The Blue Shark Hotel, Galapagos

Our taxi drivers didn't really know where we were headed that afternoon which was the first indication that we were in for an adventure. We found it without much trouble and pulled up to an unfinished and empty "hotel". Blue Shark Hotel was definitely an experience that I'm glad I had but wouldn't need to ever have again. Its all about the stories right?

So we were greeted by a very nice but socially awkward gentleman who helped us with our bags and then told us to leave them on the stoop so he could give us an "orientation" inside. He puled up some plastic chairs which were the only furniture decoration in the place and stood in front of us to tell us that dinner would be fish and breakfast would be eggs and then said "oooook lets show you your rooms!" At least he spoke pretty good english for everyone.

After grabbing our bags again, we walked to the back of the building and up a set of stairs. Its so interesting because everything was half done. It was a decently made place but only on half of it. The back of the building wasn't finished and the hallway was open to the outside and the top level wasn't finished either. Concrete and exposed poles were everywhere.

We walked to the end of the hallway and he pointed to four rooms that we could have. We had purchased a 3-bedroom apartment but I guess we just got four regular rooms... He told us to get settled and that he would be downstairs when we wanted to pay.

It was all in cash which was interesting, so I collected the cash from everyone and went downstairs with my dad and Maia. I handed him the cash (which wasn't exact) and he seemed confused. He said he would look up the price later (shouldn't he know how much it is for his hotel?) and I knew the price so I kept a 20 for good measure. Then we asked about internet and stuff to do in the area and he said "Give me an hour for the internet, we just installed it today." (first guests?) And suggested a walk along the road to see some Tortugas later that afternoon. So we decided to take a nap and then hike later.

We all passed out for a good time and then collected ourselves for an afternoon hike. Little did we know, our host was coming with us. He was chatting with us about his neighbors and the area that he lived. It was all farmland and not much more which made me think that it was an interesting place for a hotel...

Pineapples!

We walked quite a bit along the road past a pineapple farm and papayas until he pointed into a grassy patch (while on his phone) and we saw a huge Galapagos tortoise! We were all excited to see it from the road but then our host carefully pulled apart the wire fence (while still on his phone) and we climbed through and got to see them a little closer up!

After the tortoises, we walked to where the community coffee roaster is. It was off the beaten path a bit but it was all so new and clean! It was so interesting to see the equipment all shiny and clean in the middle of nowhere. But I guess its a busy place during the week with the area coffee growers roasting their beans! 

Out next stop was out hosts neighbor who has a plantation full of fruits and coffee! We got a closeup view of his coffee sorting process and then toured his farm. We walked by oranges which we got to taste. The outer skin was a dark orange almost rusty color and we were a little put off at first but after opening and trying them, it was some of the best tasting oranges we had ever had! This just goes to show that "perfect" fruits and veggies that must be sold in the USA aren't always the best. We also walked by the largest Papaya I had ever seen, some coffee plants, bananas, yuca (not yucca, I got so confused lol, theres a difference) and this beautiful red, kush-ball looking flower tree.

Coffee sorting

Bananas!

It was so cool to walk through this farm and see all the plants growing together and healthy unlike many US farms... On our walk back we all noticed how itchy we were. Yay bugs!

When we got back, I walked up on the unfinished roof to catch the sunset which was very beautiful, this picture doesn't do it justice. The evening animals started to come out and we could hear a massive amount of crickets chirping all around.

Dinner was delicious. Everyone got delicious tuna (tuna? or some other fish...) except for me who got a vegetarian vegetable pasta that was very good. We also got some Ecuadorian Coke (REAL SUGAR!) which we all tried not to drink all of. Its SO good with real sugar! After chatting and playing some cards, we decided to head to sleep. 

However, we had some issues with that...

Maia broke her bed after just sitting down on it so they decided to switch to the other room only there were no lightbulbs in the sockets (Ty and I also didnt have lightbulbs in our table lamps...). My mom took a cold shower cause the warm water wasn't working. We all were having troubles flushing our toilets cause the water pressure wasn't working the best. Ty and I left our door open a bit to be able to talk with everyone (we hate being lonely!) but that just meant that our room got invaded by so many bugs and they kept falling on our bed... So yes we all had our own bathrooms and king size beds, but there was no mosquito net and the bathrooms didn't really work... After all these little things coming forth (believe me there was much more that I don't feel like complaining about a month later...), Maia and I decided to confront our host. That was the most awkward thing ever. He came up and turned on the water in all the showers for like five minutes so the heat would come through (sad, wasting water!), shrugged at the broken bed and then magically switched all the lightbulbs from one room to the other (I totally didnt see him do it but then they were there lol). After that he just went back downstairs. It was weird. No apologies or anything. 

That night Ty and I watched some geckos attack the bugs on our ceiling, but they didnt get them all. They kept falling on my side of the bed so I slept in the middle and after a few bugs fell on Tys face, he turned on the bathroom light and they all went into the bathroom and died on the floor there. It was hard to sleep with the light on and early, the sun was like a spotlight shining into our room (big open windows and everything was white). 

So then it was morning. We all got up for breakfast which was eggs (they were good but Im not the biggest fan of eggs and gave mine to Ty) and then it was time for us to gather for our sad trip to the airport and saying goodbye to Maia and I'Nity. We all hate goodbyes so it was more of a "yup, see ya soon!" 

I think the reason it took me so long to write all this down was because the last days are always so sad and depressing. The end of a trip like that is like the end of a long story that has good characters and a lot of action. You never want that story to end because its so good and enhances your life! Our Galapagos story took so long to plan and brought together some special people and it was SO FUN! I want to go on more trips like that. Where to now??