The Girl Who Goes

independent, intentional travel

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All About Puerto Villamil on Isabela, Galapagos Islands

puerto villamil

Choosing which of the Galapagos Islands to visit isn’t easy, as I’ve mentioned plenty of times here before. Besides Santa Cruz, which we flew into from Quito, we decided to visit one more island — Isabela. It’s famous for being the largest island, shaped like a seahorse, and with lots of wildlife to see. Puerto Villamil, on Isabela island, is the largest city and where most tourists stay.

But after spending a few days in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz, Puerto Villamil was a lot different from what I expected. So here’s what you need to know if you’re planning to visit Puerto Villamil on Isla Isabela. [Read more…]

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All About Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands

marina puerto ayora

When you visit the Galapagos Islands, the chances are pretty good that you’re going to arrive via flight from Guayaquil or Quito. And that means you’re very likely going to fly into Baltra Airport, just north of Santa Cruz Island. At that point, you’ll likely commute from the airport to the channel via bus, take a water taxi across the channel to Santa Cruz Island, and then take a bus 45 minutes south to the opposite end of the island — to Puerto Ayora

Regardless of which islands you’re planning to visit during your Galapagos Islands trip, most will likely include some time spent in Puerto Ayora, the most populated urban center on any of the islands. Not only is it the most populated “city” with the most to do, but it’s also a starting point if you wish to travel to any of the other islands.

Here’s what you need to know about Puerto Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz. [Read more…]

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How to Get From the Airport to Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz – Galápagos Islands

arriving in the galapagos islands

When it comes to visiting the Galapagos Islands, planning your trip can seem overwhelming. With 13 major islands and a few smaller ones — and only so much time — it’s not necessarily easy to decide which ones you should visit.

In the end, we decided we would spend time on just two: Santa Cruz and Isabela. Only four of the islands are inhabited by humans, and Santa Cruz and Isabela are two of them. I’m planning to write more articles about the Galapagos, but here’s your starting point of how to get to Puerta Ayora on Santa Cruz from the airport. (And keep in mind — this is based on doing a Galapagos trip on your own, independent of a tour group or cruise.) [Read more…]

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5 Things To Know Before Visiting the Galapagos Islands

galapagos - feature photo

The Galapagos Islands are unlike anywhere I’ve ever visited before. But in advance of our trip, I actually didn’t do a ton of research because I felt overwhelmed. First of all, most information out there seems to pertain to cruises, and we obviously weren’t doing a cruise. And second, a lot of it comes from travel agencies trying to convince you to book their tours and services.

When we went, I kind of just showed up for our flight and figured it out from there. Which worked out! But not everyone loves traveling that way. So, now that I’ve been there, I thought it would be a good idea to share some of the things I wish I’d known before we went.

[Read more…]

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How To Visit the Galapagos Islands Without a Cruise

galapagos islands without a cruise - feature image

If you know me, and the way I travel, I like to do things independently when I can. For example, a lot of people visit Alaska by taking a cruise, but not me — my friend Megan and I rented a car and spent a week driving nearly 2,000 miles through the state’s wilderness.

When it was time to plan our trip to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, I felt the same way. A lot of the information out there related to visiting the Galapagos is about what cruises you can take. I had to work harder to find what I needed about visiting on our own. It wasn’t easy, but I’m here to share with you to make it easier to plan your trip to the Galapagos Islands without a cruise. [Read more…]

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Top 5 Things To See in the Historic Center of Quito, Ecuador

historic center of quito feature photo

Historic Center of Quito

When we arrived in Quito, it was a Sunday. Monday through Wednesday had been spent getting settled in, buying groceries, checking out our new neighborhood, and catching up on work. But by Thursday, I was ready to see what “downtown” Quito had to offer. Matt and I wrapped up work for the day and then decided to take a trip into the Historic Center of Quito, or the Centro Histórico.

Considering that it’s about 4 miles from our place, we decided to take a taxi. Using Cabify, it only cost a couple of dollars. I put in our destination as Plaza de San Blas, which was kind of a mistake because I didn’t know anything about centro histórico yet… haha. But it was fine, and we were able to see everything we wanted to within walking distance.

Here’s what you need to know when planning your own trip to the historic center of Quito. [Read more…]

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Why You Should Visit the Teleférico in Quito, Ecuador

teleferico quito

Do you like mountains? What about great views? Awesome photos for Instagram? Overall really fun days? If you answered yes to any of these, then I can’t recommend Quito’s Teleférico, or “TelefériQo” enough.

When we spent two months in Quito, there were so many day trips that we wanted to take. One weekend, I was disappointed to look at the Saturday forecast on Thursday/Friday to find that the weather outlook for the whole country was fairly depressing — nothing but rain. So we decided to stick close to home in Quito and see what we could find to do around town.

Saturday morning we went to brunch and checked the forecast again. There wasn’t supposed to be any rain until later in the afternoon. We knew that taking Quito’s cable car up the side of the mountain was on our list, and it wasn’t far away. So we booked a taxi with Cabify. [Read more…]

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How To Visit the Mitad del Mundo (the Equator) in Ecuador

visit mitad del mundo - feature

You know why Ecuador is called “Ecuador,” right? Obviously, it’s because the Equator passes through it! While 12 other countries around the world can also claim that honor, Ecuador is the only country named after it.

Knowing how close it was to us, we figured we’d take a day trip up there at some point. And as our first full weekend in Quito dawned bright and early — and with minimal chances for rain — we said, why not today? [Read more…]