rakish richard's rants...

Stockholm Syndrome

Loyal Readers,

Welcome back after our sojourn to the Galapagos, and by hokey don't we have some tales to share. There was a lot of adventure on the high seas, marine adventures, the whole gamut. But it's a mammoth story, so settle yourselves in if you want to read the whole lot. I've just tried to cut down the 800 photos I took into a selection from the blog, and realise I might actually have too many photos of seals...

The start is a good place to begin, so I'll just take it one day at a time...

7th - Day 1 - A eye-wateringly early start and off to the airport for our 7:30am flight, on local carrier TAME. We stopped briefly in Guayaquil (like the buses, the planes regularly stop along the way to collect more passengers), and arrived roughly on time on the island of Balta, where the airport is. It's always reassuring when you are flying over open ocean to find the little dot of land you're looking for. After paying our $100 park entrance fee (more watering eyes) we collected our luggage. They have a pretty interesting system here; the bags are unloaded by hand off the plane, then taken into a room where they are laid out on the floor roughly in the shape of a baggage carousel. 'Cos of course they don't actually have a baggage carousel... We were met by Freddy who grouped us together with the people also on our boat (the soon to be infamous M/Y Friendship, but more on that later) before telling us we had to wait for the next plane and more people. I don't know who organised it for us, but the Vice President of Ecuador arrived on the next flight, that's his entourage waiting on the tarmac in the pic. Huge land iguanas had to be shooed off the runway before they could roll out the carpet. After our long wait we were pleased to be put on a bus/boat/bus combo to take us across to Puerto Ayora on the adjacent island of Santa Cruz. We were rolled into the local restaurant for fish and rice and to meet the rest of the group, 17 of us in all.

After some confusion as to where to leave our luggage (weren't we staying on a boat tonight?) we were shepherded off to the Giant Tortoise centre on Santa Cruz, where we got our first taste of the ridonkulous nature we were going to be seeing. They aren't kidding when they call these things 'giant', and they roam (slowly) around in what's basically a paddock, grazing on the grass like cows with shells. Which is actually very much what they're like when you take time to study them. They're not really able to run away from people, so their reaction to fright is to pull in their extremities (their legs fold up to create an armoured shield where the gaps are) and exhale a deep hissing breath.

After the giant tortoises we took a little wander through a natural lava tunnel, created when the lava flows back underground and water washes it out after it's hardened. That was pretty mad, in parts it looks like it's been made by a machine, and is beautifully sinuous and smooth.

We had a guide for this visit but she didn't mention anything about accompanying us on the boat and we were starting to wonder what was going on. We were back down in Puerto Ayora for dinner (just three hours after our lunch) when we started asking some simple questions, like when are we getting on the boat? Freddy explained first that there was a small problem with the boat, first telling us it was stuck in the harbour 'cos it was low tide. If this was true then it didn't exactly inspire faith in the nautical abilities of our crew. Fortunately for us, it wasn't true. We were subsequently told the boat didn't have enough fresh water, had just been painted, and several other obvious lies. Credit be to Klaus (one of our group, who used to be a management consultant) who asked for the captain so we could find out what was going on. the 'captain' came down to explain that we wouldn't be boarding the boat tonight and would have to stay in a hostel - not a great start. We organised to swap a couple of days of our itinerary and were assured by the captain that we wouldn't miss anything in our schedule. Unsure of whether we had a guide, or what we'd be doing tomorrow, we retired to a local bar to get to know the group while drowning our grumbles in Pilsener. The town was hopping due to festivities put on for El Vice Presidente, and we parked up in our hostel to await the next day...

8th - Day 2 - We were greeted today by our second guide, Sebastian. He was a ray of sun after yesterday, fluent English and very capable, we were somewhat comforted and started on our trip around Santa Cruz, going first to the Charles Darwin Research Centre to the tortoise breeding centre there. We looked at the little baby tortoises in their hutches (all the tortoises are incubated and hand reared, kept in little enclosures with the breed and year of birth, just like a wine!), before going to see the star attraction, El Solitario Jorge (or Lonesome George as he's known in English). It's a sad, sad tale, George is the last known member of his species, around 90 years old, and hasn't shown too much interest in the ladies in attempts to create a half breed to continue his lineage. That is until earlier this year, when he successfully mated in front of a large group of tourists. They await his potential parentage with palpable anticipation... Anyway, he's in pretty good shape for an old guy (that's him at the left) and I feel priviledged to have seen him.



