Dear Friends
I am just back from a trip that will forever change my life. An apex experience. I am afraid I will be insufferable for a while. When you meet me in real time, I will try to not go on and on, but if you ask, I will be happy tell you about what we did.
Note on the photos: I will note all of the photos taken by other people, the rest were from me, taken with my phone (or rather my camera with a phone in it.) I have reduced the size. If you want a full copy of one of them, contact me.
Note on dates, locations, and species: I do not claim any accuracy. Where you find that I have erred, please let me know so I can correct.
Because of the size of the experience, and the huge number of photos I am processing, I am going to break this down into several sections because it is just so enormous in my head. I will sent an email update when I post something new, or you can check back here as I will make the following into links as I do the posts.
Quito: or how to get high, Thursday
Baltra and Mosquera Island: Friday
Elizabeth Bay, Isabela Island, Sunday afternon
Something really special
I am sure there will be changes to everything I write. But I must start somewhere. If you have subscribed, you will get an email when I do major changes. As to the layout, blogger doesn't give me a lot of control. and I wanna put more effort into the content than arm wrestle with their web site.
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| The first of many boobie photos |
Travel Notes.
This is where I whine about my poor choice in tour company, and gush about the amazing Tip Top cruise ship.
My tour was booked thru Road Scholar. I am seriously unimpressed. There were many issues that did not meet my expectations of a top notch tour agency. Having said that I am still convinced that booking thru them for this tour was the right thing. I learned a lot about what to expect from tour booking.
In other words I made the right decisions for the wrong reasons.
There are three actual entities involved in the booking. The umbrella organization is Road Scholar. This is a nonprofit that has the mission of teaching thru travel. They arrange with the other folk. They also spend a lot of money on sending me reams of advertising in addition to at least one email a day pushing their other tours. They arrange for the cruise ship, the guides, the on the ground programs. They field out the travel stuff to a travel agency: Holbrook. And the third entity is the cruise company Tip Top.
What Road Scholar got right:
Going to the Galapagos is more complicated than almost any other travel experience. There are so many restrictions and protocols that just getting to the islands is complicated. This was done quite efficiently by Patricia on the mainland.
Once on the islands going on the islands are limited, restricted, and just plain difficult to get to. All of our hikes were booked and prepared in advance. Sometimes the areas booked are closed if there is too much pressure on the ecosystem. And our island tour guide Lulu (naturalist, sheepdog) was on top of every detail and nuance. If I ever book thru Road Scholar again it will be because of the experience given to us by Lulu. She was utterly amazing.
The trip home, like our trip out, involved lots of getting to places on time, and getting in the right line. Usually this was done at some ungodly early or late hour. The disorientation is massive. Having Patricia get us to the planes efficiently was crucial.
What Road Scholar got wrong before hand:
Several times before leaving, I almost canceled this tour. Communication with Road Scholar was difficult to say the least. We were never assigned one individual (or desk) for questions. All email goes to info@ with all of the other random inquires and spam. Phone calls could be made, but if you didn’t get on the daily que by 10 o’clock Eastern Time, it never got answered. Each time I got a different person of varying capability. Often time they were looking at the same web page I was looking at. Really, not helpful.
Many of the issues I had could have been addressed if they would just video and post the excellent opening talks given by Lulu and Patricia. My questions were of the nature:
There are no toilets on the islands, can we do a “nature wee”? Answer: No, wear Depends. Correct answer: The hikes are under 2-3 hours. You might want to plan ahead.
If a hike appears too difficult, are there other options? Answer: You should not take this trip if you can’t keep up. Correct answer: There are more and less strenuous activities. Often there will be options, and one can always stay on the ship.
Will the cabin have a king bed or 2 singles? Is it Ensuite? Answer: We don’t know.
They wanted us to pay for the whole
trip including the air
flight, before the airline
flights were booked. And considering that all 6 flights were fully
booked, or had people bounced, this could have presented a problem if
we had not insisted in having our flights booked 4 months ahead
rather than 6 weeks.
I think I would have wanted to
arrive one day early and stay one day. But there was no way to do it
thru Road Scholar or their partner Holbrook. Or maybe there is, but the two people I asked said not.
