24th Oct - morning Española

Breakfast early doors as usual, then panga to Española island. Saw sea lions and iguanas immediately obviously! All the male iguanas were bunched up together as it's not mating season. Bizarre seeing their cooperation when not competing for women!

All friends until mating season!

Saw 5 baby seals playing in a little pool near the rocks, gas little men, they're exactly like puppies. Their favourite game is catching the tails of the iguanas as they try to scurry past on their way to fishing in the sea. Sea lions only do it for banter, but the iguanas get rightly rattled by it, especially if they get killed by having their heads split open on the rocks. Come on iguanas, don't get so sour lads, it's only a bit of craic!

The National Geographic boat was in the area too. This is a big luxury boat usually stuffed with v rich Americans and this was no exception! Only thing for us is that once on an island, if a group is coming up behind you, you have to keep moving. And with 120 aboard that craft, at least one of their groups was right up behind us all the time. So we'd have less time to enjoy each part of our tour. Ah well!

So we moved on anyway, and as we were in the largest boobie colony in the Galapagos, they were everywhere. The close relation of the blue-footed is the Nazca Boobie but the two never interbreed.

The Nazca Boobies' mating ritual is absolute gold. Basically a lad chooses a lady he's trying to impress. Then, for no less than 3 hours, he has to fetch stones and sticks for her - to help her build an expert nest! Sticks hold the most currency, she likes them, but also if he has to make a big effort and go a long distance to fetch the stones, this goes down very well. It was hilarious. Each time he fetches something, she judges him, and eventually her resistance is broken and she lays down and accepts his sexual advances. For all of 2 seconds. Yes, he puts in 3 HOURS of work for 2 SECONDS of pleasure. Hardly worth it there chief! The lad in this video is still working on her.



Then, after this video, he started playing hard to get by walking away and staying away for a while and she started calling out to him at last! Women!

Oh and after she gets pregnant, she fires all his stones and sticks away and makes her own nest anyway! Women!

We kept walking around anyway, and came across a class little blowhole.

Tourists used be able to go a lot closer than we can now, but a guide 15 yrs ago thought this was a great place to stand when the water was bursting up 40 metres into the air! He basically stood straddling the blowhole and encouraged 4 of his passengers to do the same. The 5 of them were obviously swept into the sea, one French-Canadian lady was then smacked against the rocks and killed. So we've to stay well away from it now.

Just around here as well were two class things. The first were these cliffs - which reminded me of the Cliffs of Moher in Clare! Mad. This photo's at a poor angle ie hard to see the comparison, but it's the best I could find on the net as I don't have any photos of it myself!

The second thing was a bunch of albatrosses. I've always wanted to see one as they have the largest wingspan of any bird. And because Monty Python do a brilliant sketch about them. Only a short one, but it's gold. John Cleese plays an usher at a cinema who's selling not beer, not snacks, but an albatross. Ridiculous and surreal, so it's classic Python. I really enjoyed seeing the birds up close. Alfonso was telling us that it can take them up to 4 hours to land sometimes because they keep gliding in the wind over their landing area! And they have a runway to land on at the top of the cliff we were at! Then when taking off, they run to the edge of the cliff and drop off like bungee jumpers, then spread the wings and away they go! Brilliant to watch!

I made a video taking off the Python sketch but again, it's on the other memory card, so here's the original Python sketch instead:

23rd Oct - afternoon - Santa Fe

Back to the boat after an excellent 2 hours on the island and we set sail for Santa Fe. Snooze time in sun and shade for everyone! We also discussed German v Holland relations. Gerrit again: "ah yes, Holland sinking is the one good thing about global warming" - luckily Hester, the Dutch girl sitting right next to us had tuned out!

Lovely lunch as usual, then we had 2.5 hours in this beautiful secluded bay to go snorkelling. Everyone (except me) went in after half an hour. I wasn't too keen as I'd to jump into 15ft of freezing water from the boat! Eventually I went down the ladder at the side of the boat and got going - saw a shark and an eagle ray and really enjoyed it once I was out there!

Like expectant parents, Jamie and Brian watch their little boy take his first steps...

I managed to get my act together and swim with this massive ray. Beautiful.

Ah yeah, showing off now

Great technique

Oh thank you Lord. I'm back safe and sound!

Back for a snack then a 2hr walk around the island which is a sea lion colony. They were everywhere and "not afraid to you" as Alfonso would say! It was amazing sitting in the middle of them as they slept and messed around and went in and out of the sea.

