For the past few weeks I have been living in the tropical island paradise of Isabela in the Galapagos and it has been, well, tropical. The largest island and most rich in wildlife in the archipelago, Isabela is my home for the next few months and I’m pretty happy about it.
Isabela is the richest island in the Galapagos Archipelago in terms of life. Home to approximately 90% of the species of Galapagos, Isabela is a large island filled with adventure, but also basic facilities.
Compared with the busy city of Santa Cruz, Isabela is a much more quiet town with the main street made of sand, no banks or ATMs so no way for visitors to get cash out, and everyone has a very relaxed attitude. Where Santa Cruz is the ‘hub’ of Galapagos, Isabela is the ‘tropical island’ part of many people’s visits.
But whilst I’m living on a beautiful island, I am definitely not spending my days lazing in the sun. Well, at least not ALL of my day. I have been helping in Pahoehoe Galapagos Tours who operate tours to popular places in Isabela such as Tintoreras, Sierra Negra Volcano and Los Tuneles. As a huge percentage of visitors to Galapagos speak English, I am using my native language skills to help people organise tours and get the most from their likely once in a lifetime Galapagos holiday.
Working in the Pahoehoe shop is helping my Spanish too. Many of the staff and boat crew only speak in Spanish, so whilst my Spanish speaking is certainly not fluent, I’m communicating well enough to be understood, and even explaining some elements of the tours in Spanish.
I was also fortunate enough last week to have my second visit to the Los Tuneles area. Snorkelling with sea turtles, golden rays, sea horses and the largest white tip reef sharks I have seen so far was great. Los Tuneles is an area that changes everyday and the Naturalist Guides that lead groups out on a daily bases never seem to get tired of seeing what marine life will be there each day. I’m hoping I might be able to sneak in another visit again sometime soon.
I have also been taking some morning snorkels in an area known as Concha de Perla. A few times over the past weeks my alarm has gone off at 5am and we’ve headed down to the dock as the sun starts to rise to snorkel in the crystal clear water with marine iguanas, sea lions, fish, rays and other animals.
It is so unusual for me to be able to step off the dock and see life everywhere, however most residents of Galapagos I’m sure would find it incredibly strange to swim in places and on beaches where there is a minimal level of life.
But spending much of my time talking to visitors in a tour agency and snorkelling in one of the most unique places in the world isn’t the only reason my I haven’t written a post lately. The wifi in Galapagos is terrible. It is very difficult to post anything with such a slow internet connection. Watching any sort of video online is a completely unrealistic possibility, and waiting for images to download on apps such as Facebook and Whatsapp can take forever. So uploading images to the blog is also a struggle.
But slow internet is one of the sacrifices of living in a tropical island paradise that is also one of the most unique places on earth, and one I’m happy to deal with.
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