San Cristobal day 2 – beach hopping

It’s day 2 in San Cristobal and after being super smart and buying some snacks for breaky the day before from the market, we munched a couple of rolls, peanut butter and banana with a few cups of freshly brewed Galapagos coffee – thanks to Lina our amazing host. Tip number 2 – if on a budget buy breakfast food from the market. For the 2 morning we were here we spent $4USD, $1USD per person per day and it was mildly healthy too!

From here we caught a cab into town ($2USD) to head to the ‘Centro De Interpretation’. This is essentially a glorified information center but delivers amazing insights into the history of Galapagos. It focuses on each island display of conservation, climate as well as the geology of each and it’s free so definitely worth it to educate yourself.

From there if you keep walking through the center it will lead you to the start of the Cerro Tijeretas track and various other beaches which was the starting point of our day’s adventures. 2 miles from the Centro De Interpretation, is a totally awesome look out point, with panoramic views of Shipwreck bay and Leon Dormido (Kicker rock). In English this point is called Frigate bird hill due to the amount of Frigate birds who nest there. It also boasts an incredible view of the ocean and the next stop on our adventure the snorkeling spot directly below.
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From there we made our way down to this crystal-clear bay which was just creaming for us to jump in, so of course we did. It was so refreshing, filled with fish and a lot of playful sea lions so we highly recommend this spot to view lots of endemic wildlife here as well and cool off, as mentioned before – It’s so hot here!

Our next stop was Punta Carola, or lovers beach located about 20 mins walk from the center but this time taking the left hand turn in the fork. This beach was great, white sands, heaps of sea lions, marine iguanas, a strong, yet cooling breeze and a perfect spot to sunbathe for a while. Travel tip – wear sunscreen ALWAYS. As I write this I am literally still 2 days later about to burst into flames.

To our surprise, in the water maybe 10 ft off the shore is a perfect spot for giant sea turtles and while sunbathing we were able to watch families of them feed and come up for air so close to the beach. At one point I even decided to be brave and go in for a swim, but the rip is really strong here and after being pulled under once, I thought drowning wouldn’t be a good look for the rest of this blog.
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Next stop was Playa De Mann, it’s a local’s beach on the way back to town, again filled with sea lions, fish and a great swimming spot. Leo went for a dip while I dried off a little after my near drowning experience in the last beach. There is also a few restaurants nearby as well as the ‘Treehouse’, famous in San Cristobal as being a unique accommodation. If you don’t stay there you can visit for $2USD pp. We didn’t but heard good things. 

By this point, it was lunch time so naturally we went back to the market. This time however, we went to a different stall as the first lady, who we liked the best was serving some very traditional Ecuadorian meals including kidney and intestine and for both of us, we were just not feeling that today at all. Next door however, for $4.50USD pp we had corn soup, prawns with mashed potato and rice, juice and dessert so overall it was a standard 7/10.

 After lunch was the next adventure to ‘La Loberia’. It’s a 40-minute walk from town or a $3USD taxi, we opted for a taxi as we figured we would walk back. This is another sea-lion filled beach and we were told a ‘must- do’ in San Cristobal. However, we didn’t see too many sea lions and weren’t that impressed. Maybe it’s because we had just been to 3 other beaches but this one was the least impressive in our opinion, still beautiful – we have just been spoilt the past few weeks. It is beautiful however, to walk around and enjoy unspoiled wilderness with no houses, no plastic, trash and spectacular to reflect on how amazing this destination is.

I was gubbed after this beach, so burnt, dehydrated and ready for a cold shower that we headed back to our accommodation for a nap before going out for dinner. We had budgeted $300USD for this weekend trip. We have spent $80USD on accomo, $100USD on ferry and that left us with $120USD for transport, food and activities. On the menu tonight for dinner was firstly happy hour at ‘La Zayapa’ – 3 x pilsner for $8USD, followed by a ‘Merienda’ – aka, dinner. The same as ‘Almuerzos’ but dinner form. In town this is not well displayed but we went to ‘Lucky’s’ restaurant and chanced our arm by asking and the lovely waitress sat us, and we had a brill dinner for $4USD pp. Soup, beef with veg and rice and lemon juice. I have to make it clear here, that we are doing these trips on the cheap and if you have money then I would recommend ‘Rosita’s, Midori or Calypso for dinner.
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After dinner, I was still peckish but for cakes, so we found this amazing bakery, which for some reason opens at night. My god, I was spoilt for choice, Leo refused to eat anything until I found a chocolate truffle with his name on it, so we bought 3 different cakes to share and each was incredible. What a weekend, we saw pelicans, blue footed boobies, sea lions, iguanas, lava lizards, frigate birds, and many more and overall, we didn’t spend a penny on activities and made the weekend within our budget, spending $270USD for the weekend.