Tuesday 27th January 2026: To the Galapagos
Another early start as we head to the Galapagos. We'd pre-ordered a taxi for 7.45 am to take us to Quito Airport.
Breakfast was from 7am, but we had to wait a few minutes before it opened. Breakfast was described as American style, which seems to mean lukewarm coffee, croissants and scrambled egg. For Joan there was two small pieces of bread and jam.
Our taxi arrived and we were then stuck in rush hour traffic. The airport is quite a way out of town. We were glad that we'd ordered the ride early.
At the airport, it was a bit of a faff. We printed off our boarding cards and passes and went to security. We were asked to show our transit cars for the Galapagos.We didn't have them so we had to go to a desk to buy them. It was $20 each and they didn't take cards. We were also told that we would have to pay $200 each to land of the Galapagos at the other end so we headed off to the cash machines. Credit cards are rarely taken here, and, if they are, often an extra 7-8% charge is levied. We always had to be prepared with cash, even for big hotel bills.
After getting our passes, we had to go through a special scanner to make sure were were not bring seeds, plants and other bio-threats into the islands. Then it was the usual security checks before boarding.
Again we were flying Business Class,which gets you a bottle of water, a snack and some extra width and leg room. The flight landed at Guayaquil and then headed off into the Pacific. The Galapagos Islands are just over 600 miles from Quito.
Whilst we were at the airport, we received a message from our holiday house that a taxi would pick us up from near the airport.
Upon landing, we had to go through checks again, with sniffer dogs searching our luggage. On our way across the tarmac we saw Iguanas basking in the shade. Then we had to pay $200 each to land on the island, but this time, they took credit cards. The airport is on a small island called Baltra. It lies north of the main tourist island of Santa Cruz. Once outside, you have to catch a bus to the port (ten minute ride, $5 each). Then there's a ferry across the beautiful Itabaca channel ($2.50 each) before you land on the island of Santa Cruz.
We were met by Vicente who was going to taxi us to Puerto Ayora, the main centre ($30 as compared with $5 each by bus.) For another $30 he offered a trip to see tortoises and lava tubes. Well, tortoises are what you come to the Galapagos islands for, after all, the islands are named after them.
We stopped on the way to see two sink holes called "The twins" where there lots of finches. The Galapagos Finches were one of the things which sparked Darwin's theory of evolution. The finches, however, were difficult to photograph.
Next we went to a tortoise estate, where there were tens of large tortoises, chomping, sleeping and occasionally mud bathing. The senior females can weigh up to 150 kgs and the males can be double that. The marks on their carapace show how old they are and what island they come from. It was amazing to see them up close and personal.
Next was a walk through lava tubes. These are all across the islands and remind you of their volcanic origin.
Then we headed to Puerto Ayora, where we have lodgings. On the road, we saw a tortoise wandering away from town.
We're staying at The Finch House, not far from the town centre. We thought we had an entire house but it turned out to be a room with an ensuite and small kitchenette. It did have air con though as the temperature here is humid and nearing 30 degrees Celcius.
Our trip to the Galapagos was added late to our already very busy holiday. Joan had particularly wanted to go to Isabela to see the volcanoes, but it seems you need two days to do this. We had only three. So, we opted for a day trip to the island to see the tortoise nurseries that Joan's colleague, Clare, used to work at, a trip to see flamingos and a boat and snorkelling with wildlife watching. (This was $120 dollars each)
Payment was, of course, in cash, which meant another trip to the ATM with our guide, Vicente. In our guides, we have read that one danger is express kidnappings. Criminals hijack tourists and take them to ATMs and make them take out all their money. In the UK, there are limits to the amount you can take out per day, but here, it seems you can take money out multiple times. We'd already raided the banks today to pay to get on the islands, but it seemed we could take out more.
Next, we went to Agave Cafe Cafe for dinner, where they served weird diet food. We sat on the pavement and enjoyed the warm evenings.
On the way home, we called in at the many mini-markets to try and get some lactose free spread for Joan. There's no big supermarket on the island like Supermaxi, and all the shops sold really limited provisions. We should have purchased special diet food on the mainland.
Time in the Galapagos is one hour behind the mainland. Our phones though have not worked this out. So we had to work out what time to set the alarm for a 5am mainland, 6am Galapagos, start to visit Isabela.
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