One of the lads

Stunning place

More craic with making videos of iguanas who were eating and spent another 30 mins on the beach before heading back. Dinner was lovely, I popped a sea sickness pill before it and I'm glad I did because the captain insisted on taking off immediately after dinner and the next 6 hours of navigation were v v choppy. Few lads puked, I was ok but it was no fun! Bed early, though while everyone felt terrible or was actually puking, the 2 German lads were horsing back the beer not a bother on them. Legends.

23rd Oct - morning Plaza Sur

First stop this morning was Plaza Sur which is a v small island, which is a class place. Sea lion colony. Loads of them everywhere. Also lots of land iguanas around. These never really interested me much but they were excellent today. In fairness to Alfonso, when watching wildlife with him, it's like watching a nature documentary, as he gives a running commentary on what just happened, what's happening, and what's likely to happen next.

Sea lions were challenging one another, baby sea lions were taking their first steps, iguanas were fighting over food, it was gas watching the whole thing take place. Iguanas apparently emit a high pitched noise that humans can't hear to ward off enemies. They also shake their heads a lot while making this noise and here's a short video of a particularly nice lad doing his thing to ward off the females from his water supply!



Since the niño in 2005, males will fight off females for the water in the cactus fruit during the dry season as there is much less water available. Then in mating season, they're all sweetness and light to the females again obviously enough!

Great example of two females at work happened while we were there. They
approached the male in the video above, one from either side. German lad Gerrit looked worried "I think he is German iguana ja, he does not like to be flanked on both sides, ha ha ha!" Sure enough, his prized fruit was soon gone, female flying off as soon as she claimed it! Got a great video of it, but it's on the card that isn't working!

I was thinking about when I made that video of the iguana nodding his head and how close I was to him and how he never flinched or ran away. Obviously here in the Galapagos, the range of different animals makes it special. But it's not just that. I'm beginning to realise that it's also the animals' behaviour which makes it such a unique place. Like, no one hunts the animals here. In fact, no one's even allowed touch them. No one stamps on the ground in front of them to scare them. The result is that the animals are completely comfortable around humans. They sit beside us, they play amongst us - and why shouldn't they? They've no reason to run away or to bite us as we pose zero danger. Being able to sit right next to birds as they look at me and peck at me in curiosity and (most importantly) don't fly away is thrilling... and it's also unique. Long may it continue!

Back to the boat after an excellent 2 hours on the island and we set sail for Santa Fe. Snooze time in sun and shade for everyone! We also discussed German v Holland relations. Gerrit again: "ah yes, Holland sinking is the one good thing about global warming" - luckily Hester, the Dutch girl sitting right next to us had tuned out!

22nd Oct - afternoon

So fingers were crossed to see who'd join us. And after a couple of hours, here they were!

They were:
Jamie, girl from Florida.
Lena and Katja, two German girls who I'd actually met in Quilotoa a week ago!
Tanja, another German girl.
Hester, Dutch girl.
Brian and Natalie, engaged couple from Saskatoon in Canada eh?

Tanja was around my age, everyone else younger. So the 7 who left had been replaced by 1 lad and 6 girls. Did I say I'd miss those French lads? I will on my shite! Let the fun tour begin!

We sat in the bay for about an hour before lunch and it was great. Usual chatting getting to know each other.

Bit of danger as due to how sleeping arrangements worked out and male-female breakdown, the Dutch girl was going to have to share with me. A tough plight for any unlucky lady, and she was particularly rattled when I announced to her that my favourite hobbies were drinking and snoring, what did she make of that?

Anyway, Brian and Natalie stepped in and suggested Brian share with me instead of his fiancée for the few days which was dead nice of both of them. So it all worked out fine.

We had a short trip after lunch and came aboard. Then we went for a walk. Saw a lot of land iguanas (all the males were huddled together as it isn't mating season) and sea lions as usual.

And then we met this little legend. Hard to describe why I liked him so much but this little blue-footed boobie had personality. I know that sounds silly, but for about 60 seconds we all crowded around him and he looked at each of us individually across in a line, then went back to the start and worked the room again. He had us all spellbound. After this, I LOVE BOOBIES! Stop sniggering.

What a legend

Still in control!

There were loads of boobies around - we saw mothers taking care of up to 3 eggs. They really are a beautiful bird. We saw lots of frigates too, with their pouch puffed up. Excellent walk. Brian was in control here!