Unhappiness with Road Scholar on the tour:
My second problem with Road Scholar was our guide in Quito. Arriving after midnight after 20 hours of travel, breakfast at 6:30, briefing starting at 8:30 we then had less than 15 minutes to go up, use the bathroom, put on proper shoes, clothes, hat etc. then get back down to the bus. Those of us that dained to be late (under 5 minutes) were severely scolded like little children.
We were taken to the central square of wonderful architecture, quick marched thru a wonderful museum. Then on to not one, but two Catholic churches where we got lectured on the history of the Catholic church in Ecuador. (Yeah I know their influence was pivotal, but I really did not need a 40 minute talk about the Jesuits.) I would have preferred a style of ‘We are going in this church, and we will meet right here in 20 minutes.'
As we passed the governor’s mansion or was it the president's office) we were shown the changing of the guard, but not allowed to slow down one little bit to watch. Then on to a wonderful lunch.
Loaded onto a bus (the driver was amazing going thru the tiny streets with a huge bus) then up to an art museum that was closed for the day. Considering that it was a holiday it is possible that a phone call ahead might have been warranted. We were told to buy from the local artisans, but never allowed to stop to make purchases.
The lecture at 6, before dinner, was really interesting, even if I did have a problem with nodding off. (see note above about less than 3 hours sleep.) The poor presenter was a bit frazzled as she got caught in traffic, and got scolded rather firmly by Patricia. As an academic, her style was not especially thrilling, but she talked about the problems of poverty in the indigenous population. It was very interesting, if not to the taste of Patricia who did not approve of showing her guests the sadder side of Equator. I guess I am just Bolshie enough to actually care about the lives of the people in the places I travel.
She scolded me for asking her to add me to the airport list when I did not hear my name listed. “I called your name.” Several other people came up to me later to say that indeed she had not called me. (More than one person had similar issues.) On our return to Quito, I was having more than my usual wobblie problems. P. kept trying to help me on and off the bus, even after being asked not to. She would grab my arm making it more difficult for me, and I prefer the no touchy protocol for part of my Covid awareness. I should have whacked her with my walking stick.
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| A Lulu photo |
OK enough with the whining. I promise the rest of this narrative is sweetness and light.
At the airport in Quito, your bags are scanned and zip tied. Then you stand in a line to check into your flight. This flight has one stop then on to Balta. Oh yeah, on the way they open all of the overheads and spray something that is OK by the World Health Organization, but still a bit unnerving.
One flies into Balta. Your bags, and travel documents are checked yet again.
From there you must get to either your ship or to Isla Santa Cruz. We were met by our amazing guide/host/sheep dog Lulu. And given a protocols talk, including how to hold onto the crew helping us on and off the pangas. (Side note here, if I ever again take a trip from Road Scholar it will be to be in a group led by Lulu.) Then onto a bus which drove us out to the boat. The landscape is reminiscent of some of the worst parts of Arizona. Dry, and the detritus of modern living is not coated with vegetation.
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| Lulu's photo of us looking at a manta ray from the panga |
We go to the docks. While we gaped at our first boobies and iguanas, our luggage was loaded onto a Panga (aka Zodiac or dingy.) Then we were loaded in. This is not a graceful process the first few times. Or perhaps all of the times. Note the lack of photo of this process, either by me or by the cruise ship.
I had concerns about seasickness. Only twice did our guide Lulu suggest that we should take what ever precautions we had for rough sea. Including that we should put stuff on the floor rather than on the table or sink side. But not once did I have a problem.
I will mention here that I will not be writing about my tour mates. They were great and really added to the experience. But I respect their privacy.
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| Tip Tip photo, note that there is a tea urn on the right |
Lunch and then they would move the boat. Occasionally the boat would move during lunch. Then even more excursions. There was not much time for getting bored.
An evening recap. Lulu would ask for one significant thing from the day. What a great way to fix firmly in our memories the different things we saw and did. We would get a good briefing on what was going to happen the next day, allowing us to figure out what to were, which shoes, and when to be at the back of the boat. Taking a photo of the itinerary each day was also useful in helping me to remember what happened each day.
