To the Galapagos Islands

Travel Stories: From Peru to Ecuador

By Jack Krayenhoff

In 1984, as my wife and I were going to be working in Peru for a year, we decided we should take the opportunity to see the Galapagos Islands while we were there. After all, they were only a few hundred miles West of Ecuador, and Ecuador was right North of Peru. 

Our travel agent in Victoria found us an Ecuadorian Cruise Line that offered an unbelievably cheap fare and we snapped it up. Now we needed a flight from Quito, Ecuador to Baltra on the Galapagos Islands, where we would board the cruise ship. But that caused a problem. There were daily flights all right, but the company seemed to be unable to book them that far ahead. Maybe their computer capacity was not up to snuff (the year was 1984), but it could also have to do with the fact that the line was primarily owned by the military, and civilians could only get on if there was space. We knew that was not an unusual arrangement in South America, so we decided to take our chances: we would go to Quito some days ahead of time, so that we could afford to miss one or two flights but then surely catch a third. We knew that Quito was a beautiful city anyway, and well worth a visit if we had to wait.

The year in Peru was good. I was doing tropical medicine in the trans-Andean jungle, among the headwaters of the Amazone River, and my job was to look after the personnel of a linguistic mission and the aboriginals they were working amongst. It was useful work and a stimulating change from general practice in Victoria.

The year went by quickly and the time for our Galapagos adventure arrived. First we had to fly to Lima, with beautiful views of the Andes peaks; there were no problems. Next the leg from Lima to Quito. Again: a smooth flight and safe landing.

But now! I headed straight for the office of that mysterious un-bookable airline that we needed in order to get us to Baltra on the Galapagos, where our cruise ship, the Neptuno, would be awaiting us on Friday. A reasonably polite, but un-eager gentleman was attending to our business.

In my barely passable Spanish I requested two tickets for today's flight.

'Sorry, the plane was full.' 

Not even two separate seats? - they didn't have to be next to each other?

'No, not even two separate seats.'

Well, what about Tuesday?

'No that plane was full, too.'

Absolutely full? No cancellations?

'Absolutely full.'

But Wednesday, surely that was not completely booked yet?

'Sorry, completely booked.'

I thought this was strange, I had spent a whole year in South America, and the possible reason for this unusually heavy booking did not dawn on me. A little later a friend suggested that the desired transaction could not proceed due to lack of lubrication. Two or three one-hundred Ecuadorian Sucre bills discreetly passed across the counter would have discovered those vacant seats after all. As it was, I continued pleading and cajoling till the poor man got tired of it and eventually, seeing he could not get rid of ­­me, found me two seats. When we finally boarded the plane, it was half empty.