We saw a couple of iguanas eating too and then headed back to the boat.

What happens when a Galapagos hawk drops an iguana from a great height!

There was a class sunset from the boat, and then it was dinner time...

Class

After dinner, there was a surprise as the cook had baked a cake for my birthday! A day late, but still a very nice gesture!

Happy Birthday!

Even Germans deserve cake!

Played cards after dinner, then stayed up drinking after that! Just the four lads left till the end, those Germans are animals for beer! Bed around 10.30 which is v late! All in all, a mighty day.

22nd Oct - morning - Seymour island

Note: While most of this blog is written on my phone on the day it happens (usually at lunch or while I'm travelling) I do need to sit at a computer to upload the photos and videos. I had both a 4Mb and a 2Mb memory card in the Galapagos and I'm pretty gutted but when I got back from the Galapagos, the 2Mb one wasn't working. I did get lucky and managed to get some of the videos back from someone else but most of the card is lost until I get back home and try to get it fixed. So disappointingly I can't put everything up here that I want.

First activity after breakfast this morning was to take the panga (small lifeboat) out and look for fish in the water and birds in the trees. It was grand like, but not overly exciting. Catching a glimpse of a grey tern or warbler or some rare hummingbird does little for me.

Some rare bird

In fairness, we did see some pelicans diving for food, and that's a superb sight as they plunge headfirst from high into shallow water. They only fish in shallow water and need to be v careful as if they plunge and smack a rock, they risk breaking their bill. If that happens, they can't fish and starve to death. Another hard thing for pelicans is that they're quite stupid. Every time they dive for fish, there's a horde of frigate birds waiting for them to surface. Frigate birds are parasites, they don't fish themselves, but wait for other birds to catch something and whip it off them. Poor old pelicans have had this going on all their lives and still haven't really worked out how to get away.

To go off on a tangent here, I'm undecided about frigate birds. Hate to see a parasite getting the bounty after another bird does all the work. But then again, all birds (and animals) are equipped with different skills and resources. Pelicans have massive bills and expert fishing skills. Frigates have cunning and teamwork. Plus frigates do look amazing when they blow up the big ball under their chins to impress the females. And parasites/hunters do a great job maintaining the balance in the Galapagos, so overall, they're worth keeping I reckon. They are irritating when hovering over the boat looking for scraps though, with the constant threat of being shat on! Perfect example in this video, trying to relax but it's hard when they're above you!

Frigate bird trying to impress a female

Anyway to go back to this morning, we did see plenty of fish. But from the boat, which isn't as good as snorkelling with them - though I can't really do that too well anyway I suppose! Having said that, we did see rays and sharks from the boat. In fact, I got a superb video of a big shark in crystal clear water about two feet from the boat. It was class and he was there for about 10 seconds. Then I realised I hadn't pressed record. Ah crap.

I did get a video of a massive ray near the boat:



Made our way back to the Flamingo, and it was time to say goodbye to the seven leaving us.

I was v disappointed in Gerald and Rebecca. I've been on tours before with older people and they've always been mighty craic as they accept that they're on a budget tour and muck in with the younger people. These two though were hard work, they kept on referring to their wealth and where they go when they fly all over the world on holidays. What got me as well was they way they went on about their tax practice and their accountancy and tax qualifications etc etc. Kryste like, that's the very last thing in the world I want to talk about on my holiday! I go on holidays to get away from that stuff! And when I chatted to them about it as it was one of the few things we had in common, it turned out neither of them had ever finished their accountancy exams and their tax qualifications consisted of passing a two week course in how to fill out an annual return! Talk about being full of shite. 

Me, Gerald, Rebecca. Some craic

Everyone else was dead on though. The German couple were v nice - friendly, sorted me out with sea sickness tablets and as they are flying home on Sunday, Gerrit sorted me out with his spare memory card. Nice one. The 2Mb card that's not working now, but I won't blame him!

Danielle, Me, Stefan

And now to the nation I'm not talking to since the Thierry Henry unpleasantness. All three French were legends. The craic with Arsene was brilliant despite the fact that our only method of communication was through pointing and laughing and the odd recourse to my awful Leaving Cert French! Philippe insisted on helping me through the snorkelling and was a really nice guy. Wasn't sure what to make of Pierre when i saw the dreadlocks down to his arse, but he was a really genuine lad too. I'll miss all three of them. Still not ready to forgive that prick Henry though!

