Galapagos: The Enchanted Islands

Die inheemse bevolking van die Ekwatoriale streek van Suid Amerika het destyds, meer 
as 'n 1000 jaar gelede, die Stille Oseaan aangedurf en wes geseil op soek na nuwe wêrelde.
Na menigte maande van see vaar het dié wat die gevaarlike reis oorleef het terug gekom met die eienaardigste, mees eksotiese stories...
Verhale van 'n magiese plek, wat skuil in die vergete vlaktes van die stille oseaan, 
'n Plek waar vuur summier uit die aarde gespoeg word...
'n Plek van seemonsters en gekleurde drake...en van reusagtige lewende rotse wat die betowerde landskappe ronddwaal...
'n Plek met so 'n magdom voëls dat hul op tye selfs die son kon verduister...
Dit is 'n plek skoon uit 'n feeverhaal, 'n plek van drome wat jy saans vir jou kinders van vertel...Vandag ken ons die plek as die Galapagos Eilande...

Galapagos Islands

After spending a night in the balmy Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city we headed to the airport to catch our local flight, a 1000 km journey west, to the archipelago of Galapagos! 

Now after having watched numerous documentaries and wildlife shows throughout our lives about the islands, and having spoken recently to many people who have been there, it was difficult to contain our excitement, and for that matter our expectations...

It was a short hour and a half flight, across one time zone, before we arrived on Baltra island, or South Seymour, which is a small desolate island just north of one of the main ones, Santa Cruz. From the airport we took a bus to the harbor where we boarded a small ferry across the narrow Itabaca channel to Santa Cruz island. There we again jumped on a bus that took us across the island to the Southern port town of Puerto Ayora...

We were recommended a good place to stay by a girl in our dormitory in Guayaquil, so decided to first go find it and check in before exploring the town. Fortunately the town is not that big so we found it within 20 minutes or so...Petrel Hostel - nice, clean and relatively cheap place to stay on a trip that is notoriously expensive! 

So there are two ways to explore the Galapagos - there's a "land-based" option, generally thought to be cheaper, and then there's a multi-day cruise option, which can vary greatly in cost. The cruises are normally booked in advance but we heard prior to coming to the island that the best way to do it is to try find last minute spots on these boats and hopefully get on at a lower price. The big advantage being that with the cruises your get to see way more, it's your transportation, accommodation plus three meals a day...so while they're still very expensive they do make a strong case...

We thus decided to hit the booking agencies, they're all over town, and see if we can wrangle some half decent bunks on a semi-nice boat at a reasonable price! After about three hours of scurrying around town, we managed to book a 6 day, 5 night cruise on the Floreana Yacht, at a very decent yet still hair-raising price...did I mention the currency of Ecuador is the US Dollar...sigh...:)

Our route is depicted above: Start at the north end of Santa Cruz, close to Baltra, sail a short distance west to a place called playa las bachas (1), still on Santa Cruz. That evening we cruise to the north eastern corner of Southern Seymour, or Baltra (2) where we will spend the night docked in the bay. The next morning we take a short ride to North Seymour island (3) to see the bird-life and also snorkel around the island, in the afternoon we head back to the western side of Santa Cruz to visit a place called Cerro Dragon (4) or dragon hill. During our second night we cruise back to Puerto Ayora (5) where we will remain docked for the next day as we travel up to the highlands to see the great giant Galapagos tortoises in the wild (6)...That evening we cruise south to the island of Floreana (7) where we will spend the entire next day, including a snorkel at the famous corona del diablo (8). Over night we will head east to Española island (9) where we will spend our fifth day, which will also include a snorkel at the smaller Gardner Island just off Gardner Bay (10). For our final day we head to the south eastern island of San Cristobal (11), where we will spend the day and in the afternoon catch a ferry back to Puerto Ayora (12).

We still had a day to spare before our cruise boat left so we decided to head out to a popular nearby beach, called Tortuga Bay, with its picturesque white-sand beaches and crystal clear blue water...

There we also had our first encounter with the native marine iguanas, their spiky dragon-like skin almost perfectly camouflaged with the black volcanic rocks...

