The Galapagos (1)

In a moment of weakness I admit to shedding a tear on embarking on the next leg of our journey. I was extremely tired after a bad night with Leo, and had a sudden attack of nerves at what I had been excited but tentatively apprehensive about in all our months of preparation. Who takes a nearly 7 month old baby to some remote islands in the pacific after all? Certainly not anyone I know. Was this going to be a heavenly experience or hell on earth? Knowing that we'd done every ounce of preparation possible and with Ari's boundless enthusiasm for the trip, this was enough for me to get a grip and be strong enough to take up whatever challenge came our way.
I am ecstatic to report that I couldn't have wished for a better experience. Now let me tell you about it.

I'm always slightly embarrassed about the amount of luggage we turn up with. Don't invite us round to your house unless you expect us to take over your lives and your living room. On a count, including my handbag, we have NINE bags to maneuver around. I say we but I really mean Ari, I stand around and look pathetic whilst holding a baby and hope it gets me places. And luckily we managed to get access to the VIP lounge. SCORE! Well, not worthy of too many exultations, Quito's national airport is no Dubai, but a quiet place to hang with comfy chairs will never be turned away.

If I had any fear of being judged as a bad parent for the journey we were undertaking, it pretty much dissolved here. Leo seems to enchant everyone in his path and now rather than bad parent I shall consider myself 'celebrity parent' and lap up all the glory. As usual we had a good flight with Leo and arrived in Balta airport in the Galapagos to be met by the crew of 'The Legend' ship to take us to our oceanic home for the next four days.

First scary bit, ride in dinghy to board the boat, bit choppy, but fine, survived- yeah! Now I know it'll be fine. The crew on board were amazingly attentive and friendly and positively excited about having Leo on board. Celebrity parents- check. Bit of background needed here I feel. To explore the islands the best method is to take a cruise, anything from 3 to 7 nights is available on various size boats. The only one available to us with baby was a 100 guest cruise ship, which meant we had all facilities to hand. The category was stated as luxury- our cabin couldn't be considered as luxury but was certainly adequate, they even gave us a travel cot- but I would say the service was luxury. I have actually thought that in general the service in Ecuador has been luxury, everyone goes out of their way to be helpful, it's so touching.

After settling in on the boat, we were to dock on North Seymour island for our first visit, and of course Leo was coming along for the ride. We were organised into groups, each taking on the name of a particular Galapagos species. The minute I heard the options I knew which group we would end up in, a delightful group of birds named BOOBIES (Spanish speakers, this is funny because this is an English euphemism for breasts). So we set off with our fellow boobies in the dinghy to dry land.

With the help of our guide we were introduced to all sorts of animals. Sea lions, blue footed boobies, friggets, strange cacti, marine and land iguanas. What was amazing was seeing these animals in their natural habitat, and because man is no threat to them (no one is allowed to get too close or touch anything) you can get within a few feet of everything and they show no fear whatsoever. Truly amazing and remarkable.

Getting back to the boat, we ate with our newly acquainted dinner buddies, Herb and Carolyn from Los Angeles (if you're reading, hi guys and hope the trip home was ok!) and settled down for a gentle night on the sea.