January 24 – Not a suspicious person

Kathleen and I can definitely recommend Hotel España, Puerto Ayora, Galapagos. Decently priced ($30/night) with air-conditioning that drowned-out what little noise occurred. The television had 3 channels in English.

We were told that we had to take a taxi to the main terminal outside Puerto Ayora to catch a bus to the airport – okay, the ferry to Isla Baltra which supports the airport. By 6:30am we were waving down a taxi to take us to the airport. We arrived at the bus terminal in minutes and $2 poorer.

In the bus terminal we fell-in behind the line of folks purchasing their tickets for the bus idling outside. What are the odds? Just as we got to the window, a man standing behind the women taking the money, said the bus was now full. Immediately, the man said we needed to take a taxi to the ferry crossing. I’m not a suspicious person, however, I did note that the people previous to us in the line were all locals. Kathleen asked the man, in Spanish, when the next bus would arrive. He said in 20-minutes, but we should take a car; meaning taxi. Kathleen asked the question differently. Can we take a bus to the ferry crossing. Yes, replies the man. When is that bus? “In 20-minutes . . . you take car” (in Spanish).

Kathleen and I got wary. A bus, for 80-cents/person, is to arrive in 20-minutes, yet we’re to take a taxi for $3-$4. Kathleen and I went outside to wait for the next bus. As time passed more people arrived. Gringos at that. They got the same response from the man: Bus will be here in 20-minutes, so you need to take a car. He would never say taxi. Be wary of the man in the brown shirt and white pants in the photo below. The woman who had been behind the window appears. Two young ladies arrive from town via bus. Hey, wait, Kathleen and I were told to take a taxi. The two young blue-eye blonds walk up to the man as did everyone else. In Spanish, they asked the man about the next bus and got the standard line about the bus is coming, but take car. Then, they asked the woman who had been behind the glass earlier. Kathleen over heard her say the bus will arrive soon; Don’t take the taxi. Ah-ha!! Turns out she was the person who would collect the fare from people on the bus.

As we waited for the bus to arrive, the two blond-haired ladies told us they were Argentineans. For the bus and ferry ride, Kathleen and I chatted with these ladies who spoke nearly accent-less English. Turns out, two different buses leave from Puerto Ayora. One goes direct to the ferry crossing, another goes to the bus terminal. They missed the one to the ferry, so they caught the one to the terminal. Additionally, not looking like typical South Americans, both ladies confided they too often receive different information than that provided to locals. Frequently, this information meant they would pay more for something. As did Kathleen and I, the ladies suspected the man at the bus terminal was looking out for his taxi driving buddies.

After the ferry ride and a short bus trip, Kathleen and I arrived at the airport and joined the line trailing from the TAME (Línea Aérea del Ecuador) counter. I know, the acronym doesn’t match. Go to Ecuador to find out why. We’ll have to go back to determine why ourselves.
Our flight was to leave at 10:30am. The time was 8:40am. Should have plenty of time.

People. As with any country on Earth. Someone in the queue ahead of you has got to have some issue. Sure enough, a young man, his frizzy-haired wife, and their multiple children had some kind of problem. And of course, only one person was checking people in. Sigh.

Kathleen and I stood with other the other people in line for over an hour before the young man and his group finally departed from the counter – the line seemed to move steadily now. While waiting, Kathleen and I were sticking close to the people ahead of us because as people behind us got antsy, the cutzies began. If I were any closer to the woman ahead of me we would have shared the same pants.

Our flight to Quito was full. Kathleen and I were seated apart from each other, however, the flight was only an hour and forty minutes. We arrived in Quito and went to the Hotel Sebastian to check-in and retrieve our motorcycle helmets and other items we had the hotel store.

Again, we scored a suite!! Great, as our flight to Los Angeles was not until 4pm the following day. Kathleen and I went out for a walk about Quito and to find some dinner. We again instantly noticed the lack of hustle and bustle as the holiday season had passed and the city was far less hectic.

We returned to our room to enjoy our accommodations for the evening. Here Kathleen is Skipe-ing back to the States.