domingo, 9 de diciembre de 2007
sábado, 8 de diciembre de 2007
Mis Abuelos Vienen!
Sunday, November 26 was a bit of a sad day for me because my family was gone, but on Monday, November 27, my Nana and Opah flew in!
Their flight arrived pretty late on Monday night, but they picked me up in a taxi from the university on Tuesday. Just like my immediate family, it was so wonderful to see them! Then we headed to Otavalo. (I love that place). It was really fun to hear what they thought about Ecuador and how they compared it to Guatemala, which I’ve never been to, but they have.
On our way to Otavalo, we first stopped at the waterfalls in Peguche. It was way less crowded than the previous times I had been there on weekends, except for when the local gym class/track team showed up.
At la Cascada de Peguche. I decided against repelling down it today.
We took some gorgeous pictures, and then headed into the market in Otavalo. After the market, we went to a gorgeous restaurant on a lake.
That evening, we ate dinner at a French restaurant (Japanese AND French food in one week?! Crazy!) in the Swissotel.
The next day, Wednesday, I met up with them after classes at La Compania de Jesús, one of the most magnificent churches in Historic Quito. I had never been there before, and it was absolutely gorgeous!
Nana and Opah were really fun to walk around with since they knew the names of many plants
We wandered around Old Town (Centro Historico) for a bit and then took a taxi up to Café Mosaico, which Mom and Dad had visited during their hike up Itchimbia. As soon as we stepped onto the balcony of the café, we understood why Mom and Dad had told us why we should go there. The view of Quito was absolutely increbible!!!
Check out Quito! Right before sunset was the best time to go to this cafe since we got to see the sunset and then all the lights slowly come on in the city.
Then we enjoyed a tasty Greek meal. (Japanese AND French AND Greek food in one week! Double Crazy! I’m getting spoiled, lol.) It was so wonderful to be able to see and talk with them, and once, again, saying good-bye was difficult. But I’m totally willing to go through good-byes if it means I can see people!
Decisions, decisions
The next day they headed onto Peru and I hit up the university.
Their flight arrived pretty late on Monday night, but they picked me up in a taxi from the university on Tuesday. Just like my immediate family, it was so wonderful to see them! Then we headed to Otavalo. (I love that place). It was really fun to hear what they thought about Ecuador and how they compared it to Guatemala, which I’ve never been to, but they have.
On our way to Otavalo, we first stopped at the waterfalls in Peguche. It was way less crowded than the previous times I had been there on weekends, except for when the local gym class/track team showed up.
At la Cascada de Peguche. I decided against repelling down it today.
We took some gorgeous pictures, and then headed into the market in Otavalo. After the market, we went to a gorgeous restaurant on a lake.
That evening, we ate dinner at a French restaurant (Japanese AND French food in one week?! Crazy!) in the Swissotel.
The next day, Wednesday, I met up with them after classes at La Compania de Jesús, one of the most magnificent churches in Historic Quito. I had never been there before, and it was absolutely gorgeous!
Nana and Opah were really fun to walk around with since they knew the names of many plants
We wandered around Old Town (Centro Historico) for a bit and then took a taxi up to Café Mosaico, which Mom and Dad had visited during their hike up Itchimbia. As soon as we stepped onto the balcony of the café, we understood why Mom and Dad had told us why we should go there. The view of Quito was absolutely increbible!!!
Check out Quito! Right before sunset was the best time to go to this cafe since we got to see the sunset and then all the lights slowly come on in the city.
Then we enjoyed a tasty Greek meal. (Japanese AND French AND Greek food in one week! Double Crazy! I’m getting spoiled, lol.) It was so wonderful to be able to see and talk with them, and once, again, saying good-bye was difficult. But I’m totally willing to go through good-byes if it means I can see people!
Decisions, decisions
The next day they headed onto Peru and I hit up the university.
The Family is Coming, The Family is Coming!!!!!!
Well, it’s been a busy past few weeks so I haven’t updated this blog in awhile.
