Quito and the Galapagos Islands - by Alex Wallace

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First day - Flying Down

The first day of our journey, and what a day!  Eight hours of flying and about three hours of hanging about airports.  I am writing on the plane to Quito, although we still have not left the ground. It is stifling hot in the plane, inside and out.  Just what you would expect of Houston airport.  The flight is crowded every seat is booked.  Our group is trying to move around and get seats next to their friends.  Unfortunately for them half the plane is Spanish, a quarter is EF Tours and the other quarter is full of rich Americans going to the Galapagos.  It has been over fifteen minutes now, and the plane still has not left the ground.  It must be about 90 degrees on this plane, plus the humidity of hundreds of sweating bodies.  We still have NO idea of what our hotel looks like or who our guide is.  We will probably get to the hotel around midnight; especially with all the customs and baggage claim.  So far I have spent 7 dollars out of my 330.  323 dollars left.  The pilot has just announced that we are going to be an hour late because the co-pilot has not arrived yet.  Great, an hour to spend in Houston airport.  The problem is only a select few pilots can fly into Quito.  Finally we are leaving - during the last hour I ate a slice of pizza for I do not trust the airplane food.  At last we are in the air and on our way to Ecuador, Quito, the Galapagos, but more importantly our adventure.

Day Two

Well, we arrived in Quito - NOT!  We were originally supposed to land in Quito at 23.00 hrs, but a mist had settled over the airport and we could not land, so we flew on to Guayaquil instead.  That was when everything got out of control.  At 2 o'clock in the morning, no-one seemed to know what to do, so grandpa and I simply go through customs and hop on the bus to go to the hotel, and guess what? - we get the last two seats on the bus and we got to stay at a four star hotel!  Everyone else had to spend the rest of the night in shabby hotels, but not us.  We got the room and a $30 breakfast for free!  We also got to sleep for three hours, more than anyone else, then got up at five thirty to go back to the airport.  We were then told that the flight had been delayed again and would now leave at 11.30 (after all that stuff!) and we are now about to land at Quito.  It is now almost twelve and I'm hungry.  The weather forecast was right - rain - but hopefully it won't ruin the fun!  We are about to touch down.  Quito is bigger than I thought it would be, and I want to take so many pictures but I only have twelve minutes left in my camera.  Oh well, Grandpa will take some for me.

Day Three

Finally, a good night's sleep.  We have (had) been going on non stop for over 15 hours; what with all the flights and weather.  I managed to get eleven and a half hours of sleep, yes!  We went down to breakfast, it was mostly fruit but still refreshing.  Today we are exploring Quito and going to the Equator. It should be quite fun to stand with both feet on both sides of the Equator.  I can't wait to see what today's adventures will bring.

Today was interesting.  We traveled all around Quito.  Our first stop was at the two main churches in Quito.  There were no photos inside, because the flash rusts the gold.  AS IF!!! What a load of garbage.  The churches were covered in gold leaf on the inside.

Our next stop was the Virgin Statue looking over Quito.  It is the third biggest statue in the world.  Lots of pictures there.  I bought an Ecuadorian chess set, but it was missing a pawn; also some postcards of the Galapagos, and a rock turtle.  After that, we stopped at Middle of the Earth City (Mitad del Mundo in Spanish); you could stand at both hemispheres at once and here I am with one foot on each side of the Equator.  All in all a good day.  Quito is so noisy I wonder if I can get to sleep again.  Just two more days till the Galapagos, YES!!!

Day Four

Part one

Today, we had to get up at 06.45 - so much for sleeping in!  Oh well, it will be worth it.  We were supposed to be leaving for the Galapagos today, but because of the weather and the plane delays we are not leaving until Tuesday.  Instead, we are going to the famous Cotopaxi volcano, the highest live volcano in the world.  It is a two and a half hour trip, with around half an hour of hiking up to the viewpoint.  The trip should take most of the day, but I think that it will be worth it.  Oh, I wore my new poncho to breakfast this morning, everyone thought it was cool.

Part two

The mountain was fun, we didn't actually hike up it, but around the area.  It was cold and cloudy (just like Scotland), but fun none the less.  I got some good pictures and now I am exhausted.  I think that is all I'm going to write - I'm so tired and nothing else of vital importance happened.

Day Five

Today we went to the EF School of Language in Quito.  I found it quite boring, although we did get to learn Ecuadorian curse words.  Chuta! We also got to learn salsa, but it wasn't my type of dancing.  I tried and got fed up pretty fast.  I found it a waste of time, although the talk about the Galapagos was good.  I can't wait till tomorrow!  We have to get up at 04:00 and our plane leaves between 06.00 and 07.00 - but still, the Galapagos!  This time tomorrow, (16.40) I'll be on the islands.  I can't wait to get billions of photos!  That's all for today!

Day Six

Yes, we finally arrived in the Galapagos.  We landed on Baltra Island (used to be Seymour South Island), then took a ferry across to Santa Cruz to our hotel, the Lobo del Mar.  We settled into our room; it was a bit shabby, but still quite nice.  Then my friends and I went out to the ocean, which was right behind the hotel.  We saw marine iguanas and Sally Lightfoot crabs.  After that, a Guide took us to the Charles Darwin Center in the Galapagos National Park - we had to hike through the jungle to get there.

The park was amazing, I wish everyone could see the Galapagos!  After our tour of the Center, we saw giant tortoises and land iguanas, then we hit the white sandy beach and swam in the clear blue water; the end to an almost perfect day.

Day Seven

Today we did many things.  To start off we went on a steaming hot hike through the jungle.  It was so humid I could hardly breathe.  It turned out O.K. when we reached a beach even better than the previous one - white sand and an almost perfectly clear blue ocean.  We saw pelicans, blue footed boobies, more crabs, more iguanas, sea turtles and a whole variety of fish.  Then we went to yet another beach - a lagoon connected to the ocean - and tried out our snorkeling gear.  We hired the gear from the hotel, after all it was only five dollars.  We saw even more fish and I almost touched a sea turtle.  Then we trekked back to a bus that took us to a harbor where we caught a boat to Seymour Island.  That was really cool, we the same animals again, but also frigate birds, and sea lions.  We also saw more blue footed boobies and their young.  We saw both types of Iguanas as well.  The whole hike took a little less than one and a half hours, but it was one and a half hours of pure happiness.  Then we traveled to, you guessed it, another beach.  Here, we went snorkeling again and I got to swim with a sea lion.  It was the most amazing thing I have ever done.  The perfect end to a perfect day.

Day 8

Today was our last day on the Galapagos.  The main highlight was going through some lava tunnels.  It was a twenty minute hike - tops!  We also got to go snorkeling, yet again.  Then we got to jump off cliffs into ravines filled with water.  Not much to say really.  As it was our last day on the Galapagos we got to go dancing.  The place we went to was a type of night club bar and they allowed us to use their dance floor.  How often do you get to dance on the Galapagos'?  Not very often.  I was the dance king, for my moves were the best.  Tomorrow we are off back to Quito; more airplanes.  Goodbye Galapagos.

Day Nine

It took the entire day to get back to Quito.  We got back around 4:00 pm then hung around for two hours until dinner.  Tomorrow we are going home.  I can't wait to get back and see all my family again.  Even though we have only been here for nine days, it feels so much longer.  I'll miss the Galapagos and Quito too.  Well, that seems to wrap this journal up, until next time.

The End