A Solo Travellers Mind

After two flights and a long day of travelling, we arrived in Quito, in Ecuador, at about 3am. Immigration was easy, and we were soon in the Uber to our hostel. On our way, the Uber driver told us in no uncertain terms to not go out at night because it was dangerous (lol). Our first day in Quito was a very relaxed one, we went food shopping, we booked on to a tour for the next few days, and we recuperated for a wee bit!
Our second day started slow as i slept in and slept through my alarm. After breaky we headed for our free city walking tour! Our guide Steph was very good, and she turned out to be the best guide we’d ever had! The tour started at the biggest church, where we learnt its history and some fun facts. We went through markets, where we got to watch a lady make Pristinos con miel (dessert – honey bread) and Empanadas with beef and corn, and try them too (they were very good). We also did some alcohol tasting where we actually purchased some of the baileys lile alcohol for our trip to the galapogos! We tried Ecuadorian traditional ice cream and sweets and finished with some chocolate tastings! Along the way, we stopped in the main Plaza to see the parliament building, the main church, and learnt about some of the history behind Ecuador and its politics, its traditions, and culture! It was a really good tour, which ended up being 5 hours!! After the tour, we headed to a restaurant Steph recommended for cheap and local food. It was very good and one of the best meals I’d had in Latin America, if I’m honest! In the eve, we just chilled and packed our bags ready for our trip to the following day.
Our tour began at 7am, where we were collected by Carlos. Today we would be visiting quilatoa, and its very famous crator lake. Tomorrow, we will be going to Cotopaxi National Park to see the volcano! Our day at the lake was very nice, carley, and I went off alone and hiked along the edge of the volcano edge to see the lake below. I then parted my ways and hiked down to the lake edge, braving the climb back up. At the bottom, I met a very cute little dog, who spent some time with me at the bottom of the lake before following me all the way to the top of the volcano! It was kinda crazy! We had a lovely lunch in a restaurant at the top of the volcanic lake, where many doggos watched in, my little friend actually ended up wondering off (even thought i promised her a bone), so after lunch I took all our bones and went out and fed the other doggos on the street. They were all very polite and cute. On the way out of the national park, my little friend re appeared to say one last goodbye, this set carley off, and she started to cry, lol. Once at the hotel for the night, we shared a meal for dinner as we were both not crazy hungry, and then had a warm shower before cosying up to bed, in the fluffiest blankets I’ve ever witnessed!

The next day, we headed into cotopaxi national park, to hike up to the base camp! The hike was super steep but very manageable, if I’m honest, and we soon made it up. It was crazy cloudy, so not many veiws, however it was still a splendid experience! I went a wee bit higher to make snow angels and mark my territory, lol. We then slide our way down before jumping on our mountain bikes to bike the rest of the way down the volcano, with a quick stop at another lagoon! It was very cool, but also crazy cold, especially when it started to rain! But at this point, we are very used to the crazy weather conditions and getting a bit damp, lol. We headed back to the hostel for another amazing lunch before returning to Quito for the night. We checked back into the nice hostel we were in before and made ourselves cosy for the night!
Ecuador, in my opinion, has some of the best potential in South america, and it’s cheap, yet everything is good quality. Has amazing food, and also has TARMACED!! roads. It’s unfortunate that it’s politically struggling right now with the government battling a narco war, but I honestly believe that once this blows over, Ecuador’s potential will sky rocket!

Our first day on the Galapogos was more of a travel/organisation day! We had an afternoon flight from Quito to Santa cruz! At the airport, we collected our TCT form (which some silly folk forgot to do), paid the first of MANY fees ($20), and were on our way. On arrival, we paid the 2nd fee, $200 entry to the island (lol). We then got a bus, a boat, another bus and a taxi to our hostel. Given the prices of the galapogos, you can imagine we stayed in the most cheap hostels/home stays possible. This one was approx $11 per night, and it was actually very nice, we had our own room, got a towel, and had free water refills (perf for us backpackers). We spent the evening exploring the town spotting sea lions, some cool birds, and some pelicans. We made tuna pasta with Mexican style beans for dinner and then headed to our beds. Ready for a fun day to follow!

