountrip hike or bikeride, along which there are MULTIPLE stopping points to explore the unique ecosystems and see a wide array of wildlife. We went on this hike twice just to go back for spots we missed the first time.
Cerro Orchilla (free) - one of the stops on the Muro Lagrimas hike that is a tower offering a 360⁰ view of the entire island
Concha de Perla (free) - a Phenomenal snorkeling bay tucked away between a border of mangroves
Poza de los Flamingos (free) - wetlands area near the main port city with lots of beautiful flamingos
Giant Tortoise refuge (free/donation) - you will see wild giant tortoises on the Muro de las Lagrimas hike, but this spot is a breeding refuge where conservationists are working on repopulating the island. Here you can see baby tortoises
ISLA SAN CRISTOBAL
Sea Lion colony by the port (free) - tons of nursing baby sea lions and mama seals napping and playing
La Loberia (playa) (free) - our Favorite spot in our entire visit. About a 1.5mile easy walk to this more remote beach, there are sea lion colonies and a beautiful bay for snorkeling. We spent HOURS snorkeling here. Tons of huge schools of fish, green sea turtles, hawbill sea turtles, playful sea lions, sting rays, parrotfish, eels, coral reef systems. So amazing
Playa Mann (free) - beachtime fun!
Playa Punta Carola (free) - Stunning beach to swim and snorkel in, a lighthouse nearby, sealions swim with you
Cerro Tijeretas and Muelle Tijeretas (free) - a small natural hike to a beautiful viewpoint and bay to snorkel in. We were unable to snorkel in the bay the day we went because the currents were too strong, but otherwise a beautiful spot
We spent our entire 12 days without booking a single tour, however if I was going to book a tour, it would be the Tour 360⁰ (Isla San Cristobal) which includes the infamous Leon Dormido (Kicker Rock) for diving and snorkeling or any tour visiting the many uninhabited islands of Galapagos. On Isla Isabela, many people mentioned the Los Tuneles tour, however, snorkeling depends on the water levels the day of and you can see the same wildlife in Concha de Perla for free.
Essentially, be wary of the tourism motivated garbage offers/expenses when planning a trip out here.
It can be a most fulfilling experience without forking up thousands of dollars!
That being said, now we journey back to Mainland Ecuador for an entirely Different experience!
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