We landed at José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil after 6am. The airport was named after the first mayor of Guayaquil who was also a former president of Ecuador.

There was a bit of difficulty getting through the Immigration. The officer looked at my passport and didn’t know how to process it. I guess not many Singaporeans visited this part of the world. It took a while before the officer decided to stamp my passport.

I was a little disappointed to find out that it was a computer printout and not a stamp. While I was waiting with KKH to collect our luggage, the officer came with another colleague. He asked for my passport again and the colleague checked through it. After seeing that everything was in order, they baded me goodbye. I asked KKH if she had any problems at the Immigration and she said the officer who attended to her asked a senior and more experienced colleague who then let her through. I grumbled that next time KKH can go through the Immigration first and answer all the questions.

We took a taxi to our hotel, Grand Hotel Guayaquil. The taxi driver spoke no English and we spoke no Spanish so we had a bit of difficulty communicating with each other. We passed him the address of the hotel and he tried to recommend a cheaper one. We declined because we had already paid for the hotel as part of the package from Adventure Life.

The staff at the hotel spoke very good English, which was a relief. We were able to check in immediately. Good, I needed a bath. I felt dirty. We took turns to bathe and then decided that since it was still early, we would rest in the room first and walk around the city later. The room was big and we had a queen-sized bed each. So shiok! KKH fell asleep first. Since she looked tired, I didn’t have the heart to wake her up and decided to just let her sleep. I finished my book at 3pm. Since I did not have a good sleep on the plane and was feeling a bit tired myself, I slept too.

We woke up at 5:30pm and left the hotel. Our first task was to buy some water. It was not recommended to drink from the tap so we have to buy bottled water. A 500ml bottle cost around USD 0.30 which was cheaper than the €1.50 we had to pay in Amsterdam. The shopkeeper advised us not to keep our money in our wallets as wallets meant that we have a lot of money. I thought it was nice of her to warn us.

We walked around aimlessly for a while. There were little traffic lights for pedestrian crossing so we just followed the locals and crossed the road as and when. Even when there were pedestrian crossings, nobody seemed to follow it very strictly. It wasn’t hard to walk around Guayaquil because the city was laid out very neatly in a grid. It was harder than we expected to find convenience stores to buy bottled water. There were shops but most of them sold clothing, accessories and shoes. When we came across places that sold bottled water, there were only small 500ml bottles available, no big 1L bottles. I guess the locals just drink from the tap. It’s us foreigners, with our delicate stomachs, who needed to drink bottled water.

Another thing that I read about Ecuador is that their sewage system is not powerful so we should not flush toilet paper down the toilet bowls as it could clog up the pipes. We had to throw the used toilet paper into the covered bin in the restrooms which were emptied at least once a day. It felt strange at first because I was so used to throwing the toilet paper down the toilet bowl. But when in Rome, do as Romans do.

We had dinner at La Canoa which was located at Hotel Continental. The staff at our hotel said it served local cuisine so we decided to give it a try. Thankfully they had a English version for the menu. We were given bread, butter and a small pot of something spicy and sour which seemed to be a local hot sauce.

For dinner, I had a traditional dish which consisted of rice with lentils, grilled beef and plantains. The lentils was soft, mushy and salty. It was quite nice. Despite the huge serving, I managed to finish them because they go so well with the rice.

I liked the grilled beef which was just simply sprinkled with salt. I didn’t like the mashed plantains as they were starchy and bland.

We also had a large glass of fruit juice each. Altogether dinner cost around USD 23. After dinner, we walked back to our hotel. It was already dark, the shops were closing and there were not many people on the streets.

KKH and I flew off at 00:20 in the morning. It was a 12 hours flight to Amsterdam and then another 12-13 hours to Guayaquil. It was the first time I took such a long flight to anywhere. The longest I had flown previously was eight hours to China so I wondered if I could stand spending such a long time in the plane. Well, after two hours in flight, I couldn’t wait to get off. I distracted myself by watching movies. It worked for a while but it was hard to ignore all the pains and aches all the time. By the time we landed at 7am, I couldn’t wait to get off. Sitting in a cramped position for hours helped to develop an appreciation and passion for walking.

I was asked a lot of questions at the Immigration, like where am I going, what am I doing in Amsterdam, what is my purpose and what do I intend to do in Amsterdam. KKH had a much easier time. She was behind me and she was only asked one question – “Are you together?” She said “Yes” and was let through without any further questioning.

So we walked around Amsterdam city center for 8 hours, stopping to sit and rest only twice. We reached the city at 8am and most of the shops were still closed. There were very few people on the streets until 10am when the shops started to open. We walked around with no definite destination in mind. We soon learned that the people in Amsterdam cycled a lot. There was a dedicated lane for bicycles and motorcycles in between the road and pedestrian lane. At first we would walked on the bicycle lanes by mistake as it was sometimes hard to identify which part was for bicycles and which part was for pedestrians. Soon we learned to tell the difference.

I also saw cars that were almost the same size as a scooter. They were really small and could only fit 2 people. I guess they were popular because there were not a lot of parking spaces in the city.

There were a lot of canals running through the city with boats parked alongside it. Some of them looked like houseboats and some even had gardens.

We had lunch at an open air cafe and shared fish and chips and a burger. The fish and chips was nice and came with a vinegar garlic kind of sauce in addition to ketchup and mayonnaise.

The burger was nice as well. It had a fried egg that oozed a little yolk.