Anyway, by far the best part of my time here so far was when my family came to visit me!!!!! Haha, I was having so much fun with them I forgot to take enough pictures. That, and I relied on Mom and Dad to take cool pictures. So I don’t have a ton of pictures from our time together here, but lots of awesome memories! This is a VERY abbreviated version of our time together, and the journal Mom and Dad kept is way better, but here’s a short synopsis:
Saturday, November 18
Mom, Dad, and Brian’s flight was set to arrive around 10:20, so I got to the airport a little after 10, soooo excited to see them. There were two other gringas, one of whom I had met before, who were waiting for their families as well so we chatted as we waited impatiently for our families to come.
After what seemed like FOREVER of waiting, people finally started coming out of the gate! Their families arrived before mine, and just as I was getting nervous, I saw my family come through the gate! I called out to them, and we met up just outside of the airport doors and I got big hugs from everyone. It was the longest I had gone (even longer than my time in Tijuana) without seeing them.
So we grabbed a taxi and headed back to the Hostal Sandmelis, which Patricia had recommended to me. We stayed up and chatted a bit, and then crashed fairly early because they had had a long day of traveling.
Sunday, November 19
Mom, Dad, and I all slept in while Brian went for a run. Then we headed out to Mitad del Mundo…the Middle of the World. The first time I had been there had been in a private car driven by my host mom’s friend and the second time had been on a private bus with the U of I crew.
However, I had read of a possible way to get there in my trusty little Lonely Planet guidebook so my family was really patient as I led them around Quito trying the find the right bus. After going into (and paying for…there’s 25 cents down the drain) a wrong bus terminal, we finally figured out that we needed the MetroBus. So we hopped onto a MetroBus, and Mom, Dad, and Brian got their first taste of Ecuador bus riding. I think they’re naturals, because they managed to stay standing better than many of the quiteños!
All together at the REAL equatorial line
Apparently it's quite easy to balance a raw egg on the head of a nail on the equatorial line due to magnetic forces. Brian succeeded in the task and got a certificate. I tried and failed. Oh well, guess I won't be a professional egg-balancer
Dad demonstrating his superior blow gun shooting skills. You can't do it without the headdress or it's just ain't official
After switching buses, and about 2 hours later, we finally arrived at Mitad del Mundo. First we went to the real equatorial line, which I had never been to, and then we went to the more commercialized equatorial line which has the (in)famous monument. We enjoyed a classic Ecuadorian lunch and then watched some traditional dances while eating ice cream. What more could I ask for? I was with my family, in Ecuador, eating ice cream.
We then caught a taxi and headed back to the hostal where everyone got ready to go see my apartment and meet my host family. We took the short 15 minute walk from the Hostal to the apartment where my GringaFamilia and my EcuFamilia met each other!
Then Mom, Dad, and Brian headed back to their hostal while I stayed in the apartment and worked on homework. I know, exciting, right?
Monday, November 20
Well, I had a pretty unexciting morning because I just went to classes, but Mom, Dad, and Brian did some really cool stuff! Haha, their week was way more exciting than mine, and they’ve been to some places in Quito, like the teleferiQo, that I haven’t been to yet!
After classes, Brian and I went running in Carolina Park. Even though he had just gotten to the high altitude, he was still WAY faster than me! Still he was nice, and ran with me for a lap around the park. It was so much fun to run with someone and I haven’t gotten to run with Brian in a long time! After we finished our runs, we headed back to the hostal, got ready, and took the Ecovia to el Centro Historico to meet Mom and Dad.
We grabbing dinner at a Fruteria and heard about Mom and Dad’s adventures climbing hills, visiting a cool café, and meeting a hatmaker. Then we wandered around the Centro Historico (note to self, there’s not a whole heck of a lot going on in the Centro Historico on Monday nights), we went to a small café for some drinks and I ordered some chocolate con queso and morrocho for everyone to try. I think they still like marshmallows in their hot chocolate more than cheese, but I think everyone liked the morrocho.
Tuesday, November 21
I went to classes in the morning again (stupid education. Haha, just kidding), but the rest of my family went to the teleferiQo!
In the afternoon, we met up at the hostal and headed to el Parque Carolina (my favorite park and place to run) and went running/walking.
After cleaning up, we headed to la Mariscal and ate a delicious dinner at the Coffee Tree. And, of course, everyone tried Pilsener, the national cerveza. It was a hit! There was some quality live music too.
Wednesday, November 22
I had spent the night in the hostal with my family, and Brian and I woke up early to go for a run. After a quick breakfast at the hostal, we all headed down the valley into Cumbaya to see my university.
