Galapagos Islands – Lauren

Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Galapagos Islands
By Lauren

We got up early this morning to have another delicious buffet breakfast at the Sheraton before leaving Quito for a few days in the Galapagos Islands! We all packed our bags onto the bus for the trip to the Quito airport, where we had to go through Agriculture security THEN regular security, before boarding our plane. We left Quito and flew through the Guayaquil before flying to San Cristobal – what we had all been waiting for! The plane ride was smooth and relaxing and I woke up to an announcement that we were about 40 minutes away from landing. As we got closer, part of the islands were visible through the clouds – I was finally seeing a place I only dreamt of visiting in my lifetime.

When we landed we had to again go through an agriculture check to make sure we weren’t introducing anything foreign to the Galapagos Islands. We were then met by Sara, a representative from the University of San Francisco Quito (USFQ) on San Cristobal. She traveled with us to our hotel, Hosteria Pimampira, a surprisingly short distance from the airport. We settled into our rooms, which are adorable apartment-like rooms with a kitchen area, bathroom, and bedroom area. I was lucky enough to be one of the rooms that leads right out to the pool. Sara walked us through the streets of San Cristobal to a restaurant to have a delicious lunch. On the way we saw lots of people and shops…and my first tortoise! It was only a statue, but at least I got to ride it – can’t wait for the real thing

After lunch we continued our walk along the waterfront, which is where there are many souvenir shops, restaurants, and bars. We stopped to look out at the piers, where we got our first taste of the wildlife of the Galapagos. We got to see our first seals, which we later learned are extremely playful and friendly when people come near them! We also saw some crabs, iguanas, and birds along the perfectly blue water! We headed to the University, where Sara gave us a tour and some guidelines, and then introduced us to Diego, the professor. Diego gave us our first lesson on the Galapagos Islands – informative and interesting.

We were all ready to head back to the hotel after class and hang out by the pool, after such a long day! On the walk back we saw lots of action down on the waterfront, so when we learned we could borrow bicycles from the hotel, we had to turn right around and ride them down hill to the waterfront until dinner. The three of us that borrowed the bikes sat down by the beach watching the seals lay on the beach, with the occasional barking. This kept our six-year-old attention span until our first dinner on San Cristobal, at the Calypso. The pizza we ate was so worth the long wait! The dinner table was pretty quiet after our tiring day of flying, walking, class, and more walking. We all headed back to the hotel, and those of us on bikes took a “detour,” and got to see a little more of the island than we had planned in the pitch dark! It was an adventure, though, and as soon as we got back to the hotel we all were pretty lazy for the rest of the night to rest up for more Galapagos adventures.

Posted by Lauren, Participant, Eastern Illinois University, Environment, Society, and Culture of Ecuador Study Abroad, Summer 2009