SpokesAndShoes

Highlight 1: Christmas morning on San Cristóbal Island in the Galapagos Archipelago started like a scene from a dream. The harbor was quiet, sun glinting off the water, and I found myself sharing homemade Christmas biscuits with Ana and Victor, fellow travelers who were booked on the same 360° island tour. By 8 a.m., we were aboard, engines humming, ready to slice through the Pacific. The first leg felt long—an hour and fifteen minutes—but that changed just twenty minutes in when dolphins appeared, leaping effortlessly alongside the boat, as if welcoming us into their world. Our first stop was Bahía Rosa Blanca. A wet landing on the shore led us over jagged rocks to a shallow lagoon alive with movement. Sea turtles glided beneath the surface, white-tip sharks circled lazily, and though manta rays remained elusive, the water felt alive. My 5 mm wetsuit hugged me snugly as I waded among them, trying to stay out of their way while they danced around me. Back on the boat, the crew served fresh pineapple and watermelon, a sweet reward before we slowed near Punta Pitt. We didn’t leave the boat here, but from a distance, we tried to spot red-footed boobies perched on the cliffs. Their iconic red feet were hard to make out, but grey-feathered birds swirled and wheeled across the sky, keeping our eyes busy.Lunch came at Beach Sardina, served on the boat—fresh tuna, lentil menestra, and rice—followed by forty minutes to explore and snorkel at will. Below the water, sardines shimmered in schools, turtles drifted like shadows, and a flatfish perfectly camouflaged itself on the sand. And then came Kickers Rock. I had seen much in the Galapagos over the last 27 days, but nothing prepared me for this. The wall dropped steeply into impossibly clear water, a vertical garden of corals, sea stars, and a riot of fish. The waves tossed me, but my wetsuit kept me floating as sea turtles glided past, a hammerhead shark prowled the depths, and a group of manta rays appeared like silent ghosts, moving with effortless grace. On the ride back, snacks reappeared, and the crew staged a Christmas group photo with Kickers Rock behind us, a perfect postcard moment. By 4 p.m., we returned to the harbor, hearts full and bodies tired. Lowlight 1: The magic of the day collided with the mundane that night. Back at the apartment, I wrestled with a Python workspace in my Lubuntu virtual machine, determined to use a "src" directory structure in IntelliJ. Nothing worked. Frustration set in. In the end, I abandoned the "src" folder, realizing that some problems refuse to take a holiday, no matter where you are in the world.

