7 Oct 2023 Santa Cruz Galapagos to Lima Peru: Verdant Volcanic Vacational

Gentle swaying back and forth had Simon out like a light, whilst I remained shattered but wide awake. Not a bad thing as 6am found us breakfasting, coffee in hand, suitcases dutifully parked outside our cabin door. My fantastic, now not so new, suitcase has great wheels, hence visions of it ping pinging along the corridor with the rolling swells.

The choppy sea made for a more tricky trip to the dock for us and our hand luggage. Watch your step our guide said as we disembarked. Successfully dodging the sea lion poop the culprit was blocking the gangway. He/she didn’t move a muscle as we straddled him/her to reach the bus.

We retraced our route on the main highway towards the airport, stopping en-route to visit los Gemelos. The morning mist hiding the many volcanic cone tips; the countryside full of farms, really verdant, lush and green. The farms a real eclectic mix of well built haciendas via breeze blocks with ties (left for the next generation to expand) to tin roofed shacks.

Disembarking we followed the trail through the mizzle to the first of two volcanic sink holes. We literally stepped into Jurassic Park! Hanging Spanish moss enhanced the illusion. Looking out for velociraptors we saw the Galapagos doves instead; I’ll take peace any day. Especially as the Israeli couple just heard Tel Aviv, their home was heavily attacked by Hamas last night. Fingers crossed their family and friends are OK.

We passed a stop sign. Our guide is full of stories. A few years ago a French family came with children. On seeing the gap in the vegetation one of the boys ran off veered left and launched himself into the 80m deep sink hole! He survived, apparently cushioned by the blackberry vines and dense undergrowth, however the rescue tricky, took 10-12 hours.

Continuing along the muddy trail we came to the second larger and deeper sink hole. They are formed when the larva and volcanic gases push out sideways creating a passage linking two or more cones. Eventually pressure causes the “roof” to collapse leaving a sink hole.

Miraculously our cases had made their way to the luggage compartment on the bus. Relieved I spied them as our party split, journeying on to the airport or back to Puerte Ayora. Fond goodbyes and we were off to the end of the highway and the ferry terminal. A ferry across the Itabaca canal to another transfer bus before we finally walked to the airport on Balta; the worlds first carbon neutral, eco airport. Again, as if by magic, our suitcases appeared. Thanking our guide we headed for bathrooms and coffee, followed by our flight to Guayaquil. Certainly the most complicated transfer to an airport! Zodiac; bus; walk; bus; ferry; bus; walk to arrive at the terminal.

Another small uniquely beautiful airport. Balta island is very different; flat, volcanic desert, lots of cacti, lots of iguanas! Inside the coffee shop we were hassled by Darwin finches. Only the Albatross evaded us. Well I saw one on the final nights slide show yesterday, but not sure that counts.

Finally I slept on the flight to Guayaquil, sprawled across the empty seat beside me. Feeling a bit better I also managed chocolate cake waiting to check our bags through to Lima.

Why vacational? Well today we get to just sit, all be it in a series of airport lounges and planes, so a vacation from our vacation!

Sitting in Guayaquil airport we dined, read, charged devices and updated the blog.

So it's Goodbye Ecuador.

Hello Peru. First stop Lima

Tired we eventually arrived in Lima. One errant suitcase finally located with ground staff's help. We could have done without the delay. Through customs and we were met by the travel agent.

The airport is just outside Lima in Callao, even late at night with traffic it took a while to drive along the coast, by the beach. We saw the lit cross on the hill erected (and relocated) for pope John Paul's visit in 1990s, plus the highway followed the base of the cliff park parallel with the beach. Even this late it looked nice. Cerviche is king, with a mushroom version that's great. Peruvian wine using Italian and French grapes is supposed to be nice as is pisco sour. Apparently Guinea pig is nicer somewhere else than Lima where it's expensive and bad! Venezuela wants to reinstate the United countries of S America, but Peru would rather have their own Peruxit!

As all this was done as a much needed Spanish lesson I may have missed placed or garbled a fact or two!

Tommorrow were joining a tour to explore the city, and taste some culinary delights. Let's hope it is delightful.

Balta airport transfer

(Sunrise from our balcony; the Treasure; Puerte Ayora port Obstacle! ; Itabaca canal; Tranfer bus obstacle in road! ; Darwin finches in cafe; (alternative transport from 1930 we didn't partake); boat docked next to ours; Balta island on take off)

Los Gemelos (Volcanic sink holes)