Quito at Dusk

American Airlines took us from Miami to Quito where it is Eastern time and the national currency has been switched to US Dollars. At 9000 feet the air is thin and the sun is quite effective. It's also cool at night... in the 50's or less. Pam's relationship with the Hilton Colon made the late night arrival an easy transfer. The incoming customs was fairly brisk and baggage could be self handled or a porter would assist your exit through the throngs of those waiting for relatives or to offer transport. The Hilton had a rep there with a bus, but it was obvious that you could easily get to any hotel of your choosing. The Hilton's Executive Floor handled everything we needed including free internet service. Food was a bargain anywhere, even room service at the Hilton. Obviously, even better prices were available at local restaurants.

Due to connections to the Galapagos, you are pretty well stuck with an overnight in Quito. We elected to arrive in Quito after our 4 hour Southbound flight on Saturday evening so that we could spend a full day on Sunday sampling the local crafts markets that lie next to the Hilton.

In the Parque del Ejido directly to the South of the Hotel (Also referred to as Rio Amazonas Park as this Avenue dead ends into it) there were 200 or so stalls that were arrayed with everything from Galapagos "I Love Boobies" shirts to intricate arts and crafts, elegant clothing and weaving. By our US standards, the prices were 1/2 to 1/3 of what one might find in the US for similar goods. Just to the NE corner of the Hilton is a permanent artists market with solid structure covered flea market stalls. Fabulous artwork-quality clothing and carvings are available at startling prices. A lovely leather & cloth weaving patchwork sweater was $28, the matching (huge) shawl $33. Tagu, a nut that when carved looks like ivory, was everywhere.

Quito is a huge city best done in the daylight. Stay in the market parks. We are both extremely observant and this helped prevent one directly attempted assault when we strayed a mere 30' outside of the park area. It was a little tense for a few seconds but we both dealt very effectively with the two goofs who squirted barbecue sauce on us from behind, then tried to be kind and point this out to us. Maybe it was the 4" lockback knife (now in airline checked baggage) I always carry that gave them second thoughts or maybe it was how Pam and I instinctually split up and began to encircle them instead, however they gave it up as we exited the area. On other streets, we were being sized up quite often. (In a one hour walk we had 6 solid contacts). Best advice: Don't fall for the ketchup trick, stay out of the "old city", be absolutely aware of your entire surroundings (front/rear/side), do not let approaching throngs of women or kids near you (cross the street immediately). Stay inside the market areas of the Parks.

In Puerto Ayora, this is the place where you will find the largest of the Galapagos population center and commerce as well. Any Sam's Club handles cash in a day that would represent the total transactions that occur here in a year, but it is a town that has balanced the thriving 60,000 tourists per year (A Galapagos Islands total figure) with a quaint Ecuadorian/European ocean village.

With El Nino approaching once again (as in 1988) we were expecting cool and dry, but instead it was quite moist for the first few days. Never once did we need rain gear, but the Gore-Tex coats always went along for apres-dive comfort. You can walk the ten minutes from one end of the town, along it's one main road, from the main landing for all visiting boats (including the live aboards) all the way to the far end which terminates at the Darwin Research Station and pass delightful little shops with all levels of artwork, food, internet access... whatever young traveling people might enjoy. We visited a different restaurant every night, drank liters of beer for $1.70, and even found "Coke Light" which curiously comes in silver plastic bottles- to be used later for water. The grocery store right near the landing was the largest and had a small variety of cookies, crackers, bread and even peanut butter or tuna fish that would provide some of our romantic dinners!

Mathias Espinosa & Maria

Academy Bay

We were joined on one day by two older (our age) US divers who werethere early to dive before the Aggressor trip they had booked. They refused the orientation dive in calm inshore waters and then took 22 minutes of fussing around in open sea (as we sat on the gunnels) jerking around with her Force Fins and his Bio Fins and deciding whether to wear a hood. He had a video camera with lights (don't plan on any close ups) and both of them ran OUT of air without advising the DM of half full status - as was asked in the briefing. All in all, we preferred diving with the younger crowd that included 20 to 30 year old British, Aussies, Spaniards, French and others. Pam was brought to the surface by a DM when she reached 750 psi, but the lead DM "Pepo" and I would suck it down to my 300 after 1 hour and then surface.

We saw squadrons of creatures. Hammerheads, White Tips, Galapagos Sharks, little critters, too. The two most common Nudibranchs were a small (1") blue black which was hunted always by the larger (3") version of a different species. There are two common sponges that adhere to the flat contours, one grey and one yellow. Orange Cup Coral was out and sparkling even in the daylight. The locals wrote this off to the commonly occluded viz (50' max), but I had never seen it out and feeding in anywhere near this light condition. In short, we saw everything that the people see on a live aboard. I compared notes with some that we met in the town and airport. I have chatted with them in previous years. I've been on Galapagos live aboards. So that's how we made the choice to go with a land based operation. Another operation that I would rate a distant second would be Nauti Diving which is also located on that same main street. Scuba Iguana, though, is far and away the best choice, superior to most Caribbean operators. Scuba Iguana will leave it's boat at Baltra, 30 miles North, and will take you by cab to the boat to explore islands such as San Salvador Elizabeth, Pinzon. From it's home base of Puerto Ayora, we went to Santa Fe and Gordon Rocks.