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After a false start this morning (I forgot the ipad wouldn't have automatically updated the time change without a wifi connection so we got up at 3:45 instead of 4:45...took me a couple of minutes to realise and then we went back to bed for an hour!), we arose early and had some breakfast before meeting the rest of the group we were to be touring with for a 5:30am pickup. We drove the hour back to the airport to get our flight to San Cristobel Island, the main island in the Galapagos archipeligo.
Arriving into the main airport is actually quite amusing. There is just a building. Well, more a shed actually. Here they check your transit card you purchased on the mainland and then your $100 National Park fee. It must be in cash and they just seem to throw it in a box under the desk...I wonder how much of that money actually gets used for the National Parks?
Anyhow, we collected our luggage and met our naturalist and tour guide for the tour - Enrique. We had our luggage collected off of us and then we made our way to the port to be taken by dingy to our boat. There are sealions every where in the harbour - including on the boats and dingy's! Now, our boat's not as flash as some of the others in the harbour but it is lovely all the same :) Emma and I have scored just about the noisiest room on board I reckon. Our bathrooms got to be next to the generator room! It's been non stop since we boarded!
After a quick lunch (pasta and garlic bread!), we headed back to the mainland and a trip to the highlands of San Cristobel Island. Here we visited one of the Galapagos tortoise breeding centres that have been set up. You are able to get quite close to these beautiful creatures and we managed to also see some birds and lizards and iguanas during our wander through the facility. We stopped on the way back at a stall at the side of the road and sampled some of the local organic banana's...yum! Whilst doing this, the lady in the stall made fresh cheese empanada's...yummy too! And only took her about 2 minutes to make one for everyone!
Once we arrived back in town, we got some time to have a look around. Unfortunately as it was a Sunday, quite a few of the shops were shut. We walked all along the front of the harbour and then back for the last dingy back to the boat was at 5:45pm. We had a quick nap before our meet and greet with the crew at 6:45pm and dinner at 7pm. We've met most of them informally already but it was funny seeing them all in dress whites. Not many speak much English between them but they still manage to communicate what they want you to do! Dinner was not that appetising to me so it was a very early night to bed.
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Mum Sounds like you are having a great and exhausting time.Is food spicey?