Doomed to success? Visiting the Galapagos …

When is a good thing too good?  Each year the Galapagos Islands seem to get more and more popular.  At one time, there were only 60,000 visitors to the islands, but it has grown by tens of thousands.  Recently, a five star hotel opened, appropriately $400 - 500 per night the last time I checked, which is about the cost of the Explorer II.  This is just one example of how the islands may be doomed to their success.  A five star hotel takes a lot of construction and creates more traffic and pollution … you can only be so eco-friendly.  This cannot help but change the islands.

One thing that I learned on my trip was the islands were not always protected.  In fact, they have a storied past.  After Darwin’s  discovery, there were several attempt to colonize and exploit the islands.  Mainland animals like horses and goats were imported and competed with native animals.  You would not believe how the islands got rid of the goats … they herded them and shot them!  What about taking them back to the mainland?

This time, instead of trying to colonize the islands, are we going to tour it to death?  Not to sound like a hypocrite because I have already been to the island, but I was glad to hear that Ecuador was going to reduce the number of visitors to the island.  My compliments to Ecuador.

By the way, despite earlier attempts to colonize, I was glad to see that islands appeared pristine … mostly.  There were no toilets, waste bins, or anything human that stayed on the island … other than footprints.

Another bathroom post … Explorer II

If you are going to the Galapagos and you are visiting the islands via ship or land, be prepared.  During my research on ships and hotels, I kept reading on several blogs that many hotels require you to dispose of your waste paper (toilet paper) in a waste basket … my first thoughts were how disgusting!  While being disgusting, I thought that it can’t be hygienic and what about the smell.  One blogger mentioned that they were horrified about the sanitary conditions of their bathroom.  So, these comments convinced me that I didn’t want to stay on an island hotel, beside you see less of the Galapagos this way too.

I finally decided to go with the Explorer II.  This is a great ship and the staff understands service.  It’s one of the largest ships that visit the islands.  Our room was spacious and we had a nice balcony.  We had a private bath, hot water, and cabin service twice a day … thank goodness.  To our surprise, we were told not to place anything other than liquids in the toilets, else we risked messing up the toilets for the entire deck.  Great!  While it was disgusting to deposit our toilet paper in a waste basket, at least, it was sealed  and was collected daily.  Believe me, do you risk placing your toilet paper in the toilet … the toilet uses very little water and works on a vacuum principle.

Last word, it wasn’t the end of the world and we had a great time.

My compliments to Grayline tours

One of the hardest decisions to make when traveling is what to do when you get there.  Do you explore on your own or use a tour company?  Well, it depends.  On our trip to Ecuador where language was an issue, we decided to use a tour company, but which one?  I’ve used Grayline for several other tours and learned that they have a presence in Ecuador, so I went with them.  The tours were wonderful.

Our first tour was a City and Equatorial Tour.  Here, we toured by bus and foot the wonderful cathedrals and churches of the city, including there Notre Dame and the famous San Francisco.  Several, we were able enter and marvel at the architecture and ornateness which belie the wealth of the country.  Throughout the tour, we are getting a history lesson.  We conclude the city part of the trip with a spactaculous view looking down on the old city.  While not part of the equator trip itself, our guide took us to the actual location of the equator in addition to the equator monument.  At the actual location is a small museum (and fee) where there are experiments and archaeological digs.

We also used Grayline to visit the Indian market Otavalo.  We took a private tour, because group tours are only offered certain day.  Along the way to Otavalo, we made several stop at local markets and scenic outlook.  While the day that we visited the market was not busy, it seemed not to deter the vendor.  This is a must visit place in my opinion, even if you don’t like to shop.  After Otavalo, we visited a small town known for its leather goods.  Advice … take a lot of money, while the products are not expensive by United States standard, you really get caught up in the bargaining.