Pierre (from France) and Rene (the German with the French name)

Philippe, me, Arsene - great lads

The two German lads Rene and Gerrit were staying with me for the week trip and I was pretty pleased about that. They're a mighty pair of lads. They're both a bit shy even though they do get involved in the banter. Plus they love the beer, the craic and both are very funny.

The captain of the ship (bottom right) cheers with delight as the 7 leave. Bit harsh.

This morning - after the other 7 had left - they taught me a new German word "Fruh-shopping", literally it means "early shopping", known at home as "The Cure" or "Hair of the Dog" or in some quarters "Settlers". But that's usually to combat a hangover, the lads weren't hungover, they were just drinking early! No fault!



As the lads enjoyed those beers, we spent a very enjoyable couple of hours in the perfect sunshine, lying in a perfectly still bay under a glorious sun, talking sport and indulging in fruh-shopping!

21st October - San Bartolome to Santa Cruz

Today... is Christmas! No, wait, that's not it. Today's actually my birthday. And what better place to spend it than in the Galapagos!

Up early as per usual, first activity was to check the penguin site to have a look at them. Not a single penguin! Disaster!

Next was a walk to the highest point of San Bartolome island. Lovely views and v interesting. Guide said that it's the most popular view of the Galapagos in photos and postcards. Here's a panoramic video of the view from up there.



The island behind the 2 beaches is Santa Cruz where we are due to go later today. You can see the rock looks black, that's because it's a lava field. When Darwin was here 150 yrs ago he wrote about the beautiful sandy beaches all around this island. But 125 yrs ago, a huge underwater explosion threw lava everywhere near here and it increased the size of the place. So no more beaches!

Arsene and me. He was an absolute legend, an awful pity we could only communicate in my awful pidgin French



Famous postcard shot. Incidentally, the two rocks in the top left used to be islands before the lava turned them into part of Santa Cruz!

Then went snorkelling again. Enjoyed it a lot more. Getting more confident and swam out a good bit. Still had a panic attack and had to be rescued by Philippe the French lad, but I'll get there!

Coming to a beach near you. I'd say David Hasslehoff is crapping himself!

I'm like a fish here. But if the water gets any deeper...

Had a chat to the Germans about soccer at lunch. Good discussion, they know their stuff in fairness.
Rene, one of the German lads, was telling me that because they invaded Austria, the German national team had to have a quota of 4 Austrians in the 1938 World Cup. I then asked him how many French they needed in the mid-1940s after invading France. The two French lads beside me less than impressed. Ah the banter!

Here the French lads are discussing their shame at their appalling World Cup 2010 performance. Even though I barely understood it, I really enjoyed it!



Went across to Santa Cruz for the lava field walk. Short enough walk but really enjoyable. Like walking on a lunar landscape.

View of the point that we saw this morning but from the other side. I'm standing on the lava field!

Sitting in a hole in the lava!

Back to boat. Dinner, couple of beers and bed. 7 of them leaving tomorrow to be replaced by 7 new people, hopefully it'll turn into the fun tour!

20th Oct - Santa Cruz, Galapagos to San Bartolome, Galapagos

Up for breakfast at 7, glad I went to bed early, feeling a lot better today. We'd travelled through the night and were now moored just off the island of Rabida.

Actually, here's a map of the Galapagos - click on it once and it goes full size. Click on it a second time and it zooms right in.

Our itinerary was to fly into Baltra, move down to Puerto Ayora, then get the boat to Rabida. From there, do a lap of Santiago from south west all the way around to the east side and stop in San Bartolome. Then back to Baltra and east coast of Santa Cruz. From there, we'd take the short journey to Santa Fe, then the long voyage to Española, over to Santa Maria (Floreana) and back to Puerto Ayora on the south part of Santa Cruz. Then the bus to Baltra airport and back to the mainland! But that's a full week away!

Alfonso filled us in on a couple of things - 95% of all Galapagos land cannot be visited by tourists. Of the rest, scientists need permits to visit. Also, the way it works for the tourists is that there are 95 official visitor sites in the Galapagos and 94 boats. Every boat must get a permit for one site every morning and one site every afternoon, although more than one boat can be at the one site. For example, there was one other boat off Rabida this morning with us.



Our boat - the Flamingo, one of the smallest in the whole of the Galapagos!