Our Guides
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| Lulu |
We were fortunate to have two guides: Lulu and Joel. I keep trying to find the right words: competent, kind, joyful. And deeply protective of what the Galapagos was trying to do in renewing the ecosystem here.
Lulu has almost 2 decades of guide experience. She could out run all of us, herding us like a Border Collie. And prepared our briefings. And interfaced with the captain and crew. I was always amazed by the depth of knowledge this woman had. She could see stuff that we would not, and pointed out and explained some amazing things. In the water she was like a duck. All the while she was aware of what we needed to know as we were not familiar with ship life, and snorkeling. She was always alert to what each of the tour members might be needing.
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| Joel |
Joel (pronounced Joe-El) was her apprentice. He needed to take one more exam before becoming a fully fledged guide. Even so he was so very knowledgeable of all the things we were seeing. He could mimic animal sounds. He was always around when one of us needed a strong hand, or a shoulder for balance. Once he gets his certification, the park is going to add a wonderful guide to their roster.
Equipment and Packing
There are some notes I really want to make here as I think that the planning I did before hand and the mistakes I made were pivotal.
Clothing: I wish I had brought 2-3 pairs of linen pants and left the jeans. And sturdy shorts. Shirt with a front pocket, 1 long and 2 short sleeves over a tank top. Two bathing suits was good as we were in and out of the water a lot. And something to put on quickly when you are straight out of the shower.
Snorkel Masks: I did not know how easy it was to get a prescription mask. It was only a bit more than just the mask. With covid an issue, I was a bit hinky about using this kind of equipment that had been used by someone else, even if thouroughly sanitized. We went with https://getwetstore.com/ The equipment was perfect, and came 2 days after ordering.
Wet Suit: The boat does arrange for wet suit rentals. Kay was happy with the shorty suit she rented. But I am a big woman, and they did not have stuff that fit me. I got a neoprene/bamboo jacket and pants from H2O Wear. The jacket was perfect, Fitting well and the right temperature. The pants were an utter disaster. The seat of the pants were too short and would pull my swim trunks off.
Back Pack: I found it imperative to have everything for the outing in or tied onto my pack. Getting on and off the panga having both hands free made for me to be able to have hands free. Carabiners are your friends. But it did involve getting the life vest on then putting the pack on which was a pain in the butt.
Hat: I had baseball style hats. I wish I had had one of those clips that keeps the hat from flying away. Most people had the safari style hat. I think my favorite hat was a wide brim with a flap that hung down the neck. I am glad that I had 2 hats. One tried to escape, but Joel was fast enough to catch it. But it could have been unpleasant if he hadn’t.
Turtleneck scarf
thing: The panga drivers, Lulu, and Joel had a scarf that could be
pulled up to cover face, neck, or hair. I had seen these before,
but never thought about them in this venue. They were really
valuable in keeping down the sun exposure. But even more significant
is that they go under the snorkel gear and protect the hair.
Walking sticks: Yes there were some provided by the ship, but they were not in very good condition. (The only thing there not in A1 condition.) I had put some effort into getting a pair that disassembled to fit into the suit case. They were great at telescoping in so I could strap them on the backpack for the panga rides.
Shoes: Shoes are a big issue. Road Scholar said it had something to do with not spreading contaminants from island to island. Actually it had to do with poop. We each had a pair of hiking shoes or boots, and a pair of water landing shoes, and a pair of deck shoes. Hiking shoes were not to be worn on deck. You see there is lots of poop on the islands. Bird poop, Sea lion poop, Tortoise poop, and Iguana poop. Each with its own distinctive odor that you did not want in your room. And sand and lava are abrasive and will damage the teak decks. Water shoes needed to be sturdy enough to climb over lava flow, and grippy enough for slimy rocks. I decided to just go barefoot on deck.
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| Lulu's camera |
Pharmacy: We had absolutely no access to shopping until our last day. So I am glad of what I brought: Reef safe sunblock. Anti nausea stuff, and pink stuff for traveler’s tummy. Bug stuff for the one island with things that BITE and draw blood. Also one set of comfort food if you do have tummy issues. I like single serving Miso that can be made with just hot water.
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