The last tour was  to Cotopaxi and an hacienda.  While we had no intentions of climbing the volcano, the natural beauty of the area is incredible.  We were lucky in that we got to see the snowy tops of the volcano.  Because the day was somewhat clear, we drove to the base parking lot for climbers.  This was not part of the tour.  You better be adventurous and trusting.  A good part of the drive is quite foggy and the rode is curvy and not paved and there are no guard rails!  A word of caution for those who suffer altitude sickness … I thought that my head was going to explode.  The choice of hacienda was excellent.  Too bad it was raining.

Last word, while we could have explored these places on our own, there were lots of places on each tour where we stopped that we would not have known to do.  Also, we learned a lot about the history and culture of the places we visited.  Our guides made the experience personal and enjoyable.  All were professional and seemed to like their jobs.

Clubbing sea lions to death

Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that 53 sea lions in the Galapagos Islands had been clubbed to death.  The deaths were reported as having to have been caused by humans.  Having recently visited the Islands, I can certainly attest that these animals are not afraid of the world’s most dangerous predator and were easy targets, but why and who?  The Ecuadorians are investigating the killings; however, I am not optimistic that we will learn who committed the crimes, unless someone reports that they know who killed these sea lions.  The islands are open and accessible by boat with some islands inhabited by people. 

Why such a senseless and cruel act?  Was this an insane effort to hurt the tourism business which is criticized for changing the ecology of the area?  Just some random lunatic?  How do you protect the Islands without changing them?

Truly a horrible story.

A couple of Quito surprises

During my visit to Quito and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, I learned several things, despite the research that I did prior to making the trip.

Quito is a large sprawling city of about 3 million people and from a distance the city looks wonderfully bright and colorful, but upon closer inspection …  At more than 3 million, Quito sometimes seems to be about to burst.  Once in the city, you see how stressed Quito’s developing infrastructure is.  For example, trash collection seems to be a problem, the roads need repair, and there is immense poverty, particularly among indigenous people like the Andeans.  Despite the poverty and disrepair of many buildings, I was amazed at how beautiful and ornate the churches and cathedrals are.

If you are traveling from a pedestrian friendly country like Canada or a continent like Europe, please be careful and forget that your drivers take great precaution not to kill you.  Bad taxi driving seem universal, but not only do taxi driver not respect the right of pedestrians, no one does.

My biggest surprise was that roses [the flowers] are a major export for the country.  The United States and Europe are major importers.  As we were riding around the country, our tour guides kept pointing out greenhouses.  Roses are incredible inexpensive in Quito … about 25 for US $1.

I was also surprised at how nascent tourism seemed to be.  A true measure of the strength of tourism for me is how many souvenir shops there are … there are few in Quito.  There are a lot of trinket and gift shops in Quito, but nothing tacky that we Americans would buy.

Perhaps, the greatest surprise of all was how much the dollar buys.

Lodging in Quito, a tale of two hotels

During our recent visit to Ecuador to visit the Galapagos Islands, we got a chance to spend several days in Quito before our cruise and a couple of days in Quito after the cruise.  We decided to stay at two different hotels in different parts of the city … we were expanding our experience of Quito, a large sprawling city.  There’s the new city where you will find the business and tourists districts and then there is the old colonial city that shows the Spanish influence.  My other reason for staying in two different hotels is that sometimes you may make a bad choice and end up with a terrible hotel; I like to minimize my risk of doing this.

At the start of our trip we stayed in the business district at the Dann Carlton Hotel.  The hotel is nice, the staff understands service, most of the staff members speak very good English … my Spanish is nascent and one directional that is I can say things in Spanish, but my understanding is terrible.  A little more about the hotel … The room was clean and spacious.  The buffet breakfast, which was included in the rate, was excellent.  Grayline Tours also picks up from this hotel which is very convenient.

There were a couple of problems … the water pressure in the sink was low, but the shower was great.  There was one thing that the staff did that made us a little crazy … each day they would open the windows, leaving the room quite cold.  My other complaint probably is about timing.  Two of the nights we were at the hotel, there was a party in the ballroom one floor below.  The music was very loud, very bad, and very late.  Needless to say, we got two terrible nights sleep.  I eventually asked to be moved to another room, which the hotel accommodated.  I would stay at this hotel again … with the caveat that there is no party or convention.

