The Galapagos IslandsThe plane started flying over the little islands and our stomachs started to bubble with excitement. We were finally arriving in the Galapagos after months of talking about it. The red volcanic rock was an incredible contrast to the dark blue water below and the occasional green of a cactus cut through the rock. We bumped down onto the tarmac and we were there. This was the world of Darwin (Dani’s idol) and wildlife so close and so tame you could touch it. We went through the nerve-racking process of the sniffer dog selecting my bag to be checked (although I knew I didn’t have anything, years of watching Border Control with my mother has made me unbelievably anxious) and we were then shuffled on to the bus to take us to the mainland. The airport shuttle takes you to the “ferry port” which in reality is a concrete block and you pay the boatman $1 USD ($1.30 AUD) to take you to the bus stop a 2 minute journey across the water. You then board the bus to take you on the hour long journey into town for $2 USD ($2.60 AUD). This ride is equally as beautiful as you travel through Santa Cruz’s highlands with an interesting mix of mango and banana plantations and cactus dotted volcanic landscape. When we jumped off the bus in the midst of many guesthouses we thought to ourselves “we’ve got this it can’t be as expensive as everyone says it is”…well we were right and wrong. It doesn’t cost as much as you may think and can definitely be done on a budget but gone are the days of $15 USD ($20.30 AUD) rooms. After much searching and finding that $30 USD ($40.60 AUD) was the cheapest we could find we decided to check out one last place. Hotel España looked out of our price range but I decided to give it a go anyway. I’m so glad we did because despite the original quote of $45 USD ($61 AUD) when I started to walk away the receptionist called me back and asked me what my budget was. I let him know that $30 USD was as high as we could go and for some reason he decided we could have one of their high-end rooms for $30 USD ($40.60 AUD). This came with aircon, a private bathroom and lots of space. We were off to a good start. Heading out to find some food, we were greeted by swooping frigate birds and a gorgeous sunset across the water. Being on a budget in the Galapagos is difficult. There are definitely gringo prices wherever you go including market food stalls so we thought that to keep costs down we would stick to self-catering. This meant we could keep our daily food costs down to a small sum of around $8 USD ($10.85 AUD). Our hotel had a single hob to cook on as well as a fridge, making this decision absolutely possible, however, on our first night we discovered that despite our best efforts to speed up the process cooking anything faintly tasty took the better part of 2 hours! Good thing we weren’t in a hurry for anything. Our first full day definitely had to include some wildlife spotting, so we took off for Tortuga Bay. Tortuga Bay is just one of the many free activities that are available on the Galapagos Islands. This is an easy walk through more volcanic landscapes where friendly birds pop down onto branches next to you and little lava lizards scurry through the rocks. You arrive at a beautiful white sand beach, which you walk along to get to the mangroves and there they are…marine iguanas everywhere, quietly sunning themselves in the sand. Every so often they sneeze a saltwater spray and then go back to resting. The ground is littered with them and the 2 meters you are supposed to be away from the animals at all times becomes literally impossible. Through the mangroves you also find a nice sheltered swimming beach. This was an awesome start to our wildlife adventures. The afternoon was spent trying to organise a tour for the next day and sorting out the ferry to get to either Floreana or Isabela. We found a tour to Pinzon Island for the next morning for $95 USD per person ($128.70 AUD). Up early and excited we wolfed down the food we’d prepared the night before and head off to our tour agent. We were met by our guide and walked down to the water where some lazy sea lions contentedly slept on the dockside benches. Once we had checked in, we jumped into the taxi boat that was waiting to connect us to our excursion boat and finally we set sail. As we cruised to our first destination we were treated to an abundance of sea turtles swimming past us or simply just floating on the water in the mid morning sun. Every so often one would pop it’s head up to say hello, but this appeared to be done in mild annoyance at being disturbed rather than any real interest in our presence. This became a bit of an unusual adjustment we had to make during our time on the islands. In the vast majority of cases, wildlife on the islands is neither afraid of nor really interested in you. If you don’t bother them, they don’t really even seem to notice you are there! This is because evolution on the island has taught the local wildlife that humans do not represent a danger and other than the conventional food chain