Where in the world is Lani?

Im here! This morning I left Quito at an unacceptably early hour (7am) en route to Galápagos. Our plane flew for about an hour to another stop in Ecuador to re-fuel which took about 1.5 hours! Afterwards, we started the main leg of the trip to the islands, which took 2.5 hours. On the way, I got my obligatory ham and cheese sandwich as plane food again....

We landed in the airport here, which is on Isla Baltra. The only 2 things on Baltra are the airport & a port where the ships leave. Thats it. The rest of the island is desolate - filled only with dust and giant cactus. It was a shock to come from the fully populated Quito to a place where the only thing happening was the wind blowing the sand into our faces.

I quickly hitched a bus (it was literally driving off without passengers - thank god I got on) to the port which is 10 mins away. I then loaded my backpack on top of a transport boat (no ropes to secure your luggage - yikes!) and took the 10 min trip to Isla Santa Cruz. Once on Santa Cruz I hitched another bus 45 mins to the centro.

Santa Crua is very different to Baltra - lush, tropical, raining and sooooo humid! We drove through rain, wind, sun and heat before arriving at Puerto Ayora (the main tourist part of this Island). I quickly found somewhere to stay to get my heavy backpack off my shoulders.

I then raced to book my boat trip, as its a very competitive business here and most boats fill up well in advance. I was hoping to join a boat that 2 of my mates from Chile are on at the moment, but it was completely FULL so had to go with plan B.

So, I booked a 3 day cruise to Isla Isabela - supposedly the most beautiful of the islands - which leaves today 2/3 and returns 4/3. We cruise to the island, go riding on horses, tour the volcanic area and snorkel!

After that, I return to Santa Cruz for a day before heading off 6/3 returning 13/3 on an 8 day boat tour which encompasses most of the other islands here. My boat is called "The Friendship" (corny I know...) but should be an excellent way to see the islands. After the 13/3 I fly back to Quito 14/3 for a week before Brazil. The cost of the 2 tours combined was just under $US1000 which is pretty good. I think I saved about $US500 by running the gauntlet and booking all my boats here at Galápagos instead of on the mainland, which is good.

Hope I´m not prone to sea-sickness???

Ciao from paradise

Lani