虹在天涯 在寂寞行星的浪跡

Part II: Puerto Ayora, Isla Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, South America. December 2003 (上)

I looked at the nice tiled swimming pool in the courtyard, from my hotel window. Canary Island palm trees line the poolside . It is such a sunny and breezy day, even we were in the midst of December, just a week before Christmas. But since I was physically located (a few miles) south of the Equator, I was actually in the South Hemisphere, where it is summertime.

I was on the Galapagos Islands, the Ecuadorian islands 1000 kilometers from South American mainland.

One block from my hotel, a bronze statue of a giant Galapagos tortoise stands greeting both tourists and locals. Further more blocks down, at Charles Darwin Research Station, I found baby tortoises crawling around and adult tortoises resting in shallow pools (they did not even bother to greet me). Faraway in the South Pacific, I was not in New York anymore. While I can find places named after some other famous locales there, it is never more exciting than seeing the real things.

Galapagos Islands, a laboratory of evolution, and an archipelago inspired Charles Darwin to write his "The Origin of Species" after his 1835 visit (though that book did not publish until 1859. I bet Darwin needed taking a great length of time to digest his thought... sort of like me). Based on what he saw in different species of animals here, he theorized the process of adaptation and evolution. That book has become one of the most influential books ever published. But, can I, be inspired on the same level like him by these Enchanted Islands? Or I am just like millions of tourists after him, visiting here just for some rushed sightseeing. And treating the Galapagos just as another outdoor zoo?

Zoo, yes. We all come here to see some strange animals in the wild. Since wildlife is the main reason (if not only) why people come to visit those islands. Formed by volcanic activities, those islands are dry and arid and not very scenic. There are not many beautiful sandy beaches here like Caribbean or Mediterranean. Because they are so isolated (the only connection is the airlink to port city of Quayaquil) , it is expensive to visit here. To visit as many islands on the archipelago as possible, most people opt for the cruise-based tour: sleeping on board overnight (usually very small and basic cabin). The ships sail from one island to another in nighttime when passengers are sleeping and tour one or two different islands at daytime when ships anchor. I did some trip like that when I cruised around Aegean Sea in Greece and remember that I woke up with nauseating feeling every morning (those are small yachts, not as comfortable as luxurious oceanliners). After a hard-working year, I really wanted a vacation that I can have a nice bed to sleep in every night, so I opted for a land-based tour: that I could stay in one same hotel every night on one island and took series of daytrips to nearby islands. The disadvantage is: I can only go to islands near the one I stayed but not the remote ones (some are more than a hundred miles away). I also had to spend many hours everyday to make those "daytrips" to each individual isle. A price to pay for just trying to “hhave decent sleep.

While I usually travel alone and expected to meet people who book the same package-tour with me, I was surprised to find out that I was the only person in this tour group! Everybody else booked the trip from the same Company arriving at the Galapagos this same week all opted for cruise-based tour!

Checking in the hotel alone, looking onto the nice swimming pool, I pondered the next few days' trips. Well, I would have my own "personal guide" for those trips since I was the only person in my group!

(待續)