seekingmygreaterperhaps

Well, I got caught in the lazy trap again and here I am writing about the final portion of my trip over 6 months after it ended… Even after the reflection, Galapagos is still on my highly recommended- do it if you can- trip list. You might not get as many details from this island, haha!

After we left Isabela, we had another long boat ride to Santa Cruz, which is our guide Cesar’s home island, so he was very excited! We dropped our bags at the hotel, and walked over to the Parque Nacional to see the breeding of the giant tortoises.

Here I learned that the shells are different shapes based on where the tortoises are from, and we arrived right around feeding time, so we saw them scoot around rather quickly to snag some greens. It made me question the time old tale of tortoises being slow. Seeing the babies were really cute!

For lunch, we drove into the highlands and had a cooking class for some traditional food. Always the eager one, I volunteered, and got to help stir and dump in pre-cut ingredients. I like cooking like that! Haha!

After lunch we went on a guided walk around the land where we were literally walking with giants… giant tortoises that is! I learned they sense movement through their feet and the vibrations in the ground. We stayed away to protect them and their peace, but it was truly incredible to see so many of them. I also learned that they will dig holes and create tortoise made lakes so they can cool off. You can often see the mud lines on tortoise shells if you see them in the afternoon.

Our guide, Cesar, could get into the tortoise shell and do push ups… I could barely fit my big booty in there, and I definitely couldn’t do a push up. It is so heavy! These tortoises are strong. I also learned that their shells are attached to their skeletal system. In the picture above, I am over 6 feet away from the tortoise, and it is still GIANT! So cool.

Our last full day took us on a walk to Playa Brava- which is so incredibly beautiful, but you can’t swim there because it is super dangerous. Our group is pictured there too- we got along so well, and for that I am truly grateful. You can see a marine iguana there getting ready for a swim- watching them crawl to the water and then start swimming was really unique.

On the other side of Tortuga Bay, we did our final snorkel to see the white tipped reef sharks. It was really shallow, and only 4 of us went. Once we approached the snoozing sharks, 2 people freaked out and went back, but I, being as brave as I am, definitely stayed to see them. Cesar (our guide) was like- you guys don’t trust me by now? And with that I was like, okay bet. I was nearly pooping myself the entire time because they were just RIGHT THERE. These types of sharks are very docile, and they were inactive, but it definitely picked my heartrate up. We snorkeled through mangrove trees, with literal branches hitting me in the snorkel and Cesar counted over 70 sharks since we first started seeing them. This was a fantastic and also terrifying way to end the adventure.

I want to give a shout out to the cacti of the Galapagos. I was continually in awe of them and how big they grew. In the rainy season their bark is spongy, and in the dry season it is hard like a tree. They were so tall and made me feel small. Some of the spines were soft and others hard, depending on their evolution. It was wild. Yay cacti!

Our final night of the trip was Christmas Eve! A bunch of people had gotten sick, so this was the crew we had a very fancy dinner with! We invited Cesar to join us and all enjoyed a 3 course meal. Mandy and Chris even surprised us with little Galapagos magnets for a Christmas gift. I love it how our tour group turned into our little family.

I had two extra days after the tour ended to continue exploring the Galapagos. One day I did an additional snorkel tour to Isla Pinzon. I saw some more incredible fish and even swam a tiny bit with a female sea lion. We had a fresh seafood lunch on board, and I was soaking in my final days. The other day I went for a swim in Las Grietas, which are little gorges. I brought along my new souvenir, a sea lion in a Christmas hat ornament to keep me company.

I had some great meals on Santa Cruz- it is definitely ready for tourists and can provide tasty food. The coolest meal experience I had was definitely…

The Lava Lounge! I had an exquisite 5 course tasting menu inside a LAVA TUNNEL! It starts with a guided tour of the lava tunnel, hard hats required and closed toed shoes recommended, all to lead you to the restaurant. (Here is the website) Every dish was wonderful, and I got a kick out of taking pictures with the red lights behind it to really enhance the fact that I was inside a lava tunnel.

Each course was to take you through the regions of the Galapagos. The first course included croquettes with green plantains, corviche- top with red spiny lobster of the Galapagos with the base of leche de tigre. The second course was “loco de papa” – a deconstructed potato soup with avocados, three kinds of cheese, almonds and peanuts. The third course was brujo- a scorpionfish smoked with guava wood and came with avocado cream and pickled onions. The fourth course (pictured above) was octopus with risotto, crispy parmesan, sweet corn grilled with onions. And the dessert course was sweet bites- banana cream, chocolate brownie with cacao, flambeed cheese and banana peel.

Also- they picked me up and dropped me off at my hotel- because it is quite a ride into the highlands to get to the lava tunnel. This entire experience and meal and transport cost $249. A treat for sure, but absolutely worth the splash out.

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To finish the trip to the Galapagos, I want to do a quick budget breakdown. I have put off going because it is “so expensive.” As I’ve traveled around South America, I know that expensive is all in the mind of the beholder, and it depends on where your spending priorities are. This was a splurge trip for me (in my first post about Galapagos I talked about teaching 5 classes to save money for a big trip), but in the end, I was under budget! These numbers are from when I went in December 2024.

• Intrepid Island Hopping Tour: $2,180
  • I booked mine in October… and saved like $800 from the first time I looked at it because they were having sales. That’s a gamble, but it worked out for me!
• Airfare from Brasilia: $580 + $173 + $53 (BSB to Guayaquil then a one way ticket to San Cristobal and a one way ticket from Santa Cruz to Guayaquil)
• Hotels at the beginning and at the end of the trip: $180 + $54 + $68
• Restaurants : $643
  • You can definitely go up or down from here. Remember, I went to a World’s Best restaurant in San Cristobal, had a 3 course fancy dinner for Christmas, AND ate in a lava tunnel- all those expenses go under here.
• Activities: $182
  • the extra day tours, entry fees for the national park, a boat taxi, etc
• Shopping: $132
  • I’m normally not a souvenir person, but I loved buying stuff here. A lot of socks actually. Patas Azules are so cute.
• Miscellaneous: $136
  • This includes an uber to the airport, tipping your tour guide, small grocery expenses, drinks, etc.

The grand total of the trip was $4,381!

So yes, it is an expensive trip! You can do it cheaper than me, but I LOVED my experience. And also, my budget was 5k, so I came in under budget baby!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my 3 part series on the Galapagos! Until next time.