Planet Galapagos
We have not yet finished our first month of travel and we are already 10 days late. The reason : at the end we failed to resist the appeal and in spite of high prices, we went to spend a few days in the Galapagos Islands.
We took a 5 days cruise as it is the only way to access those islands where the most interesting animals live, and after that we stayed a few days resting in Puerto Ayora, a nice little town and yet the biggest in all Galapagos with some 19.000 inhabitants.
97% of the territory is a national park. The origin of the islands is volcanic so they have never been part of the continent. The archipelago is populated by a full array of reptiles and birds that landed there by chance a long time ago: so long ago that some of them have evolved into new species that can not be found anywhere else in the world.
They are probably the most trusting animals that exist on Earth. Birds, Iguanas and land turtles are completely indifferent when you pass near them or their nests, that many build directly on the ground (why bother to build a nest in a high place when there are no predators). And when you go snorkelling, sea lions approaches to pry and make fun of you because you are so slow and clumsy swimming, while sea turtles pass close to you and keep doing their routine as if you were invisible.
So if you like watching wild animals in the open and at a close range, this will be a once in a lifetime experience. You will have to dig through your pockets though, since everything costs twice as much as in the continent, you have a quite important entrance fee to pay for the park and organised visits are quite expensive (and unavoidable since you need to go with a licensed guide in order to access most of the places). But at least one feels that all those rules and limits put in place by the park authorities will hopefully allow to preserve this fragile ecosystem.
P.S.: if you think that what we are doing is an adventure, here is the web page of a Dutch couple we met in the ship. They could be our parents, still they are cycling the Andes ! They started in Patagonia 7 months ago and are heading for Caracas, where they will pick the flight back home in 2 months. Have a good trip Franck and Marianne!
Bea
We took a 5 days cruise as it is the only way to access those islands where the most interesting animals live, and after that we stayed a few days resting in Puerto Ayora, a nice little town and yet the biggest in all Galapagos with some 19.000 inhabitants.97% of the territory is a national park. The origin of the islands is volcanic so they have never been part of the continent. The archipelago is populated by a full array of reptiles and birds that landed there by chance a long time ago: so long ago that some of them have evolved into new species that can not be found anywhere else in the world.
They are probably the most trusting animals that exist on Earth. Birds, Iguanas and land turtles are completely indifferent when you pass near them or their nests, that many build directly on the ground (why bother to build a nest in a high place when there are no predators). And when you go snorkelling, sea lions approaches to pry and make fun of you because you are so slow and clumsy swimming, while sea turtles pass close to you and keep doing their routine as if you were invisible.
So if you like watching wild animals in the open and at a close range, this will be a once in a lifetime experience. You will have to dig through your pockets though, since everything costs twice as much as in the continent, you have a quite important entrance fee to pay for the park and organised visits are quite expensive (and unavoidable since you need to go with a licensed guide in order to access most of the places). But at least one feels that all those rules and limits put in place by the park authorities will hopefully allow to preserve this fragile ecosystem.P.S.: if you think that what we are doing is an adventure, here is the web page of a Dutch couple we met in the ship. They could be our parents, still they are cycling the Andes ! They started in Patagonia 7 months ago and are heading for Caracas, where they will pick the flight back home in 2 months. Have a good trip Franck and Marianne!
Bea
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