cycles, there are no natural predators. The result is that the wildlife and the people on the islands, all live a harmonious stress-free existence together. On the way to our first snorkel spot we pulled up along side an island covered in a sea lion colony with a few blue-footed boobies thrown in for good measure. Diving into the cool water was a breath of fresh air in the unbelievably hot equatorial sun. Immediately tropical fish surrounded us and it wasn’t long until we were pointed in the direction of some turtles swimming past. The next dive spot after lunch was equally as good. Up on a rock not so far away was a mother sea lion and her cub. In the water, two playful adult males, who wanted to dive with the strange creatures in their space, quickly joined us. Words can’t do this experience justice. These majestic animals diving and dipping elegantly around us almost willing us to twist and turn like them. It was magical! On the way back to the main island, as if we hadn’t already had our fair share of wildlife encounters for the day, we stopped one last time for a quick dip with some baby nurse sharks and marine iguanas. We were also treated to a visit from a baby sea lion, which Dani affectionately named Rodrigo. We were positively glowing with joy when we returned to Santa Cruz in the slowly setting sun, so it took a while to notice it wasn’t just glee we were radiating with, it was the most intense sunburn either of us has ever had! Turns out the sun on the equator comes with it’s own special variety of ouch!! We had done the right thing and reapplied our sunblock regularly but apparently this hadn’t been sufficient. After long cold showers we gingerly tucked ourselves into bed exhausted but truly enamoured with this wonderful paradise. Upon waking I felt a searing pain through my back and realised I wasn’t doing anything today. It hurt to move, it hurt to wear clothes, it just hurt. A lazy day it was going to be! We bravely faced putting on our bras and headed out to book our ferry for the next day. Just by the wharf was a place that had a 6am ferry to Isabela for only $25 USD ($33.80 AUD) – this was $5 cheaper than almost every other operator in town. We had decided against Floreana because the ferries left every second day and we just didn’t have enough time to do everything if we had to leave the day after we had planned to go. In the morning we were again treated to a stunning sunrise with sleepy sea lions barking their displeasure at being woken up by tourists. The ferry crossing is a bumpy 2 hour journey so if you get sea sick make sure you’ve loaded up on antinausea meds the night before. Riding into Isabela you start to truly understand why the Galapagos is considered a paradise. In contrast to the predominantly urban port of Santa Cruz which lacks a bit of charm, the port at Isabela is on the inside of natural lava barriers and set within mangroves. You bob past blue-footed boobies perched on rocks and yet again arrive in a port with friendly sea lions lolling about on the sand. Your bags are again checked and you pay your $10 USD ($13.50 AUD) per person entrance fee (we were livid having already forked our the $100 USD/135 AUD fee on arrival and the $20 USD/27 AUD fee at Quito airport – there were unquestionably times during our stay that the Galapagos that it did feel a little like a tourist money pit). We had done our research, which told us that the main town on Isabela was only a kilometre from the port so we ignored the hustle for us to get into a shared taxi and headed off down the main road into the sunshine. On the outskirts of town we decided to check out Hospedaje Sarita, which was a little guesthouse with 2 rooms in it. The room we were shown had a small kitchenette (but the proprietor did say that we were welcome to use her kitchen as well) and a private bathroom. It was also $30 USD ($40.60 AUD) so we took it. Sarita and her family were lovely and we would highly recommend staying here. It was only a short walk into town and there are a few supermarkets where we could pick up food for dinner. It was in Sarita’s kitchen that out of the few ingredients available on the island, I came up with Gringo Risotto, which became a staple on the Galapagos (check out Foodie Friday this week for the recipe). We had chosen the Tintareras tour as the one we were going to splash out on due to recommendations from a friend. After extensive checking, Dani found a company for $40 USD ($54 AUD) for a half-day tour so we booked in for our second day on the island. We had also been told we needed to check out Concha de Perla which happened to be a 5 minute walk from our hostel, back towards the port. This is another highly recommended free activity and actually became our favourite place on the Galapagos. You walk down the boardwalk through the mangroves and get to a platform often taken up with…you guessed it, sea lions. Underneath the platform is a lagoon filled with tropical fish, baby sea lions, marine iguanas and on our last visit we were even lucky enough to swim with penguins. Dani is a bit of