Later that afternoon as we were strolling back to town we could see them swim ashore and crawl out over the white sand, their prehistoric black bodies glistening in the afternoon sun. It was a great introduction to the surreal wildlife present on these remote islands...

The next morning we headed back up north to Baltra island, and mistakenly were told to wait at the airport. Fortunately our guide for the cruise, Victor, surmised what happened and sent someone to come get us. We disembarked from the Itabaca channel and boarded our Yacht the Floreana! 

Floreana Yacht

We were so excited to start our cruise! Another group pulled out the last minute so it was just the four of us and a French couple which was great because we now practically had a 15 person yacht to ourselves! And not that I'm an expert in yachts or anything but I thought the Floreana was a very nice boat, it might be not as new, or as flashy as the catamarans but you can see its got some character...and that's what you need when you go out to sea! 

Our first outing took us to 'playa las bachas', the first of the many idyllic beaches that we were to enjoy on our Galapagos cruise adventure, and it was also our first snorkeling spot, with a bale of Pacific green sea turtles welcoming us to the Galapagos! 

On the morning of our second day we headed off for a short voyage to North Seymour island, a small rocky island renowned as one of the premier nesting sites for the Frigate birds and the very popular blue footed boobies...not to be confused with the blue nippled boobies found in the chilly waters of South Africa's west coast! 

Galapagos' famous 'blue footed boobies'

It was a terrific morning outing...One of the most fascinating aspects of this place is that the wildlife in the Galapagos, both on land and in the sea, behave in a uniquely peculiar way due to the archipelago's isolation for millions of years. The lack of human contact and successful conservation efforts have ensured that the wildlife do not perceive humans as a threat...Just as an example, a captain on one of the first Spanish galleons to arrive in the Galapagos, remarked in a letter to Spain that "the wildlife on the island must have some form of mental deficiency since they possess no propensity to flee when approached by humans" - it's just that here, they've (fortunately) never learned to be afraid of us...

Which is amazing because you can observe them from relatively close without influencing their behavior at all...It is a truly exhilarating experience to be able to view animals in this way - you literally feel like you're in a David Attenborough documentary...

Male Frigate bird in courtship phase

Just as a side note, the guides do continually stress the importance of adhering to the strict rules of the National park so as to ensure that we do not change the behavior of the animals...and on a side-side note we asked our guide Victor if he has ever worked with Sir David Attenborough...at first he just hit a blank and said no and then about a minute later, mid-sentence, did a 180, "oh Daaaavid, si, I know him well, I've worked with David a couple of times!" - first name basis! Classic! 

After a great hike on North Seymour we headed back to the boat to grab our snorkeling gear and then swam all along the rocky cliffs of the island. The visibility was really good and there was an amazing variety of fish! We thought we might see some big black tip sharks because they were circling our boat not even a hundred meters from where we were snorkeling, but they probably haven't tasted South African prime beef before so they didn't bother to come check us out! ;) 

Kristi looking graceful in the beautiful blue waters
around North Seymour

Later that afternoon at Dragon Hill we saw some really massive old land iguanas, their bright yellow and orange skin showing beautifully in the dry sandy terrain...since these guys have no real predators, they really strut along like they own the place! 

"And it's bad, bad Leroy Brown...the baddest man in the whole damned town..."

The next day at Puerto Ayora, we took about a 45 min drive up to the highlands of Santa Cruz to a place called El Chato. Here we got to see one of Galapagos' most famous specimens, in fact it was from these guys that the archipelago got its name...I'm talking of course about the giant Galapagos tortoises. Back when the first Spanish ships arrived they thought the shells of these giants looked like saddles or 'galaps' which then morphed into Galapagos. Anyway seeing these huge 'ou toppies' (they can grow older than 150 years!) in the wild, slowly going about their business, was really awesome! 

That evening we cruised all the way south to the island of Floreana, where the next morning we made a dry-land outing to Punta Cormorant. Unfortunately not named after the famous flightless Cormorant found in Galapagos but rather after an US Navy ship. We thought we might get lucky, but instead of cormorants the nearby lagoon did have a big group of native Greater Flamingos, standing dashingly on their stilts with their flashing pink attire! 