I went to class while my family explored, and then we grabbed some lunch at the school cafeteria. Mmmm is love Ensalada a Tu Gusto (Salad How You Like It, more or less). Then Brian went to my Sociologia Rural class with me while Mom and Dad hung out on campus. Haha, the campus here is more like a high school than like U of I’s huge campus so there isn’t a whole lot to do. But they never seem to get bored and I think had a nice hour.
Then we headed back to Quito and to el Terminal Terreste to go to Otavalo. When we got on the bus to Otavalo, we were the only four passengers. Then another guy got on who we assumed worked for the bus company, and took Mom’s backpack, lifting it to the rack above to “help.” He asked to see Brian and my tickets, and told us we were in the wrong seats; we should be in the seats in front of Mom and Dad. Well, I should have know WAY better, I mean we were the only 4 people on the bus and the busses to Otavalo don’t really have assigned seats, but we moved anyway. Then, when we got to the hostal in Otavalo, we realized that Mom’s purse (which had her passport, phone money, and some credit cards in it) and her raincoat had been taken out of her backpack.
So we got to know an Internet Café/phone cabaña place in Otavalo really well and we tried to cancel credit cards and figure out how to get a replacement passport. Then we ate a tasty late dinner at a small restaurant overlooking la Plaza de los Ponchos, the main market area.
Thursday, November 23
Brian and I got up to run up and down the streets of Otavalo. I tried to find the way to Peguche, where there are waterfalls, but I didn’t make it to the path in time. Then we enjoyed a tasty breakfast at the hostal and headed into town for the indigenous market!
La Plaza de los Ponchos had been pretty deserted the night before, but when we got there midmorning Thursday, it was quite busy, even though Saturday is the main market day. We had some fun bartering and came away with plenty of woven goods, including two hammocks and LOTS of pants. (They’re sooo the cool thing to get. Well, according to me).
After some quick shopping, we bought some sandwiches from a Panderia and headed back to Quito. This time the bus was way more crowded and none of us got anything stolen! Well, not that I know of. Maybe someone took some fuzz of my sweater of something, but they can have that.
We found out that the U.S. embassy was closed on for Thanksgiving (which they don’t even celebrate here!) and that the embassy was always closed Friday through Sunday. I’m considering a job at the embassy with that kind of workweek. The only way you could talk to someone was to report the death of a U.S. citizen. We considered doing that just so we could talk to a real, live person, but refrained.
Then we headed to Maria’s, the U of I resident director, house in Cumbaya for Thanksgiving dinner! Did I say they don’t even celebrate Thanksgiving here? Well, we don’t count. Anyway, there was TONS of food which we all helped prepare. There was even TURKEY which is a huge delicacy and basically unheard of here. I hadn’t had turkey in over three months. It was delicious. Besides the turkey, everything else in the meal was meatless, so all that vegetarians in the group were happy as well.
We may not even be on the same continent as Plymoth Rock, but we still know how to celebrate Thanksgiving!
Friday, November 24
We woke up fairly early, intent on trying to find a backup passport for Mom, even if it meant breaking into the US embassy. (not really, please don’t arrest me for that.) Mom tried calling the embassy again, and amazingly, they picked up! It turned out that you could go to the embassy on an emergency basis on Fridays, and since Mom had to leave the country on Sunday, we qualified!
So we ran, (well, okay, power-walked), around Quito to various police stations, photo places, government buildings, and I-don’t-even-know-what to get the proper documents to get a replacement passport. Finally, around 2 pm, Mom had her replacement passport in hand!
We high-tailed it back to the hostal and then took a taxi to another bus terminal to go to Mindo, a small town in the cloud forest! We got a few of the last seats on the bus and enjoyed the gorgeous 2 hour ride, arriving at Mindo at dusk. Dad and I had both been reading our respective Lonely Planet guidebooks, and each independently decided that the coolest place to stay would be La Casa Cecilia.
After arriving at Mindo, La Casa Cecilia was a bit tricky to find because it was getting dark and it was hidden up on a hill in some trees (I guess that would be a forest). Still some people on bikes gave us directions and we managed to get there just before it was too dark to see anything. We found our rooms, complete with beds covered in mosquito-netting, which I was grateful for, since at the lower altitude bugs, can, well, bug you. A lot.
