Santa Cruz (Galapagos) – 
Puerto Ayora
I use the early morning hours to sneak out of the hotel and walk to the fish market – the sun has just risen and the fishermen have to bring their catch to the market.
A good decision – this early there are really great photo motives here: While small trawlers frequently dock at the small market, more and more pelicans have gathered on the square. Relatively patiently, they wait for the remains of the gutted fish to be thrown to them.
This is not the case with the two sea lions that squeeze through the legs of the harbour workers: They are also grateful for some fish scraps, but you can see that a little snack is not enough for them. Not just once do they manage to steal a whole fish and jump into the water – simple prey.
I slowly start to get hungry and decide to make my way back to the hostel. Since we have already packed our things yesterday, we have enough time to have breakfast. “What time is it?”. “Gin-o-clock!” – the gin-tonic in a can is still in the fridge and has to be drunk before our flight. Gin for breakfast? Why not – even though Verena is looking very skeptical .
Maybe we should have looked beforehand at the bus timetable – because the bus seems to have left just 10 minutes before we reach the harbour (on the other hand we can’t find a timetable). “They leave when they get full, which can take a about 15-20 minutes” we are told. Bad luck – we probably have to take a taxi to Baltra. Well then… The distance from Puerto Ayora to the narrow doesn’t seem that long this time – maybe because I decide to close my eyes for a moment. 25 USD is the price for the ride. Hmm, actually I thought that we only had to pay 20 USD? “All right – but you’ll get it with as many coins as possible…”. Damn Taximafia .
Baltra Airport
A few minutes later, after a short crossing with the ferry, we are already in the bus to the airport. We hand in our luggage, walk through the security check and wait for our boarding call.
A call comes – but not for boarding, but rather an announcement for Verena to report to the security. “You should have hidden the little baby sea lion a little better…” I grin and follow her to the security check.
Ena disappears behind a door with a police officer and comes back after a while having my backpack triumphantly in her hands: “YOU are to blame!” The scanner recognized a lighter in my backpack – sure, I did pack one. I get it out and the officers give the all-clear – it’s just a mechanical one. I get it handed to me and am even allowed to take it into the airplane in my hand luggage ( ! )… Now that’s new.
A few minutes later we are already sitting in the plane and continue to Quito. “Great, if you want to take a lighter into the cabin, you just have to put a mechanical one in the checked baggage (which is by the way allowed) and hope that it will be detected “.
The flight back to Quito is great: We got seats on the right side: We get to see the Chimborazo, the Cotopaxi and the Tungurahua one after the other – a terrific view.
Quito –
Just 2 hours later we reach Quito as well. Our next hostel is located in the district Mariscal – luckily there seems to be a shuttle bus that goes “in that direction” – for 8 USD per person “Aero Services” seems to be a good choice. All right! But unfortunately “in direction to Mariscal” seems to be a matter of interpretation: The last stop is about 8 km from our hostel – great . Nevertheless: a taxi to our hostel costs 5 USD. Thus, on detours we saved at least 6 USD in comparison to a taxi ride from the airport .
Our hostel this time is “Hostal Caribe” – quite okay-ish, but certainly not a 10/10 like advertised on booking.com .
Plaza Foch
We won’t do a lot today – just head to Mariscal Foch (also called “La Zona”) and decide to eat dinner at the restaurant “Azucar”. There is a huge selection of local specialities. What’s special: As we arrived quite early, there is a glass of the house’s own red wine to every dish – which is really, really good. We end the evening with some cocktails, while a guitar player starts to play some songs. Great .
Just some crazy guys playing baseball with a metal pipe and a tincan
