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We arrived in Quito via Punta Arenas and Santiago (both Chile) after 2 days. We spent 1 night in Punta Arenas after getting the bus from Puerto Natales. The bus arrived in at 11.30pm and we made our way to the hostel we had booked. We were greeted by a very confused caretaker who spoke no English. His name was Manuel and he couldn't have been any nicer but this was a real Fawlty Towers moment! We managed to convince him we had a reservation through our pigeon Spanish and the help of the internet so he called the owner who was on holidays to sort it out. We were allowed stay and he even made us breakfast the next morning and organised a taxi to the airport. Actions really do speak louder than any words or language.We stopped off for 1 night in Santiago and reached Quito the next day after a turbulent flight.
We walked around our area that evening and we didn't get a great feeling about Quito after dark. The next morning we set off to book a trip to the Galapagos Islands. Due to it being the Easter period all boats were pretty packed up but we managed to get a last minute deal on a First Class boat!It was expensive but it came at the same price as most of the Standard boats. They wouldn't take credit card as payment at that late stage so we had to go to their Central Bank to get the money out. By the time we had everything sorted the day had gone from us.Therefore we didn't really get to explore Quito but we weren't too disappointed...!
We were up at 6.30 to get to the airport to catch out flight to the Galapagos Islands,to our dismay it was pouring rain. However, once we arrived on the Islands we were greeted with clear blue skies and 30 degrees heat.We got to our boat ¨The Fragata¨ and met all our co-passengers onboard. It was a treat to find out that everybody spoke English and seemed to be a lively bunch. We spent the next 4 days Snorkeling, exploring different Islands, seeing unique breeds of animals and birds and the odd bit of sunbathing on the top deck!
Each day started quite early as we hopped from one island to another. The first couple of days we got to see turtles, Iguanas and all sorts of crazy looking birds and fish. This included stingrays, frigates and red and blue footed 'boobies'!The islands had amazing beaches and a lot of them had lava rock landscapes. The final couple of days allowed us to snorkel with Sea loins, Penguins and even the odd shark! These animals were unbelievably tame and at times seemed to be posing for all the tourists.
The last night of our trip included a stay in a hotel on one of the Islands in a place called 'Puerto Ayora' where we headed for the pub. We enjoyed the company of an English and American couple with whom we had stuck up a great friendship throughout our trip, a wired Japanese girl and a lady from Switzerland . We spent the night sampling the local beers and cocktail 'Pisco sour'.After a good night we struggled to get up at 7 the next morning to head to the airport.We said our good byes and exchanged email addresses and we set off for our next stop..Guayaquil (Ecuador)
previous travel blog entry
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