After lunch, we walked to Vondelpark. It was a big park and we saw many people cycling, walking their dogs or sitting on the grass. We decided to follow them and sat on the cool grass and read our books. KKH dozed off after a while.

After enjoying the park for a while, it was time to start making our way back to the Amsterdam Centraal Station to catch a train back to Schiphol Airport. Vondelpark was around 3km away from the station. We had plenty of time so we did not hurry. We did not take the most direct route but just wandered around, moving the general direction of the station.

I stopped for dinner at a cafe near the station. KKH wasn’t hungry so she just had a cup of tea and pinched some food from my plate. The menu was in Dutch so rather than spend time figuring it out, I had the special for the day which was Chicken Tikka Masala. The portion was generous and I couldn’t finish everything on the plate. It tasted pretty okay. I felt that it didn’t use as many spices as Indian cooking back in Singapore.

I also had a cup of tea. I had a pear tea which smelled really nice.

Then it was back to the airport for our flight to Guayaquil. It was another long flight but because I didn’t sleep at all on the way to Amsterdam, I was feeling pretty tired when we got on the plane. I slept for most of the flight, even skipping airplane dinner so that I could sleep more. I woke up for breakfast though.

The plane landed in Bonaire where there was a change of crew and everybody had to get off. It was a small airport. We landed in the wee hours of the morning and there was nothing to do except wait around in the airport. It took around 45 mins to one hour before we were asked to return to the plane. Then it was another two hours or so before we landed in Guayaquil.

Tomorrow I and KKH will be flying off for a long trip after a year of planning and saving up funds. I will be travelling to the other side of the globe to the Galapagos Islands. It will be a long journey consisting of over 24 hours of flying time, and that’s not including the time in between transiting flights yet. I wonder if I can take it? I had not flown for longer than 6-8 hours at a time and I’m a bit worried about the long flights. Still, it is guaranteed that this trip will be an experience unlike any other.

I had this impulse to travel.

Perhaps it was a mid-life crisis or something. One day I realized that I’m not getting younger anymore and I should travel before I get too old to walk. Instead of sitting around and imagining about going to those amazing places I saw in documentaries, I should attempt to go there myself. I want to see it with my own eyes. I was bitten by the travel bug and I had this impulse to see the world while I’m still fit enough. It helped that at this stage in life, I had the ability to support my dream financially. It would not be easy but it felt attainable.

I want to travel to somewhere far away, somewhere very different from home. I had a list of places I want to go and sites I want to see, but obviously I would not be able to go to all of them. So I thought to myself, if I could only go to one place, where would I go? Where would be the trip of a lifetime? I chose the Galapagos Islands.

Another reason why I want to go to the Galapagos Islands is that I want to see it before it is gone. Even with conservation efforts going on, I’m not sure if it will be enough. The world is not made up of isolated pockets but are all connected. Sometimes I feel that there is a ticking clock counting down to the day when it will be gone. The longer I wait, the more likely it will disappear.

What are the Galapagos Islands?

The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago that had remained cut off from the mainland for many years. Due to its isolation, there were many unique creatures living on the islands that could not be found anywhere else. It is situated at the equator so the weather remained pretty constant. Although there are no winters, there is a cold current that enable penguins to live at the Galapagos Islands. Imagine that, penguins at the equator! Besides all the other interesting creatures we want to see, KKH specifically wants to see the marine iguanas and I want to see the blue-footed boobies.

Probably the most famous person to have visited the Galapagos Islands is Charles Darwin. The islands were a large influence in helping Darwin develop his theory of evolution. I must admit that there is something romantic in the idea of following the footsteps of such an influential figure in human history and visiting the very place that had played such a big part in his theory.

But for a long time, it was just a distant dream.

One day, I chanced upon a newspaper article about a Singaporean couple who managed to travel the world for a whole year. Friends who know me will know how rarely it is that I read newspapers, if at all. So it must be a sign, ha ha. I still remember that the husband was a Caucasian who works in a IT-related job and the wife is a Chinese who does stocks. So they don’t have to be in office and all they needed was a internet connection to keep working. Thus they traveled and worked for a year, returning to Singapore after every trip to learn from their mistakes and plan for the next one. I don’t remember much about the article because while it was possible for them, my job does not allow me to work and travel at the same time. But what I remembered was a short paragraph about finding internet connection overseas and they mentioned that even the Galapagos Islands have a internet connection.

That was when I realized that it may be possible for even someone like me to go to the Galapagos Islands. Although to tell the truth, I didn’t immediately started planning for a trip there. Firstly, it was difficult to find people who want to go. And when I managed to find someone who is interested, they declined the moment they heard about the cost. It already cost a lot of money to fly to South America and there were also costs and expenses for the tours and other stuff. I stopped going on overseas trips for a whole year to save up money for this trip. But I can’t expect other people to give up their holidays like I did. So I was really surprised and grateful when KKH calmly indicated her interest and not even the price caused her to raise her eyebrows. I felt incredibly lucky.

It’s time to say bye bye.

Now on the eve of the trip, I find myself feeling excited and nervous. Maybe a bit apprehensive too. It is so far away. If anything goes wrong, it’s not as if I can just return back to the comfort of Singapore. But this is an adventure and perhaps I should just let go of the worries and enjoy myself. After all, 兵来将挡, 水来土掩. We’ll meet our troubles when they come.

See you all next month!