Our second day on santa cruz was spent with two other British girls from our hostel. We headed on a walk to Tortuga Bay, a cool national park spot on the other side of the island. It’s split into 2 parts, one white sand beach where you unfortunately can’t swim due to currents and a sheltered bay where you can snorkel. The visability was kinda bad, so things were a bit blurry. However, I still managed to spot a huge turtle! After spotting my turtle, I quite literally stumbled upon carley nearly drowning! Carley can’t swim (i have thaught her doggy paddle since being in South america though kinda) and ended up a little too far out of shore, and thus couldn’t touch the bottom. I managed to save carley from drowning, with a combination of pushing and panic swimming with her to shore. Luckily, no one was harmed in this incident, lol. We headed back into town (also getting caught in a small rain storm on the way) for a snack before heading for a canyon swim at Las Grietas (another cool swimming spot). The water was very cold, but very clear, and we got to spot some cool big fish! The evening was spent Tat shopping for carley and the others (I still refuse to buy shit, sorry to my family). We all had an ice cream for $1 before heading home after a BIG day!

Our second day on the galapogos involved an early start to catch the ferry from Santa Cruz to Isabela island. By 11:30, we’d checked in to our hostel (another cheap but very cute place), had made breaky/lunch, hired bikes, and organised our plan for the day. First up, we headed to concha de pearla for a snorkel. This place is meant to be one of the best on the island, and it did not disappoint! We saw seals, turtles, huge fish and star fish and some water iguanas! We then headed out to the beach next door, where we stumbled upon 3 seal pups playing along the shore, which, of course, meant we had to go for a dip with them! At the same time, we saw a sting ray, some penguins, a shark, and some blue footed boobies (blue footed birds)!! It was so amazing and a huge strike of luck! We then took out bikes to the national park and cycled to muro de las lagrimas (the remains of a wall built by prisoners), where we spotted some very hungry gaint tortoise having lunch! I then hiked solo up to a veiw point of the islands coast (carley would have joined, but it was crazzyyy hot and super steap, so honestly, fair enough lol). We cycled back towards town, stopping off along the way to see more tortoises and some cool veiw points! For dinner, we made a sausage and veggie pasta before heading to bed, right as a rain storm hit! The rain caused some MILD flooding in the room, which meant we had to hide out bags on the spare bed in hope the puddles wouldn’t get to them (the perks of the cheap accommodation ay!).

The second day on Isabela Island was spent on a tour of Las tuneles. These are volcanic tunnels that have formed under the sea. We got to see and swim with penguins, sharks, sting rays, and turtles! And we got to spot a sea horse in the mangroves! Me and carley joined forces on this excursion, and I pushed her along in her life jacket. Basically, we became a catamaran, lol. One of the guys on the tour, I assume the second-hand man, also caressed my hand twice while I was getting in and out of the boat, which is incredibly bizarre, but we move… after the tour, we headed back to the hostel for another dinner of pasta and sausages!

Our final day on isabela was a very wet one! We hired bikes and headed for a snorkel back at concha del Pearl. We saw some turtles, including a very small guy, and i saw a massive puffer fish! We also saw a very happy seal and a gang of penguins swimming across the laguna! We then headed for some lunch, where the rain began to pour HARD! Once the rain calmed a little, i headed to the flamingos feeding lake where there was actually only one flamingo, just there alone. It was a semi funny sight! At least it was a nice bike ride, ay. The rain continued into the evening, so Carley and I sat in playing card games and having some drinks (finally opening the Ecuadorian Bailey’s type drink). We headed out for a couple of cocktails at a beach bar (us out at night, who do we think we are!), had some empanadas from a food stand for dinner, and finished the night in a local micro brewery, where we had 5 tasters, including coconut, passionfruit, lemon grass, a blonde and guava. Our night came to a end, once a group of interesting Americans came into the bar and kinda ruined the vibes, lol, so we headed home ready for our very early start of 5am!

