I have heard the gift shop there is epic.....you can even pick up the classic "my biddy went to the galopogos and all he brought me back was this shirt and a gay turtle"
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They have really reduced the number of tourist allowed (hence an increase in price). We heard that it used to be that you would land on a beach and basically queue for walk around the island paths. Now I think it is regulated that you need one naturalist for every 20 guest (don't quote me). We had 2 naturalist for a 20 person cruise ship. Every day we would have a land or water excursion in after breakfast and one after lunch. On the land it was just us. A few times we were on beaches with other groups.
Our ship had two sister ships. One was under repair. the other we saw all the time. There was a Carnival cruise at the same time we saw every other day. they had about 100 people. They had to anchor pretty far out. we could get within five minutes of the beach.
The naturalists were vary strict with where you could go once on the islands. Got to respect that.
I feel like my posts are all over the place. There were a lot of awesome things I want to say. I hope these aren't too scatterbrained.
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life only grows outside the reach of the supernova
Ha, I've been meaning to put up photos of my trip for the last half year. The place was amazing...once in a lifetime type of experience.
It's good to go through the photos to remember the trip. Like you said, trip of a lifetime. We couldn't really afford it but it was the only time we both would have a month off at the same time so we made it happen. We were in Galapagos for a week. Peru and mainland Ecuador too, they are very cool countries.
We didn't do the Nazca lines but we did go to Sacha Lodge on the Napo river. http://www.sachalodge.com/
I would highly recommend. I watched Survivor Man in Ecuador before going and was kind of scared but once we got there it was awesome. It was so damp and by the end of our four day in the rain forest we were ready to get out.
If you go do the Galapagos last. Best to end an adventure holiday in paradise. Everyday that month we were up super early and had a local guide, even in the cities. It was kind of a draining vacation but we experiences so much.
FYI anti-malaria meds made me feel awful but real malaria would be way worse.
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life only grows outside the reach of the supernova
Ivan Lopez aka I-Lo was one of our naturalist. He wrote this song and it is him singing. On the ship they would wake us up with island songs and this became a favorite of all the passengers.
I'm looking into a trip here in the summer of 2017. Any new suggestions or advice?
The time frame (July/August) is set and I will be doing a cruise with G Adventures, as I have a credit with them that I need to use. They have many different options and I think I've chosen the islands I want to see, but that changes whenever I look into it.
I also will likely be in Quito for a few days first. Sounds like it's not the best city. I'm a pretty experienced traveller, but not quite as adventurous as I used to be.
Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
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Quito is a bit sketchy, we made sure not to be out at night. I think the only thing we did there was go to the Cathderal. Pay the extra bit and do the walk up to the top, it is really neat, you walk through the ceiling, and then can climb up the tower. Other than that, not sure what to do in Quito...
We ended up staying in Puerto Ayora and did day trips because we didn't have enough time for a cruise. This worked out fairly well. One of the highlights was swimming with otters and turtles on San Christobal. Their is the Darwin centre in Puerto Ayora which is a mini zoo. Worth going to on the first day as it gives you a good overview of what you will see on the islands. Also the only spot we saw tortoise's romping, grunt grunt!
We didn't find Quito sketchy at all. We loved the city and found it safe, but we stayed where the tourists stay which is walkable. I suggest you do a side trip to the equator and there is a bit of an interpretative park. It's cool to walk on the equator. Combine the Galapagos with a trip to the Amazon. It's a long way to go not to, I feel.
We didn't find Quito sketchy at all. We loved the city and found it safe, but we stayed where the tourists stay which is walkable. I suggest you do a side trip to the equator and there is a bit of an interpretative park. It's cool to walk on the equator. Combine the Galapagos with a trip to the Amazon. It's a long way to go not to, I feel.
I agree, I didn't find it bad. We were warned to not go down the streets with the tarp markets in them. but the city was amazing in it self. Get the taxis to use their meters though.
another side trip from quito (as the one suggest above is cool) is to go to otavalo (for the market) and cotachacci
also we flew out of quite to Coca for a 5 day trip to the amazon and stayed in a lodge there too.
I agree, I didn't find it bad. We were warned to not go down the streets with the tarp markets in them. but the city was amazing in it self. Get the taxis to use their meters though.
another side trip from quito (as the one suggest above is cool) is to go to otavalo (for the market) and cotachacci
also we flew out of quite to Coca for a 5 day trip to the amazon and stayed in a lodge there too.
The Otavalo market is the biggest market in South America. The vendors would be all "senior! Senior!" In my direction, I'd say no, no then point at my wife "seniorita" behind me and they would all be like "ahhhhhh" and bug her. She didn't think that was funny. I hate shopping. But that market was something else.
I also went to Tena in the rainforest which was very cool (I got sick and thought I was going to die) Banos, a mountain town, was fun, we went paragliding off the side of a mountain with an exploding volcano in the distance., I'll never forget that. Also, Cotapaxi is a big mountain just outside Quito that you can hike. We rented a driver and went there for a day. You chew a Cocoa leaf for altitude sickness, you'll need it.
The coolest part of Quito was taking the tram up into the hills/mountains (the city was in a valley) and doing hikes up there. It was like another world, so, so cool.
Last edited by Johnny199r; 12-29-2016 at 08:42 AM.
A couple comments based on my experiences
1) the less time spent in Quito, the better
2) there was a definite correlation between price and quality of boat. The lower cost boats were really basic.
3) it's Ecuador, so there are rules and then there are rules, if you catch my drift. I have no doubt they will spoil the entire area within time
4) you should be able to find a basic, but clean hotel in Quito for cheap. It won't have a tv, but even if you do find a room with a tv it won't likely have many English channels.
5) if you can afford the trip, consider flying from Quito to Cusco Peru to do Maccu Piccu as well
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We did a Peru trip and ended with 5 days in the Galapagos. Unless you have lots of time I think it would be tough to combine a longer Galapagos trip just due to how flights work. You also have to book Maccu Piccu waaay ahead of time.
My friend is in Ecuador as we speak she has been sending some great pictures, her family is visiting the Galapagos within the next week. Looks beautiful.
No Galapagos for me but I did tour the west coast in search of some waves. Really liked Canoa and Montanita. Found some great affordable artwork in salinas as well. Ecuador - neat country!
+1 for Quito. One of my favourite places I've visited. I spent 11 days there and you had to be extra careful there but it shouldn't discourage anyone from going. One just has to be more cautious compared to being in a country such as Canada.
I spent a week in the Galapagos; first went island hopping for a few days on a yacht tour, then did a budget tour on Isabela. The wildlife I saw wasn't even comparable. It's hard to make your way to that part of the world so I recommend to do the boat tours. If you can spend the extra money, do it, but if you can't, still try to visit.
We did Galapagos, the Amazon and Machu Picchu all in one trip last month. Loved all three. If you can do all it'll be the trip of a lifetime. I don't get the dislike for Quito. We loved the city.
I'm glad to hear positive things about Quito from some people here. I was planning a few extra days in the city, to get organized (and allow some wiggle room if there are flight delays) so I'm glad I won't have to spend it confined to my hotel room.
