Last Few Days in Galapagos

Yesterday afternoon I arrived in Quito!

The last week in Galapagos after the Floreana day trip we went to Isla San Cristobal. Due to the need for some serious money saving at the end of the trip we only stayed for one whole day. Although I wish we could have stayed longer we were extremely tired since just a day prior we had done the Floreana trip. Every time you go to any Island it costs you $25 each way but most painful is the two hour boat ride to every island. It seemed that as winter is coming in every boat trip we made got worse. The farther into winter the rougher the seas.

San Cristobal was beautiful. Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, the main city, was fairly developed similar to Puerto Ayora but not nearly as busy. This is probably what made it our favorite island. Some of the other islands like Isabella and Floreana were nice but were so remote it made living difficult. Meals were especially difficult because there were very few, like 2 or 3, options as far as where to eat. Puerto Ayora was the exact opposite of this but was so busy it was loud and dirtier than the other islands. Puerto Baquerizo Moreno provided a happy medium.

Our first morning in San Cristobal we chartered a taxi to take us to see the highlands. We got really lucky as the taxi driver was a local who had been born and raised on San Cristobal, so he made for a good tour guide. First, we stopped at El Progresso, a little town that used to be part of Manuel J. Cobos' plantation of the same name. Manuel J. Cobos was the islands infamous tyrant. He owned a sugar plantation, El Progresso, that made him very wealthy and gave him unchallenged power on San Cristobal. He considered himself not only the owner of the island but of his workers as well. He abused them to such an extent that they eventually rebelled against him, dragged him from the second story of his house, and murdered him. You can still see the remains of his plantation home. Still visible is the section of his house where he used to hang and torture his workers.

After El Progresso we headed farther into the highlands to see the Laguna el Junco, the only fresh water lake in the Galapagos. Found on the top of a mountain, which you have to walk up to get there, this lake is an amazing site to see. The air at that altitude is so fresh it felt great to be up there (after you recovered from the hike up the mountain. We were so high up that the altitude, combined with the wind, actually made the air a little chilly at times. While there you could also get an amazing view of the rest of the island. Overall it was one of the most beautiful places we have visited thus far. While there we also got to see a flock of Frigates for the first time. While walking around the lake we saw several volunteers working with machetes to remove the Blackberry plants that are one of the islands' most invasive species. At the same time other volunteers were planting more than 1000 Miconias, an endemic plant, for Ecuador's earth day.

In the afternoon we walked to the Center of Interpretation which is a museum that outlines the history of the Galapagos' Islands. We also snorkeled at Las Tijeretas and passed by Mann Beach which was covered in sea lions. San Cristobal has more sea lions than any other of the islands. Although this is pretty cool to see there are so many you can barely even use the beaches. The sea lions are very territorial so there are often fights between males, plus they defecate all over the beach and it stinks.

After getting back on Friday we spent the last days taking photo's of some of the older homes in Santa Cruz. Many of these are close to La Playa de los Alemanes which translates to German Beach. Here is where the islands first settlers, many of whom were German, chose to make their homes. We also went back to Las Grietas to go for a nice swim in its crystal clear water. =]

Leaving was sad. It felt like leaving home a little but we are in Quito now and it is truly a beautiful city.

-Cristi