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.

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.

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.

Cruise ship or yacht for the Galapagos …

One of the major decisions that we had to make regarding our visit to the Galapagos Islands was how do we want to visit the islands … by land or sea.  The land based option would mean that we would need to stay on one of the islands with a hotel, which subsequently would mean that we would be geographically limited in what we could see.  The choice between land and sea was easy for us, because we wanted to see as much of the Galapagos as we could.

  Now, the decision for us was whether we would visit the islands via cruise ship or yacht.  Until I started researching our options, I did not know there were so many options from 16 passenger yachts to 100 passenger cruise ships.  Given all these options, I tried to read as many comments and blogs from other travelers as possible. 

There are strong feeling on both sides.  Some of the compelling arguments that the cruise ship side make is that “you get to travel comfortably” without really compromising the experience of visiting the Islands and seeing the wildlife.

  The yachts make many compelling arguments too.  They refer to their accommodations as cozy or intimate.  They say that your experience and contact with the naturalist is more flexible with you being able to make requests.  Yachts are also less expensive and are allowed closer to the islands, and in some instances the only vessels allowed to some islands … supposedly.  The National Park Service actually determines where each vessel goes.  Perhaps, most compelling is that yachts have less of an impact on the environment than cruise ships. 

Given the two, we decided to take the cruise ship option.  Our ship, the Explorer II was excellent.  We had great service like clean towels and room service daily, there was a physician aboard, there were social and educational activities, we had access to the naturalists, the group sizes on our ship were no larger than the groups on the 16 passenger yachts, we could even change groups if we wanted, conservation seemed important [the Explorer II talked about the 3 R's - reuse, reduce, and recycle], passengers could snorkel and scuba dive, the ship’s size minimize swaying and motion sickness, the food was good [the buffet breakfast was okay, the buffet lunch was good, the menu dinner was excellent], most importantly, we could avoid passengers that we did not like … hard to do on a small ship or yacht.  Believe me there were many passengers that would have made me abandon ship had we been on a 16 passenger yacht. 

We had the best of both worlds, an ecologically friendly way to see the Islands without giving up too many comforts.  Admittedly, cruise ships are more expensive.  For instance, we could have taken a 7 day, 6 night adventure on a yacht that would still have cost less than our 5 day, 4 night cruise.  In fact, the yacht option I looked at would have been at most 60% of the cost of our cruise.

The true choice between cruise ship and yacht is not really which is better, but a matter of taste.  Service and comfort are important to us.  The thought of being trapped for days with a small group of people that I do not like scares me.  The yachts and smaller ships may get closer to the islands, but a few minutes longer on a dingy is okay with me.   

For some, a yacht or small ship would be the best option, but I am glad that I did my research first … for us, cruising was the best option. 

Galapagos Explorer II … now that’s one fine ship

I have to admit that I was a little skeptical about exploring the Galapagos Islands on the Explorer II.  The ship is owned and operated by Canodros who markets themselves as ecotourism providers.  There were a couple of things that I was concerned about like how comfortable would the ship be, would we get motion sickness, what would the food be like, what about the facilities [the toilets], how would we get to the islands.  Translation I was mostly concerned about comfort.

First, our arrival at Baltra and navigating the arrival process was absolutely confusing notwithstanding the language barrier.  My Spanish is minimal at best and almost totally unidirectional.  I can communicate somewhat in Spanish, but do not expect me to understand much of what you say … if you speak in Spanish.

When you land in the Galapagos, you have to declare [on a form] that you are have nothing that might impact the ecology of the Islands, but that’s a blog for another day.

Once we finally arrive on the ship we are greeted by the crew and a very persistent ship photographer, Fernando.  So far so good … the crew very carefully made sure that we safely got from the dingy to the ship.  A crewman carried our carry-on bag and took us to our room … a Deluxe suite … and showed us the room. 

The room was very nice … similar to a hotel room in terms of accommodations and size.  We had a nice bed, two chairs, a sofa, and cocktail table, as well as a minibar.  We had a lockable drawer and plenty of space to store our clothes.  Given that we were on a 100 passenger ship, the largest that the national park service allows now, the bathroom was okay … the shower and sink were fine. 

The toilet was our least favorite, it was filled with water, but the flush was a vacuum flush like what you find on airplanes.  Additionally, you were supposed to dispose of your toilet tissue in a waste basket … at least it was sealed.  I kept saying to myself that this is good for the ecology of the Islands.

Overall, this is one fine ship … the accommodations, the service, and the experience.  If you are going to the Galapagos, consider the Explorer II.

Welcome to Quito, Ecuador

Well the countdown to Ecuador is over, we have arrived.

We flew through my favorite airport, Atlanta, actually that is my least favorite.   We were delayed one hour!  That’s a blog for another day.   As I said we are in Quito, enjoying our holiday.

Our first full day, we toured the city and visited the equator monument and the actually location of 0 degree lat and long.  There is a natural history and living science museum are the real equator site.  What a fun way to start our trip.

The monasteries and churches in the colonial part of the city is worth the visit, not to forget the history behind city.

Other than some light rain and cold weather, what a nice day.

The airlines care so much about the environment that they are willing to let me pay for it

I don’t know about other travelers, but I actually like to read the propaganda that the airlines provide … they actually have interesting articles.  A couple of days ago, I was flying home on Continental Airlines.  Their magazine had an interesting article about the environment and how much they care.  They care so much that they are going to support me in contributing to Sustainable Travel International (STI), a non profit organization that support ecotourism.  I support the aim of ecotourism and protecting the environment, my beef with Continental is “having their cake while eating it too.”  What I mean by “having their cake while eating it too” is that Continental gets to call themselves eco-friendly, because they let me spend my money to buy back the cost of emission based on my travel output.  In general, I support the concept of me as an individual paying for my impact on the environment, but I think if Continental wants to be an environmental airlines there are many other things that they can do.  For example,

• cleaner burning fuel
• more efficient burning fuel
• more efficient airplanes
• smaller airport footprints
• better recycling in terms of food and beverage service
• and more …