Baltra – Finally!
A few hours of rest has recharged the batteries a bit, and while no one is thrilled at the prospect of heading back to the airport, there are no outward signs of mutiny. That said, the last part of our journey is a little brutal, starting with a midnight flight to Quito. From there we transfer on to Galapagos, but not before having to check in at a small kiosk and paying a $20 transit tax. Unfortunately, as we know from our past trip here, the kiosk is closed until 6am, so for the next fours hours we’re stuck in the lobby of the main terminal.
The airport folks have clearly tired of people like us squatting in the airport and gone to great lengths to remove anything remotely comfortable. The hard metal chairs all have fixed armrests, and even those are in short supply. I guess it has something to do with homeless people coming in and sleeping on the floor, like this one, who looks suspiciously like Travelin’ Gran.
After more than 24 hours of travel, we finally board our final flight to Baltra (we are flying to a different island than we did when we visited with Sam). The plan is catch a few hours of sleep while in transit, and hot the ground with at least enough energy to get through the day. The baby in front of us is definitely excited to see the islands, and her mom is kind enough to play peek a boo and tickle games all the way so that we could all share the joy. I think some of the passengers in the back complained that they couldn’t hear the squealing enough, but fortunately, if you lift your baby high enough in the air, the sound carries much further.
By the time we finally land, the Roberts party is spent but happy to finally be back.
We still have a short ferry ride (the airport is on its own small island) and 30 minute cab ride to town, but before long we are setting our luggage down in our home for the next week. Given that there are 6 of us, we gave AirBnB another and have reserved a 3 bedroom house a few blocks away from the water. It has plenty of space, and after stocking up provisions at the local market (including Sam’s beloved yogi), gets put to good use for a round of well-deserved naps.
Our day wraps up with a short walk around town to get our bearings and dinner at one of the local restaurants we have read about. Unlike our trip with Sam, the malecon here isn’t full of sea lions you have to walk around to get where you are going. That’s a little disappointing as being so close to the wild animals are some of my best memories of the Galapagos, so finding their hangout on this island is definitely something we are going to have to work on.