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Ren and M's Excellent Adventure
After many hours trawling Quito to find a decent boat to board we managed to secure a place on the Floreana to sail around the Galapagos Islands.
On arrival in Galapagos the easy transfer took us from the airport, by bus to the port, a boat over the canal, a bus to the bottom of the island and then on to the boat for lunch.
When we boarded we were faced with the smallest space I have ever seen for two people, two people even as slender as myself and Renato! - however based on horror stories we have heard elsewhere it seems we got a good deal - hot water, own shower, good food and a generally spacious yacht offering diving as well as snorkelling.
On the boat we had two mad Dutch girls. An Ozzie girl and her father, a very british Andy as well as a smattering of Canadians and other UK-ites.
The first stop was to visit giant tortoises in their natural environment and this was quite amazing, not only are they HUGE, but have the funniest faces and move in the strangest ways. When we discovered 10 at a mud bath we realised there was more to tortoises than initially thought as the large amount of natural gas that was escaping from them in the mud bath sent our whole group into fits of giggles, very mature I'm sure you will agree.
On naughty terms the captain of the boat had to win hands down, yes even over Renato, he had an extremely cheeky smile and was a very funny character as was the diving instructer, Jimmy.
I will let you look at the pictures as they tell their own story but this has to be one of the most amazing experiences so far. One of those places you always thought about when you were a child and never thought you would visit!
Apart from the scenery and animals other highlights included the captain teaching us to play the Ecuadorian game cuerenta, and then myself and el capitan beating the pants off Renato and Danielle - one of the dutch girls.
Jimmy nicknaming Ren Spaghetti man.(unfortunately this came with the understanding I was Spaghetti woman!)
Snorkelling with white tipped sharks, sea lions, turtles, eagle rays and sting rays.
Seeing a Manta Ray leap out of the ocean about 50 metres from me (he must have been 4 metres wide!)
The company on board was brilliant and we all went out for dinner in Quito when we returned.
Today we leave for Lima, Peru and straight onto Iquitos in the Amazon Basin where we take a boat 4 hours into the jungle and stay in an Ecolodge - I feel my fear of cockroaches disappearing as we speak..........
LOL & wish you were here
X
Ren & M
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