Lima, Peru. Excursion: Jewels of South America: Galapagos & Machu Picchu - Day 4

Someone's wake-up call!  Or does the sea lion want somewhere more
comfortable to sleep?

We had an early morning wake-up call so that we could see the Charles Darwin Research Station before we started making tracks to Baltra Airport. The research station was about a 10 to 15 minute walk but it was raining - not so nice but everyone tried to keep their spirits up.

At the research station we had a nice walk around the site to see land tortoises & learn about the breeding programme. We even saw young tortoises of 3 months old to 3 years old. We also saw preserved body of Lone George who was the last giant tortoise of his kind.

When we returned to the hotel we had a few minutes to dry off and freshen up. Our luggage went, once again, through one of the back windows of the minibus and we piled into the bus.

On the way to the airport we stopped by Twin Craters which is really a collapsed lava tunnel, causing 2 huge deep holes in the earth.

Then onward to the airport, catching a ferry on almost the last leg of our journey. Our luggage was piled onto the ferry roof and offloaded onto public busses on the other side. Then the finally we arrived at the airport. Juan accompanied us all the way until we went through security. It was a very sad farewell for us. We had grown very fond of our guide who, by now, had become a good friend. Santiago (a guide who had flown across with us to the Galapagos islands) met us at the airport and went with us all the way through security - he was flying home until his next guiding assignment.

While we waited for our flight at Baltra Airport most of us sat in the food hall eating packed lunches, compliments from the hotel. We were kept entertained by sparrows flying inside, looking for crumbs. They got up very close to humans, sitting on the back of a chair, on the table & even on someone's hat rim.

When we landed at Guayaquil airport, Ecuador, Santiago stood at the door of the aeroplane and said goodbye to us as we left. The flight was continuing to his home town so he wouldn't be coming any further with us. I had the guests meet in a group so we could go out to the arrivals hall together. It worked a treat. We were met by tour group representatives who gave us our tickets and took us through check-in. They left us at the security gates as we made our way for our next flight to Lima, Peru.


After an uneventful flight we were met at Lima hotel by our new guide, Manning, who kindly had porters to pick up our luggage and take it to the Wyndham Costa del Sol Hotel airport, across the road from the airport. It was a short walk to the airport and there Manning gave us a briefing of what would happen in the morning and over the next few days, and handed out our hotel room keys.

After that - it was time for me to have a much needed bath and contact Paul.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Graveyard wall

Charles Darwin Research Station

 

Lone George

Young land tortoises - they are very small but wait until they grow up!

 

Last look at our hotel

Collapsed lava tunnels site

Ferry and the airport

A sparrow in the airport dining hall, hoping for some crumbs

Port of Callao

We had been advised that our pickup time from the hotel was 10:30am but we got a call just before 10am to say that our transport had arrived.  Fortunately we had woken up before the alarm clock had gone off and went for an earlyish breakfast - bearing in mind I tend to eat slowly.

The drive to the port went smoothly enough. There were a few moments when we thought that our vehicle would be hit due to other drivers changing lanes suddenly, without using their indicators.  We got to the port alive and our nerves in tatters.

Once on board Paul had to do a handover from his leaving colleague so I ended up unpacking and getting the cabin to look like 'home' again. The poor plants that I had carefully nurtured where looking very sorry for themselves - someone had forgotten to water them (grrrrr) so I gave them some water and took off dead leaves.  I just hope the poor plants will recover. If not I will ask the on-board florist for some more plants.

My day was made when the steward from when we were last on board appeared.  Dhimas (our cabin steward) had been due to go on holiday in February but with an American moratorium being placed on certain visas his replacement had not come.  Hopefully he will get off in San Diego and return home to his wife.

After a nap we had an early meal and watched an episode of "Foyle's War".  Time to hit the sack.  The ship won't be going anywhere tonight and will remain in port until tomorrow afternoon.

11:45pm – having flown westerly and gained another day

Had a very easy and relaxing flight - I slept most of it away! 😃 The food and service was superb so no complaints from the 'peanut gallery'.

All went well at the airport until we got outside.  It was hectic on the airport road.  Our transport finally arrived to take us to the hotel.  It was more than chaos on the roads.  Holy moly!!!  There seemed to be no road rules at all.  I clung either to my seat, the door or Paul.  Our driver managed to get us through it all in one piece - I can only say 'skill' and a VERY clear head did the trick.

We've just discovered that the hotel is further away from the harbour than we thought. The airport hotel is much closer so why we were put up in a place quite far away - it is a mystery.  It will take us about 2 hours (including heavy traffic) to get us to the port.  Oh well - we have a pick-up time of 10:30am so we should be ok....