and then...Galapagos

As I'm sure it is for some of you, visiting the Galapagos Islands has been on my "list" for years. It always seemed just a little out of reach for me though, which is kind of strange since I've been around the world. In hindsight, I think it just wasn't my time to visit yet. And I'm glad I waited until now.

Ok, so the lowdown on getting to the Galapagos for any of you thinking about a trip there in the future. We took a bus from Mancora to Guayaquil, Ecuador, one of the only two cities you can fly to the Galapagos from (the other is Quito, but the flights are cheaper in Guayaquil). While in Mancora, we went online and found a hostel that seemed reasonably priced ($30/night for a room w/AC and breakfast) and also had a travel agency connected to it. The place was OK, but honestly not great enough to recommend -- it was sufficient for our time there. We booked our last-minute 4-day cruise through this agency as well as our flights (which are always the same price -- you'll never get a deal there). The cruise was $650/pp, including the guide and all meals on a Tourist Superior boat.

The cute little pigmy monkeys at our hotel (they're part of a conservation project)

Here's what we should've done: Since we were winging it anyway, we should've just gotten into Guayaquil and headed straight to the airport, booked our flights to Galapagos for (hopefully) that day and gone straight there. Once there, we should've looked for LAST-last-minutes cruises (like the day of or the following day). But even if we couldn't find one we'd still get to see a lot. You don't have to take a cruise when you're there -- there are tons of day trips to various islands as well as hotels on some of them (cheap ones, too), so staying over and spending time there is all up to you. I'm really glad we did the cruise and would have definitely done it all over again -- I just would've looked for a slightly better deal (people on our boat got some last-minute cabins for $430/pp).

So, we decided to fly to Galapagos the day before our cruise, as Guayaquil was NOT impressive (but the iguana park was cool -- iguanas just roam freely here).

Apparently, iguanas like to hang out in trees




We flew into Santa Cruz island, found a hotel for $25/night and set out to explore. The travel agency at our hostel in Guayaquil recommended a few places to visit on this island, including Las Grietas, supposedly one of the most unique swimming holes in the world. It's a bit of a hike over some trecherous lava rocks to get there, but we thought it would be fun. About halfway there, we ran into a couple coming back, warning us that there were some pretty viscious bugs along the way and that they were suffering from a few bites. We thanked them for the warning and continued on our way.

Now here's where I think my inability to communicate IN SPECIFICS bites me in the ass. Literally. We got to the site the couple had warned us about (still about 10 minutes from Las Grietas) and were bombarded by Kamikaze wasps. Seriously. It was so bad that Humberto yelled "Retirada! Retirada!" (Retreat! Retreat!) and we turned around and ran back over wobbly lava rocks and up the steep trail. There were a few wasps stuck in my hair buzzing near my ear and I'm sure my actions to remove them looked like a cross between Elaine dancing on Seinfeld and having a seizure.

One of Hum's stings (his lips aren't normally that big)

When we had a chance to take note of our stings, I found four (including one on my butt) and Hum had five. We were in serious pain and no amount of ice was helping. We ended up going to a pharmacy to get anti-inflammatory pills and painkillers and took a nap around 5pm. We woke up around 9:30 starving, set out to find some food, made it back by 10:30 and slept some more. Ah, drugs.

We were meeting our boat at noon the next day and set out after a late breakfast to wait for them at the docks. Sea lions and iguanas roam freely here, so there was plenty to amuse us while we waited, including one very sleepy sea lion on a bench at the end of the dock. I don't think it was as amused as we were.





We met our guide and the rest of our group at noon and took a dinghy to our boat, where we made ourselves comfortable in our little cabin and then headed to the dining room for lunch. All the food served on the boat was delicious. Fortunately, siesta time was part of the itinerary so we had an hour to nap/settle in before heading off to find giant tortoises and a hike through the lava tunnels on Santa Cruz.

Our boat, the Guantanamera

Waiting for lunch

Tortoises!


Heading into the lava tunnels

The next few days were spent sailing from one island to another, snorkeling (at least twice a day) and hanging out with our fellow travelers -- all of whom were great. Our guide, Johann, was also wonderful. He had an answer for every question and was enjoyable to be around. On our snorkeling trips we spotted hammerhead sharks (an entire school of them swam right past me), sting rays, colorful fish galore and boobies. Lots and lots of boobies (both blue and red footed).

Nights on the boat were also amazing. The sky was so clear that star gazing was almost mandatory. And falling asleep to the sway of the boat was like being in my hammock back home in Cusco. I slept like a baby every night.

I know you're more interested in seeing pics than reading my babble, so I'll shut up for a while and just post pics. Enjoy!




















And there you have it. We got back to the airport early on the last day, flew back to Guayaquil and made our way to the bus station to begin our 3-day bus journey back home. Guayaquil to Tumbes, Peru, (about 12 hours), Tumbes to Lima (22 hours), and finally Lima to Cusco (23 hours). Except for those last 3 days the trip was amazing. I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Now on to a new house and a restaurant to open in Cusco! Stay tuned!!

