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To get to the Galapagos islands you need to plan ahead, way ahead. We are not good at that, so here's what we did instead!
In case you weren't aware, usually the flights to Galapagos islands are very expensive, and they get sold out pretty quickly, as the islands have a limited amount of people that can visit each day. Same goes for the accommodation and the tours, last time I checked it requires getting everything in order at least 6 months before your planned visit.
There are a few islands that earned the name Poor man's Galapagos, for having a similar climate and ecosystem as the 'real' Galapagos islands, and being cheaper and easier to access, Isla de la Plata is one of them, and probably the closest one geographically to the real ones.
How did we get there
When we were in Ecuador, we were appealed way more by the mountains and Amazonia areas than by the coast, so we did not even plan to pass by the coast, but I couldn't resist myself to try go diving while I'm there, so we found our best time opportunity and took a night bus from Ambato to Puerto Lopez with the hope that we will just arrive and go dive. Once we arrived to Puerto Lopez in the morning (around 10am), everything was closed, and from the places that were open we got the information that they there are starting early in the morning and already missed the ones of today. We asked around and found out that there are tours to be done, but they also all leave early in the morning. We were walking in despair looking for some activity to do so we won't have wasted this time to come for nothing. A shady guy on a bicycle stopped in front of us and asked us if we want a tour, and that he knows one place that still hasn't left. We decided to follow him, and he lead us to an agency that did not have any reviews on Google at the time. We saw more people that are getting the tour with us and decided to go for it, if they rip us off, at least we are not alone. We ended up having a nice tour with the best guide, but I have looked at their recent reviews and they look even less appealing than having no reviews. My advice to you would be to find out what to do there and when BEFORE you show up in town.
The tour
We got ourselves a crazy tour guide, that called himself Don Cherry Mar 3000, and he turned out to be the best part of the tour! We took a boat to the island, and on the island itself there are some hiking routes which you can do, we did a few of them with the guide. The island itself was disappointing to me, I remember thinking to myself that even the Poor man's Galapagos name is way too much for the island. We discovered then that the best time to visit the island is in March, then the island might be green, so it might be less disappointing around that time.
We have also learned that there are 3 unofficial reasons for then name of the island - Isla de la Plata (The silver island):
A legend says that pirates have hidden treasure on the island (the name Francis Drake was mentioned)
The bird shit on the island (there is A LOT of it) is shining at night and makes the island appear silver
People pay money (plata) to get a tour on the island
Choose whichever you want to believe, or maybe all of them. The island is home to a large diversity of animal species, the ones that were there when we visited were mainly the blue footed boobies, we learned quite a lot about them and about the ecosystem of the island.
After the tour on the island we went of on the boat to an area where we did some snorkeling and looked for turtles. We came back to Puerto Lopez, found a cozy place with craft beers for lunch and then went to hang out at the bus stop until our night bus to Quito arrived.
Final thoughts
Yes, this was not the most memorable place in Ecuador for us, and if we had planned it better we would probably not go there, but we were there and we made the best of it. Have a different opinion? Want to criticize our lack of planning or our choices in life that include listening to shady people on bicycles? Tell us!
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