There was even a huge deck complete with four hammocks right outside of our rooms! Talk about meant to be!
Still, the area around the hostal was VERY dark and it was quick difficult to walk without falling over. Dad took a spill walking down to the river and pulled his quad pretty bad. So we decided that dinner in the hostal would be a good idea. Mom and I went to order pizza while Brian ran, and then we rigged Dad up in a hammock and we all enjoyed some quality Mindo pizza. Mindo isn’t known for it’s pizza or anything, but it’s pretty hard to screw up pizza so it was delicious. Mmmmmm.
Saturday, November 25
Brian and I got up to run, which, even though Mindo is at a lower altitude than Quito, was pretty difficult for me because it’s basically one huge hill out of town. Well, I guess Mindo is on the Andean slopes.
Walking down the trail from La Casa de Cecilia
Anyway, by far the best part of my time here so far was when my family came to visit me!!!!! Haha, I was having so much fun with them I forgot to take enough pictures. That, and I relied on Mom and Dad to take cool pictures. So I don’t have a ton of pictures from our time together here, but lots of awesome memories! This is a VERY abbreviated version of our time together, and the journal Mom and Dad kept is way better, but here’s a short synopsis:
Saturday, November 18
Mom, Dad, and Brian’s flight was set to arrive around 10:20, so I got to the airport a little after 10, soooo excited to see them. There were two other gringas, one of whom I had met before, who were waiting for their families as well so we chatted as we waited impatiently for our families to come.
After what seemed like FOREVER of waiting, people finally started coming out of the gate! Their families arrived before mine, and just as I was getting nervous, I saw my family come through the gate! I called out to them, and we met up just outside of the airport doors and I got big hugs from everyone. It was the longest I had gone (even longer than my time in Tijuana) without seeing them.
So we grabbed a taxi and headed back to the Hostal Sandmelis, which Patricia had recommended to me. We stayed up and chatted a bit, and then crashed fairly early because they had had a long day of traveling.
Sunday, November 19
Mom, Dad, and I all slept in while Brian went for a run. Then we headed out to Mitad del Mundo…the Middle of the World. The first time I had been there had been in a private car driven by my host mom’s friend and the second time had been on a private bus with the U of I crew.
However, I had read of a possible way to get there in my trusty little Lonely Planet guidebook so my family was really patient as I led them around Quito trying the find the right bus. After going into (and paying for…there’s 25 cents down the drain) a wrong bus terminal, we finally figured out that we needed the MetroBus. So we hopped onto a MetroBus, and Mom, Dad, and Brian got their first taste of Ecuador bus riding. I think they’re naturals, because they managed to stay standing better than many of the quiteños!
All together at the REAL equatorial line
Apparently it's quite easy to balance a raw egg on the head of a nail on the equatorial line due to magnetic forces. Brian succeeded in the task and got a certificate. I tried and failed. Oh well, guess I won't be a professional egg-balancer
Dad demonstrating his superior blow gun shooting skills. You can't do it without the headdress or it's just ain't official
After switching buses, and about 2 hours later, we finally arrived at Mitad del Mundo. First we went to the real equatorial line, which I had never been to, and then we went to the more commercialized equatorial line which has the (in)famous monument. We enjoyed a classic Ecuadorian lunch and then watched some traditional dances while eating ice cream. What more could I ask for? I was with my family, in Ecuador, eating ice cream.
We then caught a taxi and headed back to the hostal where everyone got ready to go see my apartment and meet my host family. We took the short 15 minute walk from the Hostal to the apartment where my GringaFamilia and my EcuFamilia met each other!
Then Mom, Dad, and Brian headed back to their hostal while I stayed in the apartment and worked on homework. I know, exciting, right?
Monday, November 20
Well, I had a pretty unexciting morning because I just went to classes, but Mom, Dad, and Brian did some really cool stuff! Haha, their week was way more exciting than mine, and they’ve been to some places in Quito, like the teleferiQo, that I haven’t been to yet!
After classes, Brian and I went running in Carolina Park. Even though he had just gotten to the high altitude, he was still WAY faster than me! Still he was nice, and ran with me for a lap around the park. It was so much fun to run with someone and I haven’t gotten to run with Brian in a long time! After we finished our runs, we headed back to the hostal, got ready, and took the Ecovia to el Centro Historico to meet Mom and Dad.