Sipan, Mancora and all the sunburning in between

We specifically stopped in Chiclayo to go to Sipan, a completely intact tomb of an elite man (the Lord of Sipan) of the Moche culture, and said to be one of the most important archeological discoveries in South America in the past 30 years (or so says Wikipedia). And since Whitney and I are kind of nerds, we made this a "must see" on our travel itinerary. Surprisingly, Jose and Humberto were equally as interested in visiting the site, as they're kind of nerdy, too, and, as Peruvians, incredibly interested in all history related to their country.

I haven't met a single Peruvian who isn't like that. If they haven't visited a cultural site in their country they still know more about it than the average guide book. In other words, they're fun to have along on trips like this.

The tombs in Sipan





Our guide was very good and we walked all through the site, even climbing down into one of the tombs. A lot of the stuff in the tombs are now replicas and the real stuff is the museums either on the site or nearby. It was still cool. Some of the tombs are still under excavation, as uncovering each tomb is a painstakingly slow process. Inside the museum, we got to see the real stuff. Jewelry, weapons, skeletons, etc. Good stuff.

Inside the museum






It was so hot that day that exhaustion set in early. We still attempted to see some of Chiclayo, particularly the main market (kind of cool, but we have good markets in Cusco so our standards are pretty high), but tired quickly and made our way back to our hotel to hang out in their sitting area for the next couple of hours until it was time to catch our bus to Mancora.

When we went searching for buses to Mancora earlier in the day we only found one company that went there. That seemed odd, since Mancora isn't that far from Chiclayo (about 5 hours) and a major vacation spot for Peruvians. But because it was so hot and we were so tired and hungry, Whitney and I split up with the boys to go to the grocery store to buy ourselves some lunch (they went to a restuarant for a Menu -- a cheap, Peruvian lunch consisting of soup and a main dish -- they'll eat soup in any weather). Whit and I just couldn't take another Menu, so we thought the grocery store around the corner would be a better option and we'd come back and meet the boys at the restaurant. When we got back to the restaurant with our purchases, they were nowhere to be seen. And since my cell phone was in the bag Humberto was carrying (and Whitney lost hers on the way to Trujillo), we had no way of contacting them. And we really had no idea where we were. Sigh.

We figured that they'd eventually find us (even if we were sitting on a bench on the other end of town), and we were right. Or rather, we parked ourselves in a bus terminal halfway between the supermarket and the restaurant and eventually they walked past. We would have been more annoyed if they hadn't come back with information about the buses to Mancora. Apparently they searched for and found the bus terminal that had the buses we needed (there were 3 terminals within 2 blocks and we'd only been to/found 2 out of the 3), so we went back there, chose a bus and a time and bought our tickets for later that night.

And then we almost missed our stop in Mancora. We arrived around 3am and no one announced our arrival. The bus was headed further north to Piura, so this was just a stop along the way. And I was asleep. Fortunately, Humberto and Whitney were awake and realized where we were just as the bus was pulling away. We got them to stop again, grabbed our stuff and disembarked bleary-eyed and a little discombobulated.

Mancora, while a party town, was a ghost town at 3am on a Thursday morning. Nothing was open and we had no idea where to go or what to do. But the moto taxis knew that's just how they'd find us and couldn't wait to "help" us find a place and pay an exhorbitant fee (10 soles!) to shuttle us from hotel to hotel. But since we really had no other choice, that's what we did. After checking out a few overpriced dumps, I pulled out the Lonely Planet book and asked the taxi to take us to Laguna Camp, the bungalo-style hotel recommended in the guide. We ended up waking the proprietor, who was surprisingly nice about it, and settled on neighboring bungalos for 30 soles a night. They were cute and comfortable and the lukewarm showers were clean and refreshing in such hot weather. It was also 1/2 a block from the beach, had a communal kitchen and loads of hammocks. We stayed for 3 days.

Laguna Camp



Sunning on the beach, eating ice cream, reading and swimming. That's pretty much how we spent the next couple of days. It was awesome and we were ready for it. Humberto spent most of the time in the water, but the waves were a bit rough for me, so I just went for "dips" and then went back to our towels to read and nap. And, I swear, I did everything I could to NOT get sunburned (sunscreen, umbrella, etc), but was unsuccessful. I looked like a strawberry for the first couple of days (and could not escape Jose and Hum's mocking), but tanned out nicely in the end. So there.

Mancora





Our communal kitchen allowed us to go to the mercado and get some fresh seafood to cook, so we had a nice family dinner one night of pasta and seafood. It was delish. The whole bag of mixed seafood (shrimp, octopus and calamari) cost 12 soles (about $4).

Laguna Camp's resident puppy, Duke, begging for food

Our 12 sole dinner


We parted ways with Whitney and Jose after our time in Mancora, as they were headed to Tumbes and we were crossing the border to Ecuador. Stay tuned...