The End

Well, we are now back home (actually, I have already moved to Boston and am ready to start classes, and Mitch is busy in Guelph with frosh-week stuff...and the last few posts were written from Boston, not the Galapagos) but I wanted to round out our trip and describe the last 5 days, after our cruise ended.

The cruise ended on a Sunday morning. The rest of the group headed back to the airport, but Mitch and I headed into Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island to our hotel. Although it didn't have TV, it was air-conditioned and had very hot water and two beds, so we were very happy. We stayed in Puerto Ayora Sunday to Wednesday, doing such things as napping, relaxing on the beach, eating a great meal in an expensive hotel (near the beach), sitting in restaurants watching soccer games on TV, hiking to a brine pool between two big rocks and swimming, renting mountain bikes to bike to a nearby beach but realizing that it was all uphill and much further than we though so hailing a cab to take us there....and then sitting in a cab for about 15 mintues and thanking God that we weren't still biking....We saw our first and last flamingo, and then navigated our way back to Baltra Island for our flight back to Guayaquil on Wednesday morning.

Mitch on our beach day:

Mitch at the entrance to the brine pool:

Mitch swimming in the brine pool (I joined him after taking this picture):

Mitch at the place we tried to bike to but then took the cab to:

Mitch and me in paradise:

Me with the flamingo:

When we arrived in Guayaquil we were met by Charlie, who is from Montanita and his parents own the bed and breakfast we were staying at. He took us around for the afternoon showing Mitch the highlights of Guayaquil since he hadn't seen them yet. Mitch wasn't feeling great though, and went to bed early. Jose Luis came from Montanita to meet us for a couple days, and he and I watched part of a big Ecuador soccer game at a bar and then went to a movie - GI Joe (it was terrible!).

The next day I decided to do some "normal people" things since I had already seen all of Guayaquil, so went with Jose Luis to see his family. Had a nice lunch with his mom and uncle, some good home cooking, and then went to the Zoo on the boardwalk of Guayaquil. Mitch went to a nearby beach, Playas, with Charlie. Thursday night was the last night of our trip, so we went to downtown Guayaquil and hiked up all those steps again....this was the third time for me but the first time for Mitch. We then went to a bar down at the bottom for a few drinks.

Jose Luis at the Guayaquil Zoo:

Mitch with Charlie and Jose Luis up at the top of the hill in Guayaquil on our last night:

Friday we wandered around the city, didn't do much of anything, packed up, ate dinner at TGIFs because Mitch was still feeling sick and wanted some American food, and headed to the airport to catch our 11pm flight.

What a trip!!!!!!