Guayaquil, Ecuador (Post #128)
Mike writes…
We landed in Guayaquil, Ecuador in the early afternoon of May 22. We didn´t yet have a place to stay so I used a call center in the airport to call a couple of places listed in our guidebook. The first was full but i sucessfully made a reservation at the second, Pacifico Hostelling. A few minutes later we were in a cab on our way.
While there´s really only one tourist attraction in Guayaquil (to be discussed in a moment), we were there to arrange our Galapagos trip. All flights from Quito, Ecuador to the Galapagos go through Guayaquil and the flights from there are cheaper so we thought this would be better for us than Quito. Besides, we fly back to the states from Quito and didn´t think it was necessary to do any backtracking (other Ecuadorian cities of interest to us lie between Guayaquil and Quito).
…Just so everyone understands what´s going on here, the best way to get a good tour of the Galapagos Archipelago is take a cruise which visits several of the islands. These cruises are usually from 3 to 8 days and can cost from around $800 to $3000. It is possible to to day cruises but most sources recommend against this due to the time wasted travelling back and forth to the port of origin. This, of course, is debate-able. From early on we felt the week-long cruise was our best option. We had also been planning to book our cruise at the last minute. The guidebook explains that last minute tours are cheaper because operators would rather sell a space for a discount than let it go unfilled. In addition to getting this information from the guidebook, a nice couple from NY whom we met in Puerto Vara, Chile told us they saved 40% by booking at the last minute. This strategy isn´t recommended for those without some flexibility because one can never be sure what day they will be departing and/or returning…
After dropping our stuff off in our mediocre room at Pacifico Hostelling, we immediately headed out to start looking for an agency to sell us a last-minute Galapagos tour. Our first stop was an agency called Galasam. They are recommended in the guidebook but with a word of caution that there have been some complaints. After talking to them, we weren’t so interested in the options they presented to us and the employee we talked to looked like he had been in a boxing match within the previous few days so we were back out on the street. We thought it would be a good idea to seek out the Official Ecuadorian tourism office in Guayaquil to get their list of registered/recommended operators. It was some quest to find the office. It took us a couple of hours but we finally found it and managed to talk to a woman who gave us some suggested agencies. Galasam wasn´t one of them allegedly for the same reason the guidebook cited.
During our wandering around, we stopped by el Parque Simon Bolivar about which the guidebook states ¨Dinosaurian iguanas roam around and stare down small children for their snacks.¨ Yes, this was our one tourist attraction. As we were entering the park, i spotted a couple of medium-sized Green Iguanas (Iguana Iguana). Hmmm… not so impressive… However, the more we looked, the more we saw. They were all over in the trees, laying in the middle of the footpaths, walking in the grass and resting in the flower gardens. Here is a picture of dozens of them in a tree (a little difficult to see).
Funny (or dangerous) fact is, this tree is directly over a park bench. I don´t know who would be stupid enough to sit there because if you look on the ground all around there, it is covered with Iguana poop. Occasionally one can hear the sound of it splattering on the pavers beneath this very tree.
While in the park we noticed a couple of feeding ¨troughs¨ that are apparently filled with vegetable matter upon which these small dinosaurs feed. We suspected there would be more iguanas on the ground around feeding time and resolved to return in the morning at a later date…
After the park, we stopped by another agency, Emela Tours, on the way to one that was recommended. The nice young woman we talked to there, Mariella, told us she would put together some materials for us to look at and proposed we come back the following day (May 23).
So that night we found ourselves some dinner and headed back to our moderately roach-infested room.
The next morning we found ourselves a $1.5 per person breakfast across the street from Pacifico Hostelling before hitting the street to look for our Galapagos tour. We went to a recommended agency and weren´t particularly impressed with what they had to offer. That afternoon we went back to Emela Tours and our agent provided a handful of attractive options to us. In reality, ever since our friends in Puerto Varas told us about their experience with the Galapagos Legend, I had my mind set on booking our 7day/8night cruise on that boat. They had a last minute deal on the Legend that sounded good to us so we went with it. We spent the next 3 days desperately withdrawing the necessary amount of US $ from the ATM (the credit card price was about 9% more expensive.)
At this time it would be appropriate to explain that Ecuador uses US dollars, not its own currency. The dollar replaced the Ecuadorian Sucre in 2000 because of an incredible depreciation of the Sucre over the several preceding years (something like 400%). So, this means, that when one uses the local ATMs, US dollars come out. This was good for us because the dollar is just about the only currency a person can use in almost every country in the world if they don´t have the local currency.
So, after leaving Emela Tours, in the late afternoon, we found ourselves dinner at the waterfront and on the way back to our room we bought an Iguana treat (some type of large bannana).
The next morning, May 24th, we woke up and immediately headed out to feed the Iguanas. We think it was a bit too early for them because many of them were still up in the trees. But, once i started feeding those that were already on the ground, several more climbed down to get in on the action. Here is a photo of one of the park´s inhabitants eating out of my hand (yes, this is the same parkbench i mentioned earlier)…
And here are a couple more hungry Iguanas…
Later that afternoon, we made our final ATM withdrawls and paid our Galapagos cruise bill.
The next morning, Mariella picked us up from our hostal at 9 a.m. to take us to the airport. Once we arrived, she ushered us to the front of the check-in line at the AeroGal counter to check in our luggage and get our boarding passes. After check-in, she waited with us until we went into the boarding area. Her service was great from the beginning.
Our flight to Baltra Airport in the Galapagos departed at 11 a.m. Our blogs on the Galapagos will begin with our arrival at that airport…
Tags: Category #29: Ecuador
Michele Harmon
Oh look, those iguanas are as cute as five little kitties!