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We woke early and headed to the airport for 6am. This should have been plenty of time however we had a bit of a nightmare as the process is different because of flying to the Galapagos - we had to pay the park fee, then have our bags inspected (in addition to security). After queuing for 2 hours to get our boarding passes we finally got fast tracked to the front as we were concerned we were running out of time. We made it though and it was worth it as Kathryn and I had been upgraded to first class!
We had to wait a while on arriving to pay the park entrance fee of $100, but once in the rest was stress free. We took a bus from Baltra airport to the port and then a ferry to Santa Cruz. It was really hot at this point and we were amazed at the clear, turquoise water and couldn't wait to get in.
Once on Santa Cruz island we took a taxi 44km to Puerto Ayora. The taxi driver told as that although Isabella island is the biggest in land size, Santa Cruz is by far the most populated. It was one straight road past vegetation and a few scarce houses and cows until we reached the city where there were schools, shops, hospitals, bars and everything else you would expect to find in a city (albeit a small one). Although we knew people lived here it was still somehow a surprise to see it so built up and much like any other small South American city we had seen, other than the port and wildlife!
We arrived at our hostel 'Galapagos Best Home Stay' where we were greeted by Kevin, the hostel owner. Nathan volunteered himself to go in a separate dorm as there was only space for 3 of us in one. He made friends with some Dutch and South Korean travellers and was later joined by a 'crazy harmonica-playing American'.
Kev offered us a free tour of the small town which was really useful and we had our first sightings of sealions, land iguanas and pelicans near the port. He showed us where the locals play volleyball - they all place bets so it gets quite serious!
We later booked a cruise at Joybe Tours (through Jorge not Hawaii as Nathan called him) which Kev had recommended - we managed to get it for $760 for 5 days on a tourist Superior class boat (not the lowest class but not luxury!) which we were happy with as we were expecting to pay a lot more. This was to start on Friday- we also booked a day trip for tomorrow.
After a late lunch of pizza - including Nutella pizza for dessert - we headed back to shower and change. In the evenings some of the restaurants set up tables in the street so you can choose what you want and eat outside. We headed there for dinner which was a nice atmosphere, Eddy and I ended up having chicken and rice yet again whilst Nathan and Browny were slightly more adventurous and went for the set meal for $4, which included chicken bone soup followed by beef and rice.
It had been a long day and me and Browny both fell asleep writing our blogs with our phones in hand.
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