Tuesday, May 3rd to Friday, May 6

The Frigate bird and chick

Blue footed boobie

Mamma bird and egg

Mamma and Chick

Two blue footed boobies courting.

 

North Seymour. Up at 5:30 to get one last hike in. It's already warm and humid. The walk should last 11/2 hours. This should be renamed mating/nesting island. Wow. Love was in the air. There were couples everywhere you looked. The blue footed boobies were doing their mating dance. The male frigate birds had huge, puffed out red chests. This whole part of the island was a nesting farm. We saw birds with their eggs, new hatchlings, and unfortunately some little ones who didn't make it.

 

We go back for breakfast and sail to Baltra Island  where we disembark and head to the airport. John and Anna are catching a flight home to Puget Sound today. The rest of the gang is hanging out in Puerto Ayora for the next two days. We hop on a bus which takes us to a wharf where we get on a ferry. A few minutes later we arrive at our destination. We get off the ferry, hop on another bus and drive to the airport. Here we say goodbye to John, Anna, and Darwin and hello to our new tour guide, Jimmy. We hop on a smaller tour bus for the 12 remaining members of our group. We make a few stops along the way. The first is a sink hole made by a volcano. No one was interested in going for a short walk around part of the caldera. We were tired after a week of non-stop activities. Our second pause was at a homemade distillery. They grow sugar cane and use it to make a type of moonshine. It's actually legal as they sell it. They also cultivate coffee beans and make brown sugar. We had a chance to chew on sugar cane, drink some straight moonshine (agh!), drink some coffee, and eat a combination coffee beans and brown sugar. I didn't mind it and I don't even like coffee. It was fun. It was an interesting visit.

 

Jimmy and the farmer.(sweet guy)

Tom and Jimmy juicing the sugar cane the old fashioned way.

Jimmy showing us the coffee beans.

Using the tool for crushing the coffee beans.

The moonshine fermenting

The farmer testing the alcohol content.

 

We were offered a second drink of moonshine, this time mixed with sugar cane juice and lime juice. This made drinking it a lot easier. I actually liked it. We could buy some coffee beans and  moonshine. (we didn't get either one) We are off again and now to our final destination- Puerto Ayora. It's 12:30 so we quickly check in, freshen up and go off for lunch. Our restaurant has already been chosen. There is a demonstration on how to make ceviche (raw fish, veggies, lime juice). It is all mixed together and left for a while. We had a chance to order some for an appetizer, but I didn't. The food was very good here. We get some time for ourselves after lunch to do some window shopping and check out the town. It is not very big. We walk to where the fishermen/women are cleaning the fish.

 

At the cleaning station

Cook showing how to make ceviche

 

Ron and I walk toward a beach for about 20 minutes. We then turn around and head back to our hotel. Not quite the same quality as the one in Quito. It's ok, but lots of renovations taking place, so noisy, areas cut of because of fresh paint, pool closed, etc. 

Our guide Jimmy makes a suggestion for dinner. He takes us off the tourist trap area and we eat with the locals. It was good Ecuadorian food along with drinks. (Cuba libre, Mojitos, Sangria, beer) We then stop at an Ice cream shop and have some Helados. yum! Then it's back to our rooms and sleep.

Jimmy suggests a hike to Tortuga beach the next day. Ron, myself, Bob, and Connie are the only takers. The others just want to relax and shop. We meet Jimmy at 8 am the next day. (Wednesday) Connie arrives but Bob is not feeling well so they decide to stay. So off we go with our private guide. We take a cab to cut off one km. We arrive at the beginning of the trail.  

I am walking with Jimmy. He's teaching me some new words in Spanish.

After about 45 minutes, we arrive at the beach. The first part is only for surfers. Too rough for swimming.

We continue walking and see a heron.

This is the calm beach. You have to come early to get some shade under the mangroves.

Someone is taking a nap.

Lots of sea iguanas on the surfers beach.

We stay at the beach for almost 3 hours. Jimmy loves it there so he doesn't mind. We walk back to town and hotel for a shower. We finally head out for lunch around 1:00. We go to a restaurant that was recommended to us by a member of the Samba. His family owns the place. We each order a beer and unknowingly they only serve the big size beers. Ah well, we were thirsty after our hike.  We then do some shopping. Our final meal as a group with our guide is at 7 pm. 

Thursday, May 5- We get picked up at 9 am and head to the airport. Our flight is around 1 pm or so. Our flight takes us first to Guayaquil then Quito. We arrive at our final destination just before 5 pm. Our drive takes us to our hotel, Mansion del Angel. We make reservations for dinner at 7:45.

Our flights Friday begin at 11 am. Our first leg takes us to Bogota, Colombia and onto Toronto. We overnight to take a flight with Porter at 8 am to Ottawa and then to Moncton. We arrive in Moncton at noon hour. Good to be home, but a trip that we will remember for a long time to come. So lucky and happy to have taken this trip. The most unique and wonderful experience of our lives.