We grabbing dinner at a Fruteria and heard about Mom and Dad’s adventures climbing hills, visiting a cool café, and meeting a hatmaker. Then we wandered around the Centro Historico (note to self, there’s not a whole heck of a lot going on in the Centro Historico on Monday nights), we went to a small café for some drinks and I ordered some chocolate con queso and morrocho for everyone to try. I think they still like marshmallows in their hot chocolate more than cheese, but I think everyone liked the morrocho.
Tuesday, November 21
I went to classes in the morning again (stupid education. Haha, just kidding), but the rest of my family went to the teleferiQo!
In the afternoon, we met up at the hostal and headed to el Parque Carolina (my favorite park and place to run) and went running/walking.
After cleaning up, we headed to la Mariscal and ate a delicious dinner at the Coffee Tree. And, of course, everyone tried Pilsener, the national cerveza. It was a hit! There was some quality live music too.
Wednesday, November 22
I had spent the night in the hostal with my family, and Brian and I woke up early to go for a run. After a quick breakfast at the hostal, we all headed down the valley into Cumbaya to see my university.
I went to class while my family explored, and then we grabbed some lunch at the school cafeteria. Mmmm is love Ensalada a Tu Gusto (Salad How You Like It, more or less). Then Brian went to my Sociologia Rural class with me while Mom and Dad hung out on campus. Haha, the campus here is more like a high school than like U of I’s huge campus so there isn’t a whole lot to do. But they never seem to get bored and I think had a nice hour.
Then we headed back to Quito and to el Terminal Terreste to go to Otavalo. When we got on the bus to Otavalo, we were the only four passengers. Then another guy got on who we assumed worked for the bus company, and took Mom’s backpack, lifting it to the rack above to “help.” He asked to see Brian and my tickets, and told us we were in the wrong seats; we should be in the seats in front of Mom and Dad. Well, I should have know WAY better, I mean we were the only 4 people on the bus and the busses to Otavalo don’t really have assigned seats, but we moved anyway. Then, when we got to the hostal in Otavalo, we realized that Mom’s purse (which had her passport, phone money, and some credit cards in it) and her raincoat had been taken out of her backpack.
So we got to know an Internet Café/phone cabaña place in Otavalo really well and we tried to cancel credit cards and figure out how to get a replacement passport. Then we ate a tasty late dinner at a small restaurant overlooking la Plaza de los Ponchos, the main market area.
Thursday, November 23
Brian and I got up to run up and down the streets of Otavalo. I tried to find the way to Peguche, where there are waterfalls, but I didn’t make it to the path in time. Then we enjoyed a tasty breakfast at the hostal and headed into town for the indigenous market!
La Plaza de los Ponchos had been pretty deserted the night before, but when we got there midmorning Thursday, it was quite busy, even though Saturday is the main market day. We had some fun bartering and came away with plenty of woven goods, including two hammocks and LOTS of pants. (They’re sooo the cool thing to get. Well, according to me).
After some quick shopping, we bought some sandwiches from a Panderia and headed back to Quito. This time the bus was way more crowded and none of us got anything stolen! Well, not that I know of. Maybe someone took some fuzz of my sweater of something, but they can have that.
We found out that the U.S. embassy was closed on for Thanksgiving (which they don’t even celebrate here!) and that the embassy was always closed Friday through Sunday. I’m considering a job at the embassy with that kind of workweek. The only way you could talk to someone was to report the death of a U.S. citizen. We considered doing that just so we could talk to a real, live person, but refrained.
Then we headed to Maria’s, the U of I resident director, house in Cumbaya for Thanksgiving dinner! Did I say they don’t even celebrate Thanksgiving here? Well, we don’t count. Anyway, there was TONS of food which we all helped prepare. There was even TURKEY which is a huge delicacy and basically unheard of here. I hadn’t had turkey in over three months. It was delicious. Besides the turkey, everything else in the meal was meatless, so all that vegetarians in the group were happy as well.
We may not even be on the same continent as Plymoth Rock, but we still know how to celebrate Thanksgiving!
Friday, November 24
We woke up fairly early, intent on trying to find a backup passport for Mom, even if it meant breaking into the US embassy. (not really, please don’t arrest me for that.) Mom tried calling the embassy again, and amazingly, they picked up! It turned out that you could go to the embassy on an emergency basis on Fridays, and since Mom had to leave the country on Sunday, we qualified!
