It wasn’t quite ‘Planes, Trains, & Automobiles’, but close. ‘Panga’ from the ship, bus to airport, flight to Guayaquil, flight to Lima, and a short walk to the hotel where we’ll overnight before heading onto the next leg of our journey.
Visiting Galapagos has been a ‘bucket list’ wish for as long as we can remember. Truth be told, it’s underrated and is truly an amazing place with great beauty and diversity of landscape and fauna. Our vessel, her crew, and naturalist guides were fantastic. A wonderful experience.
D
Today is a travel day. We have our final breakfast and make sure we have our belongings packed. Overnight the boat has transited off Isle Baltra where we go in groups by panga to the island and await the shuttle bus to the airport. At the shuttle stop there is a large land iguana hanging out posing for pictures, fitting really. After arriving at the airport we get to sit in the “VIP” lounge (I use this term lightly), but it is a nice place to relax outside and wait. Our flight returns us to Guayaquil and then another flight to Lima – we are having another short stay at the hotel by the airport. The group will be taking separate paths after tonight with Dale/Abbi & Drew/Traci taking an extended tour with Uncruise. Dick and I will be taking an independent route for the rest of our travels.
The Galapagos Islands were amazing. I was struck by how different each island was from one another, both in terms of island composition, flora, fauna and sea creatures. This is truly a special place and I hope it can remain as such. The Ecuadorian government is taking steps to try to limit the number of people who can visit to reduce the impact on the native inhabitants. It’s a tough balance to strike when so much of the income of this nation comes from tourism. I hope they can stay the course and make the right decisions. We are lucky to have been able to visit this amazing place.
M
