Thursday - Santa Cruz - The End

This is it.  Our last day.  Another early morning with a 6am breakfast, 6:30am luggage pick-up, and a 7am departure.  We boarded the Zodiacs for the last time and were dropped off at the main dock in Santa Cruz where our adventure began.  We said goodbye to our fabulous crew and boarded a bus in order to work our way to the airport on Baltra Island about 60-90 minutes away.  

We had a few final surprises along the way starting with our first stop about 45 minutes out of town in the "Highlands" at El Chato Reserve.  El Chato is one of the two main ranches in the area with free roaming wild giant tortoises.  

We haven't seen this animal sign on the road before...

500 lb Tortoise - two more in the background

For scale

Santa Cruz has a healthy population of wild tortoises and they tend to migrate to the highlands for food and water, and to lower ground for breeding.  We had the opportunity to roam the area looking for tortoises, which were not hard to spot given their enormous size and complete lack of movement.  

On the reserve, there was one last opportunity for Victor to offer up another volcanic lesson as we made our way through a giant lava tube

After El Chato, half of our group left to continue with their respective vacations as they were not headed to the airport; and our Original 8 made one final stop at the Twin Craters – two huge holes right next to each other caused by, you guessed it, a volcanic collapse.  

Giant Crater

Last photo of the Original 8 - okay, so I cut the 9th person out on the left...

The airport is on an island that is only accessible by boat, so our bus dropped us off at the port, our luggage was loaded onto a rickety taxi boat, we shuttled the 10 minutes over water to Baltra Island, loaded onto another bus, and then finally made it to the airport.  

Taxi

Our group was all on the same flight, so we were able to hang outside and have lunch prior to boarding.

Goodbye Galapagos :(

The plane made a first stop in Guayaquil where we said goodbye to Pam, Serena, Matt & Keetan, and we continued to Quito where we said goodbye to Elsie & Marvin.  I always find it interesting to think that while we may or may not cross paths with these six people again, we shared an unbelievable experience that will stay with us forever.  I’m forever thankful that we had such an awesome group.

Damon & I spent two nights in Quito to ensure we had time for appropriate Covid testing for re-entry into the US.  Our time in Quito, unfortunately, was nothing special as EVERYTHING was closed due to Covid and the non-essential lockdowns Ecuador had imposed a few weeks earlier.  We did walk to some of the more popular attractions, including the Bascilica del Voto Nacional and the Church of la Compania de Jesus (the "Gold" Church).  Both were closed.  We hit some parks and plazas, but mostly just walked.

The Gold Church - supposedly all gold inside.  Closed :(

Closed :(

Walking in Quito is "interesting.  The city is at an elevation of almost 10,000' and it seems that everything is uphill.  Both ways.  For that level of exertion, one should be rewarded with something interesting.  

House of Sugar - now we're talking!  Closed.

In the distance - Virgin on the Hill - definitely not walking up that.

At every touristy attraction, we were stopped by "tourist police”" warning us that we should be very careful, protect our belongings and watch out for thieves, etc.  Our big city toughness and the fact that Damon is like a foot taller than everyone led us to keep going.  We headed to Quito’s old city and the famous “La Ronda” street – both of which are likely a different experience in a non-Covid world.  90% of the stores, restaurants and hotels were closed and locked.

Closed.

Closed & padlocked

We were there!

At one point as we were walking on the virtually empty La Ronda street, a local man tried to communicate to us that we should turn around and go back.  I understood the word “peligroso” as dangerous, but he kept warning us of dangerous robots.  It took a minute to understand he was warning us that there could be dangerous robbers and not robots.  So, we turned back.  Speaking of danger, the city was using tourist downtime as a good time to fix the streets and re-lay brick.  It goes without saying that the bigger danger for us was me not falling into one of the MANY open manholes all over La Ronda.

There were at least 5-6 open covers in this immediate vicinity

After a quick lunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon & evening in our hotel enjoying the luxury and downtime before our super early departure.

My final thoughts… If you can visit the Galapagos Islands, do it.  It is a wonderous place with fresh air, the clearest blue water, and animals in the wild that are virtually unaffected by humans.  You will be mesmerized by sea lions, turtles, and, surprisingly, by the frigates and other graceful seabirds.  We were lucky to visit at a time when there were so few tourists.  With only one exception, we had each place entirely to ourselves, which we understand is not the norm.  Each island is unique – one might have nothing but lava rocks, another might have red sand beaches, and another might but lush with foliage.  One island might have iguanas and another red or blue footed boobies and another sea turtles and another sea lions.  No two islands are the same and each one offers something new and incredible to discover.   I’m writing this final entry on the plane home, and as I go through my notes and my pictures, I realize, again, how lucky I am to be able to have and share these experiences.  Thanks for reading!

Until the next Monkeyhouse adventure...