So we ran, (well, okay, power-walked), around Quito to various police stations, photo places, government buildings, and I-don’t-even-know-what to get the proper documents to get a replacement passport. Finally, around 2 pm, Mom had her replacement passport in hand!
We high-tailed it back to the hostal and then took a taxi to another bus terminal to go to Mindo, a small town in the cloud forest! We got a few of the last seats on the bus and enjoyed the gorgeous 2 hour ride, arriving at Mindo at dusk. Dad and I had both been reading our respective Lonely Planet guidebooks, and each independently decided that the coolest place to stay would be La Casa Cecilia.
After arriving at Mindo, La Casa Cecilia was a bit tricky to find because it was getting dark and it was hidden up on a hill in some trees (I guess that would be a forest). Still some people on bikes gave us directions and we managed to get there just before it was too dark to see anything. We found our rooms, complete with beds covered in mosquito-netting, which I was grateful for, since at the lower altitude bugs, can, well, bug you. A lot.
There was even a huge deck complete with four hammocks right outside of our rooms! Talk about meant to be!
Still, the area around the hostal was VERY dark and it was quick difficult to walk without falling over. Dad took a spill walking down to the river and pulled his quad pretty bad. So we decided that dinner in the hostal would be a good idea. Mom and I went to order pizza while Brian ran, and then we rigged Dad up in a hammock and we all enjoyed some quality Mindo pizza. Mindo isn’t known for it’s pizza or anything, but it’s pretty hard to screw up pizza so it was delicious. Mmmmmm.
Saturday, November 25
Brian and I got up to run, which, even though Mindo is at a lower altitude than Quito, was pretty difficult for me because it’s basically one huge hill out of town. Well, I guess Mindo is on the Andean slopes.
Walking down the trail from La Casa de Cecilia
After a delicious breakfast, the four of us hired a taxi, aka pick-up truck, to ride up the mountain to some awesome waterfalls. Along the way, we passed Carlotta, a girl from Canada who was working in Quito teaching English. She hopped into the back of the truck with us and we continued along.
After a hike down some muddy slopes and across an…interesting…bridge, we finally came to the waterfall gate. We had already paid our entrance fee, but there was no one to the let us in. After calling around and searching the premises, we decided to sneak in under the barbed wire. Unfortunately, they had already anticipated people like us and after getting through the first hole in the barbed wire, there was another set of barbed wire, this way more tightly strung.
Taxi Mindo-style. Who needs a sun-roof when you don't have to have a roof?
So we continued calling and hollering and searching around until finally an older lady came to the gate. She said we should wander around her kitchen area and there had been a bunch of “borachos” (drunks) who had been there and broken stuff and we could get hurt. Well, I think that’s what she said.
Brian and me hoping the bridge won't break. I'm hear to tell about it, so it didn't. (break, that is)
Trying to break into the waterfalls. Maybe not the best idea.
Dad looks pretty sure-footed for being on such a wobbly bridge!
Group shot!!! We may be dirty and smell thanks to no water at the hostal, but we're happy to be together! I guess it doesn't hurt that's we're ALL dirty and smelly
Either way, she let us in, and we arrived to see a gorgeous river with pools of water, a waterslide, a rickety bridge to a huge rock, and a rope ladder down to a swimming hole. We explored a bit, but had to head back up the path relatively soon because the pickup truck agreed to meet us at 1:30.
So we made it back in time, and we rode the truck down the hill. After grabbing some lunch, where everyone tried ceviche de camorones (like a cold soup with shrimp) and batidos (a fruity milk smoothie), we headed back to Quito.
Once in Quito we got ready, and went to an amazingly delicious Japanese restaurant at the Swisotel. It was so strange to be eating sushi in Ecuador, but it tasted just like it would be home! Yummmmm. I had an absolute wonderful time at dinner, but it was kinda hard too because it was my family’s last night with me.
After dinner, we said good-bye at their hostal and they went to sleep at the hostal and I headed back to the apartment. Even though I knew I had a plane ticket home for December 21, less than a month away, it was still incredible hard to say good-bye.
But it had been an absolutely amazing, fantastic, excellent, cool, radical, incredible, exhilarating, CHEVERE week!