We also saw our first giant land iguanas, huge spiky yellow things, and fat - which I think is this season's look for iguanas, judging by what we've seen. There were 14 species of tortoise on the Galapagos, but 3 are now extinct. You can tell them apart by the shape of the shell, but I'm still pretty rusty, the Saddleback Tortoise is the easy one for obvious reasons... They have examples of all of them at the research centre and have been really successful in increasing numbers over the last 50 years. We also discovered that they yawn, who knew?

Sebastian took us back down to the port and told us we'd be boarding the boat in time for lunch on board. Turns out this didn't happen, and we had lunch on shore (rice and fish. get used to it) before getting on board around 3pm... The first big argument ensued when we debated how to get 17 people onto a 16 berth boat (that's her at the right). We met the actual captain, after discovering the guy who came to meet us last night was actually the cook! The captain, to use the parlance of our times, was a b@stard, who told us it was 'our problem, not his', and after much wailing and gnashing of teeth some compensation was arranged for the three girls who had to share a two bed cabin. Ana and I were up on the top deck, in a good little berth near the front of the boat, and some equilibrium was restored before we headed out in the late afternoon to Tortuga Bay. We saw our first marine iguanas there, loafing on the rocks trying to soak up the last of the heat, providing just the excuse I needed to take about 65 photos in 7 minutes.

We finally had our first meal on the boat, at the end of our second day. The table was set by the lovely Victor, our erstwhile captain Soto did the cooking, and we were all suitably impressed with our first meal. We met our official guide for the week, the rather strange Fabian. He impressed us all with a whiteboard listing tomorrow's activities and times thereof, and things were looking up. Much wine was drunk in celebration and we retired to our cabins for a reasonably rocky journey to South Plaza overnight.

9th - Day 3 - Hmmm, sleeping on a boat isn't actually that easy! I was in the top bunk, in a cabin on the upper deck, pretty much ideal conditions for mixing a cocktail in your stomach. I actually pulled muscles trying not to roll out of bed, but at least Ana, in the bunk below, managed to sleep like the true professional she is.

We went by dingy from the Friendship to the shores of South Plaza, almost gagging at the stench of the sea lion colonies. Little clusters of females loll about on the shores or bask in the shallows, with their cubs parked up in the rocks. The Bull (or 'Bitchmaster' as Fabian bluntly described him) constantly patrols back and forth in the shallows, waiting for challengers and protecting his harem. We arrived on shore just after a birth, check out the proud new mum and her cub as the frigate birds jostle for bites of the placenta. That's a David Attenborough moment right there...

After lunch we made the short journey over to Santa Fe, accompanied by a fleet of frigate birds who hung in formation just a few feet above the sun deck. I watched them for almost an hour, the male scything between them to nip his rivals and keep pole position. Santa Fe is very dry and bony, covered with a ground covering succulent, which is a bright red shade at this time of year. The seal colonies were plentiful, but more of them had made their way inland 100m or so to find prize perches basking in the sun. They're either fearless or completely used to people, and you can get within inches of them (you're not really supposed to, but as long as you don't touch them it's ok). After our walk around we did our first snorkelling trip, rolling backwards into the water from the dingy like real pros. The water here is crystal clear, clear enough to see the giant bull as he zooms past barking, while we all grabbed one another pointing at the next fish, more colourful than the last. It was a good first trip, and we saw stingrays, parrotfish, and sea turtles. No sharks yet, but it's a waiting game...

10th - Day 4 - It was a long and extremely rough journey overnight. Most people went to bed once we started sailing, it was too bumpy to do anything else. Despite my romantic ideas of travel at sea and being gently rocked to sleep, I'd rather be put in a barrel and hit with hammers than do another trip that bumpy...

