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Saturday, March 31st - San Cristobol and back to Ecuador |
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Galapagos Islands March 23rd To April 1, 2007 |
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Well, our final day has arrived. After a very rough cruise from Santa Cruz back to San Cristobol (Kristin found herself needing to sleep on deck as she was getting quite ill in her cabin!), we awoke back in the port from which we had departed from seven days ago. We enjoyed our last breakfast on the Evolution and headed back to shore after making our farewells to the crew that had taken such good care of us for so long. |
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Since we had some time to kill before our flight back to Guyaquil, we made our ways over to the Interpretation Center. This center was built about ten years ago and focuses the history of mankind on the Galapagos Islands - the good, the bad, and the ugly of it. It the went on to show how the current inhabitants were making the most of their efforts to live harmoniously with the Islands and their ecology. It was an excellent presentation that managed to convey the message without coming across as preachy. The presentation was truly an excellent way to finish our visit to the Islands, wrapping up the entire trip: geology, evolution, human history and current problems and its solutions. |
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Victoria inspecting the relief map of the Islands. |
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View of the port from the Center. |
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After spending an hour at the Center, we made our way back to town for some last-minute shopping before heading over to the airport. We visited the shop owned by Alex’s family (even saw some of the t-shirts he had designed) before heading over to enjoy a last drink in a café just opposite the port. By 11:00, pretty much everyone had finished up their shopping as well and we were ready to go to the airport.
Victoria killing some time before we leave → |
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After checking in at the airport, we began the prolonged process of saying thank you and farewell to our two naturalists/guides, Boli Sanchez (left below) and Alex Cox (center below). The two of them were a major part of making our trip the memorable experience that it was while becoming friends we’ll remember for a long time. We even ran into Roberto (right, below), the ship’s captain, who was on his way back to the mainland for two weeks of down time. |
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With a relatively quiet trip back to the mainland, we reached our hotel in Guayaquil around 2:00. We had promised Victoria some pool time, so she and I headed down while Kathie grabbed some shut-eye. We had one more event, the farewell dinner with the rest of our shipmates before we started heading our separate ways. We thoroughly enjoyed our week with these people from all over the country, including Kate and her parents (Diane and Bob) from Cleveland, “Little” John and his parents (Jack and Cheryl) from Alabama, Anna and Johnnie from North Jersey, Lisa the Vet from Indiana, and all the rest. This was a truly magical week for us that will be very hard to forget. |
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Next: The MV Evolution |