After a hike down some muddy slopes and across an…interesting…bridge, we finally came to the waterfall gate. We had already paid our entrance fee, but there was no one to the let us in. After calling around and searching the premises, we decided to sneak in under the barbed wire. Unfortunately, they had already anticipated people like us and after getting through the first hole in the barbed wire, there was another set of barbed wire, this way more tightly strung.
Taxi Mindo-style. Who needs a sun-roof when you don't have to have a roof?
So we continued calling and hollering and searching around until finally an older lady came to the gate. She said we should wander around her kitchen area and there had been a bunch of “borachos” (drunks) who had been there and broken stuff and we could get hurt. Well, I think that’s what she said.
Brian and me hoping the bridge won't break. I'm hear to tell about it, so it didn't. (break, that is)
Trying to break into the waterfalls. Maybe not the best idea.
Dad looks pretty sure-footed for being on such a wobbly bridge!
Group shot!!! We may be dirty and smell thanks to no water at the hostal, but we're happy to be together! I guess it doesn't hurt that's we're ALL dirty and smelly
Either way, she let us in, and we arrived to see a gorgeous river with pools of water, a waterslide, a rickety bridge to a huge rock, and a rope ladder down to a swimming hole. We explored a bit, but had to head back up the path relatively soon because the pickup truck agreed to meet us at 1:30.
So we made it back in time, and we rode the truck down the hill. After grabbing some lunch, where everyone tried ceviche de camorones (like a cold soup with shrimp) and batidos (a fruity milk smoothie), we headed back to Quito.
Once in Quito we got ready, and went to an amazingly delicious Japanese restaurant at the Swisotel. It was so strange to be eating sushi in Ecuador, but it tasted just like it would be home! Yummmmm. I had an absolute wonderful time at dinner, but it was kinda hard too because it was my family’s last night with me.
After dinner, we said good-bye at their hostal and they went to sleep at the hostal and I headed back to the apartment. Even though I knew I had a plane ticket home for December 21, less than a month away, it was still incredible hard to say good-bye.
But it had been an absolutely amazing, fantastic, excellent, cool, radical, incredible, exhilarating, CHEVERE week!
jueves, 8 de noviembre de 2007
Galapagos Islands - Day 1: Welcome to another planet
Friday, November 2, 2007
Well, Halloween may have been banned here in all public schools and looked down upon in many areas, but there was still a holiday near October 31 – Dia de los Difuntos, on November 2, so we didn’t have school on Friday!
To take advantage of our lack of classes, Megan, Pedro, Liz, and I (with a lot of help form Megan’s host mom) planned a trip to las Islas de los Galápagos, the Galapagos Islands!
Thanks to my million and 7 (give or take a million) biology classes I’ve had, I’ve heard a lot about the Galapagos Islands and Charles Darwin’s finches and his book Origin of Species, but I never thought I’d actually get to go there.
Still, bright and early, Friday morning, the four of us met at the Quito airport and boarded a plane heading the Galapagos (which, in case you were wondering, are named after the huge Galapagos tortoise species that is on the islands). After making a quickish stop in Guayquil to drop off some passenger and pick others up, our plane took off again for the islands.
Thanks to the time change, we landed on Baltra, a pretty unpopulated island where there used to be a U.S. military base, around 11:00 a.m. The airport was pretty small and we followed all of the other passengers to the entry lines to the Galapagos.
The airport on Baltra, all of it was open to the outside! I guess there is some advantage of not having the crazy snowstorms of Chicago
Well, the entry fee for foreigners to the islands is $100, but only about $10 for nationals. We had heard that since we were students living in Ecuador for a long time, we might be able to sweet-talk the guards to letting us in for $50.
So we got in the “foreigners” line with out Censo cards, which are our ID cards here that say we’re living in Ecuador, and ready with our best Spanish. When we got to the counter, we told the agent that we were students living here, and he told us to go to the “nationals” line! Haha, we felt pretty cool getting to stand in the locals line. So when we got to that agent, we only had to pay $25 to get in. Sweet!
Anyway, we continued through the open-air terminal to meet one of the guides from Hotel Ninfa, the hotel we were staying in that also led tours. We headed to the baggage claim, which was basically a pile of everyone’s luggage. But we got our bags without a problem!
