Monday, February 25 and Tuesday, February 26 – Quito

Before I start, a couple things I forgot to include in my Sunday entry…

During the drive to the volcano, our tour guide mentioned that on Sunday in Quito major streets are closed to traffic to allow for walking, jogging, bicycling, etc. Just like Santiago! And Jakarta! I’m sensing a worldwide movement here!

I’ve spent the last two days mainly working on booking my Galapagos trip. I thought I was so smart waiting until the last minute to finalize my plans. Huge savings would be mine! What I failed to realize was that next week is the carnival celebration in Ecuador. Doh! Ultimately though I got a good boat, with a good itinerary. I probably didn’t save as much as I could have on the cruise, and I know I spent more than typical on the airfare. The flight issue also forced me to head to the islands a couple days before my cruise starts. (but I think that’s actually a good thing) My boat departs on Friday, but flights were either fully booked or exorbitantly priced on Thursday and Friday, so I depart Quito tomorrow. I’m also extended my stay in the islands on the back end of the trip. The cruise ends on Wednesday, and I’ll depart on Friday. So, I’ll have about 9 days total in the Galapagos.

The details. The name of my boat is the Cachalote Explorer. (clicking on the name will direct you the boat’s website) I am taking the ‘Hood’ itinerary (6 days / 5 nights). The list price on the trip is $3,300. I paid $1,920. So, I saved a little over 40%. I heard of others saving more than 50%, and I could have done that on some of the other cruises I was quoted, but I didn’t like the ship size (too big) or the itinerary. My roundtrip airfare was $550. I think it’s typically in the $400 range.

I’ve booked a B&B on Santa Cruz island for tomorrow night at $49. Then on Thursday I’ll take a ferry to San Cristobal Island, where my cruise departs on Friday. (I still need to book my Thursday night hotel)

I’ve read that the internet service is rather slow on the major islands, and I’m not sure if we’ll even have any service on the boat. So, this could be my last entry for the next 10 days or so. I’m sure you’ll miss me. Right!