Highlight 1: I hadn’t planned for heroics that morning—just a simple ride up to El Junco, the only freshwater lake in the Galápagos and a volcano that sits quietly in the misty highlands of San Cristóbal. My bicycle came from the front door of my accommodation: ten dollars a day, three bikes to choose from, and the kind of casual trust that makes island life feel instantly lighter. Naturally, I chose the one with the most comfortable saddle. Naturally, it came with a problem. A loose screw on the back derailleur turned my first attempt into a short-lived adventure. Three times I pedaled away, three times I pedaled back, hope fading with each clattering gear change. Eventually, inspiration struck: if the bike wouldn’t cooperate, I’d negotiate. I swapped saddles between two bicycles, tightened what I could, and finally rolled off—victorious in a very small, very satisfying way. The road climbed steadily into the highlands, the air cooling as a light drizzle set in, the kind that doesn’t soak you but reminds you that clouds live here. El Junco isn’t part of a national park, which means no guide, no schedule, no quiet sense of rule-breaking guilt—just you, the road, and the volcano. I reached the entrance around noon, locked the bike, and climbed the short staircase to the rim. The vegetation changed quickly. Galápagos miconia—lush, tangled, and wild—lined the path, its red and yellow leaves glowing against the gray sky. A second staircase led down into the crater, where a small viewing platform overlooks the lake. Clouds drifted through the crater like restless ghosts, sometimes revealing the dark, still water, sometimes swallowing it completely. I sat down for lunch and watched the scene change minute by minute. A few other visitors arrived, and we exchanged the kind of brief, easy conversation that only happens in places where no one is rushing. Before leaving, I walked the short rim loop, one last look at the lake from above, then returned to my bike. I still had time—and according to Google Maps, a restaurant waited two kilometers farther north. I didn’t really expect it to be open, but it was reason enough to keep going. The dirt road started gently, then suddenly plunged downhill. At the bottom, the landscape opened toward Puerto Chino, all rolling hills and distant coastline. I stopped to take a photo, and that’s when the restaurant owner appeared. Her place was closed, but she waved me over and suggested a better angle—from inside her garden, where the view wasn’t tangled in power lines. One photo turned into conversation. I offered her some homemade Christmas biscuits I’d been carrying, and somehow that sealed the deal. Not long after, she invited me to stay for lunch. She’d made ensalada rusa and insisted she was happy to have company. We ate, talked, and laughed—about life on the island, about visitors who rush through without ever stopping. When I finally said goodbye, nearly an hour had passed, and the road back up felt steeper but lighter. From the El Junco parking area, I rode on toward El Progreso, occasionally veering onto side roads in hopes of climbing another peak. The first two were gated. The third was open and led to a viewpoint called La Soledad. From there, Kicker Rock rose faintly in the distance, dramatic even from afar. An abandoned café sat nearby, windows broken, a reminder of plans that didn’t last. I rested there for half an hour, letting the view do the talking. El Progreso itself carries heavier stories. I visited the ruins of Manuel J. Cobos’s house, remnants of a man who once ruled San Cristóbal through fear and forced labor. His sugar and rum empire collapsed with his assassination in 1904, and what remains now feels appropriately hollow—a quiet warning set among trees. Looking for variety, I tried a different road back south, one that promised a parallel route to the main highway. Three kilometers of easy downhill later, a family in a pickup stopped me. The road, they explained kindly, was a dead end. Before I could protest, they’d already decided to give me a lift. My bike went into the back, and moments later I was back in El Progreso, plans neatly rerouted once again. There was nothing left to do but take the main road home. By then, the ride felt like a full circle—not just geographically, but in spirit. A volcano in the clouds, a stranger’s lunch invitation, abandoned viewpoints, dark history, and unexpected kindness—all stitched together by a borrowed bicycle and a willingness to keep pedaling.

Highlight 1: I decided to hike to the Beach Loberia and Acantilado La Loberia in the afternoon. The hike was quite quick. The Acantilado La Loberia was really cool spot for observing blue footed boobies and other birds. I observed how the blue footed boobies sat a little bit higher on the cliff than other birds and pooed down to where other birds were nesting. On the beach Loberia the sea lions were definitley more in numbers than humans. I observed them for quite some time rolling around and getting their wet fur covered in sand. Also, I was going for a swim in the ocean at that beach and within no time I was floating along giant sea turtles. Highlight 2: In the morning I was visiting the saturday market of the main village of San Cirstobal Baquerizo Moreno.I bought vegetables and fruits in the value of 8 € in the hope to get through the week. Thereafter I was looking out for different supermarkets to buy the ingredients needed to make christmas biscuits. I spent roughly 25 € to get the ingredients and also some aluminium foil because the oven only has a grid and no baking tray. Highlight 3: I had breakfast on the market: One tamal with hot chocolate and one Miche with "Dulce" (arequipe?) for 4.75$ Lowlight 1: I forgot my bottle over breakfast at the market so I was chasing my bottle for some time. After returning to the market the guy who sold the Tamales was not there anymore. So, I was asking around if someone has contact number for that guy. One of the vendors had the mobile number of his mother but for roughly 30 minutes we tried to reach out to her. However, our calls/messages were not responded. I asked the vendor to forward the number to me so I could try my luck later on. When I called the number a bit later I received a meeting point and time to pick up the bottle. At roughly 11 a.m. I had my bottle back.

