Guayaquil again

In the morning we needed to catch the ferry back to Santa Cruz as our flight leaves from there. It was okay at 06:30, we're already used to it by now ☺️😵 We both got a comfortable seat in the back of the boat and then hopped back to Puerto Ayora within less than 1.5 hours. There we quickly split up because I wanted to go to a shop to buy a longsleeve for water activities that I had seen 😬 Julia bought the bus tickets and waited at the harbor. It took me just 15 minutes and we still had plenty of time before the bus left. But it was also the last bus for today on the schedule.
The transfers (bus->ferry->bus) took 1.5 hours and we arrived at the airport 45 minutes earlier than necessary. So we could review our luggage and then check in. As hoped for it went smoothly and we didn't need to pay anything this time 😌 Even though we had the confirmation through different channels we were still a little bit nervous about it. At the airport we got something to eat and finally tried the local Galápagos beer, named Endemic 🍻 Even though it was a craft beer it was decent 😬 We walked a bit through the airport but it consisted mainly of souvenir shops 🤷‍♂️

Overall the Galápagos Islands have been an amazing experience! It's still a little surreal that we've been there, it's something mystical that you see in documentaries and not that you "just" visit 🧐 The wildlife is absolutely stunning and we're glad that this little piece of paradise persisted through the centuries. On the other hand it should be noted that it's excessively expensive where you don't really see why. The policy to keep the island clean and forbid to take plastic bottles and plastic bags with you is ridiculous when you get those everywhere on the islands 🙄 Apparently the money that people spent on cruises doesn't get the local population anything. There's a lot of room for improvement, especially with transparency where the money goes.

The flight back was quick and easy with a tasty coffee to have enough energy to catch up on writing here 😁 Also the internet on the Galápagos Islands has been pretty bad so the upload didn't work ☺️

When we arrived Lissette's father picked us up at the airport and brought us to the Bed & Breakfast. He also brought our luggage that we had left with them. The Bed & Breakfast is pretty close to the hotel and didn't look like it but had a beautiful interior and huge rooms. We unpacked our stuff and sorted out for tomorrow's flight. Then we tried to call an UBER to a nearby mall complex but none accepted so the receptionist called a taxi for us. In the end we arrived just 15 minutes late to meet with Lissette and Erik. We chatted over a bottle of wine and later dinner and had a great evening together.Leggi altro