Breakfast was served and then we came ashore. First thing was to see the blue-footed boobies, birds who attack their prey (fish) by diving headfirst into the water from a pretty impressive height. Males always fish in the morning, and always in packs. Females fish in the afternoon and always alone. It takes them lots of goes to get anything so they'll usually fish all morning long.

I love the lad who tries to keep up with all his buddies but is just a couple of seconds late!





Blue-footed boobies taking a break between dives. No one knows why they have blue feet!

When we reached the shore, there were a load of sea lions who were happily lying on the beach in front of us. They were pretty much everywhere but apparently that's quite common in the Galapagos. We were immediately warned by Alfonso, the guide that touching any animals is strictly forbidden. As an example, 45% of baby seals died last yr, huge amount from being petted by humans. Seals cannot defend themselves from chemicals in the likes of perfumes, mosquito repellent and sunscreen.

Went for a walk around the island then. First we passed this cactus which used to have hard needles like normal cactii, but has evolved to change its hard needles to be soft as it has no predators here in the Galapagos and with soft needles all birds can land and spread its seed.

Cactus - all the needles were so soft. Bizarre!

The walk around the island was nice but not wholly eventful. Other than when the guide told me that he can't snorkel or dive any more as due to not wearing sunscreen for many years, he has messed up his skin and now suffers terribly if he gets in salt water. Which must be very tough on him. But also spelt disaster for me as I wanted to go snorkelling later this morning but due to my fear of water and general discomfort in it, I'd hoped the guide would come with me and help me out.

So when we got to the snorkelling area, all the lads dived in, I put on my wetsuit, flippers snorkel mask and lifejacket(!), then stared into the 15ft of abyss between me and the bottom of the ocean... and panicked! Eventually I got in and pushed away from the boat but that was a huge effort. When I then swallowed a load of salt water, I flapped around helplessly and eventually rejoined the safety of the boat! Horrible experience. But the snorkelling in the afternoon involves walking into the sea from the beach so I should have a better chance of seeing something!

Back to the Flamingo (our boat) then we sailed for a couple of hours before mooring off the west coast of Isla Santiago. I'd a nice snooze between the two!

After a lovely lunch on board, we went ashore. There was an almost full term pregnant sea lion lying in the shade. As she was completely non-aggressive, photos were taken with everyone!

Did an excellent 2 hour walk where we saw marine iguanas for the first time. Hundreds of them, all great buddies and hanging around together as it isn't mating season!

Saw pelicans diving into the water for fish, crabs, fur seals and a massive turtle swimming into a little lava lake near us. It was a great day. Then it was time to snorkel again. This time I only had to push off from the beach and I managed it! Swam into a little bit of deep water too, and then we came across 3 turtles, these lads were amazing. So chilled out and just getting on with business as I swam above them! Brilliant. Stayed for about 30 mins, then back to the boat for dinner. We had it on the move as we'd a 4 hr journey to San Bartolome where we'll see penguins in the morning!

Moored in San Bartolome at 9 - bedtime!

19th Oct - Quito to Santa Cruz, Galapagos

Today was tough enough, woke up a few times during the night cos I was so bloody paranoid about missing my alarm for the taxi to the airport!

Got up at 5.45 and got to airport for 6.15 after paying $10 for a fifteen minute taxi booked through the hostel (should be about $4 or maybe $5 max) - another reason to hate Secret Garden, they really are horrible bastards.

So got to the airport and it had free wifi so I was emailing and surfing for a while. Flight was delayed for 20mins but I didn't really mind. Uh oh, then they shut the airport! Rain was too heavy apparently. It was bloody misting. If they closed it that often for rain at home, airports in Ireland would be open about 3 wks per year!

We eventually get going after the incessant light drizzle clears away

Plane took off eventually at 11.35, originally supposed to have been 7.45. Punishment. I spoke to the tour operator though and she said that the boat would wait for me in Baltra, the island my tour was starting from. Had to change planes in Guayaquil so eventually arrived in the Galapagos around 3pm, which was 2pm local time, it had been a long day already!

No drizzle here! Welcome to Baltra airport, Galapagos!

Got to Baltra airport and everyone on board whipped out the customs declaration form that they got back in Quito. Ah crap. All the time I had in that bloody airport and never sorted that out. Luckily I could do it in the airport, it just took a bit longer. Then I had to pay the $100 Galapagos entrance fee - all my money was in my bag in the hold though, so this took ages as well. Especially as after I got my luggage from the hold, I searched through it and realised my money was in my bloody carry-on all along. AAAAAAAGGHHH! Utter nightmare day so far. Then met the guide, a fairly rotund lad called Alfonso and also two French lads Philippe and Arsene who were coming on the tour. Philippe had ok English, Arsene spoke zero English and zero Spanish. Great! I immediately told them I hated Thierry Henry, but they didn't seem to mind, and they were good lads.