Highlight 1: Snorkel at the Muelle Tijeretas. Someone showed me an underwater cave with 2 manta rays. I saw a giant turtle and many small fish. Highlight 2: After the Snorkel at the Muelle Tijeretas I decided it's too early to call it a day. The next beach, Playa Baquerizo, was just 2,5 km down the hiking path. The path was partly rough becaues it was laid out with massive stones so that one had to jump from one to another. At the beach I was greeted by a very colorful Iguana. Apart from him there were only 2 more people who left the beach soon. I thought I was alone on the beach. After the snorkel earlier, I was not sure whether I should snorkel here too. There were quite some waves and the water didn't look very clear with the sand being whirled by the waves. I walked up and down on the beach and observed something unusual. At the far end of the beach it smelled like BBQ. However, there was no visible path further - do I misinterpret the smell? But how could I wrongly identify the unambigous smell of BBQ? I walked a few meters over the rocks at the end of the beach and saw a clearing in the forest. On the clearing I saw a couple in front of a tent sitting in the sand having a BBQ. I greeted them with "Bon Provecho" and in return I got an invitation to eat a fried fish that they have caught earlier in the ocean and fried in a pan over the fire. Then, they decided to take me on a fishing trip. We walked along the shore on top of giant rocks for 30 minutes to reach a great spot to catch octopus and languste. But then for the octopus we had to swim very far which I didn't want. So, we decided to catch languste becaues it was very close. However, in either fishing case we needed a reliable torch for the adventure. However, Luis torch was not reliable because with certain moves the batteries didn't connect anymore and my headlamp was not sea water proof. After a few attempts making Luis torch reliable we gave up and returned to the camp. The wife of Luis prepared some Ceviche from the Loro fish they caught in the afternoon. For the main course they fried more Loro fish on the fire in a frying pan and served it along with rice and grilled crab. At 8:45 p.m. I started my hike back and reached the village at around 10 p.m. Wow, what an experience! Lowlight 1: I did some "office" work in the morning. I filed some "Lost Parcel" reports for the coffee I sent end of October from Colombia to Germany.

Highlight 1: Concha de Perla in the morning. The usual sights: floating sea turtles Highlight 2: Walk to the camino de tortugas. I saw one giant galapagos turtle walking along the path and observed it for some 30 minutes walking. In the bay of El Estero I went for a swim. There, on the beach I observed that the sea lions were disappointed that "their" benches were occupied by backpacks. After the sea lions were walking around the benches a few times to evaluate their options they decided to sit on top of the backpacks no matter what. When the owners of the backpacks were returning from a swim they were having a pad time getting the sea lion off of their backpack.After trying to poke with sticks didn't really work they tried successfully pull out the backpacks beneath the sea lion. Lowlight 1: My stomach didn't feel very well so I skipped breakfast and so I just took 2 bananas on my way

Highlight 1: Today I was going on a tour to the volcano Sierra Negra on the bicycle. I chose sunday because a villager said that restaurants are open on the highlands on Sunday especially. Furthermore, it's been very sunny in the village and looking up to the volcano it looked like clear blue sky. I didn't start as early as I wanted but starting at 8:30 a.m. turned out to be just fine too. The route I planned created an 8 shape in the highlands, covering most of the roads. On the way up, I was doing a short detour to the "Mirador el Mango " from which I could see Santa Cruz Island and Floreana Island in the distance. The bicycle chain fell off the largest gear rim on the rear will quite a few times, so I guess it needs adjustment. In Santo Tomas at 11:30 a.m. I had a break where I ate an apple and one of the sandwiches I made. I reached the Volcano Sierra Negra ranger station at roughly 12:45. I waited there for roughly 5 minutes to see if the watch men is present. It didn't seem like anyone is seeing me so I pushed my bike beyond and inside the Sierra Negra National Park. Constantly looking back I moved forward until I reached a bend and didn't see the house of the ranger anymore. A few hundred meters further, I heard voices from the front. These voices must be from the first group that has done the Volcano Chico hike on their way back. I quickly hid with the bicycle in the bush and waited for this group to pass. From my own tour a few days ago, I knew that the guide will always walk behind the group to make sure no-one is left behind in the park. Also, I knew that there is roughly 2, maximum 3 tours hiking each day. So I crouched in total 30 minutes in the bush until the guide from the second group passed. To make sure there isn't a third group I waited for another 15 minutes. The path seemed clear and so I continued my cycling journey deeper inside the national park on the dirt road that I was hiking a few days ago. The first view point offered already spectacular views of the 9km wide caldera because there was no fog and no clouds. Only at the southern rim it looked like a few clouds fall inside the caldera over the rim - this looked really spectacular. I continued and stopped a few times along the rim to take in the scenery until I reached the point where I turned right towards volcano chico with the group a couple of days ago. This was the perfect spot for lunch at 2:30 p.m., overlooking the volcano crater with a couple of benches. I decided to leave the bicycle behind and explore a path that goes 2km further along the rim of the volcano Sierra Negra. The path was passing by a sensor station to measure volcanic activities and offered great views especially towards the end because vegetation was vanishing. At 3:40 p.m. I was back at the lunch spot and started the descent out of the national park. Unfortunately, I was falling off the bicycle at some point, read on in the low light 1. Just a few minutes after 4 p.m. I left the national park while fog was moving in over the ranger station. Perfect scenery to leave the park without being noticed. On my descent down to the village I stopped once more at the cueva de sucre, a small lava tunnel. The tunnel itself was making a small loop and featured sulfur pigments in the ceiling which made the tunnel glowing golden in the light of my headlamp. Just 10 minutes before 6 p.m. I reached the bicycle rental shop to return the bicycle. Highlight 2: An ecuadorian comfort food for dinner with Carlos: Carlos prepared onion peanut butter sauce and served it with potatoes that were seasoned with achiote. Lowlight 1: On my way down, in the national park I had to cross a very deep rut that was running first parallel to the road but then turned left on the road and kind of trapped me. I knew that I will have to cross it and reduced speed a lot while getting into the rut but the rut was too deep the get out on the other side. So, I fell off the bicycle and rolled over the right side of my body to reduce the kinetic energy. I got a few surface scratches on the right knee and a bruise/scratches on the left shin. Both injuries are not really deep. Cleaning the wounds with water from my drinking bottle was enough to continue the journey. The major problem is that my mobile phone was in the trouser pocket and once more the screen was cracked. However, the screen doesn't work worse than before the accident which is good...Apart from that, it's been good that I could continue my journey without further problems because there was no mobile reception and the ranger station was still 2 kilometers away.

