The first thing we did upon arriving was to call our selected agent to facilitate our check in. In the Galapagos it is the law that we have to use an agent and we are unable to disembark until the process is initiated.
We then set about finding an internet connection which seems to work ok except certain features just don’t work. Accessing our email using local clients doesn’t work so we have to go online. My Picasa picture uploader also does not work. But enough other things work for us to reconnect and see what’s happening in the world.
Probably as a result of it being Good Friday it took nearly four hours for our agent to show up during which we cleared the boat and rested. As mentioned before I used this time to set up the dinghy and go and visit Leu Cat nearby. While waiting we heard from Sail Away on the radio who we’d met around Xmas/New Year in the San Blas. It’s not so much a small world but a narrow path we traverse.
As soon as our agent had our passports we were good to go ashore. We took the same water taxi as our agent and went to explore the town of Ayora. Helen was immediately drawn to the supermarket right by the dock. Once we’d had the customary price check we were free to walk around the small town taking pictures. One remarkable thing about the place is how clean it all is which is a very nice change.
We didn’t stay too long as we had a 5pm engagement aboard Leu Cat for sundowners. We took some ice as their freezer was having problems and plenty of beer/wine which we unceremoniously downed having spent the last week dry.
After a few hours of pleasant company we went ashore to eat out. As we alighted the agua taxi we bumped into Tim and Ruth and kids from Kamaya who we met in Panama City. They’ve been here for a month and loving it. They’ll be heading west for the Marquesas about the same time as us which will be nice. We learned from them about a nice back street where the locals eat so we went there and had a very enjoyable meal.
It was nearly 11 before we got back to the boat. We were exhausted. Nice to be in a new place and better to meet up with old friends.
This morning we’re off to the Saturday market and later we expect to visit the Darwin Center.
I’ll leave you now with the track of our crossing.
View 2010 Galapagos Crossing in a larger map
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