I wake on and off after 2 am. I´m really excited. Don´t want to sleep in. My watch alarm is set for 05:30 and I´m in the shower before it´s finished beeping. I wash my hair as I don´t know how often I´ll be able to wash it once I´m at the station. I´m assuming that the shower will be basic and maybe cold so I make the most of this powerful hot one and take a few minutes more than I should.
I am first down to breakfast which I eat in 10 minutes and give myself indigestion. All I have to do is close up my rucksack after cleaning my teeth. Strangely, despite not having bought anything except a mask & snorkel I struggle to fit everything in.
Nestor, the taxi driver, arrives dead on time at 06:45 to take me to the airport. On the way he points out the Parque de Carolinas with its huge collection of orchids & carnivorous plants which, had I known about and had more time, I would like to have visited.
I meet up with Kate at the check-in. Due to a mix-up she has to fly to Santa Cruz (Baltra) and get the boat to San Cristobal so won´t arrive at the station until late. Her flight leaves before mine.
There are 10 other volunteers on my flight going to the Station and although I think I can see them all huddling in a group (like kids do at school), I am content to stay on my own just a little longer. I am reassured that one of them looks much older than me. All the rest are young...under 30.
My flight is delayed by half an hour and we're going via Guayacil. Once airborne, we are given a cheese roll and a soft drink and refreshments are barely cleared away when we´re descending fast. Quito is so high and Guayacil is at sea level, so we almost gliding down to it from Quito and the pressure plays havoc with my ears.
The woman next to me hasn´t stopped praying and crossing herself for the whole journey. I hope she gets off. There is also a loud (American?) woman further back who hasn´t stopped talking the whole time. I hope she gets off too! She doesn´t but the praying woman does! Small mercies?
As we take off for San Cristobal an hour later my ears squeak a little as we reach 34,000 feet but then I´m fine. I realise this is the first time I have flown over the Pacific. It looks bluer than the Atlantic or is that just my imagination?
We are given more food but proper "lunch" this time and I indulge in a glass of red wine as this could be the last alcohol I have in the next two weeks. We have to pack our rubbish in individual plastic bags, I´m guessing to avoid bringing in contamination to Galapagos.
At 12:05 my ears tell me we´re descending and it gets very bumpy as we fly through blue and no clouds. Suddenly I see San Cristobal through low-lying clouds. At least I assume it's San Cristobal. I´m so excited. It looks very hot out there.
The stewards fumigate the plane with harmless insecticide in spray cans as they do when landing in Australia and we land right next to the sea - I almost expect to see see-lions sun-bathing but I can´t see any. The town looks very small.
I wish I had my camera out as I want to take photos of my plane, the terminal building, the welcome sign but I'm so excited I forget.
It is very hot and sticky.
Luckily, I am quite near the front of the queue to go through Customs. I forget I have peanuts in my rucksack and when I see the dog sniffing the bags of the plane, I am worried she will find them and I´ll be in terrible trouble.
I pay my $100 entrance fee, fill in a health form, get my visitors card and I´m through. I see the Jatun Sacha sign but I need the toilets and have to collect my bags. Finally, I am greeted by representatives from the station.
There is a problem. Because there is a large group of American students at the station, there are not enough room for all of us just for tonight. They need 5 people to stay in San Cristobal town. Not me. I selfishly want to get there right now.
It´s hot, very hot. We pile into the taxi/pickup truck/ute and Jesse, the Asian lad (though he´s actually born and bred in USA) sits in the back and reminds us of Hiro from "Heroes". I sit with Irina (Swiss) & Belinda (Aussie - Parkville, Melbourne) and Marten (German) is in the front conversing in fluent Spanish with the driver.
We set out on a good, tarmacked road but soon head up into the highlands into much cooler weather and the road changes to dirt, stones and then mud. It starts to rain.
It seems weird to see exotic flowers growing at the side of the road that I´ve only seen in my Galapagos book but I guess I´ll soon get used to that.
We meet a machete-carrying, blonde German girl as we approach the station and she hops into the back for the last few hundred yards. She has been clearing Mora all morning.
As we drive into the station, the volunteers are about to eat lunch. None of us, when asked want to eat as we had food on the plane, but we get food anyway - fried fish, rice and coleslaw, washed down with juice of some kind. Somehow we manage to eat it all up. If this is typical of the food here, we´re all going to get very fat!
(and now I need to save this post and change terminals - the keyboard on this computer has many stuck keys and my fingers are sore from having to bang them to get this blog typed up. This internet cafe sells exceptionally good Mora icecream! I´m in San Cristobal town this weekend of the 19th-21st June but have been so busy I haven´t had much time to get my journal written! More later, if I have time before we head back the station at 4 pm - Sunday.)
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