Highlight 1: The Los tuneles tour was the best tour I have done so far on the Galapagos Islands. It's a tour with 75% snorkeling and 25% hiking. I negotiated the price down from 110$ to hundred by offering flexibility with the day they can put me on the tour. I started the day with a real delicious roasted pork and corn on the saturday market of Puerto Villamil at 6:15 a.m. Thereafter I went to the tour operator office of Rosedelco at 7:15 a.m. The other tour guests will arrive at 7:30 a.m. and so I had the offices bathroom alone for me for 15 minutes to test the wet suit, brush teeth and go to the toilet. At around 7:45 a.m. we were boarding our boat and took off for a 45 minute ride to the Los Tuneles area. On the way we were seeing sea turtles mating at the surface of the water. Just one month later the females will go on the beach to lay their eggs. The boat was landing at the Los Tuneles area and we had a 10 minute stroll over the lava bridges to see some blue footed boobies at land and sea turtles as well as black tip sharks in the crystal clear water. The guide explained that the bridges are roughly 10000 years old when there was an ice age and the sea level was a lot lower because the poles stored a lot of water as ice. So basically the ocean line was far away from todays shore and the lava flow increased the size of the island. Over time, when the sea level rised the sea water was washing out the bridges/tuneles. Then, we were going for a 20 minute snorkel to enjoy the landscape of the tuneles. The water was quite chill but since I got a long wet suit it was bearable. Also, the guide offered me some plumbum weights to make it easier to dive to the bottom. Apart from the landscape we also found a sting ray in one of the tuneles, a few sea turtles, sea lions and small fish. Usually in the morning I experienced a cloudy sky on Isabela Island but today morning the sky was clear in the morning and we could see sun rays entering the water while snorkeling. Back on the boat the captain served hot tea to warm up and a small pack of Oreo cookies. For the 10 minute ride on the boat around the tuneles area to enter it from the other side I was sitting on top of the roof of the boat and enjoyed great views. The second time snorkelling on the trip was mainly to see more animals but also to enjoy the landscape. Our skilled guide was finding plenty of animals on the 1 hour snorkel. We saw some white tip sharks "parked" in an under water cave. This scene was so unreal: On 3 our guide pushed one after another under the surface to have a look into the under water cave and there were 6 or 7 white tip sharks lined up one behind another. On our journey through the water we also saw some white tip sharks swimming next to us. We also stopped for a few sea turtles to take selfies with them. Underneath a mangrove tree, hanging onto the roots our guide found a sea horse that he presented to us by pointing at it. After one hour it was time to get back on board of the boat. While entering the boat, the captain showered us briefly with a shower head. The captain then served another round of tea and a boxed lunch. The lunch was a delicious rice with tuna and lentil stew (close to Dal) and some pineapple slices for desert. On the way back we passed by some stacked rocks in the ocean to observe some grey footed boobies. Highlight 2: In the afternoon, I was trying to generate a custom font with bicycle chain links. I started off by asking different AIs to generate SVGs of the letters but that led to nothing because the AIs have no understanding of how their generated SVG looked and so, the letters were not recognisable at all. When choosing to create a PNG with the letters, it was working much better. Affinity by Canva has a feature to create polygons from an image. This feature works best when the image is pure black and white. But then the PNG had a lot of artefacts (pixel in shades of grey especially at the edges of the letters) and so I was struggling to remove the artefacts with Affinity by Canva. Carlos the landlord came to help me but we didn't find the right features to achieve a good result. At 10 p.m. I gave up.

