Robert C.
Google
Well we finally had the money and time to cross this one off the bucket list. We visited Ecuador, hiked the Andes and braved the jungle, straddled the equator line, stood and egg on its end, and you guessed it visited the Galápagos Islands. Ok, not all of them and it was like a whirl wind tour but it was amazing. I will focus on the Isabella II the ship we were on for the Galapagos Islands and of course the Galapagos tour. The Isabela II is definitely showing her age but everything worked, and while the accommodations were modest they worked out just fine. The naturalist/guides were in general fabulous. We had an affinity for Nancy. She managed to find all of the most exotic of the animals. The only one of the Big 15 we did not see was the ground owl, but we did see plenty of the remnants of its food. I know you have seen the tv shows and National Geographic magazine and specials where the animals just come up to the photographer or the bird sits on their hat. Well, it really is just like that in the Galapagos. The animals do not move out of your way, they walk into your path and lay down and make you walk around them. The adult sea-lions lay around the barely pay any attention to you. The babies are very curious and come very close. A mockingbird followed our group and eventually landed on the hats of several people in our group.
The guide teams, both in Ecuador and the Galapagos did a wonderful job of keeping us informed, together, and on task while being funny and very friendly.
The food we found in Ecuador was fabulous and we tried as much indigenous food as possible including fruit I cannot spell, but a few were the naranjillo, tree tomato, babaco, tuna fruit, pitahya, (if I managed to spell all of them correctly it is a miracle) and so many more. We took a cooking class again it was awesome. So this part of the adventure was on our own. When we finally synched up with the tour and the food was included our impression changed a bit. The included meals were lack-luster in Ecuador, and the hotel food worse than you would expect from hotel food. The hotel was awesome and first rate so we expected the food to match but it was not really made to local standards but for a presumed American palate. The big foods in abundance in Ecuador and very cheap compared to US standards shrimp and tuna and other fresh fish was hard to come by on the included menus. The food was bland and often cold.
Food on the ship went from incredible to YUCK! The first meal was like going to Luby’s Cafeteria in the US. If you have never been to Luby’s you haven’t missed anything! That food is typically, overcooked, dry, and tasteless. That was the first meal but at least there was fish on the menu. Over cooked and very dry but the wine was included so it was not all bad. Desserts were not very inspired and occasionally they had some native fruit and fruit juices so dessert was generally fair. Two meals did stand out, the best one hands down was the Prawns served for dinner on the last night, and the Roasted Pig buffet! We had two Captain’s cocktail hours with some snacks. If you have ever been on a silver seas cruise or even a NCL (no kids) cruise, you will feel like you got the Cheaper than Walmart, grungier than K-Mart feeling. The cocktails were typically less than half a flute of some horrible concoction and snacks that reminded me of the frozen appetizers you can buy in Sam’s or Costco. It was hard to find a drink on board unless it was meal time and alcohol was all extra, even though I brought home some amazing local made liquor each less than $11 a bottle. Talking about drinks there is a local drink called the Canelazo (again spelling). IT was wonderful! Again, look for these in the local markets, they are not great in the bars and hotels.
I took all the pictures with just my iPhone without any special adaptations or zooms. Regardless of any issues, I highly recommend this company and this trip. Go a little ahead of your trip and explore on your own. It is mostly safe during the day and they are on the US dollar.
