After breakfast this morning, we got a taxi to take us into the town of Puerto Ayora. It is where pretty much everyone else eats, sleeps, and drinks on this island. It does also apparently have its own microclimate that is very different than where we are staying in the highlands. When we were planning what we needed to take for the day, we both brought our rain jackets because the weather looked rather ominous. Once we drove down the hill, however, the clouds quickly gave way to a very intense sun.
The 15-20 min ride cost us about $7 and we began the long walk to a beach from town. It was a 35-40 minute walk on an undulating path that eventually opened up to a wide beach at Tortuga Bay. Despite its name, we saw no tortugas. We did, however, see a pair of marine iguanas at the water’s edge. This was really interesting to us. The marine iguana is a species that can only be found on the Galapagos. As the name implies, they spend time swimming and eating algae off of rocks underwater. When they come back to shore, they snort saltwater out of their nostrils.
They looked like little dinosaurs or dragons with a rather fierce countenance. While we observed the pair at the water’s edge for a spell, nobody else seemed to really care at all, as if marine iguanas just hang out at all beaches around the world. I found it a bit perplexing. With no protection from the shade, the sun felt very hot. We are after all quite close to the equator (hence the name Ecuador by the way).
The wide beach eventually narrowed, rounded a corner by some lava rocks, and became another beach that opened up to much calmer protected waters compared to the crashing waves at the wide beach. Many locals were swimming here. We found a tiny morsel of shade underneath a mangrove. I was quite hot, and thought about going for a swim in the water, but I put my foot in and it felt like a warm bathtub — hardly refreshing.
After regaining a tiny amount of strength for the return hike, we set out once more underneath the sun. We stopped near the lava rocks that split the beaches, where we watched some more marine iguanas swim ashore to rest. They really are fascinating creatures. We saw some people swimming or snorkeling unfazed while the marine iguanas swam right next to them. Are people just completely oblivious or are marine iguanas that boring to people?
Anyway, we finally made our way back to the path, which by now had very little protection from the sun. We fantasized about beverages. We brought some water, but it had long since been consumed. After walking for maybe 40 minutes from the start, we got to the Galapagos Deli. This establishment would get some good business from us today. Our first order of business was to get some beverages. And the ice cream also sounded rather appealing. Coca-Cola (the real sugar kind) with coconut ice cream is a rather delightful combination.
While the deli didn’t have AC, we sat there for a spell attempting to recover our strength. Eventually we got up and continued exploring the town. We were looking for our usual tchotchkes. Nicole got a handcrafted wooden watch and a statuette of a blue-footed boobie. It is now imperative that we actually go see a blue-footed boobie or this little statue will be meaningless to us. Nicole also got a pin for her camera bag and I picked out a magnet that had a giant tortoise on it. The ornament is all that remains.
We were more or less planning our stops and stores based on how comfortable it was indoors. Some had AC which was pretty exciting. Eventually, we decided to sit down at another cafe just to rest our legs and cool off in the shade. I had a late lunch of chicken schnitzel, obviously a very Ecuadorian meal. Because our hotel is in the highlands, we had to plan our dinners for tonight and the next day because we will be dropped off late in the afternoon and won’t want to deal with going into town just for a meal. We ordered a couple pizzas to go from the deli. They were ready in a shockingly quick eight minutes and nearly burned my hand. We then hopped in a taxi back to our hotel in the highlands where we popped them in the refrigerator in the common room. Hopefully none of our fellow guests get tempted by them.
Tomorrow we get picked up and taken to a boat that will take us to North Seymour Island. There we hope to see some blue-footed boobies and other creatures. We will get picked up around 8, but I suspect we will sleep well tonight.
passports & pepto bismol 