a wuss (or if you’re in the know, very English) about getting into cold water and so would have to slowly inch her way in, step-by-step down the ladder each time she entered. On one such occasion, she was sitting on the last step of the ladder building up the courage to come in while I was swimming around spotting my favourite purple fish. At this point, a sea lion that had been sitting up on platform hiding in the shade, decided he wanted to come down the ladder and get in to cool off. He made his intentions perfectly clear by sitting at the top of the ladder and staring at Dani expectantly and eventually impatiently. As Dani stubbornly refused to get in (but did attempt to shuffle to one side as her other exit strategy was now prevented by aforementioned marginally pissed sea lion) the sea lion had enough of waiting and started waddling down the narrow steps. Her punishment for so selfishly standing her ground was to be bitch slapped by the sea lion on his way down much to the amusement of onlookers. After a quick dip and swim around, the sea lion came and rested his head near her feet with a look that appeared to say…“well are you moving or what?!”. This time there was no getting around it; a simple side shuffle would not suffice, so she reluctantly climbed the stairs to allow him past. On our trip to Tintareras, we were able to swim with giant mantarays beneath us as well as schools of tropical fish and turtles fighting against the tide. We were also lucky enough to spot a few penguins perched on the rocks as well as frigates and blue-footed boobies soaring overhead. This half-day trip takes you to one of the 2 good snorkelling spots near the dock. The spot you get on your tour is dependent on the tides on the day and we discovered our spot was directly behind Concha de Perla. You are also taken to a small island made out of lava rock where we encountered innumerable baby marine iguanas due to it being nesting season. There are so many free things to do on Isabela. You can wander down the beach to the giant tortoise sanctuary where you can learn all about the life cycle of a giant tortoise and see a plethora of these fine creatures up close and personal. You can see hatchlings and larger 20-year-old tortoises being readied for release as well as some older than our grandparents. This walk also takes you past the lagoon where the flamingos sun themselves and more marine iguanas float past. There are also walks you can do to the wall of tears, which was built as a punishment for convicts that were placed on the island when it was being used as a prison. All in all you don’t even have to do the expensive day trips to see what you came to see. Just being on the island is a magical experience. After 3 wonderful days we woke early in the morning to head back to Santa Cruz for our final few days. Having already done the trips we had planned to do on Santa Cruz our last 2 days were spent enjoying the free activities the island had to offer. We explored the local hotspot of (?) which is a small canyon with a deep body of water at the bottom. This is full of large fish and a beautiful contrast to other snorkelling areas on the island. We also checked out the small mangrove boardwalk Las Ninfas, which is a pretty afternoon stroll where you may spot the occasional sea lion chilling out or chasing fish. There are also good twitching opportunities for those bird watchers out there. Overall the experience in the Galapagos was worth every cent. Although it is a very expensive excursion we felt justified in the cost based on the experiences we got to have. I would say that even if you can’t afford the day trips the cost on the islands aren’t prohibitive once you’re there so don’t let the flight cost put you off. There are some once in a lifetime places that shouldn’t be missed and this is one of them. If you can afford to get to another island I would say that Isabela offers the best of everything. Cheap enough accommodation (we know that it’s double the mainland cost but $30 USD ($40.60 AUD) is fairly reasonable for a private room) and ways to prepare your own meals certainly keep costs down if you’re willing to live on rice, beans and tomatoes for your journey. I think I can speak for both of us when I say do it…you won’t regret it.
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Baños turned out to be the best decision. When we got in to the bus station we agreed that it was Dani’s turn to check out the accommodation. Within 5 minutes she was back and gleaming. She had managed to find the most amazing room at Hostal Soliel for $15 USD ($20.25 AUD) per night for a beautiful double room, overlooking the mountains with a private bathroom and it’s very own balcony. We couldn’t believe our luck and happily agreed to the discounted price if we would stay for 3 nights. Baños quickly became one of our favourite places in Ecuador. Unfortunately due to the number of tourists that visit, it is more expensive for basics, but it is definitely worth the extra expenses. An easy money saving tip is to eat at the market