Day the last. After waking up to find that the hotel was (surprisingly) offering running water to all guests, we cleaned up and discovered that Gregorio had stopped by for breakfast, so our last day on the islands was hosted by our fearless and bearded tour leader. Audrey and I had to leave the table early to make an excursion into the depths of the Darwin Research Station in search of a t-shirt exchange. Despite our efforts and exertions we were not to find any satisfaction. An hour later the taxi across the island ($15, muy rapido) took us through the finch killing fields and back to the other side of the island where we caught the ferry, followed by the bus, followed by the plane, followed by the other bus, and arrived at our hotel in Quito. The plane ride was made more entertaining by the presence of three of the four horsemen of the Apocolypse: the puker, the tiny screamer (and hair puller), and most noticeably, the egg farter.
The trip’s final dinner was at La Ronda (which is Spanish for “the restaurant with the marriachi band and the guy with the saxophone where they serve decent food and tasty vino”) where we had a nice dinner with Travis, Roberta and the Canadians. Our wakeup for the morning is at the magic hour of four, with a pickup to the airport at 4:15. In the morning. Before the sunrise. Before anything at all happens, actually. The plane ride home promises to be a sleepy one, but after the amazing trip, and with mamosas to help us along, it’s a small burden to bear.