we started on the island, san cristobol. we landed in this little tiny airport, paid the $25 entrance fee (we have residency, so didn't have to pay the $100 tourist fee) and found a taxi. when we told the driver the name of our hotel, he told us it no longer existed, so we settled for a cute little place facing the beach. the sun was already kind of starting to set, so we headed to the beach for a little dip and saw our first sea lions aka lobos marineros. after a lovely beer on the beach watching the sunset, we headed back to the hotel to rinse off and get ready for dinner. we ended up going to this tiny little restaurant and having some fresh seafood. since we had traveled forever during the day and also the night before, we called it a night pretty early.
the next morning we went to a beautiful totally uninhabited beach. the sand was made up tiny little white shells and the water was as blue as blue can be. i've never seen water so clear in my life. we lathered up on sunscreen (and still got fried) and jumped in the water. we recognized some people we had seen at the airport who were there snorkeling and let us use their masks and snorkels for a bit, only to see HUGE turtles swimming under us. the beach was also full of sea lions of all sizes. we pretty much sat right next to a whole bunch of them and could have touched them if we wanted to. we stayed there all day just swimming and taking pictures. later that afternoon we headed to a little store, bought some provisions and then headed to another beach to camp. i wasn't really keen on the idea, but didn't want to be the party pooper, so i went along with it. the beach was absolutely beautiful but SUPER buggy. we sat around eating peanut butter (which cost $7) on tortillas and talking about our experiences. the night was super hot and super buggy, so we ended up not getting a lot of sleep, but definitely enjoyed the scenery.
the next morning we woke up at 5 (still dark) to head to a ferry that would take us to another island, santa cruz. earlier, we had talked to some friends and got a name of a guide in santa cruz that would be able to help us out. we got there not knowing who was going to greet us, but the super guapo man, Yaz that did totally made our trip. yaz is 24 and has lived in santa cruz his whole life and is super knowledgeable about everything the galapagos has to offer. for $25 each, he took us snorkeling all day to the most beautiful beaches i've ever seen. not only did he take us on this incredible trip, he also let us stay for free at his house and took us out that night too.
the next morning, we headed to yet another island, isabela, which i think i my favorite looking back. this island wasn't very populated and definitely wasn't very modern, but the people were so genuine and the beach was incredible too. the first night, we got there kind of late so just walked to beach for awhile. we were looking for something to eat when two cute boys came up to us and invited us to their concert that night. we thought it was going to be a couple of them just playing at a restaurant or something.. WRONG. after meeting a few super fun locals, we accompanied them to this concert at a stadium pretty much and waited for the band to start. the band was absolutely incredible playing all sorts of salsa, merengue, bachata, etc. naturally i fell in love with one of the members and somehow even scored his number. we went to bed at probably 3:30, waking up the next morning at 7 to hike a volcano. not such a good idea. this tour would have been fun if it was like an hour or two, but instead it was 5 hours of hiking through mud.. not my kind of excursion. we went home, changed into our suits and headed to the beach. we played in the water awhile and ended up at the most beautiful bar called the pink iguana. we sat around listening to the owner play his guitar, watching a volleyball game, and also listening to the waves crashing... amazing.
on thursday, we headed back to santa cruz to meet up again with Yaz. we hung out, got some lunch, and then once again, headed to another beach where Yaz met us later with snorkeling gear and an underwater flashlight to check out the little fishies at night. after this, we went out dancing and had a great time. friday morning, Yaz had planned this great little boat tour again to see some more wildlife. we ended up anchoring the boat and just relaxing on the water... beautiful. then we went to the most adorable bar i've ever seen. it was in the middle of nowhere and was in the sand with hammocks and swings. we spend quite a few hours there just laughing and enjoying life. after a much needed nap, we did a little more dancing and enjoying our last night on the islands.
saturday morning we woke up thinking we would have plenty of time to get to the airport. little did we know it would take almost two hours to get there. i got pulled out of the shower, and we took off running to the airport. needless to say, we made our flight and our goodbyes were very hard to our new favorite buddy, Yaz. all and all i would change a thing about our experience. this was a trip i will never, ever forget.
miss you all mucho :)
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