stalls around the bus station (yes they do have llapingachos!) rather than in the main market but there are also plenty of street vendors selling delicious snacks out of baskets. As we were fast losing our opportunity to visit the Amazon we decided on a day tour from Baños. This trip is one of the best things we did in South America. I know some of you are thinking…day trip, seriously? Our decision to do this was purely based on the time of year and the expenses in each country. The weather in all of South America has been changing over the last few years and rainy season hadn’t come in a lot of the Amazon Basin in the surrounding countries (I know it’s called the rainforest but you know...keep denying global warming!) In Ecuador there has been higher than usual rainfall. This means that the places you can visit the Amazon from have become unpredictable in relation to whether you’ll be able to get down the river or have the opportunity to spot that giant otter you’re so desperate to see. As we’d had a slightly disappointing experience in the Pantanals, we were reluctant to fork out such large sums of money for what was probably an amazing experience at the right time of year but wouldn’t be when we were there. This trip did not disappoint! It cost $22.50 USD ($30.40 AUD) each for a long day trip starting at 8am and returning after dark. We were driven to a few look out points along the road and in the sunshine I’m sure they were beautiful but in the pouring rain not so great. We were then taken to an animal sanctuary, which had gorgeous creatures that had been saved from the animal trafficking circuits. This all lead up to our incredible experience of riding river rapids down one of the Amazonian rivers in traditional dugout canoes. Our 20-year-old guide navigated these rapids with incredible skill and we had a lot of fun cruising down the river to our lunch spot. Lunch was served in a gorgeous cluster of traditional houses overlooking the river. Next, it was time for our trek through the rainforest to a waterfall. We had been told that this was an easy walk similar to walking through town. This was a lie. It was a climb through jungle, on muddy tracks, stopping every so often to have medicinal plants explained to us, or to be given an Amazon mud face pack. At the peak of the hill there was a rope swing that swung out over the open canopy. This terrified me but Dani was straight up on that swing and out over the precipice. You could see that moment of terror when she reached the point where the ground gave way to a sheer drop but she claimed she loved it. The last stop was a village across the river, where we had our faces painted and had a lesson in using a blow-gun. I was very proud that I was the first person to manage to hit the target. Then there was the “just for tourists” shop that had some beautiful handicrafts. After convincing my wife that I need 2 more bowls (I have a small problem with buying bowls for the house we don’t yet have) we headed back to the car for the beautiful drive home through roads lined with lush greenery and waterfalls cascading all around us (there’s a reason this drive is known as the waterfall highway). We collapsed into bed that night, so grateful that we were in a real bed after such a wonderful day (I know we’re old haha). After some wonderful relaxing days of eating and shopping in Baños (yes I did buy some more bowls but they were gifts I swear) we were ready to face Quito. Quito is a really interesting gritty city. We arrived into the southern terminal and there is a really easy metro bus to the old city right outside the terminal. It only costs $0.25 USD ($0.35 AUD) and takes just under an hour. It was my turn to find the hostel so I left Dani sitting with the bags and headed off. An hour later I had only managed to find one place within budget. It was just off Santo Domingo Plaza and looked like a convent. Grateful to be able to even go back to my wife with an option I chose not to inform her that it was right opposite the bus stop we’d gotten off at and started off up the hill! We have a love for free walking tours so Dani was straight onto the wifi to arrange a tour for the next morning. The tour just so happened to start close to the central market so it was decided that that’s where we’d go for breakfast. This market has a wonderful selection of tasty treats but we did find that the stores on the bottom floor are a lot cheaper than those on the second floor. For $1 USD ($1.35 AUD) you can get a large breakfast of bolon (a big potato, yucca or plantain ball with cheese or meat) and eggs with coffee. The walking tour was great and took us through Quito’s old town. It allowed us to orientate ourselves with the city and discover it’s hidden treasures. It was also on this tour we met a new friend who would join us for the next few days (and then again in Colombia). We all decided that the following morning we would meet for breakfast in the market and head to the 'Middle of the World' together. Mitad del Mundo is located an hour out of Quito and is simple enough to