Locked down on the Galápagos Islands
Wanderlust Travel Magazine|September 2020
Scottish traveller Ian was on a once-in-a-lifetime South America adventure when the COVID-19 lockdown began. Here, he shares his four-month lockdown experience on Isabela Island...
Ian Melvin
Locked down on the Galápagos Islands

My South American trip started in Buenos Aires and went down to Ushuaia, across to Uruguay and then back to Argentina, to Chile, Bolivia, and Peru. I was traveling for about four months before making it up to Ecuador. As I arrived, I started to see more news about coronavirus reaching South America.

People were saying, ‘Maybe you won’t get to go to the Galápagos?’ I remember thinking, ‘Oh no, that’s the one place I wanted to go the most.’ At the airport to the Galápagos, they were already screening for the virus, but I made it to Santa Cruz safe and sound.

Things were normal for the first couple of days. I could do the things that I wanted to, like scuba diving with the hammerheads – around 100 of them in total. But there were a lot of rumours going around about what was happening.

When I reached Isabela Island, it was 17 March, and they told me that the island was being closed. I had arrived here on the very last ferry.

Of all the places that I’ve visited on this trip, this was the best possible place to be during the lockdown. It’s a very peaceful island, with about 2,500 people. I’d arranged to stay with a host family and they were happy for me to stay as long as I needed.

And, why would I leave here? I registered with the embassy and told them where I was, and my family at home in Scotland said, ‘Fair enough, you’ve probably made the right decision.’

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 2020 من Wanderlust Travel Magazine.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 2020 من Wanderlust Travel Magazine.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

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