Galapagos Islands, Ecuador - Day 9
Monday, February 21
Today was our last full day in the Galapagos.
Our day began the way most of them have on this trip with a continental breakfast provided by the hotel. Breakfast included coffee, tea & hot chocolate, fruit, bread, yogurt and scrambled eggs served on the hotel’s outdoor patio.
The big news of the morning was that the tooth fairy visited our hotel room overnight. She left Tory $2.50 under a glass cup. Ecuador uses the US Dollar as currency but because items are fairly inexpensive here, they use a lot more coins than we do in the USA. Frequently used coins in Ecuador include pennies, dimes, nickels, quarters, fifty-cent pieces and one-dollar coins. We thought it was neat that the tooth fairy left Tory a $.50 coin in place of her tooth.
After breakfast, Tory, Aden and I returned to the hotel room to do some schoolwork while Andi sat in the lobby and worked on his computer. Dragging the kids’ school books along in our suitcase has been a bit of a pain on travel days, but we’re really so fortunate that we can continue their schoolwork wherever we are in the world. As Americans, we often take for granted our right to free choice which includes how we school our children. So many Ecuadorians we’ve talked to, as well as other travelers from around the world can’t homeschool their kids because their governments require school-age children to attend public school. Teaching Tory and Aden while traveling through Ecuador the past six weeks has been a great reminder how fortunate we are to have this experience.
Around Noon, the four of us decided to walk into town to grab some lunch. We found a local restaurant serving almuerzo lunch plates for $3.50. This continues to be our favorite way to eat in Ecuador because it’s affordable and delicious! Each plate accompanied a bowl of soup, choice of protein (today’s choice was squid, pork chop or breaded chicken), rice, beans, side salad and a juice. We order three plates to share and it’s the perfect amount of food for the four of us.
After lunch, we hired a taxi driver for $70 to drive us around San Cristobal Island for the afternoon. Our first stop was El Junco Crater Lake — the only freshwater lake in all of the Galapagos. The lake is actually the crater of an extinct volcano in the center of the island and is surrounded by green pastures. It was quite beautiful!
Our taxi waited for us in the parking lot at the base of the hill while Tory, Aden, Andi and I hiked to the top. It wasn’t a strenuous climb to the top by any means, and was definitely easier on our lungs than other hikes we’ve done in mainland Ecuador since we’re no longer at a high elevation. Tory still complained her fair share though as she really isn’t a fan of the heat.
The 360 view at the top was worth the effort it took to climb there. We could see the ocean in the distance on all sides of where we stood + an incredible view of the crater lake before us.
Dozens of magnificent frigate birds circled around the lake, diving into the water to wash off their wings. Unlike most sea birds, frigate birds’ feathers are not waterproof so they use the freshwater lake to clean off their wings. We watched them dive into the water and full speed, and then pull back up into the air shaking off their wings and tail feathers.
Our next stop was the Galapaguera de Cerro Colorado tortoise breeding center on San Cristobal Island. The was no admission charge to walk around the center and view the turtles. There also wasn’t a lot of information about what the breeding center or the tortoises that are kept there. We’ve seen our fair share of giant Galapagos tortoises over the past week, so we didn’t necessarily need a special tour. It was a pretty walk along a stone path throughout the grounds which probably took us about 20 minutes to complete. I made up a competition for Tory and Aden that whoever spotted the most turtles would get two scoops of ice cream tonight, so they were both eager to walk through the center. In the end, the contest was silly because there were so many turtles — too many to count.
Our final stop on the southeastern side of San Cristobal was to Puerto Chino Beach. Once again, our taxi driver waited for us in the parking lot while Tory, Aden, Andi and I followed a stone path that led down to the water. A handful of local were swimming in the ocean, but otherwise we had the whole beach to ourselves. It was beautiful there! Likely the prettiest beach we’d visited in all of the Galapagos.
The four of us were hot & sweaty after walking around the crater lake and the turtle breeding center, so we happily jumped into the ocean to cool ourselves off. The sand was pure white and so soft on our feet as we walked into the water — not a rock to be found all along the shore. We spent an hour jumping in the waves, laughing, and having fun together as a family.
The horseflies were terrible on the beach, so we quickly changed into dry clothes after swimming and bee-lined it up the path back to the taxi waiting for us in the parking area. Before we left the beach though, the kids and I took a gallon-size ziploc bag we carry with us in our backpack and picked up trash that had washed up on shore — mostly bottles, drink lids and pieces of plastic. This is a gorgeous beach and it’s sad to think about it being polluted by trash that’s traveling for who knows how many miles in the ocean.
It took us about 30 minutes to cab back to Hotel Katarma in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. Andi walked to get the kids some food again while Tory, Aden and I showered & changed in the hotel room. Andi returned with a some of the best-tasting spaghetti with Alfredo sauce any of us have ever tasted for Tory’s dinner and “sachipapa” for Aden, which is a pan-fried hot dog and French fries served together in a bowl. Once the kids were taken care of, Andi and I had a nicer meal from Muyu Restaurant in San Cristobal. Andi ordered grilled octopus and I had the seared tuna. Our fancy meals were tasty, but honestly Tory’s spaghetti was better!
We’d promised Tory and Aden ice cream after their tortoise hunt at the breeding center earlier today, so we stopped at the heladeria once again. We shared another brownie with three scoops of ice cream — cherry, caramel and vanilla flavors.
I read to the kids before bed, and then we all turned in for the night. This hotel is nice, but it’s not the most comfortable sleeping conditions. There are no blankets on the beds, only a thin cover sheet, and they’re small full-size beds for sleeping two people. Fortunately, this is our last night here. Tomorrow, we travel back to Guayaquil on mainland Ecuador.