Now, when we returned to Quito from the Galapagos, we stayed in the old colonial city at the Hotel Patio Andaluz.  I can use one word to describe this hotel … wonderful.  The hotel is a few blocks from the Presidential square, one of the main squares of the city.  The staff understands the concept of service.  When we arrived at the hotel, we asked the receptionist about tours, which she helped to arrange for us.  Our room was very spacious and nicely decorated.  The bathroom was incredible.  The accommodations were absolutely luxurious and included a reading room where coffee and tea were available all day.  This hotel is a bonus for eco-types, because they promote conservation … the toilet, recycled paper, a cloth laundry bag instead of plastic, low wattage light bulbs.

Because I am a contrarian, there were a couple of things I did not like [I am really just being picky]:  the water pressure in the shower was low; the buffet breakfast, which was not included in the room rate, was not stellar.  We also did not have windows to look outside, we did have a nice window looking over the courtyard.

Not only would I stay at the Hotel Patio Andaluz again, I want to stay here again.

One thing that both hotels had in common was the lack of climate control … no heat or air conditioning control.  My final word on both hotels is that either would be good choices; Hotel Patio Andaluz is definitely superior … and more expensive.

My favorite Galapagos Island

Trying to determine which of the Galapagos Islands was my favorite is really difficult.  While there is a lot of similarity between the islands, they are also unique too. 

So, on our trip, we visited 6 islands:  Bartholomew, James Island, Fernandina, Isabella, North Seymour, and Santa Cruz.  We would visit one island in the morning and one island in the afternoon.  Our last day, we visited the islet, Mosquera.

Bartholomew, the first island that we visited, was probably the best view that we had where we climbed to the top of the island.  We saw few animals like lava lizards, iguanas, crabs, sea lions, and supposedly there was a dolphin sighting.  So, during our hike, our naturalist pointed out native plants and talked about the island formation.

Later that afternoon we visited James Island where we saw abandoned structures and the remnants of salt mining.  The island has much more vegetation than Bartholomew and we saw much more wildlife … sea lions, iguanas, crabs, a hawk, and several birds.

The next day we visited Fernandina Island.  This is the island of iguanas.  At our landing we had to carefully navigate through a multitude of iguanas, sunning on the rocks.  We actually got to see a dispute over territory (an iguana fight).  We also got a close view of flightless cormorants.  Sea lions and crabs are ubiquitous.  We also learn about lava flows, which are identical to the ones found in the Hawaiian island chain.  We also unexpectedly see a sea turtle.  The wildlife is active and varied here.

Isabella was our afternoon island where we took a dingy tour and did not actually land on the island.  I was a little concerned about the dingy tour and what we would see, but this tour was really interesting.  We even visited a cave.  We saw a multitude of blue-footed boobies perched on the cliff walls.  There were several sea turtles and stingray sightings and other birds.  Of course, there were sea lions, crabs, and iguanas.  It is amazing that sea lions are as adept at climbing as they are.

Our last full day in the Galapagos, we started the day by visiting North Seymour Island … one word incredible.  The main wildlife was birds:  blue- and teal/green-footed boobies and frigates who were mating and nesting.  There were active sea lions too.  The island also have quite colourful vegetation.

No visit to the Galapagos would be complete without a visit to Santa Cruz to visit the giant tortoises and the lava tunnel.  Pictures do not do these animals justice.  Depending on your perspective, we visited at the right time.  The tortoises were mating.  They are a little skittish, but you can get quite close like centimeters.

Our last day, we take a dingy tour to the islet Mosquera.  The highlight was a mating frigate and the geology of the islet.  Along the ride, we saw sea lions and crabs.

I suppose I would have to say North Seymour is my favorite because the birds were so active and plentiful and didn’t fly away when they saw us.