Up before the sun raise to catch our first ferry of the day. This was heading back to Santa Cruz. We spent the morning/arvo on santa cruz, making a visit to the charles darwin exhibition, partaking in the spot of shopping, and then having another $1 ice cream before ferry no.2 The galapogos ferry captains have stomachs of steal. On every ferry of this trip, i have had awful sea sickness and needed to just close my eyes and pretend it wasn’t happening, lol. This shit is not for the weak. We arrived on san cristolbal and headed to our hostel. But not before i spotted a blue footed boobie up close on the pier, along with the most baby seal we’ve seen so far! We checked in and found we had our own room with aircon and absolute blessing! We then headed out to attempt to book a tour, sadly it appeared there was no availability for tomorrow, nor any for the next day on the tour we wanted but managed to reserve a place on different boat trip. Made a dinner of toasted sandwiches (utilies the toastie machine in the hostel, hehe) and then chilled after a very long day.

Our first day on San cristobal Island was a chilled one, really. We managed to book on to a tour of Kicker Rock, which has been recommended to us ALOT, and was the tour we wanted originally! So luck was on our side here! We then headed to Muella Tijeretas for a snorkel. However, the current was a bit strong, so we headed down to the beach for a little snorkel there! We had a quick swim here and then just sat on the beach and enjoyed the sun! I had a read of my new book, and then we headed back to the snorkel spot in the hope the current had got a wee bit weaker! There was a life guard working in the arvo, so that was a peace keeper in the mind. On the snorkel, I saw a big shark and a turtle! I didn’t have my phone on me, but a boy had a camera, so hopefully, he sends the videos!! (Reader he did not :() On the way home, we had our bbq chicken from the lady at the food stall again, this time also treating ourselves to a corn on the cob!

Our second day on San cristobal and our last day on the galapogos (sad times) was spent on a boat trip to Kicker Rock! This place was highly recommended, so unfortunately, it meant we had high expectations. We managed to get a spot on a diving boat (though we just snorkelled), which meant there was unreal food and drinks on offer (they always feed the divers well). We had 2 snorkel sessions. The first was a huge swim, all the way around kicker Rock (which is actually an island, lol). Within a few minutes in the water was spotted a Manta ray swimming underneath us, which was crazy cool to see, and the first manta ray I’d seen! We saw lots of fishes, especially in the “cleaning station” where the sharks come to feed + get cleaned. Unfortunately, no sharks were spotted, though! For the second snorkel, we just went to the hannerhead sharks favourite spot and basically sat in the water, waiting for them to appear. I was starting to lose hope when i spotted one swimming pretty quickly in the opposite direction! I thought this was going to be out only spot, but then carley shouted us, and a total of 4 hammerheads appeared and swam right in front of us! Unfortunately, my camera is kinda shit, but luckily, one of the other girls on the boat had a go pro and sent us her footage, which was crazy cool! We got back on the boat, and this is when the second best thing on the trip occurred. I sat at the back, attempting not to be sick due to some mild sea sick sea when I saw a manta ray jump out the water, looking as if something had just fallen from the sky. Then, a few minutes later, I saw another manta ray jump out the water and litterally spin and flip! It was absolutely insane and crazy cool to see! I’m very sad i didn’t capture the moment on record, but I think it’ll be etched into my brain until the day dementia hits! After the boat trip, we headed back to the hostel to shower and organise before finding somewhere for dinner. We headed to a bar with a veiw of the beach for sunset to witness our first sunset on the galapogos because it wasn’t raining at last! And then after much deliberation we settled on a sea food restaurant where I had a very tasty garlic fish and salad dish. It’s a lovely meal to end out time on the galapogos!

I can’t really put into words my enjoyment while on the galapogos islands. One of the places I feel the most happiness in life is when im in the sea snorkelling with animals and getting to see really cool things. And to spend the weak, doing this in one of the most nature dense places in the world is so incredible to think about. To travel means to sacrifice. You sacrifice time with friends and family, both in order to save money to complete the trip, and when you’re actually travelling, but weeks like this, solidify why! I will definitely return, hopefully, with my kids one day, so I can show them all the amazing things I’ve got to see!