Kevin and Joannie on tour

So far on this holiday we seem to have either an activity day or a moving on day.  As we unexpectedly did giant tortoises and lava tunnels on the day we arrived and then a long day's tour to Isabela the day after, this has been the first day we had nothing planned. There are other trips we could go on, but gain they are long days and we just wanted a couple of days on our holiday to relax. So today we had a wander round the town where were ares staying, Puerto Ayora.  In terms of population, it's about the same size as Bolsover or Shirebrook.  The seafront is dominated by tour operators, restaurants and souvenir sellers.  Just behind the front there are more normal shops, including mini-mercados which all seem to stock the same products.  Virtually everything here has to be imported so prices are a lot higher than the mainland. The Island of Santa Cruz, where were are staying, has no fresh water supply nor does it have a desalination plant, so drinking water com...

Isabela is one of the youngest of Galapagos Islands and boasts no less than five active volcanoes.  But we  only have three days here and a trip to see the volcanoes would take up two.  So we settled on a trip to see the local wildlife that cost $120 each. We got up at 5 am (Galapagos time) for a 6.10 start. Vicente collected us and drove us the short way to the pier.  There were hundreds of people there.  Somehow people knew we were on the boat Destiny and we were pointed to a pier to await a water taxi.   The taxis cost $1 and ferry you to the awaiting larger craft, moored in the bay. One of the things we have noticed is that a lot of young people communicate in English though it is clearly not their first language.  Maybe it's our own fault as a ntion, but a lot of them were were using the F-word in place of a more expressive adjective.  One young man was particularly loud and Kevin asked him to stop.  He seemed quite shocked and expl...