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October 19, 2005
Preparing for Galapagos
Getting our tourist visas extended turned out to be easy although it did take some time. After all was said and done we now have 30 day tourist visas which will be more than enough.
Next on the list was to visit several travel agencies and see if we could find an “affordable” way to get to the Galapagos. I use the quotes because even though it is the low season and by buying them at the last minute we should get a good deal, it is still quite expensive by our traveling standards. Still, this is pretty high on Em’s wish list so I think it will be worth it.
We ended up finding a great boat, “The Sagitta,” with one room left. It leaves next Wednesday and is at sea for 8 days. This puts even more pressure on us in terms of getting to Argentina, as now we won’t be back in Ecuador until November 2nd, but it is the only option we have.
The only catch was we had to pay in cash to get the 50%-off deal. Unfortunately the total we more than we could withdraw from out checking accounts from an ATM machine. In the end, after some advice from a Scottish couple, we headed to one of the major banks in the city and with a cash advance from Em’s credit card, and after a phone call to Bank of America in Saint Helena through an internet phone, we had the money.
I would feel nervous in the U.S. walking around with that much cash on my person and so naturally being our first day in Quito I was even more so. We had no problems, but I was happy to had it over to the travel agent (practically all in 20’s as the banks try to avoid $100 bills as there are too many counterfeits…by the way, if I didn’t mention it before, like El Salvador, Ecuador’s economy is dollarized).
After confirming our reservation on the boat, we had dinner at a traditional Ecuadorian restaurant and relaxed from a hectic day of running around. Luckily it all worked out in the end and we’ll be heading to the Galapagos.
Posted by Peter Mork at October 19, 2005 7:05 AM
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