It was a beautiful warm morning, which we got to enjoy thoroughly on this pristine white beach a couple minutes walk from the lagoon...

Later that morning we headed to the famous snorkeling spot, corona del diablo, or devil's crown, which is an old volcanic crater whose walls have been worn down in certain sections to now vaguely depict the image, from afar, of a rocky crown...

Can't recall what the joke was...But Kristi's the only
one laughing so it definitely was one of mine!

It's really cool to see but the true marvel unfolds only when you peer below the surface! Diving in you are greeted with such an abundance of marine life that its almost overwhelming! 

Swarms and swarms of fish of every size and colour swimming in every direction, massive towers of coral rising from the depths, white tip (reef) sharks eerily cruising by and big spotted eagle rays gliding effortlessly on the ocean currents...

It was really an awesome outing, the Galapagos is the second largest marine conservation area in the world, after the great barrier reef, and this is evident in the healthy stocks of marine life! 

Let sleeping sharks lie...

Later that afternoon we made a visit to the legendary 'post-office bay' also on Floreana island...It's essentially just an old rum barrel with a hood over the top, constructed by the early inhabitants of Floreana as a means to keep in contact with the civilized world. Ships passing by would look in the 'mail box' and check if there's any mail going in their direction and in that way facilitated the delivery of messages, and it's been working like that for over 200 years, and still going! 

Hopefully a South African will drop by here in the next year or so!

Now it's just tourists of course that check the mail and see if there's anything that they can take back to their country to mail. We didn't find any South African addresses, unfortunately, but amazingly we did find a Zimbabwe address! So Simon, whose family still lives there, took up the responsibility to ensure that the mail will find its intended home! We posted a couple of letters too, so hopefully within the next year or so a South African will make a similar visit to post office bay! Ek dink seker eers wanneer die Rand weer versterk...so dalk nooit nie...;)

The (Zoro) Masked Nazca Boobies

For our second last day we visited the southern most island of the archipelago, Española...which is another big nesting site for the masked Nazca boobies, who look like they're wearing Zoro masks,  and the very impressive and large Waved Albatrosses! 

Waved Albatross!

We also got to see another specie of marine iguanas, these guys are slightly pink in colour and the males turn a bright green along the limbs and spine when the hormones kick in...

These nesting grounds are teeming with life, whether it be the adult Albatrosses coming in for a landing like big Boeing airplanes, or the Nazca boobies feeding their chicks and calling their partners for more food! 

"Frikkie bring nog kos die kind is al weer honger!"

The commotion is endless and wonderful, we went to sit at this amazing viewpoint on the edge of the cliffs with a massive blow hole underneath us, where the incoming waves sprout upwards with a thundering force! 

The view was insane, Kristi said that she felt like she could sit there all day among the basking iguanas, watching the Albatrosses soar by and hearing the whistling cries of the boobies all around us...Punta Suarez - definitely one of the highlights of our Galapagos adventure!

That afternoon we headed to a small island just off Española, called Gardner Islet, to see if we could find some sea-lions to play with...and boy did we get to play! The young cubs are really playful and go bananas when they spot you swimming in the water. They wizz by you with such jovial ebullience that after a while you can't help but try to do some underwater back flips and barrel-rolls of your own! Which I think was their entertainment for the day - funny humans...:) Nevertheless it was great fun! 

That evening we cruised east to San Cristobal, which was the last stop on our cruise...We couldn't believe it went by so quickly! San Cristobal has one of the bigger towns in the archipelago, and also a big research center which we visited in the morning and got to learn a lot about the history of the islands as well as their unique geographic and scientific properties! It was very interesting and informative...

Chill time on the Floreana...bottoms up!

We then had to say goodbye to Victor and the Floreana crew after yet another delicious lunch (we sure are going to miss that food), and got dropped off at the town harbor. We had a couple of hours to kill before our speedboat to Santa Cruz was leaving so Simon and I decided to squeeze in one more snorkel while the girls chilled on the beach. He saw a beautiful little spot earlier with some sea-lions and very clear water so we went to check it out...It was really cool, the whole bay was lined with this luminous green algae, which in the sunlight looked like fields of green grass...Also we got to play with the sea-lions again which just never gets old! So a good way to end off a really fun and amazing experience! 

