John checked the time when the rooster started crowing…4:15am. Others soon chimed in and in the distance I could hear the sea lions playing back up.
Today is a travel day as we head back to Quito. Packing up to leave is not my favourite part of a trip. We left our luggage behind the front desk of Casa de Jiemy and headed to breakfast.
Casa de Jiemy was my least favourite of our accomodations for this trip.There was nothing wrong with it, it was clean and well sized however there was no place in our room to hang our wet clothes, you also couldn’t adjust the water temperature in the shower…only on or off. When we checked out, they also added to our nightly rate $10 per night for air conditioning which we didn’t know about in advance. It wasn’t a bad hostel, but I would probably look for something else if staying again in San Cristobal.
It was Sunday morning. On our way to breakfast we passed a church service going on near the dock. There were a large number of police officers at the service. The fact the they were all holding bulletins gave me the impression that they were probably there to enjoy the service and not to subdue a rowdy crowd.
We went back to Muyu for our final Galápagos breakfast. As usual the atmosphere was great. I used all my senses to imprint this gorgeous, relaxing moment in my memory.
The sea lions also seemed to be in a Sunday frame of mind. Some young ones rolled and jumped in the waves while a larger older one lay on his back letting the waves push him closer, then further from shore.
Boobie birds dived into the water while one flew over to a rock and preened his feathers…he preened so much, I’m surprised he had any feathers left.
After breakfast, I grabbed an ice cream and we walked around the waterfront watching the animals till the very last second….ok, I did run into a souvenir shop to buy a Boobie bird water bottle. However John and I both held back from buying hats or t-shirt’s that might seem out of place in Canada (ie. the “I Love Boobies” t-shirt)
The airport was a five minute cab ride from the hostel. Going through security the x-ray caught that I had accidentally left my travel scissors in my carry-on and so they were confiscated.
The flight was non-eventful. I spent the time going through cookbooks on my iPad.
The plane had a short stopover again at Guayaquil before continuing o Quito. It was a lot cooler in Quito. We grabbed a cab from the airport to our last hotel – Hotel Masaya- where we picked up one piece of luggage we’d stored there and then headed to our Airbnb apartment which is in the newer more modern part of the city known as La Mariscal.
We met up with our host Gisela who gave us the keys and a rundown about the apartment. Then it was out to dinner, we took the bus a few blocks to Plaza Foch also known as Gringo Town because of all the tourists who stay nearby. The bus fare was 25 cents. A nice young man in his twenties offered me a seat on the bus. I was quite tickled until John told me that he probably thought I was an elderly lady.
We went to a fine dining Equatorian restaurant called Achiote near Plaza Foch. We had a mashed potato and cheese appetizer with a choice of either a hot sauce or a tahini sauce. I had the guinea pig again (only 1/4 portion this time which was quite good) and some local wine (not quite as good). John had pulled pork and a gin and tonic.
After dinner the restaurant grabbed us a cab and we headed back to our apartment. The apartment is on the 18th floor with beautiful views of Quito with the mountains in the background.
At nighttime John claims that In my attempts at Spanish I have been wishing everyone a happy evening of snacks by saying “Buenas Nachos” the equivalent of “good nachos” instead of “Buenas Noches” which is “Goodnight”.
