Breakfast today was at the tables in front of the hotel with our feet in the sand and a nice morning view of the ocean. Shortly afterward, we were whisked away in a taxi for a short drive to the dock.
Little Planes and a Wall of Tears
We began the day with a big, early breakfast of eggs, fruit, toast, and cereal at the hotel and then left to catch a morning flight from San Cristobal to Isabela, the largest but youngest island of The Galapagos Islands.
Kicker Rock and La Lobería
For our first whole day in the Galapagos, the plan was to snorkel at Kicker Rock and a beach named Cerro Brujo and to visit La Loberia. Kicker Rock (the Spanish name is León Dormido, because it’s supposed to look like a sleeping lion), is a large rock formation off of the coast of San Cristobal which took about 45 minutes to get to from the dock in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.
Travel Day to the Galápagos
We left the hotel at 6am to return to the airport to catch our flight to the Galápagos. I got my first glimpse of Cotopaxi, which is now smoking. It had a series of small eruptions in the past year which caused the park to be closed, but now it is reopened up to the base camp (the “Refugio”). At the airport, we found out our Galápagos flight was delayed 5 hours. The silver lining: it was a great opportunity for me to finish my homework!
Exploring Quito
The next morning, we had breakfast before meeting with Tomas for a tour of Quito. Neither of us had seen Tomas since graduating, so it was fantastic to catch up after so long! We started by meandering through churches and beautiful public squares in the Old Town portion of Quito.