Highlight 1: Snorkelling at concha de perla. Without much of expectations I was going along the bordwalk to concha de perla. Already on the way I saw sea lions hanging out on the bordwalk. It became even better when I was snorkelling and the sea lions were "dancing" around me. The water was very clear and it was possible to see a lot of tiny colorful fish. Back on the bordwalk I was seeing Iguanas swimming at concha de perla and even climbing up a vertical wall. Highlight 2: In the morning, I roamed around the city to find out how low I can get a kayak tour for. The prices started at 40$ but it was possible to negotiate the price down to 35$. The tour operator Rosedelco assigned me to a tour in the afternoon at 3 p.m. and since I wasn't having other plans I agreed to it. We had blue skies for the kayak tour in the afternoon where I saw blue footed boobies, pelicans, exactly one penguin and a ray swimming in the shallow water. At this time of the year the penguins usually are on the west side of Isabela Island on another island, so I have been very lucky to see this little penguin during the kayak trip.

Highlight 1: Wall of tears with a real crappy bicycle and every possible side quest. The side quests were: A lookout point on a hill with a base of an old Navi Radar station with a 360° view, Cerro Orchilla Viewpoint with another 360° view, El Condonso Beach with a nice beach lookout and surf spot, another beach where one could observe sea turtles and plenty iguanas, El Estero beach, The Poza Escondida, Poza Redonda, Estero Lava Tunnel, Playa Armor, Viewpoint Los Tunos, La Playita Beach, Poza de las Diablas and the Flamingo Estuary/Flamingo Lagoon. An activity packed day with a combination of cycling and hiking. I really enjoyed the diverse animals I could see on the way. Highlight 2: I cooked pasta with tomato sauce with Thomas who stays in the same room as I in the Golden Suite. It was great to enjoy his company over dinner!

Highlight 1: I went to Tortuga bay in the early morning because it's been said that the animals are more confident staying on or near the beach. I set off at 5:15 a.m. and reached the bay at 6:15. There, the blue footed Boobie sat on the rocks as I knew it from the last time. Also, I saw a few reef shark at the shore line and a bigger shark to the left of the beach amidts the rocks. Unfortunately, while snorkelling I didn''t see any noteworthy animal. At around 7:30 a.m. I returned to the village. Highlight 2: After tortuga bay and after the second breakfasts I had the stupid idea to visit the Ranch Terramar. It's been a tip from a local bus driver and he was saying that the lava tunnels at the ranch are very huge. So, I took the bus at 10:45 to Santa Rosa. The bus had 10 minutes delay and thus I reached Santa Rosa at 11:20 a.m. From there it's been roughly 40 minutes walk to reach the ranch. At the ranch at about 12 noon I asked for a quick tour of the lava tunnel because my calculation told me that I have a maximum of 30 minutes on the ranch. Indeed, the 400m long lava tunnel was quite huge in terms of width and height. The tour lastet for about 20 minutes and the guide took 3 fotos of me with my smartphone en route. Just in time, at 12:40 p.m. I decided to leave the ranch to catch the bus at 13:20 (according to my calculation because the bus timetable only contains the departure timing from the village). Anyways the police was going from another ranch towards Santa Rosa and gave me a lift. This helped me to catch one bus earlier at 12:55 p.m.. I reached puerto ayora at 1:30 p.m. so there was enough time to grab an ice cream before leaving the island - this time, I took the ice cream and the waffle from the Gelato Bar. Lowlight 1: The boat ride on the boat Susy Love was quite bumpy but I didn't fall sea sick. Lowlight 2: There is an entry fee of 10$ to the island of Isabela