final hours

6.30 AM sounds enormously early, especially on a last day with a possibility to sleep in, but since me and Tania wanted to make the most of it here on the island, we just jumped out of our beds, got dressed as quickly as we could and made sure all of our things were packed for our leave within a few hours.

Although breakfast wasn’t officially being served, we still managed to get a cup of tea as well as a toast and at this point, this was more than enough for me. Usually I am a big fan of breakfast and for me, this is the most important meal of the day, but today the prospect of wandering around town was more tempting so instead of waiting for more food to arrive, we just made sure we had our essentials (read camera and good mood) and on the move we went.

With only a few hours left, we still wanted to see the Charles Darwin Research Centre which is located just outside the towns centre and although it felt like we were the only two out here, as soon as we arrived at the small fish market, we couldn’t have been more wrong.

A handful of people were already quite busy with bringing fish on land as well as cleaning it and this of course made for such a funny view when we noticed a few sea lions and loads of pelicans making loud noises in order to get some yummy intestines. I know, how on earth can you dig something like this early in the morning, but looking at these guys it was like battling for the best piece of the fish. It was such a joy watching daily life going on, but if we wanted to see the Research Centre we had to move along and with the promise to the birds that we were coming back, we were on the move again, only to arrive at the Centre about 15 minutes later and to our luck, we were the first ones to enter and register.

Since there were some maintenance works going on, we couldn’t enter the Tortoise Breeding Centre as well as other scientific stations, but a visit to the small rocky beach with an awesome view on the harbor was allowed and as soon as we said our last goodbyes to the beautiful marine iguanas, we had one last view on the many turtles which they keep here in the Centre in the hope that one day a true breed of the Galapagos Giant turtle will rise again. I am sure that many years will pass, but hopefully in the end they manage coz to be honest, they are truly a joy for the eye.

As soon as we were back on our way again towards the hotel after saying goodbye to the friendly guards of the Centre, it really hit me that in just an hour we were going to leave this beautiful place behind. Although our visit here at the islands was but a short one, this is one place I will never ever forget and I can only hope that one day I can return, but in the meantime I  am just happy with the experiences of the last couple of days.

Passing the fish market again, we had once again a quick look and were surprised that although the fish was already cleaned and ready to sell, the clients were none less than the birds and the lions. I guess it was still a bit too early for us humans, but I was sure that within an hour all this was going to change, so as we said our silent goodbyes to the animals, we were back on our way towards the hotel where we arrived a few minutes later.

Almost our entire group was packed and ready to go and while Tania went inside our room to get our bags, I began to ask some of our members of our group about their experience yesterday and to my surprise it seemed that I wasn’t the only one missing money … it seemed that my bad thoughts about the crew yesterday weren’t so wrong and while a few of them wanted to make a complaint, I was just glad it was but a bit of money. I know it wasn’t the best experience of the trip, but at least I learned my lesson and never ever am I going to take money with me again on a boat … from now on I stick to plastic!

Right on time, the tourbus of the travel agency arrived to pick us up and drove us all through the island, so that we could catch our boat towards Baltra, the island where the airport is situated and while we enjoyed the last rays of sun and hot air, we finally had to say goodbye to the islands and went straight for the check in.

Things go very slow on the islands and not that I mind one bit, but when even the computers fail to work, than you get an angry crowd. Maybe this was just a sign saying that we had to stay, but after waiting in line for almost an hour, we finally could check in and although our plane was about the leave in minutes, me and my travel buddy still went on the lookout for some food, after all, it was a two hours flight and the clock already turned noon, food was no option, it was a necessity.

With only minutes to spare, we made it to the gate and as soon as we could board, we were on our way towards the plane. As soon as everyone got to their assigned seat, we were good to go and although we had to wait a very long time at the check in, as soon as we were seated, it was nothing else but smooth sailing.

2 hours, a few snacks and watching some funny movies later, we finally arrived back in Guayaquil, where we had a 4 hour layover. Since this is but a small airport, there was not much to do than going for a bite to eat, doing some window-shopping in the few shops and find yourself a seat and wait for your plane to arrive … seems simple, but a bit boring as well and while we still needed to wait for an hour, me and Tania decided to do something different. While I went for the shoulder and head massage, which was awesome by the way, my friend went for a relaxing foot massage and both feeling a bit rejuvenated, we were minutes away from boarding the plane which was going to bring us back home again.

Feeling a bit sad, I got into the plane and went on the lookout for my seat, which was almost in the back of the plane. As it was already quite dark, we couldn’t see that much when we left the country behind us and I quickly resorted to looking for some movies to watch. The first one I choose was “Big Game”, a story about a young Finnish teenager who is camping in the woods and helps rescue the president of the USA when Air Force One is shot down near his campsite. Maybe it's hard to believe that something like this would happen in real live, but nevertheless it was a beautiful movie about a heroic youngster who doesn’t want to disappoint his father … it almost brought tears to my eyes.

Although it was almost midnight, after having a light meal consisting out of noodles, I still went for a second movie which was “the Seventh Son” and although this being a fantasy action movie and all, I soon dozed off to dreamland.