The locals call these islands the enchanted islands and it's easy to see why...

We were mesmerized by the diverse beauty of the islands, by the wonder of how life adapted on these once rocky volcanic outcrops to not only survive but flourish...

Land Iguana - North Seymour

We were amazed to witness the abundance of wildlife act so naturally, so unperturbed by our presence, in their natural environments...

Marine Iguanas basking on the rocks at Espanola Island

It's a magical place and one that definitely should find it's way onto most people's bucket lists! 

Unfortunately all good things have to come to an end and if there was one regret from our side it's that we didn't have more time to spend here because there is still so much to see! Alas, it's back to mainland Ecuador for the four South Africans, for some surf in the rustic seaside village of Montanita...I know, tough life!

Adios Galapagos, we hope that you'll remain enchanted for many years to come!

Huaraz and the Rajucolta Trek

The city of Huaraz itself is nothing to write home about, lacking the charm of the colonial squares and historic architecture prevalent in most other South American towns. This is in no small part due to the fact that a massive earthquake pretty much wiped out the whole area back in the 1970's...

Regardless, it is only when you look around, above the city skyline, that you realise why this isolated town attracts so much attention. Nestled in the heart of the impressive Cordillera Blanca mountain range, the city has become a hot-spot for mountaineers and trekkers from around the world...

Often referred to as the 'Himalayas of South America', the Cordillera Blanca range is home to the largest concentration of 5000 m+ mountains in the world, which means there's a ton of hiking options and all with tremendously scenic routs...We had our minds initially set on doing the very popular Santa Cruz hike which is a 4 day trek past some of the most famous mountains in the area, one of them being the peak that (apparently) inspired the logo of the motion picture studio, Paramount...yes that one...

Anyhow, we needed to rent some gear, so we went to a local trekking agency, Huascaran, where we met the very amicable owner, Paulino...

Paulino talked us through the Santa Cruz trek, how long it will take, how far we'd walk each day, how much it will cost etc, and just as we were mulling it over, he tossed us a curve ball...He said that his agency had recently started a new trek, that takes you and I quote, "much closer to nature and the mountains" with hardly any other people...Just us, the mountains...a donkey driver, who would act as a guide, and two donkeys...

Sjoe toe blink ons ogies ewe skielik! 

New, relatively uncharted 4 day trek, prestine surroundings, donkeys...This guy knew how to snare a couple of South Africans...# die groot trek...

We simply asked where we can sign up, and how quickly we can get going...he said the next morning 07:30 sharp...which was perfect!

We were able to hire the tents, mattresses and cooking gear from him as well which meant we just had to go buy the food for the 4 days which had to be packed in these wooden boxes that gets strapped onto the donkeys! Old school camping!

We managed to get most of what we needed from the local market and a pretty decent grocery store, and were satisfied that we weren't going to upset any animal rights group with the weight of our boxes! All our gear was then set aside ready to be picked up in the morning...

Ready to hit the trail!

The taxi picked us up bright and early the next morning, along with all our gear and food, and we headed about an hour and a half southwest to a small mountain pueblo (town) named Olleros where our donkey driver and two donkeys were waiting for us...We didn't have too much stuff, just our food and our tents, so it was quick work to load up the 'burros'!

Fields of gold

Our first day's walk took us from the outskirts of Olleros, up and around the grass covered hills that lay above the town, the air getting thinner with each ascent. With our final stretch we headed into a shallow valley with a breathtaking glacier topped mountain looming mightily in the center and, as is common in the area, a turquoise watered lagoon, lying at the foot...

First night's camp site - Laguna Shaqsha

This picturesque spot was where we set up our first camp! We got there quite early so we had a lot of time to set up our tents, have lunch, and walk up to the glacier...the views up there in the afternoon light were insane!

That night Joh-nell and Simon cooked up one of the best meals we've had in the last two months! A splendidly creamy Alfredo pasta with linguine, and crushed oreos mixed in cream for desert (amper nes 'n mcflurry - het so aan my klein sussie gedink!)...It was a perfect setting and a great way to start our trek!

