Now, I have been to every country in Central America, many of them twice or more, but Brazil aside, South America is completely uncharted territory for me. Ecuador is a pretty large country, and transportation on land isn’t that efficient—buses take a loooong time and all flights route through Quito—so I initially had planned to go along to the Galapagos Islands.
 |
| oh yes ! it's galapagos island !! |
What I will tell you is that even though the Galapagos Islands are just 600 miles from Manta, it wasn’t the quickest of trips. We left the ship around 8am, took a bus to the local airport, an hour-and-a-half flight to the islands, a bus to a barge, a barge across a waterway and then another bus a little more than an hour to our hotel in Puerto Aroya, arriving around 3pm. Yes, it was a bit of a trek!
But worth every minute of it, of course. After all, sometimes the most scenery is that enjoyed while in transit.
We only stuck around the hotel long enough to get checked in and drop off our bags before reloading the buses and heading out to the Charles Darwin Research Station. After all, the entire purpose of coming to the Galapagos Islands is to mingle with the wildlife, right? And mingle we did.
Small camouflaged lizards darted in front of us on the dusty road, as cacti flanked the path.
One thing I wasn’t expecting to find on the islands was a desert landscape. But in parts, I could have sworn I’d teleported to Arizona. Of course, there was one iconic creature we encountered who convinced me that we were, indeed, in the Galapagos Islands. Can you guess who it was? Stay tuned for the answer….
Byee ♥♥
*smoooch*