Our late arrival meant that the tour had been delayed by a few hours, but no matter, we were here now. We drove in a pick up for about 30 mins before the guide decided to double check where the rest of the tour were. Turns out they were back near the airport so we had to turn right around and drive another 30 mins back! KRYSTE! Very irritating.

Met the rest of tour eventually, bear in mind that I'd booked a shitty boat so that I'd get it cheap but also so that the likely clientele would hopefully all be in the 20-40 bracket.

Elderly couple in their 70s from the States, Gerald and Rebecca.
German couple in their 40s, Daniela and Steffan.
The two French lads in their 40s, Arsene and Philippe.
Two German lads late 20s/early 30s, Rene and Gerrit.
Pierre, 22, sound French lad with excellent Spanish and poor English so we struggle by in Spanish.

Mmm... not quite the 9 Colombian models I'd hoped would be on the trip! Ah well, I suppose I'm here in the Galapagos to see the wildlife. Seriously.

First stop was to see a local giant tortoise farm. That's the tortoises who are giants, not the locals. Hilarious!

Anyway, it's a farm in name only really, basically a big wildlife reserve to house the animals. The farmer makes much more in grants from the state to keep the tortoises on it than he would by using the farm for another purpose. I've always been fascinated by giant tortoises, seeing them was pretty much my main reason for coming to the Galapagos and coming to the Galapagos was the main reason for coming to South America!

So, for me, it really was such a great privilege to see them. They were beautiful. Though they wouldn't be much use in a fight. Their only defence is to hiss and pull their heads back into their shells!

Beautiful? Yes. Useless in a scrap? Also.

Come out lad, don't be shy!


Watching them eat was amazing - and I find it hard to explain why! It just was ok!



The guide reckoned that if you put papaya fruit in front of them, they'd eat it in front of you. So the guide did indeed put it in front of a young enough tortoise (apparently he was around 50!) and he gobbled it down. I loved this tortoise here though. I waited for 20 mins, all the time watching him with the fruit under his nose and he never touched it - I reckon because I was looking at him. He's been around for 70 or 80 years, he doesn't have a whole lot to do, he can wait another half an hour to eat in private!



How did the hare ever lose to one of these lads?




Guide was telling us that there were 500,000 giant tortoises before the Spanish came, but now just 24,000. A lot of them are wild - in places tourists can't get to - but some are still being bred in captivity and released then.

Left the farm and went to see some lava tunnels - tunnels formed when the gas in a lava flow blows out and leaves tunnels in its wake. Then climbed into a tortoise shell at the house at the end of the tunnels - tortoise had been removed. Perhaps he was hiding in the kitchen and would claim it back later, I never did find out.

Drove to the dock then where the boat was moored and came aboard. Had dinner, and l headed off to bed around 7.30. Long day!

18th Oct - Quito Day 3

What craic yesterday. Now today, it was clear what I needed to do. I was heading to the Equator today. Definitely this time! No excuses! Took it easy in the morning, then went out to get money and ran into the sound Nordy pair from Loki in Mancora. They were doing a city tour so I stayed with them for a little while and saw the outside of the basilica, then around 1 or so, started the journey to the Equator!

Nice basilica, it'll be even nicer after I tell that sunglasses lad to fukk off out of the way

He got the hint eventually

Took about an hour and a half and when I got there, by God was it dull. Some museums there which were boring as hell. Turns out the line they claim as the Equator is about 300yds from 0degrees 0minutes 0seconds! There was a tacky village there selling tacky shite to tourists but that was about it! Decided to have a bite to eat there and who was in the restaurant only the German doctors from Quilotoa! Excellent! I'd heard that there was a much smaller museum pretty nearby - but supposedly right on 0.0.0 and after we ate we headed there.

Well this other place was great! It was much more friendly and they showed us round what was a pretty lovely village then we did some experiments! We had to walk a straight line with our eyes closed along the Equator and as our ears don't help us balance along here, it's actually v v difficult!



Then we had to balance an egg on a nail. Simple to do it on the Equator. Well, simple for everyone else. I finally managed it and got a certificate and everything! Such a legend!


I did it eventually!