Up at the glacier - Laguna Azulejacocha

After a very cold night we reluctantly got up in the early hours of the morning to prepare breakfast and pack up our camp site, but we were soon greeted by the first rays of sunlight and a blue sky which at least boded well for the morning's walk...We experienced our first hiccup, literally of biblical proportions, when our donkey got stuck in the mud! Shame the poor guy was quite stressed out but after unloading him and a collective shove we managed to free him from the quagmire.

We then crossed straight into another valley, again with a beautifully imposing snow-capped mountain towering over the horizon.

However while we were enjoying the awesome scenery, our donkey driver, Victor, still quite young and not that experienced, ploughed on ahead, leaving us with little more than a worn out animal trail to follow...so ja it didn't take long before we were completely lost and scaling up a mountain while he and the two burros were backtracking through the valley in search of us! After much back and forth we managed to find each other again but then it was Victor's turn to lose the trail, or at least it seemed so, since he had to stop and ask for directions a couple of times when we passed some locals. In the end it was a long day of walking, and quite a bit of climbing but with unbelievable backdrops of snow-capped mountains piercing the soft blue winter sky...

Our second night's camp was mid-way up the narrow Rajucolta valley, next to a strong flowing river. It was a bit lower than the previous night and a little bit further away from the nearest glacier so the night was not as cold as the previous one. Dinner was tomato based chorizo pasta- Suné's camping speciality!

Rajucolta Valley

For our third day of hiking, we planned to take it to the next level and traverse a nearby mountain pass, i.e go right over one of these 5000 m behemoths!

The donkeys obviously weren't able to tackle such an endeavor so we had to say goodbye to 'burro uno' and 'burro dos', and Victor. Which also meant we had pack the remaining food in our backpacks, and strap on our tents but fortunately we were joined by our specialist guide, Amino, who was leading us up the mountain and could help carry the load!

Laguna Rajucolta

The first hour and a half's walk was just a gentle meander up the valley to Laguna Rajucolta, but once we got there and looked up at the sheer mountain slopes rising into the morning sky, we knew we were going to be in for a tough one!

En jislaaik, we didn't know the half of it...half pad op toe voel ons ons kan nie meer nie, my vrou se ogies was nat van die mismoedigheid, elke asemhaal was 'n uitdaging, elke enkele voetstap 'n toets van karakter! Die pad op het net steiler en steiler geword, later aan, teen die einde, moes ons hande vier voet die berg uit klouter soos bobbejane!

Lunch spot half-way up...

It was by far the most hectic and testing experience that Kristi and I have had to endure, or maybe on par with my hellish half iron-man experience of 2015, but in the same sense probably one of the most rewarding...There's nothing like enduring a hardship to bring forth that jubilant sense of accomplishment! 

As you can imagine the views up there were spectacular, with only the snow-capped peaks of the surrounding mountains visible at that height - and it's amazing how quickly you forget about the ordeal that you had to endure to get there!

On top of the wooooorld!

After lots of photos and celebration we had to start our descent, which in many ways was probably more testing and definitely more dangerous! We had scurry down steep sections of loose rocks and gravel, Kristi took a bad tumble on the rocks and I saw my backside a couple of times on the gravel!

Skiing down a black slope

It took another two hours to get down which took our hiking time for that day to a long 10 hours, needless to say we were "uit pype" when we reached our final camp site! That night the Veenstra's cooked up another delicious pasta, and we literally just passed out in our tents afterwards!

The final morning was an easy walk down the valley to where out taxi was waiting for us, which was fortunate because I don't think the four South Africans had much left in the tank!

Tenk is leeg!

After dropping off all our gear back in Huaraz, we managed to organize a shower at the (very nice) hostel where we stayed prior to doing the trek, El Jackal, and afterwards headed to our favorite restaurant, Andino, to spoil ourselves with all the food we've dreamt about the previous few days...french fries with lots of tomato sauce for me, juicy steak + salad for Kristi...:)

That same afternoon we able to find a bus to Chimbote, where we booked an overnight bus to the northern Peruvian surfing town of Mancora! Which is where we'll be spending our last few days in Peru, primarily enjoying the sun, the beach and maybe some surf if the waves look alright!

Hola Mancora,,,Mucho gusto!