get to. You catch a bus to the La Ofelia bus station and then there are regular buses to Mitad del Mundo, which are well sign posted when you arrive. The whole journey costs less than $2 USD. We hopped off the bus when we saw the Mitad de Mundo marker. Now, you may or may not be aware that this is actually not the equator line. It is approximately 300 metres out and actually marks where the equator was measured to be in the 1700’s. Lots of people give this monument a hard time for not being on the actual equator but I think it’s pretty impressive that it was only out by 300 meters back then with no GPS. We decided against going into see the monument because it was expensive for a large stone block but we did head to the museum that lies on the actual equator. This is a really fun experience because you are able to do experiments to prove you are on the actual equator like balancing an egg on the head of a nail and watching water go down the drain in different directions depending on which hemisphere you happen to be standing in at the time (yeah we did the geeky thing of jumping across hemispheres). It was well worth the $4 USD ($5.40 AUD) entrance fee for that alone. Our last day in Quito was spent wandering through the new town and checking out the markets as well as climbing the tower in the central cathedral. We had a flight booked to the Galapagos the following afternoon and we had to debate how to get to the airport. The airport is in the middle of nowhere and a cab costs a set rate of $25 USD ($33.80 AUD), which doesn’t sound like a lot but that was over our daily budget for one of us for the journey alone. So we decided, as our flight wasn’t till the afternoon we would take the long but not complicated trip. You catch a bus to Rio Coca bus terminal and then catch the airport bus from there. It also transpired that there are direct buses from 3 major bus stations including the southern terminal and the northern terminal. Once at Rio Coca, which takes between 45 minutes and an hour it is an hour and a half on the bus from there. I know this sounds really long, but the whole journey cost us less than $5 USD ($6.75 AUD) for both of us and is definitely a good option for later flights as none of it is actually in anyway difficult. It was happening…we were off to the Galapagos. Budget Time $$$What it Actually Cost: 21 days = $1,028.54 Accomodation: $392.08 Food: $293.92 Transport: $127.52 Entertainment: $78.16 Souvenirs: $71.51 Drinks: $38.24 Miscellaneous: $27.11 All in all, Ecuador turned out to be one of the cheapest destinations in the whole of South America for us in terms of a daily budget. We aimed to average $20USD/day each and actually wound up coming very slightly under that. That being said, we didn't actually 'do' and awful lot while we were there. We undoubtedly explored the county extensively (including going rather fruitlessly off the beaten track) but when it came to partaking in the common traveller experiences like hiking the volcanoes or intrepid trips into the Amazon, these didn't really feature in our time in Ecuador. Most standard features of a backpackers trip to Ecuador are about average in terms of South American pricing. Food and transport are both reasonably priced in terms of quality to cost ratio. Accomodation can be slightly more expensive in certain places but not prohibitively so and there is often room for significant negotiation in quieter periods in popular destinations. The one thing that could and would totally blow a tight budget would be excursions, so your choices need to be carefully considered and planned. There are a lot of amazing things to do in Ecuador but the fact that it is an American dollar economy simply means that things can be and often are more expensive in terms of tourism. It is by no means impossible to happily visit and explore Ecuador on a tight budget but if it is your only destination in South America (or one of few) and you want to do and see a lot then it is likely to cost you a pretty penny or two! LGBT: Ecuador was another conservative South American country but again not somewhere we were ever made to feel uncomfortable. We had an extensive conversation with a gay man from Ecuador who left due to feeling unable to be himself. He had only recently returned to Ecuador 17 years after he left and he felt Ecuador has changed for the better in recent years. He was actually saddened that he hadn't returned earlier. Ecuador also recognise same sex relationships and have civil unions but not marriage equality. In 1998, Ecuador became the first country in the Americas (and only the third worldwide) to include sexual orientation as a protected category in its constitution. In relation to gender Ecuadorians are able to change their ID to reflect their identity. Ecuador also had an openly transgender candidate in their 2013 elections and was openly praised by the Ecuadorian president who stated that he had a huge amount of respect and admiration for the candidate Diane Marie Rodriguez Zambrano.
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