We’re finally starting to catch up with real time now. My Galápagos affair was coming to an end, it was my last night in Puerto Ayora, and I found myself wandering the streets in the evening on a determined hunt for a souvenir t-shirt. Before I embarked on this adventure, I promised myself that the only thing I was allowed to buy was an “I love boobies” shirt, classy, I know. As I walked down the main street, stopping briefly to watch the locals play volleyball on the local public court, I could feel the familiar rumbling in my stomach. Gone were the days where dinner was automatically at 7pm, and a buffet magically appeared (I also realise that I yet again failed to take a single photo of the spread put on for us for every meal on the cruise). I decided that I would be good and head to the supermarket (the one with the $12 rum) and grab something cheap. My resolve would be tested as I passed by a pizza joint, and after seeing a snap chat of the Kiwi’s fish & chips earlier in the day, I was really craving something familiar. But no, I walked straight past pizza, and the fancier restaurants (by fancy I mean dinner would’ve cost me $10) because the cost of scuba diving had really given my budget a beating, and I was on the hunt for something cheap. Miraculously I made it to the shops and walked out US$4.64 poorer but with enough powdered ice tea and Tang to last me a while, 2 custard filled buns, and a random local version of Lemon Powerade. On the way back to the hostel, I happened to come across a little hole in the wall run by an older lady, selling empanadas, I caved and bought what I deduced was a tomato and cheese one. What it should’ve been was tomato, cheese and a fuck ton of salt. I’m getting thirsty just thinking of how salty it was, but it was still pretty good for $1.80. Whilst saving a bit by resisting a fancy meal, I still managed to spend $25 on a ‘I love boobies’ shirt and 2 Galápagos patches on the way back. Good job self.

Soon, I found myself making my way back to Baltra airport. Which means in Ecuadorian time, a 4 hour journey that would otherwise take 1.5 hours. Initially the plan was to just take a taxi to the canal, but after the expensive night buying souvenirs, I decided to take the economical route via bus. So a cheap $2 taxi ride to the bus station, and because things don’t particularly run on a ‘schedule’, so I was sitting around, waiting for the bus to get about half full before the driver finally took off. The ferry was a similar story, it only needed to cross about 8 traffic lanes worth of water, but we couldn’t leave til it was half full. Thankfully the final bus to the airport didn’t wait around, I was already cutting it a little close. My flight was due to depart at 10.05am and I made it to the airport at 9am… Bear in mind, I checked out of my hotel at 5am… Turns out, I needn’t he worried, my flight was delayed. Excellent, I only had about 24 hours worth of travelling across 5 flights to get to my next destination. On the plus side, I bumped into a Swiss girl I’d met on my tour to Quilotoa, so we hung out while she waited for her cruise guide to pick her up at the airport.
A little while later, I was off! Even better was getting an entire row to myself, time to spread out and have a nap!

Mildly annoyed when I was awoken from my nap, but we had arrive in Quito. Just 2 more flights to go. Yay for me. Alas, check in for the next flight didn’t open for another 2 hours, so I went exploring for free wifi. I desperately needed to call the gang to find out what was going on with accomodation in Rio. I planted myself at a table in the food court (big mistake), in front of KFC (even bigger mistake), while I prayed to who ever God would listen that the wifi would be good enough for a FaceTime call. Turns out someone must’ve been listen (albeit half arsely) and the faintest signal came through and finally a patchy call to the gang. They assured me they’d look after the accomodation, they’d found a good hostel that would be perfect (let’s remember this point shall we?). All this was happening while I was wishfully staring at some KFC, and also watching another pair of travellers try and polish off their bottle of cheap rum before their flight…