Still, the journey was worth it, and we took breakfast in Gardner Bay on Isla Española. We saw a LOT of seals here, who seem to love to sit in the water's edge being tumbled by the waves and pretending to be sharks (well, that's our theory anyway, check out this guy). The cubs are parked in a creche, looked after by one female as they practice their swimming skills. They seem to have an eye for the camera, and flop their way up to our group to practically pose in front for a photo.

On this island are the famous fearless mockingbirds, known for literally climbing on you, cheeping in your face, and demanding entertainment. It doesn't take long to start anthropomorphising animals, but these had real character, and almost frowned at you if you didn't pay them attention. As usual, after our walking trip around the island, everything explained by Fabian, we took to the water for some more snorkelling. The highlight this time was the sea lions, who came over to play with us for several minutes. While the flap around on land, they're like bullets in the water, and they zoomed around us, twisting and looping right in front of you, blowing bubbles right in your face. Strange to be in the water with something so aware and curious of you, a real highlight. Circling further round the rocks we saw our first shark, a 6ft white tipped reef shark. My reaction was less than macho, and experiencing a blood red flash of terror I flapped around like a huge piece of Arch-flavoured jerkey and made the executive decision to exit the water. First time ok, cut me a break!

Our second visit of the day was to Puerta Suarez, to take in more piles of marine iguanas, nesting Albatrosses, and an amazing natural blowhole on the shoreline, while blue footed boobies made their nests around us. It was a lovely evening to sit up on the sun deck of the boat and watch the sunset. I counted the stars as they came out one by one and feeling pretty content. We had a long journey ahead, so we rolled into our cabins after a few quiet wines on the roof, a really good day.

11th - Day 5 - Turns out the boat's engine broke down last night, and we were towed into Punta Cormorant on Isla Floreana by our own dingy. The sand here is tinged with green (due to tiny specs of naturally formed glass), and it's a marine turtle breeding ground to boot. We were lucky enough to see one who'd just laid her eggs and was making her way back down to the waterfront, surrounded by retired Canadian teachers frantically snapping pics of her progress. We also saw the resident flamingoes, vivid pink and much brighter than the ones we saw in Bolivia. The snorkelling trip (to a partly submerged volcanic peak called the Devils Crown) saw me keep my nerve in the face of another shark, and we watched it glide by about 5 metres from us. Once you get it into your head that they're more afraid of you than you are of them it's great to just hang in the water and watch them. There's so much life here that the sharks don't seem to inspire much fear in the other fish, and they all get along strangely well.

Our afternoon trip was to Post Office Bay, famous for being an outpost where whalers left notes to be taken home by returning crews. The tradition continues today, and you can leave a postcard as long as you take one for you final destination. We managed to find one from NZ, which we'll deliver when we're home, before taking the big group photo, 16 times. The engine still wasn't working by this point, and it looks like our guide was given the tough job of taking us off the ship, to the bay, and breaking the news that the repair couldn't be done on board and we wouldn't be continuing on the Friendship. Tempers ran pretty high, there was a little shouting, and Fabian threatened to quit and leave us there. After some handshakes and cooling of tempers we eventually got our bags off the boat and caught a ride back to Puerta Ayora, where we'd started the trip just 4 days earlier. Once again we were put up in the same hostel, assured that we had an itinerary for tomorrow that would in some way fill in the remaining three days of our tour. We had the unfortunate opportunity to email our agent once again with news of where we were...

Many sorrows were drowned on the roof with the rest of the team, and we went to bed knowing we were going to be woken early for (hopefully) a big day over on Isla Isabella.

12th - Day 6 - Up bright and early, but sadly we were waiting around at the port for almost three hours, taking the chance again to email our agent with our woes. We finally got under way around 11:30, landing on Isabella just after 2pm. Fabian (or someone behind the scenes) had actually found us a fantastic little hotel, and after a late lunch we took little boats across to Las Tintorellas, to see the iguanas and reef sharks basking in a shallow grotto. The grotto is a small rift in the rocks, and the sharks come in here to rest and sleep, which the iguanas clamber around on the rock walls, presumably trying very hard not to fall in. We were meant to snorkel, but the light was fading and we took dinner round the corner before our first hot showers in a week and settling into the yard for more drinks and talking with our team - who were now down to only 12. Five decided not to come to Isabella and pursue other options to compensate them for the trip falling to bits.

