Hey there my Steemit friends. Welcome to the final part four of our adventure on the Southern Coast of San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos. In parts one, two, and three we saw and did so much. Everything from see the site of a huge mining operation to find the famous Blue-Footed Booby!
Galapagos is well known by travelers to be one of the most expensive destinations to visit in all of South America. Being over 1,000 kilometers off shore from mainland Ecuador means not only flying there costs some money, but everything there has to be transported from the mainland. This raises the prices of everything from food to housing to even the price of a taxi.
Taking a tour in Mainland Ecuador in a place like Banos or Volcan Cotopaxi may be 50 or 75 dollars. Here in the Galapagos a single day tour around the island prices start at $150! Certainly doesn't feel like a second or third world price; that's for sure. However if you are travel pro enough, you don't need or want some guy to hold your hand. Then take your money.
Quite frankly guided tours are unnecessary here unless you want to do something that involves taking a boat to some other island, diving, or deep sea fishing. Self tours like this adventure we are having here are totally free and there are plenty of self tours you can do on the Island of San Cristobal besides this one here on the southern coast of the island.
There really isn't much to do in the Galapagos anyway other than walk around and explore the environment and see the animals. So I actually stayed on budget here spending less than 30 dollars a day on average, and did one self tour after another; seeing most of what the island had to offer. I wouldn't have done it any other way even if I had endless money to spend.
Not being with a group means you can go at your own pace, on your own time, on your own schedule. You don't have to listen to anyone or there often strange behavior and broken English. So I really recommend coming to the Galapagos and doing self tours. It's really the way to go and it's free!
Now we left off in part three finding the Blue-Footed Booby that we see here in the first photo. We have been hiking for a couple hours and are way up on a cliff. The goal is to have a look around and find our way back to Playa Loberia were we'll have a snack. Then hopefully be able to grab a taxi back to our hotel. Let's see if we can accomplish this mission on the southern coast of San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos.
Not bad for some amateur "Travel Pro" photography! This is the famous Blue-Footed Booby that we found in part three. This animal lives on the cliff's edges along side several other species of birds including the endemic Swallow Tail Sea Gull that we can see below.
This sea gull I'm pretty sure decided to lay an egg in probably one of the worst spots. Right alongside the hiking trail. This bird would not move no matter how close I got to it, and rightfully so it had it's precious egg to protect. I leaned in close for a photograph and that's when it opened it's beak and started squawking at me!
These two have some precious cargo as well. I think they picked a better spot to lay their egg.
There were birds all over the place here. That's quite the wing span!
This photo offers a great view of the landscape along side of the cliffs.
Looks like we reached the end of the trail. We hang out up here on the cliff's edges and enjoy the scenery before turning back towards "Playa Loberia" or Sea Lion Beach.
Before heading back I take this great video really showing what it's like to be up here with these incredible birds. It looks like I scared a few of them right off the ledge! Ooops!
I have my hotel towel over my shoulders. I don't like to use sun screen I find that blocking the sun all together works best!
We're hiking over these rocks again heading back towards civilizing. This is where we saw many Galapagos Iguanas. I'm sure we'll see more.
Look at these guys! It's like a whole gang of them all set up nicely for one beautiful photograph. Where I come from in up-state New York we have deer and turkey, and if you see one or two of them it's kind of a big deal as they often stay hidden in the forest. Here in the Galapagos you can't avoid the animals! They are everywhere almost as if they are asking to be seen.
This one's got a blueish hue going on. I find it quite remarkable that there are so many animals and they are not small either! This iguana is not one of the larger ones and it's still a good two feet long from head to tail.
I was surprised this crab let me get so close to it without moving. I got closer and closer, then poked it with my finger! It went crunch! It was dead and baked to a crisp in the strong hot sun.
We've made it back to Playa Loberia, we just have to cross this rock field then look for some shade to have our snack. You must be so careful not to twist an ankle walking through these rocks!
This looks like a good spot!
Someone even made a nice seat for us to sit down on.
This certainly wouldn't be considered a fancy meal bit it hits the spot, it's easy, and convenient. We make sure not to leave our trash around; even though a banana peel is about as biodegradable as it gets.
Just incredible, in the Galapagos you are never alone! Wildlife is everywhere; even when just sitting down to eat a banana!
After our snack we decide to head straight out to the water traversing over these rocks, just to see what is out there.
Our first encounter is this pretty yellow bird. I believe it's a "finch".
Since the water encompasses this area during high tide it's a bit of a different environment. For example we find these snails suctioned onto the sides of some of these rocks. I bet they make for some great escargot!
This is an excellent view of Sea Lion Beach "La Palaya Loberia!"
With the mid-day sun up, it really is a very beautiful place. So inviting for me and my camera; I couldn't stop clicking away! I hope you are enjoying the photographs :)
Compared to this morning there were more visitors. Some snorkeling and others swimming with the sea lions!
We head back on the path towards the parking area.
We lucked out! This taxi truck was just leaving with two passengers back to town. I started waving my hands at it, and he stopped. I hopped in and for three dollars I was back at the hotel in no time. In part one you can see how we walked from the hotel which took about a half an hour. In this hot afternoon sun I was not going to be walking back.
In fact the next day I found myself a little pink with a minor sun burn from all the sun I took in, but it was well worth it! What a great adventure it was, on San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos! Thank you so much for coming along! Until next time -Dan "World Travel Pro!"
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