Galapagos!

We woke up at 6:30am since we would need to leave at 7:10am for the airport. Our breakfast was included in the price of our stay so we had some coffee and eggs before leaving. The airport in Quito was small but modern and we were on our flight before we knew it. We had to fly to Guayaquil, Ecuador first, which was less than an hour from Quito and then we headed to the island of Santa Cruz. Before we descended, the flight attendants went through the cabin and spayed all of the overhead compartments with insecticide that was supposed to protect the islands from invading insects. While I understood the reason for it, I was appalled that they were spraying this in an enclosed environment filled with oxygen breathing people.

As we descended, I was absolutely shocked to see what the Galapagos looked like. I think I have always pictured the Galapagos as a mix between Hawaii and the Amazon; some tropical island location where Darwin discovered this amazing mix of animals. Instead, it was a barren wasteland with far less foliage than you find in Southern Arizon and more akin to the moon. It was so strange to see this amazing turquoise water next to this hideous desert, lol. After I got over my shock, we deplaned into a small local airport.

The customs process was very easy although it was painful to have to pay the $100 entrance fee. We all got aboard a small bus that would take us to the ferry. The ferry seemed highly unnecessary to me since the other side of the channel was maybe 75 feet away...couldn't they build a bridge? Apparently not, so we piled into the boat only to get out 3 minutes later.

Once off the boat, we had to find a taxi. Lonely Planet had said there were also buses that would take you into town for $1.80 but we figured with Brad's surf boards, a taxi wold be easier. We agreed to a $20 taxi (which I thought was too expensive but Brad insisted that he would just pay for it) but once our luggage was in the back, 7 other people jumped in and piled their baggage on top of ours. I was not in the mood for this- my bag has a tons of stuff I don't need getting broken and why should we pay $20 so that they can all ride for free? I got out of the taxi, removed my bag from the cab and told the driver I was not comfortable with the situation. We argued back and forth but finally Brad insisted I just put my bag in the car with us and we ride into town with the locals in the back. I guess it must seem heartless to someone who is here on vacation but literally everyone wants a free ride. Some of the people in the back of the truck had been on our airplane with us and had paid $500 for a ticket to the Galapagos- I'm pretty sure they can afford their own cab. Alyssa and Brad were convinced that there was no local bus that day and no more cabs but I speak much better Spanish than they do (don't tell Alyssa but it's true) and knew this wasn't the case. I just went along with the situation in an attempt to avoid a scene in front of Alyssa's boyfriend who I've known for less than 24 hours.
It was a 40 minute drive to the town of Santa Cruz. The entire drive (as I attempted to calm down) I stared at the bizarre landscape in confusion. When we arrived at the hotel Alyssa had booked, we realized that it was extremely far from the water and would be too inconvenient not to mention, it looked a little sketchy. We hailed another cab and went back into town of find something close to the main part of town. Luckily, the first place we tried, "Sir Francis Drake", had availability so we took it.

Alyssa and Brad took a room upstairs but since it is more expensive to get a room by myself, I took one of the downstairs rooms which were only $15. There is a reason they are so cheap. It was basically a cold dungeon that had no internet and a shower that didn't work. I knew what I was getting into though and since it it was saving me $30, I didn't care. Luckily, I could use Alyssa and Brad's shower.
We put our stuff in our rooms and headed into town in search of a drink. We stopped at a little restaurant on the beach, hoping to get some mojitos and lunch. Unfortunately, their chef was gone for the time being and although it was happy hour and mojitos seemed like a good idea, they made them with some other plant that was not mint and did not taste good. Alyssa laughed at me once again for expecting them to make things like we assume they should be made but I maintain that you can't call it a mojito if it doesn't have mint.
Brad went off to try to surf with the locals so Alyssa and I finished our drinks and walked around town to find my dive shop and talk to some travel agencies about what day trips they had available. After asking tons of people and being led all around town, we finally found my dive shop at the very end of town. The woman I had been organizing the dive with via email had been completely unresponsive so I needed to know what time I had to come in the following day to try on my equipment. After speaking with them, we compared day trips to the different islands with a few travel companies before heading back to the hotel to meet up with Brad. We decided that Santa Isabella Island sounded like the best bang for our buck and signed up for that day trip the following morning. Brad decided he wasn't going to come with us but was going to try to surf with the locals instead. We got showered and ready and headed out for a drink before dinner.

We decided that we were going to head to the local row of seafood kiosks that line one street of the city to get some cheap, fresh seafood. Brad ordered an entire fish, I had garlic fish and Alyssa had grilled fish- they were all delicious!

We hung out in this area, drinking beer and watching the locals before heading back to the hotel early to get some sleep since we had to get up at 6:30 the following morning.

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