Ecuador 10 – All very Spoiling

The heat hits you as you get off the plane on to the melting tarmac as though a hair dryer has been blasted in your face. Hot sea air. It puts a smile on our faces. We have been following the rains throughout Ecuador and it feels good to have this warmth on our skin.

I am back here after 20 years. It feels very decadent to be returning for a second time to the once in a life time Galapagos. Only this time we have three kids in tow. We won’t be able to get to all the islands, but we reckon we can see most of these extraordinary creatures, from just 2 islands. We are staying on Santa Cruz for a week and then on to Isabela island for a further week. The only way you could “do” The Galapagos then in 1994 was by boat, sailing between the islands. The islands seemed to have grown enormously  and there are so many more options today. Good and bad. Good for us as it’s more affordable; bad for the wildlife, as there are now many more people visiting these unique islands.

We hire a delightful little house on Santa Cruz, with a garden and hammocks called the Cactuspad. This house must be owned by an English family, with kids similar ages to ours, as all the books on the shelves here seem very familiar. We have been starved of books on this trip, the kindle doesn’t quite clinch that desire to finger through pages or ponder on drawings and pictures. We have only been in the house for five minutes and already the Beanos, comics and the girls’ and boys’ annuals are already being poured over.A quick trip to the supermarket to stock up on a few essentials and I realise this is going to be an expensive week. Three cargo ships bringing supplies to the island, 1000 Km from the mainland, have sunk in the last few months and the cupboards are bare. Apparently this is not uncommon. Ingredients are scarce and what’s there is expensive.

We make the trip to see the giant tortoises roaming a coffee plantation, lugging their huge heavy shells on their back, they crawl, seemingly weighed down by their burden. They look so prehistoric, of an era of dinosaurs, left behind. Lonesome George was here when I last visited, the oldest suriving creature on the planet, old enough to have met Darwin himself, but now he is gone with no surviving offspring, his name however lives on. There’s Lonesome Surf Shop. Lonesome George Restaurant , just Lonesome.

Seals are everywhere, they’ve taken over the benches, we tread over them on the jetty to get on the little boats, they lie oafishly unaware of the space they are taking up, or the shrieking children jumping up and down and the cameras clicking.

Our mornings are lazy and chilled, school work for the kids, too hot to be in the sun for long. Lunch at the house, then beautiful beaches to be explored in the afternoons, and swimming in warm waters in the afternoons. We love the beautiful Tortuga bay, the children enjoy most of all being tossed around in the surf, Millie emerging with a big smile, diving back for more.  Lazy iguanas sun themselves on the beach, a small hammerhead shark and a manta Ray swim at our feet in shallow water as the tides comes in. Las Grietas is a deep inlet of water, mixed with fresh water, where the children love jumping in. But most of all we just like heading down to the jetty in the evening, where the locals gather to watch volley ball, seemingly oblivious that they live in these unique special islands. The popcorn vendor is busy, children on the swings, ours are playing poo sticks with the sea lions, me too for that matter, darting from one side of the jetty to the other to watch them glide playfully in these waters lit up at night. We have our suppers on the Calle de Comidas, where fish and shellfish are sold in abundance, grilled, fried or served in coconut sauce, salad, rice or chips for the kids with a big jug of lemonade and beers for us, the tellies blaring on all all sides of the street. If you look to the right it’s an Attenborough style documentary on the Galapagos, to the left it’s cartoons for those children who haven’t yet fallen asleep, and when they do, the channel is promptly changed to something more more adult.