The guide also demonstrated how water spirals different ways in the northern and southern hemispheres, and how it plunges straight down right on the line. Super stuff.




Stayed a good while there and by the time we came back, it was actually late enough. Had to pack, do laundry, and ended up having a few pints when I really shouldn't with the flight to the Galapagos looming first thing in the morning! Didn't get to bed till around midnight in the end!

17th Oct - Quito Day 2

Not 100% this morning after the late night last night but got up around 11. Missed the Merseyside derby, but that was always going to happen with a 7.30am kick off. Stupid inconsiderate scousers!

Decided to go to Finn McCools again cos the food was excellent last night, I saw a fry on the menu and the craic seemed good enough. The plan for today after breakfast was to go to Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World) - in Ecuador, you simply have to go to the equator! Then if I got back in daylight - it's 90mins each way to Mitad - I said I'd try to go up the TeleferiQo. A nice touristy day!

Had great craic with the cleaning staff in the hostel for a good while, then headed off and got a taxi to the pub.


At least the cleaning staff were sound in Secret Garden!

Got there about 12.30 and ordered the fry. Few lads in there had been there since 7.30. Very friendly lads, I told them that I wouldn't mind having a look at the American Football at 1 if they had it. They did indeed have it, and not just that, there was a choice of 5 matches to watch. I was handed the remote and told to start flicking! Heaven. Then they told me that their annual pool competition was on today. The Americas vs Europe using a Ryder Cup format. Would I play?

So the choice was A. 3 back to back NFL matches on the big screen with me in control of the remote, pool, craic, Match of the Day 2, pints, delicious food, sound lads or B. head off to the equator.

I was last out when they closed the place at 10pm - OBVIOUSLY! Plus my team the Jets won a nailbiter against the Broncos. What an absolutely brilliant day. Though we did lose the pool. And they did close early cos it was a Sunday night. Ah who cares!

My fellow Jets fan Billy celebrates a glorious win with me!

Ryder Cup of pool. This was serious stuff. Until all the Europeans got drunk! The Ecuadorians all stayed sober cos they took it so seriously

Came back and said farewell to Unai, who's off to Colombia in the morning.

Good luck now chief

Then all the staff I'd been out with the night before passed us. The friendly lad from Oz said hello, the rest completely blanked us. Bizarre!

16th Oct - Quito Day 1

Before I start, just have to point out that sadly, petty crime is a major problem in Quito so couldn't take my camera/phone around the city with me to make videos or take photos, so Quito is a bit disappointing in that regard!

After the travelling and few pints last night, had a bit of a lie in this morning. Unai and I wanted to go to a Primera Liga soccer match and we'd heard that one kicked off at midday in the Olympic stadium in Quito. Desperately early for a match so we bought a paper to check. Turns out it was a double header and the first game was at 10am! Well, we wouldn't make that one, but after breakfast, we caught the local trolleybus to the stadium. Petty theft is rampant around here and in fact, I was advised to only bring my money in Quito and to leave wallet camera etc after me in the hostel. I did this last night when I went for a couple of pints, and was about to do it again when I realised I'd no cash on me so needed to bring my credit card with me to get some out. I was very conscious of it on the bus though, keeping my hand in my pocket on the wallet or when the bus was going around corners, I held on with both hands to the seats to maintain balance, then patted the pocket to make sure it was still there. Unai thought I was mad, but better safe than sorry. And after, I reckon, no more than a 20 second pause between pattings, my wallet was indeed stolen. I was pretty pissed off, but there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it. I reckon I lost less than ten dollars cash, but problem was I'd lost the only credit card that now worked, my Irish one. Got off at the Olympic stadium stop where the match was on, and rang AIB to cancel the card. They were dead sound and said they'd sort out an emergency Western Union payment from my account within 24hrs. Good work!

Went in to the match anyway, which was a local Quito derby, and it was a bit shite. We were behind one of the goals and there was a running track and a moat between us and the action. It was very hard to see what was going on down the other end! Then, about 20 mins into the first half, the underdogs Nacional had a man sent off after Deportivo's midfielder went down holding his head as if he'd been headbutted when nothing happened! Deportivo scored shortly after that and shut up shop. 1-0 final score.

Miiiiiiiles from the action. The only goal was down the other end too!

