Thursday, March 7 – Puerto Ayora

Sadly, my last day in the Galapagos. All good things must come to an end! Today I took a hike to Tortuga Bay. It was a nice walk through town followed by a fairly long brick-lined path to the beach. TripAdvisor recently named Tortuga Bay one of the Top 10 beaches in the world. I’ll let you be the judge!

Friday, March 8 – transit from Puerto Ayora to Quito

My flight to Quito was at 11:30am, with the recommendation being that passengers should leave Puerto Ayora three hours early to allow for the wait times to catch the ferry to Baltra Island and the bus to the airport. Instead of taking the bus to the ferry I opted for a shared taxi at a cost of $10. That’s double the bus cost, but worth it to confirm the timing and reliability of the ride! (I’m a big spender, I know!)

Since I was departing the next day for Cuenca, I just booked a hotel near the airport. The hotel cost was $29 (incl breakfast), with an $8 transfer from the airport and a $5 transfer back to the airport. (the higher pickup cost must be due to the fact that somebody was waiting for me at arrivals) I’m loving all of that!

Saturday, March 9 – transit from Quito to Cuenca

Cuenca is known for its historic city centre, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It also has a mild climate due to an elevation of 8,400ft (a nice break after the heat of the Galapagos!). And finally, the city has shown up on many “best places to retire” lists. (Not that I’m thinking of retiring here! But it must be a decent place if it makes the lists, right?) So, for all of those reasons, I thought it was worth a look.

I will be here until Thursday. I booked a B&B for $39/night (nice!). The round trip airfare from Quito was $119. Here are some pictures of the B&B; it’s a very nice place! (And did I mention it was $39/night?)

Step Count Update: As predicted, the pace I set in January was unsustainable. On January 31, the average daily step count for my trip was 17,500. My average now stands at 14,200. Still not bad though, right? Especially considering the number of days I’ve spent at high elevation!! I have noticed one thing that I think is kind of cool – I’m on pace to take 1 million steps for the trip.