Travel Blog '09 -- Part 9 -- Galapagos Day 1

**This is an ongoing series recapping my last vacation. I vow to finish it before the 100th anniversary of said vacation.**

OK, you've waited long enough. Now let's talk about boobies!

Blue-footed boobies, that is.

Pervert.

On the morning of March 10, 2009, Dolphin Trainer™ and I took a cab to the airport and for the fourth time paid a totally different fare for the exact same route. I guess cab fares in Quito are like stock prices. They rise and fall each day, reacting to the volatility of traffic.

We had to go through an additional inspection for our baggage to be allowed into the Galapagos because the flora and fauna on the islands are so sensitive to introduced species. To ensure that the delicate ecosystem was not disrupted, they made every effort to hardly look at our bags at all as we went through the special inspection station.

From Quito, we flew to Guayaquil, the second of Ecuador's two "fabulous" cities, to fuel up for the 600 mile journey west to the Galapagos. That stopover lasted 45 minutes and I learned that they won't let you use the restroom while the plane refuels. Note to terrorists: threaten to flush during fuel up to guarantee that your demands will be met.

On our flight to the islands, we noticed some passengers wearing blue "Galaxy" buttons on their shirts. The Galaxy was the name of the yacht we would be traveling on during our cruise. Our travel agent gave us those same buttons and I asked Dolphin Trainer™ if we should put them on so people could identify us. He shook his head and explained that we were still in high school and it wasn't "cool" to wear our buttons during the flight. Then he adjusted his letterman jacket, gave a skinny nerd a brown swirlie, and went behind the gym to smoke a cigarette.

Our destination island was San Cristobal, the second most populous Galapagos island and home of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, the capital of the islands. We landed on a small runway, got off the plane, and waited outside in the hot sun for a few minutes before they opened up the airport for us. Seriously, the doors were locked when we arrived. I think the janitor finally let us in.

While waiting in line to go through customs, we noticed three girls in their twenties wearing their Galaxy buttons and we suddenly decided that it was now the "cool" thing to do. After getting our bags, we met our naturalist guide for the cruise. His name was Carlos and he looked like a South American John Stamos. Everyone on our trip, including all the men, were smitten by his soap opera star good looks, adventurous spirit, and practically unintelligible accent. We asked Carlos if we should put our Galaxy luggage tags on our bags (since we forgot to do it before we checked them in Quito), but he said don't bother since they'll easily figure it out. OMG! Isn't his decisiveness positively dreamy?!

Including us, there were 11 Galaxy passengers. As we waited for everyone to get their bags, we met four of them: Bill and Suzanne from Winnipeg, Canada, and fellow Americans Janet and her dad, Robert, from Ohio. Robert, who was somewhere in his eighties, was clearly going to be the oldest passenger on the boat, and he had quite the sense of humor. At least, I think he was joking when he talked about the last time he visited the Galapagos with "good ol' Charlie" Darwin.

We took a short bus ride into town and were given 10 minutes to shop for last minute essentials before boarding the Galaxy. For me, that meant wondering if I brought enough sunscreen and pacing around a convenience store debating the pros and cons as if it were a Solomonic decision. For Dolphin Trainer™ that meant calling his girlfriend for the two-billionth time. For two of the three twenty-somethings, that meant stuffing their faces with ice cream.

We boarded an inflatable boat which Carlos consistently referred to as a "dinghy". The same type of craft was called a Zodiac when I went on my Antarctic cruise in 2005. Clearly, awesome-sounding names are not a priority in the Galapagos. As we motored out to the Galaxy, I asked the three twenty-somethings their names.

"Sonia," said one. Oh, that's easy, I thought. I can remember that.

"Kim," said another. Sure, no problem. Two for two.

"Upasha$s9hasan@ywhda," said the third. Uh...what? I repeated back what I thought I heard, asked her to spell it, and then nodded my head as if it was now in my permanent memory. I'm not very good with names in the first place, but Upasana (her actual name) had just signed on for a week's worth of "hey you's" from me.

The first thing we were told when we got on board was that we couldn't wear shoes on the boat. Apparently, this was a Japanese yacht. Actually, we could wear shoes on board if we didn't use them on any of the landings. Not being female and therefore genetically predisposed to bring 20 extra pairs of shoes on a cruise, I'd either have to go barefoot or use socks. And since I have toes that look like a bristlecone pine (plus I was smart enough to not cut my toenails before the trip) this meant I'd be rocking the boat with my socks on.

We were invited into the lounge to relax and enjoy some cocktails while our bags were put into our rooms. Carlos had everyone introduce themselves one at a time and say where they were from. We were finally introduced to Matus and Milena from Slovakia. Although they never said so, I believe them to be the King and Queen of Slovakia. Being humble, they probably just wanted to be treated like everyone else. They must be kind and gentle rulers of their exotic land and we enjoyed the tales of royal adventure they shared with us.

The three girls turned out to be from Canada (the Toronto area). So we had five Canucks in total which meant we'd be hearing a lot aboot maple syrup and hockey, eh? Almost everyone said what country they were from whereas Dolphin Trainer™ and I only had to say our cities, Chicago and Las Vegas, because I think it goes without saying that America rules the world with a mighty fist.

The crew, dressed like they were ready for the 1991 Tailhook Convention, was introduced and we all toasted to the beginning of our trip. Then we were informed that there were two unidentified bags and they didn't know what room to put them in. Apparently we should have tagged our bags after all (although simple math on their part might have come in handy). At first we blamed Carlos for steering us wrong, but then we remembered the "Full House" episode where he played drums with The Beach Boys and our anger subsided.

We momentarily retired to our cabin as the Galaxy left harbor for our first destination: Isla Lobos, where our first group activity would be snorkeling. It had been awhile since I had snorkeled and I didn't start off too well. I did a back roll entry off of the dinghy and one of my flippers immediately came off. Thankfully, Maggie, the guide-in-training and Carlos' assistant, was there to help me put it back on. Perhaps that was the start of her infatuation with me. Oh yeah. We'll get to that.

It didn't take long for me to get comfortable in the water. Dolphin Trainer™ was swimming all around taking underwater video and photos and saving Kim from a "stone scorpionfish" which I think was a name he made up and pretended it was dangerous just so he could act like a hero. The real hero, of course, was Carlos who snorkeled without fins, mask, or snorkel and showed us how twisting around in the water encouraged the sea lions to play with us.

After our water fun, we had our first Galapagos landing on Isla Lobos. We saw marine iguanas, sea lions, and other stuff. I don't really pay attention to names. In fact, I hardly paid attention to any of the information Carlos gave us as I was too busy wondering where I'd pose for my first Galapagos phoon photo.

Our first day ended with a 7pm dinner. We sat with Bill and Suzanne and all they talked aboot was hockey and maple syrup, eh? Actually, we had lots to talk about and it was a very enjoyable meal. The food was great, but I don't remember what it was. It could have been stone scorpionfish for all I know. Near the end of the meal, they mockingly asked us why we were still wearing our blue Galaxy buttons. I looked at Dolphin Trainer™. He turned to look at me. We nodded to each other and then gave Bill a wedgie and Suzanne a titty twister for daring to insult the "cool" kids.