After the match, Unai headed to the TeleferiQo, which overlooks the city - but I headed back to the hostel to wait for a call from Visa card services which was due after 4. On the off chance, I went out and tried my English card to see if by some miracle it might be working again. By some miracle it was! Firing out dollars like there was no tomorrow! Result! Not that those useless b#stards in Lloyds had any explanation for why when I rang them to confirm that all was ok. Then got caught in an absolute downpour, some of the heaviest rain I've seen in a long long time! Only plus point was that it would ruin Unai's view of the city!

I was starving by then and the grumpy hostel staff grudgingly told me that the El Mariscal area of the city would be good for food. Went to Finn McCool's Irish pub and they'd all the channels. Match of the Day was on! And the food was delicious. Great call! Stayed for a little while then wandered to a different pub and had mighty sports banter with the two lads behind the bar! Left just before 8 as had arranged to meet Unai back at the hostel.

Met up with him and decided to punish him.

Me: Hey Unai!
Unai: Hey!
Me: How was the TeleferiQo?
Unai: You b#stard. You absolute b#stard. I knew that'd be the very first thing you said. I knew it! Just because I'd no view up there, I knew you'd say it to me!

Welcome to the land of Punishment sonny.

He wanted dinner so we went for a wander and had Chinese and a drink. He called it a night, I ran into Benedict and it being Sat night, he and a few others were up for a few pints. The few others were the staff though but I took a chance and went with them.

Now here was a shower of tossers. All except one (v friendly Aussie lad) were miles up their own holes. They insisted that they weren't "working" in the hostel, they were "volunteering". Despite getting free board, free meals, free drink and free Spanish lessons... they were volunteering! In Loki in Peru, the people "working" there get free board, just one meal per day, half price drink - not free drink, and no Spanish lessons!

But in Secret Garden, they all thought of themselves as really worthy people because of their "volunteering". As if they were building a school with their bare hands in Botswana or something! FFS.

So we get to the first pub and there's this local mulled wine type drink on sale called canelazo. I wanted beer personally but they wanted to try it and it was $12 for two jugs and there were 12 of us, so why not?

That seemed straightforward enough. But it wasn't. This horrible girl from Streatham in London had set herself up as their leader even though she'd actually finished working there! The poor waitress was standing there and people were asking for beer and other drinks and Streatham wouldn't let them as we were all to drink canelazo. But she couldn't order it as none of them spoke any Spanish - so much for their free lessons! So I had to do it. I asked her how many jugs they wanted. She asked the table, table suggested 3 or 4, so she went for 2. What flavours would we like bearing in mind that there are only 2 flavours on sale? Again a big discussion, with no answer. So I took matters into my own hands, yerra just give us one of each I said to the waitress, that way everyone can have a taste of what they like.

Jugs arrive. Streatham: "Oh! Who ordered two different flavours!" looking in my direction. I gave her an expressionless look in return and said nothing. She didn't like this. Canelazo was actually nice stuff. The whole table had some. And the conversation wasn't too bad. Bill time - and it was $17 not $12. Now I'd actually noticed why, a couple of lads ordered extra beers and two Ecuadorian friends of the hostel staff were ordering cups of canelazo off their own backs. Grand. The lovely patient waitress gave us the right bill. But Streatham challenged the bill with the waitress, giving her dirty looks and giving out to her in English. All over a $17 tab among 12 people! So it's a dollar each for those who just had canelazo.

Rich boy that I am, I put in $1.50 cos waitress was sound and I'd had 2 or 3 glasses. Streatham put in 50c - "I'm only putting that much in cos I didn't like it!" What a bitch! We wouldn't have had it in the first place if it wasn't for her, and it's utterly f-ing irrelevant if she liked it or not, she still has to pay! What a wagon. Then Benedict and I said we were off to El Mariscal, who wanted to come along? Streatham was throwing looks so most said no, they were tired. Or just didn't feel like it. One of them Sam announced that he was up for it. For about a minute. Then Streatham had a word and he announced that actually no, he too was "tired"!

I was flabbergasted. Bear in mind that these are all independent travellers. How can one bitch exert such total control over a bunch of people she hardly knows? And on a Saturday night! I just don't get that at all.

Anyway, the 2 of us touched on and went to a bar full of 16 yr olds. Oh FFS! Plus this was nasty enough, they were all grinding each other and their dancing was waaaaay over the top. Luckily a crowd of Yanks, English and Paddys from the hostel arrived in. The Paddys were dead on and the night picked up a treat. Great craic for a finish! Talking shite, shots with locals, crazy dancing. Just good craic.