Galapagos: A Cautionary Tale

So, you're going to the Galapagos.  Word of warning:  If you are do it yourself and gullible travelers like us, be cautious.  We were lied to and cheated by “Freddy”, a tour operator on land in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island.  Better to book on a yacht or tour boat than trust, at least, Freddy. That experience put a damper on our week-long stay there, so read this blog through that filter.

Our first encounter with one of the Galapagos giant tortoises

 This archipelago nearly a 1000 miles off the coast of Ecuador consists of hundreds of islands and or rock formations, six of which are habitable, fewer of which you actually have time to visit, unless you take a cruise.  You land on Baltra Island and take a bus, a ferry and a bus to reach Puerta Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz.  The best island to visit is Isabela, though getting there from Santa Cruz Island is a little rough, involving a two hour trip in a “launcha”—a medium sized fishing boat holding about 16 smooshed people getting soaking wet and often throwing up-- and this is one of the closer islands to Santa Cruz.

Baltra Island--near the airport

 The islands themselves (the two we saw) are mounds of black or reddish lava depending on age, reddish being older.  Scrub growth—whatever can survive the extreme conditions covers much of the lava.  Iguanas cover the rest (just joking, but we saw literally millions, some of which were underfoot lining walking trails).  Sometimes you find a brackish lagoon, kind of an orange-ish color, often home to flamingoes whose heads seem to be constantly underwater.

Lagoon with flamingos

 A lush, eco-gorgeous landscape it is not.  Moonscape better describes a lot of it.  And the wildlife?  Galapagos giant tortoises, check:  mostly viewed in captivity or in breeding centers.  Blue-footed boobies, check:  saw four; only one close up the day we did NOT have our camera, wouldn’t you know? Iguanas, check:  marine iguanas by the millions; land iguanas only in captivity.  Penguins, check:  saw three tiny ones at a distance…were they penguins or boobies???  Exotic birds, check:  saw a couple at a distance, but couldn’t identify them and couldn’t understand our Spanish speaking guide.  Finches, check:  saw hundreds, everywhere.  Sea turtles, check:  saw a few, swam with one while snorkeling, and two mating on the fly. 

On the way to Tortuga Bay--much of the islands looks this way

 Beautifully colored fish in clear as glass water, check:  we saw wonderful fish and some sea plants (though the coral reefs are dead as a result of global warming) while snorkeling.  Manta rays and sharks, check:  saw one manta while snorkeling, several along with sharks “resting” at the bottom of a secluded channel as we gazed down on them from a high cliff above.  Flamingos check:  saw thirty or more in a secluded lagoon.  Lizards and red crabs, check:  saw lots.

A Sally crab on the island of Tintoreras.

We had two very wonderful experiences.  One was the snorkeling; it was awe-inspiring and so much fun.  The other was staying (at our own expense after paying “Freddy” for a hotel we went to and decided we couldn’t tolerate) at La Casita de la Playa on Isabela Island.  It is a tiny hotel right on the most beautiful beach imaginable and our hosts, Theresa and Andres, were the nicest people we have met our whole time in Ecuador.  They made us feel so welcome and at home.  Always saying, “descansa, descansa” (rest, rest) and giving us really good information about where to go and what to do.  What a delight an honest person with a nice smile and a friendly and welcoming manner is to make your anniversary vacation (our 42^nd) truly memorable.  If you are a do it yourselfer, go immediately to Isabela Island and find La Casita de la Playa.  You will feel you are in paradise.

You can stop reading here—the overview is pretty much over, but for those diehards, here is a daily blow-by-blow.

Day One (Friday):  Arrived in Puerto Ayora after about seven hours of travel only to meet “Freddy” upon alighting the bus.  He immediately did his hard-sell song and dance that we, sadly, bought into it.  He was good—“best hotels, best restaurants, best tours, English-speaking guide, all at way less than anyone else will offer you.  And you have to have a guide to go with you anywhere in the National Parks.”  Readers, consider most, if not all of the above, lies.  But we believed and lost a bundle. (Enough said about our stupidity!)

Friday afternoon Freddy hooked us up with our guide, Eduardo, who took us to see some turtles in a private reserve.  Eduardo, who barely spoke English and  could not understand many of our questions and often walked 100 yards ahead of us reading his “Watchtower” to improve his English or talked to whomever was in earshot in loud and almost impossible to understand Spanish, or sang loudly as we walked.  The turtles were cool, and we got some video of one lumbering across some grass and down a knoll.  Larry crawled into an available shell for the “turista fun shot…human turtle”.

Day Two (Saturday):  Eduardo again, same as before, but fun at times (he was nuts, actually, which can be fun.)  Walked an hour and a half to “Tortuga Bay—beautiful white sand beach”, and it was (but the walk was hot and grueling).  Walked farther to a clear water lagoon and swam for about half an hour.  Back for lunch (and by this time the rice, potatoes and tough, stringy meat or fish meals were wearing thin) and off to our two-hour miserable “launcha” ride to Isabela.  We were picked up and driven to Freddy’s idea of a “best hotel”—interior was cute, but it was situated, literally, amongst a community of bare cinder block shacks with tin roofs, each housing entire large families and at least three roosters each, all crowing endlessly.  We left, took a taxi and found our wonderful Casita de la Playa and were happy from then on with our accommodations—though angry that Freddy had lied to us about the hotel.

