Galapagos!

Travel ain't always what it's cracked up to be...

They say getting there is half the fun, or it is about the journey as much as the destination. Hard to believe when you are sitting in airports for hours on end, or bouncing in the back of a pickup truck on roads under construction or hanging onto your bags.

In case of transcending from the jungle over the Andes to Galapagos, it took two days of river running, bouncing buses, long waits in airports (four to be exact), an appearance by the Ecuadorean army (on their way to manouvers), fog and turbulence in Quito, a short ferry ride from one island to the next, and riding in the back of a pickup truck loaded with luggage to get us to our destination - Santa Cruz Island, 1,000 Kilometers off the coast of Ecuador in the mid Pacific.

Galapagos better be worth it!

I am pleased to report that overall, the sights and wonders of Galapagos live up to the billings. Swimming with sea turtles, hovering over sharks, watching a variety sea rays gliding along below or frolicking in some ancient ritual, and snorkeling through schools of multicoloured fish made it all worthwhile. The giant tortoises hanging out in their natural environment were a bonus along with various iguanas and multiple species of birds that make the islands their homes and have evolved in unique ways to adapt to their particular environment.

Galapagos has come a long way from a distant dry wasteland in the middle of the Pacific, a former penal colony, to struggling with ecological disruptions from man and volcanoes.

In the end, while some of the tours on the islands are lacking in quality and organization, feel rushed and are overpriced, the experience was enhanced with the last four days spent on a small yacht, the Monserrat, with an excellent crew and guides. Our time on board came to a close much too quickly as I'm sure there were many more wonders to see around the next point and in each of the many bays we passed along our brief journey.