Galapagos Islands Adventure 2009 – Part 1
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Aug 11, 2009 | by Kevin Loughlin
Quito, the capital of Ecuador, means “Center of the Earth” in one of the local Ecuadorian languages. The pre-Hispanic people of the Kingdom of Quito knew full well that they lived at the equator: they had solar observatories and temples to the sun and used astronomical measurements to govern their agricultural calendar. Mitad del Mundo… the monument to the “official” Middle of the World is just north of Quito. The orange line represents the equator.
We spend a full day exploring the city of Quito before flying to the islands. This helps to break up all the plane travel and allows for slow luggage delivery if necessary. Fortunately we have been pretty lucky on all our trips with few late pieces! This extra lets us see some of the local spots like Mitad del Mundo, the Inta Nan Solar Museum and the Artisan’s Square in Parque el Ejido. From textiles and leather goods to hand-made Charangos — being played above by the maker.
An early flight from Quito allowed a decent night’s rest before departure. Arriving in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on the island of San Cristobal we boarded our wonderful yacht in time for a fine lunch. The bay was alive with sea lions, Blue-footed Boobies, Magnificent Frigatebirds and Sally Lightfoot Crabs. After lunch we were off!
Ochoa Beach on San Cristobal makes a great first stop and introduction to the locals. The playful sea lions offer fun snorkeling as they blow bubbles in our faces and nibble on our fins. They pose obligingly for photos on the beach, too.
Yellow (Mangrove) Warblers are everywhere as are several species of Darwin’s Finches. The finches can be difficult to distinguish, but the most common found here is the Small Ground Finch. The Chatham (San Cristobal) Mockingbirds are less cooperative as they hide in the salt bush and poison apple trees, however, we had good looks at several!
Next stop… the island of Espanola…
Photos by Kevin Loughlin
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The Galapagos Islands are the most incredible living museum of evolutionary changes, with a huge variety of exotic species (birds, land animals, plants) and landscapes not seen anywhere else.
So true… it is difficult to understand how remarkable the islands are no matter how many photos or movies one sees. Visiting is truly the only way to comprehend.