November 2006 - The Galapagos: Day 2 Santa Cruz

We started Day 2 with a flight from Quito to the Galapagos. The plane actually stops in Guayaquil on the coast of Ecuador for refueling. TAME, the Ecuadorian airline, was pretty nice and the plane was a new Airbus. The takeoff from Quito is a little unsettling though, as there is a huge mountain at the end of the runway. The view from the plane is great – snow capped volcanic peaks everywhere.

At this point we also found out that there would be only 5 people on the trip! We met our fellow travelers, a couple from Oregon, and a surgeon from Germany.

On arriving at the Baltra airport in the Galapagos, we knew right away that the trip was going to be great. Our guide from Inca met us literally at the plane and walked us into a special lounge owned by the Royal Palms Hotel, where we stayed the first night. While the bags (well, just mine actually) were unloaded, we were greeted with ice tea and comfy chairs with a view of the island.

The airport is actually on its own island, Baltra. It was created by the US military during WWII and then turned over to Ecuador. There is a quick ferry ride to the main island of Santa Cruz and then a bus ride to the hotel. The Royal Palms Hotel is in the highlands of Santa Cruz, so the ride to the hotel gives a good view of the different climate zones on the island. It starts out very brown and dry by the coast, but ends up very lush and green in the highlands.

The Royal Palms Hotel was a huge surprise. We were expecting something nice, but didn’t realize we’d have our own villa (see the photo)! The hotel grounds are beautiful, and restaurant is very nice. After a quick stop for lunch we headed out to start seeing the island.

Our first encounter with the wildlife of the Galapagos was incredible. The giant tortoises are the symbol of the islands and we couldn’t wait to see them. At this time of the year they tend to migrate from the dry lower areas up into the highlands in search of vegetation to eat. Their migration happens to cross some farmland, and the farmers allow people to come to their property to view the tortoises. We were not disappointed! They were everywhere – cooling off in a pond, eating leaves, sleeping. Giant tortoises are found in only 2 places in the world and these are the Santa Cruz sub-species found only on this island. It’s like looking back in time at a pre-historic creature. They are fascinating to watch. They weren’t the only animals we saw though: white cheek pintail ducks, yellow warblers, and some Darwin’s finches (ground finches). Saying good-bye to the tortoises for today, we visited the Gemelos, two huge lava craters in the cloud forest.

After that it was back to the Royal Palms for dinner, and the news that Eric’s luggage would “probably” arrive that night in Quito, be flown to the Galapagos the next day, and somehow meet up with us on the boat. Or maybe we’d be going shopping in town instead.