La Casita de la Playa Hotel--Isabela Island: truly close to perfect.

Beach in front of La Casita--we practically had it to ourselves.

Day Three (Sunday):  Teresa and Andres suggested we walk on the beach to a trail leading to some lagoons and to the island’s turtle breeding center.  This was an hour and a half walk, too, but it was interesting (and Eduardo was not with us—he stays on Santa Cruz).  Not real attractive landscape, as we’ve said, but interesting lava formations, saw the thirty flamingoes and finally reached the hatchery where there were turtles of all sizes…from tiny one year olds, about the size of our box turtles to gigantic ancient ones.  A giant one walked over to the wall by which we were standing and stuck his big head up at us.  Sue thought he was hungry, so broke off some nearby leaves, and he gobbled them; hope that was okay !

Sue feeding a giant tortoise

That afternoon we took Freddy’s booked tour of Tintoreras, an island of "aa" lava spit- outs (as opposed to flows)—they look like tiny towers of black with lichen growing on them here and there.  The place was covered with marine iguanas and that’s where we saw the tiny penguins, a couple of blue-footed boobies, red crabs, lizards and "sleeping" sharks. After the tour we went to a fantastic lagoon and snorkeled our brains out.  If you’ve snorkeled, you know.  If not, do it.  What a thrill!

 White tipped sharks "sleeping" in a channel near Tintoreras Island.

 Day Four (Monday):  Scheduled by Freddy to climb a volcano, but bowed out.  We did that in Guatemala and it nearly did Sue in.  Once is enough.  Instead, we walked all over the island via the beach, found a great snorkeling lagoon, rented gear and did it ourselves.  It was a good day.  Ditched the rice, potato and stringy something meal for two giant lobsters to celebrate our anniversary.  Pricey, but memorable.

Luxury accommodations for island hopping in the Galapagos.

 Day Five (Tuesday):  Up at 5:00 am to catch the launcha back to Santa Cruz.  Pretty stomach churning and a little you-know-what going on (fortunately with others and not us).  Arrived in Santa Cruz, blasted Freddy for his dishonesty, and went to our hotel, “La Casa Natura” (claiming a pool…yes, with scum floating on top, but the room was okay and the help was nice and helpful, though not in a class with Teresa and Andres).  Again it is in the middle of a community neighborhood, way off the beaten path, but not so many roosters.

 In the afternoon, Eduardo (yes again) took us to the Darwin Center.  The center’s few exhibits have not been updated in several years, and the whole place seemed run down and bedraggled. A few exhibits, another turtle breeding center and “Lonesome George’s (who died June 24^th this year) special house, now housing the two females he refused to mate with.

  

One of the endangered Galapagos land iguanas at the Charles Darwin Center, Santa Cruz Island

Day Six (Wednesday):  Rested in the morning and took Freddy’s planned tour of the harbor there at Puerto Ayora.  We were skeptical, of course, but it turned out to be a really fun ending--helping us to leave on a high note.  We were one of about five couples on the boat, our guide spoke almost understandable Spanish, and the “captain” of the boat was a hoot.  Both he and the guide told jokes (some of which we got), the folks on the boat (Chilean, Argentinian, Colombian and us) laughed and laughed. 

Though we were without a camera since Freddy said it was a snorkeling tour, we saw the blue footed booby up close, and he put on quite a show; saw one exotic bird (but don’t know what) and then another (ditto), more sharks sleeping, crabs and yet another million marine iguanas.  Finally, and carefully, we crawled over craggy lava for about 20 minutes to come to “Las Grietas”, a crevice in the lava that we were told was thousands of feet deep.  We were prepared (in our bathing suits) and jumped in—water blue as blue can be, almost purple, cold, bordered by huge cliffs—another memorable moment.  We laughed the whole way back and everyone wished one another a “buen viaje”.

Penguin & Blue Footed Booby (courtesy of our friend Gladys)

That evening, we refused Freddy’s final meal of guess what, and he allowed us to choose a restaurant where we could get a salad and pasta. After a margarita, it tasted pretty nice and was capped off with good coffee and some ice cream.  Not bad.

That’s the last we saw of Freddy, even though he promised some of our money back (said he’d give it to us the next morning before we left).  Though we paid for many things ourselves due to his crummy offerings, he did not give us a cent.  We now warn others, don’t get hooked up with “Freddy, everybody knows me” in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island.  And, as always, if a deal sounds too good to be true, it is.

Day Seven (Thursday):  Up and out to our taxi, to the ferry, to the bus, to the plane.  We got a surprise in the Baltra airport.  As we were waiting in the Security line, we heard, “Larry, Larry !”  and thought, who in the world?  It was Teresa, our lovely small hotel owner from Isabela Island (can’t say La Casita de la Playa enough, so you’ll remember it).  She gave us big hugs and bid us farewell asking us to write to her.  What a warm and wonderful ending to a trip that had its ups and downs, but in the end we were happy we took the plunge (figuratively and literally with the snorkeling, our happiest memory).