Andrew´s World Odyssey: Galapagos, A Summary Of

And so another travel chapter ends. It is with a sense of achievement that I can proclaim to have lived up to my word and returned to South America solely to visit the Galapagos Islands. The time frame has been perfect in order to achieve a sense of fulfillment in the amount I have seen and leave more than satisfied. Financially the burden has been large. These islands aren´t cheap, but I guess how you view this depends on what you value more, money or experience.

My final impressions of the place are as you would expect, different to what I had previously envisaged. I came here to swim and play with both penguins and iguanas. I leave here having done much more. By far the most impressive undertaking of my trip was the eight day liveaboard scuba adventure to Wolf and Darwin Rocks. The remainder of my time has entertained, although lacked somewhat when compared with my expectations of an adventurer´s paradise.

There is no doubting the significance of this place to the world. It is incredible to see the more than obvious natural variances in so many species of animal. These same differences were viewed by Charles Darwin all those years ago. They captivated and helped inspire his hypothesis on the origin of species and evolution. Here you can find evidence supporting these theories right on your door step. There are flightless Cormorants, birds with stunted wings because they have evolved for a life in the water. Vampire finches, little birds that have adapted to feed on the blood of other animals. Marine iguanas, the world’s only ocean based lizard. The list goes on.

But with all these marvels within reach you find it almost impossible to feel as if you have truly grasped them. This for me is the frustrating part. Your expectations are of a real life discovery channel of wildlife but the actuality is somewhat less. The Galapagos Islands are locked down tighter than the proverbial nuns.... And it is unfortunate for me to say this but I get a very real sense that it is mostly to protect the financial interests of the local population. When staying on the islands, there is a tick and flick mentality to the tours offered. This is probably why a multi day boat tour is preferable as you get some leeway with your activities.

When staying on the islands you will find that once you have been passed through the proverbial tourist meat grinder and seen all the usually array of pre-chewed sparkly stuff, you have one of two options. You can sit on a beach and draw in the sand or you can bask in the one or two free activities on offer until the pain in your head gets too much. In other words, once you have spent your money, you should leave. But I had a month here and that was the time I was going to spend. So I persisted.

Being a bit of an info geek and not averse to the odd bombing of scientific mumbo jumbo, I looked for interesting tours and the like to keep me happy. Now my Spanish is nowhere near good enough for a scientific conversation, hence I signed up for the English speaking tours. Unfortunately I was left wanting. Almost all of my guides were less than convincing in both their mastery of the English language and their offerings of wisdom. On the most part they managed to convey a definite sense of routine. Hmmmm..... 1+1 = I know bad apples when I see them and these were bad apples.

Obviously I´m too Australian and bull headed to take well to this caper. I thought “f@!k it, if these turkeys can´t give me what I want then I´ll just do it myself”. That´s a big negatory on that one team leader.... Get off the happy happy little tourist merry go round and you will find out some fast facts of the non-sciencey type. Like the one where happy little park rangers quickly become unhappy little park rangers when you decide to go and explore what it is that you want. Result: they get $2,000 a head angry. Even despite the fact you may have done absolutely nothing to interfere with anything. Don´t expect any consistent reasoning for their displeasure either and the “oh, I´m an idiot tourist with no Spanish skills” trick only works the one time. Cause now they know your name and details. And they are very prudent on getting them exaaactly right.

FAST FACTS for the travelling public: The deal is this:

You can snorkel where we tell you to, and if one suitable snorkelling hole for an island girt by sea and ridiculous marine wonder is not enough for you, you can take a tour J

Within the national park, you need a guided tour to do most activities unless it is designated otherwise. And try to get off the designated path. You will find a host of signs and rope fences preventing this. On the other side of these fences lies...... you guessed it, a $2,000 fine!

You cannot approach within 2m of the wildlife unless you are on a boat tour then you can wedge a boat in the butt crack of any animal.

You definitely cannot by any stretch touch the animals unless they touch you, even if they are on your stuff or in your way.

Well Mr Park Ranger man, here is a list of animals that just happened to clamber on over and touched me. Iguanas, turtles, giant tortoises, sharks, rays, fish, octopi, seals and the odd bird. I must be the Ace freakin Ventura of the Galapagos.

All this out there though, it is not a bad place if your time is short or you are just looking for a place to relax and do nothing much during your travels. I can think of more than a dozen other places though that would be cheaper to relax and do nothing much, but they probably don´t have seals you can just chill with. Try not to get caught in the hype of not doing a boat tour around the islands. I personally think this is a mistake. The best stuff is the out of the way stuff and like the islands the wildlife is quite varied by local. Now I will leave you with a little motto that will aid you in your decision making processes when visiting this area and it goes a little something like this: It doesn´t pay to be tight on the Galapagos.

And now for the good bit. I won´t hate you much if you just scrolled down to the end looking for the pictures. You can´t help a short attention span.