13th - Day 7 - Things looked good today, and we took a bus up to the volcano Sierra Negra, to take to horses for the 8km trip to the caldera. Unlike the horses we rode in Argentina, I was lucky I think to get the 'boss' horse, who liked to be out front, and was the only one who could be persuaded to canter. The track was pretty greasy and potholed in parts, but after halfway some speed could be reached, and I was on my own when I reached the rim of the crater. The caldera is ten kilometres across, and filled with the black lava of past eruptions, the most recent of which was only 2 years ago. It's impossible to photograph this, but the shot at left is at least a taste, the rims of the crater arcing around to disappear in the mist on the far side. It was just clear enough to sense the size of it. At the end of the trail we tied up our horses for a walk over the fresh lava field, with the volcano gently puffing away on the horizon. We saw some great lava tubes, which I'd never seen before, and the different colours of the rock showed where older and newer flows were. It was a spectacular view over the bay, and the martian landscape made me affect Darth Vader breathing and walk around as if in low gravity.

We ate our lunch under 4 trees, while Darwin Finches and Yellow Warblers hopped around us. After walking back to the horses, and the precarious ride back - it had started drizzling by now - we got back in the bus for the trip back to our hotel. It was meant to be a quick changeover, just pick up the snorkelling gear and Fabian would meet us in 15 minutes to take us to the lagoon. He still wasn't there after an hour (at least it wasn't a surprise), so we made our own way down to the beach for a last swim in the shores of the Galapagos for a while.

Those of you familiar with Beardwatch should be told of the news that after around 75 days of gathering scraps of food and sweat, the heat got too much for me and decided to shave. With the help of a postage-stamp sized mirror and a pair of scissors, much of the ground coverage was trimmed, and I hacked away the rest in cold water with my trusty Mach 3, leaving a little 'Selleck' for dinner. Don't worry, it's been excised now, and I am once again clean shaved and youthfully beautiful.

After dinner, around 8pm, Fabian showed up, telling some brazen porkies before confessing he went home and fell asleep. He was fairly well savaged by the group, but assured us everything was organised for tomorrow and our trip back to Balta to catch the plane. Our Spanish speakers, Rosa and Ann-Katrin helped us form a backup plan with the helpful restaurant owner Antonio, and we retired to our hotel to once again drink and chat. The plan from Fabian was that we'd be leaving on a bus at 5:30am, and while we would all have liked to stay up a little later, we hit the hay with very strange feelings about our last night on the Galapagos.

14th - Day 8, last day - Well, it wasn't easy, but we made it back in the end. It was a beautiful sunrise over the Pacific, and other than some minor delays we all made our flight and got back to Quito. Poor Fabian waved us goodbye at the airport, unsure if he was going to be paid, or really work again on the island. If he hadn't done a no-show on us last night I'm sure he could have pocketed a tidy sum in the accumulation of modest tips, but the goodwill wasn't really there amongst the group. First job on landing was to go to our agent, Happy Gringo, to give a full report on what happened and discuss the refund. To their credit, they were amazingly understanding. Our 8 day tour amounted to staying only 3 days on the boat, a huge change to the itinerary, missing three islands, and endless stress an waiting. They refunded just over half of what we paid, which we had agreed beforehand was what we would accept. It was handshakes all round, and we are very glad we booked through a reputable agent, as we think some of the others in the group might have a much harder time.

So, I hope you're not too sore if you've read this top to tail. It was an amazing trip all the same. Problems aside, we swam with seals, saw rays and sharks, came nose to nose with week old seal cubs, saw Boobies in all their variety, swam in warm seas, saw sunrises and sunsets, and did it all with a really great bunch of people. It's been a huge highlight and the problems will rapidly recede into the depths of forgotten hassles.

We've a few more hours in Quito now before we head to the airport for the overnight flight to Brasilia. Things feel a little rushed, but now I've got some serious Architecture ahead of me before hopefully some lasting beach time. We'll post again from somewhere in another time zone.

A

posted by Arch @ 12:06 PM