Back on the Mainland

Galapagos is more than a nature sanctuary. It’s a tourist sanctuary.

We’ve arrived in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, and it’s even dodgier than Guayaquil. Every street door is secured with several thick padlocks. The local emergency hospital has more security guards than patients. We’re staying in the ‘tourist area’, easily identifiable by its heavy police presence (three outside my window). Makes you wonder what’s going on across the rest of the city.

The city itself is old - many period buildings from when the Spanish first colonized. Streets are paved with cobblestones. Great for the horse and cart, not so great for cars.

Our hostel is owned by a guy called Rhina. He’s from Napier. His hostel is full of hippie students and one might describe the atmosphere as ‘cultist’. Between the veganism and new-age yoga, it’s all too liberal for my taste – half expected someone to start reciting the communist manifesto during the communal dinner.

They offer a hostel dinner for US $5, definitely safest having surveyed the local options. Inevitably, however, meat was off the menu and the portions were tiny. The wifi is also switched off at 7pm so that people are forced to talk. The irony of insisting on conformity is lost on these non-conformists.

Incredibly, we were all ordered to bed at 11pm. In a student hostel! One of the minders/gulag guards mumbled something about meditative quiet time. The wifi doesn’t even stretch to our rooms.

Eyob and Louis are hiding in their rooms. The resident yoga instructor is on a recruitment prowl. I’m off to get a decent meal.

Pics: (1) A gun emplacement on Galapagos; (2) The local Basilica; (3) Louis and Eyob walking up to it.Read more