Arriving on Santa Cruz Island

Baltra is a small island that was given to Ecuador after WWII and it is the main airport into the Galapagos. Baltra was set up as a base during WWII to protect the Panama Canal and you can see remains of the old US Airforce base as you drive across the island.

After we paid our 100USD National Park fee and collected our luggage, we were met by a naturalist guide who directed us to our bus. There are buses for the cruisers and one for the land based people. We were staying on the land.

The short bus ride took us to a ferry terminal. At the other side of the Itabaca Canal we went by taxi, with our guide, to start our highland tour.

Until I did my researched I did not know that we could stay on land. I thought that cruising was the only way to see the islands. I am so glad we decided to stay off the cruise ships. Our time was not regimented, we were free to explore at any time of day, and we left our money in the local economy.