OK Teresita Rosita never planned to go to the Galapagos. In fact she was determined NOT to go, seeing as she was going to be traveling for the unforeseeable future and that much money for that little time just wasn't an option in the whole scheme of things. Gee whiz... $2000 could last a savvy backpacker at least a couple of months in Bolivia if not more.
But...
See, the thing with working at a hostel is that you're always talking to people, and the thing with working at a hostel in Quito is that you're always talking to people who are either going to, or coming from the Galapagos. And the thing with hearing really awesome things about a place over, and over, and over, and over again, is that you start thinking that maybe you should just bite the bullet and go yourself.
And so one day, Teresita Rosita took a big chunk out of that bullet and bought herself a plane ticket out into the middle(ish) of the Pacific Ocean. And then she packed up her little green bag again and jumped on a plane.
And it was all damn exciting, until she touched down and saw everyone else who had booked their pre-organised boat tours, or hotel pickups, or personal guides, or whatever it is that people do when they're organised and have money and head off to a bunch of islands in the middle of nowhere.
You see, Teresita Rosita had not done this. She'd figured that seeing as she was now a veteran of Quito and generally all things Ecuador, she didn't really need to plan anything, that she could just rock up and talk to people and work things out as she went along. But then, it wasn't at all like that when she arrived and she was scared and alone and didn't have Colo Rùccula to keep or company, and maybe her Spanish wasn't that good after all and she should have stayed in Quito where she knew stuff and stuff....and stuff.
But she wasn't in Quito anymore, she was in the middle of nowhere, on an island, by herself, and there was nothing else to do but buckle up and enjoy herself and go find herself some blue-footed boobies to make friends with. So she did!
Well, first she met a fellow Australian (surprisingly, they're not hard to pick when you run into them overseas) and they decided to hang out and explore the archipelago a bit together. They saw their first sea lion, jumped off some cliffs into crystal clear fish-filled water, ate lobster and generally decided that the Galapagos was the most amazing place on earth - ever! But that was only just the beginning...
Teresita Rosita then decided that even though it had been over ten years ago (damn, she looked good for her age) that she'd last been diving, seeing as she was in the Galapagos it would just be silly not to don a scuba tank and try and spot some hammerheads. Good idea?
Well yes... and no.
Teresita Rosita had figured it'd be more or less like riding a bike, but the whole breathing under the water thing turned out to be a bit more complex than balancing on two wheels. She put her head beneath the waves and FREAKED OUT!
She gulped at the air that just didn't seem to be coming out of the regulator and came back up to the surface. Maybe she should have thought this over a bit more before she got on the boat...
No!
She tried again.
No dice....
Back at the surface she freaked out some more, then pulled herself together, took some more heaves of air and descended again.
And then there she was. She was under the water and she was BREATHING! Humans were not meant to do this crazy stuff but our little traveller was now a human fish and she was ready to seen what the Galapagos had on offer.
Sharks!
That's what there was.
Sharks, sharks and more sharks.
And you know what?
Teresita Rosita grew up in Australia and had the fear of sharks ingrained into the very blood that she was sure these supposedly "friendly" Galapagos sharks wanted to devour. Swimming next to a whole school of them really isn't conducive to conserving air either, nor is seeing hammerhead after hammerhead emerge from the gloom and glide gently back into it. Teresita Rosita gasped up her air, maybe not purposefully trying to use it all up as fast as possible in order to get away from those nasty sharks, but it certainly helped.
After that excitement, Teresita Rosita decided maybe she should take things a bit easier, so she decided to take a peaceful boat ride over to another of the Galapagos islands, San Cristobal.
Relaxing....
Not so much.
Turns out the Galapagos aren't exactly the tropical, tranquil paradise everyone thinks they are. Turns out there's a whole lot of open water in between each island. And turns out open water is pretty damn bumpy in a little speed boat that only holds 15 people. Teresita Rosita however, made it unscathed, and without the aid of the seasickness pills she'd had the forethought to buy before leaving the mainland.
And it was worth the pain, because San Cristobal was a paradise within a paradise. Teresita had her first swim (of many) with frolicking sea lions and sea turtles. She wandered along deserted beaches and snorkeled in crystal clear bays. She ate amazing seafood and then decided to splash out and booked herself on a cruise for a 6 whole days! She was gonna do Galapagos the proper way.
And...
It was AMAZING!!
She felt like the biggest fraud fraud of all as she boarded the luxury yacht, and got shown to her own cabin with its own little balcony and bathroom with fluffy towels and a shower looking right out over the waves lapping at the edge of the boat. There was a lounge and a sundeck and a dining room and a bar and, and, and...
It was AMAZING!!!
When she was not up top watching the islands and the waves rush by, Teresita Rosita was snorkeling with more sea lions, disturbing the marine iguanas as they sun baked across the footpath, watching blue footed boobies do their wacky dances and generally doing the good things in life, like eating more seafood, watching sunsets and getting gently rocked to sleep by the waves each night. The only downside was getting off the boat and the whole world continuing with its gentle swaying back and forth for the following week, but hey, can't have everything can you?!
Teresita Rosita's final stop in the Galapagos was the biggest, yet least developed island of the archipelago, Isabela. Another 2 hour, spine jarring journey and our girl and her panda touched down upon the sandy shores of Isla Isabela. And there, they didn't do too much really. They met some lovely people with whom they rode bikes, climbed mountains, visited beaches and then danced the night away over the high tide that covered the vast beach each evening. They sun baked, hung with the iguanas and visited hundreds of baby giant tortoises. They snorkeled with more sharks and avoided crashing with swimming turtles.
And then it was time to go.
Two weeks in the Galapagos had flown by, and with a heavy heart and a much lighter bank balance, Teresita Rosita returned to the mainland with a new stamp in her passport and one day left on her visa.
But did she leave the country like she should have? Did she continue on her southern trajectory as she had planned? Did she finally make it to Peru to eat Causa and Lomo Saltado and Ceviche as she had planned?
You'll just have to stay tuned for the next episode of Teresita Rosita Travels to find out, won't you?!
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