One of the funny things about the Galapagos’ airport is that nearly everyone there is a tourist so I felt no shame at taking pictures of pretty much everything….the only problem was that I had to make sure I had room on my memory card!
Anyway, the guides herded us all onto big busses where we drove through the windy roads of Baltra. I have no idea why the roads were so curvy though because the island is pretty barren looking with few trees. The dirt is brown-red and makes a really cool contrast with the bright blue ocean.
So we finally ended up at a small dock where we all loaded onto some boats to take us across a channel to the island of Santa Cruz, the most populated of the three populated islands in the Galapagos where our hotel was.
From there we were officially introduced to one of our main guides for the weekend, Luis, as well as a bunch of other people of our tour group. Though the group changed slightly day by day, there were usually about 14-20 of us together. Our group was really cool with people from Ecuador (of course), Brazil, Germany, France, China, India and us from the U.S. Our guide spoke all in Spanish, but occasionally he like to throw in the random English words. He loved to say, “buenas pictures.”
So after taking a small bus to Puerto Ayora, the town our hotel was in, we went to the small restaurant area and ate a delicious almuerzo. The cool thing about the package for the trip that we got was that it included our lodging, meals, and tours.
Pedro, me,Megan, and Liz on the bus headed to the Baltra dock!
After lunch we met up with our tour group and headed to the Charles Darwin Research Station where there were lots of Darwin’s finches, crazy cacti, and of course lots of tortoises, including Galapagos!
One of Darwin's finches...maybe I should send my high school bio teacher this pic to show that I remembered at least some of what she taught
The plants and animals on the island are all so crazy-looking and absolutely incredible. Also, since none of the animals had any predators, they’re not scared of humans at all so you can get so close to them! Pretty much the only thing that keeps you from not touching them is Galapagos rules.
The cactus' "leaves" were so flat and big I wanted to give them a high five...except they happened to have ridicuosly long and pointy needles. Well, I guess that is a main characteristic of cacti
We also saw Lonley George, a big turtle who is the last of his species. He’s near 100 years old, but still holding on! The tortoises can actually live well over 100, sometimes 200 years. According to Luis, it’s because they eat a lot, don’t move much, and don’t talk much. He said he can’t live that long because he talks a lot.
Having a staring contest with a tortoise...he won, but I think I gave him a run for his money
So after walking back to the hotel, I got to swim in the pool and then we had a delicious cena! We planned on checking out Puerto Ayora’s nightlife, but decided to take a quick nap first. So we fell asleep a little after 7:30 with plans to wake up at 8:30. However, I kept hitting the snooze button on my trusty alarm clock, and by the time we finally woke up, it was past 10 and none of us could get the energy to go out! So we decided more sleep was the best choice. Haha, it was the most sleep I’ve had in weeks, maybe months!
Well, Halloween may have been banned here in all public schools and looked down upon in many areas, but there was still a holiday near October 31 – Dia de los Difuntos, on November 2, so we didn’t have school on Friday!
To take advantage of our lack of classes, Megan, Pedro, Liz, and I (with a lot of help form Megan’s host mom) planned a trip to las Islas de los Galápagos, the Galapagos Islands!
Thanks to my million and 7 (give or take a million) biology classes I’ve had, I’ve heard a lot about the Galapagos Islands and Charles Darwin’s finches and his book Origin of Species, but I never thought I’d actually get to go there.
Still, bright and early, Friday morning, the four of us met at the Quito airport and boarded a plane heading the Galapagos (which, in case you were wondering, are named after the huge Galapagos tortoise species that is on the islands). After making a quickish stop in Guayquil to drop off some passenger and pick others up, our plane took off again for the islands.
Thanks to the time change, we landed on Baltra, a pretty unpopulated island where there used to be a U.S. military base, around 11:00 a.m. The airport was pretty small and we followed all of the other passengers to the entry lines to the Galapagos.
The airport on Baltra, all of it was open to the outside! I guess there is some advantage of not having the crazy snowstorms of Chicago
Well, the entry fee for foreigners to the islands is $100, but only about $10 for nationals. We had heard that since we were students living in Ecuador for a long time, we might be able to sweet-talk the guards to letting us in for $50.
So we got in the “foreigners” line with out Censo cards, which are our ID cards here that say we’re living in Ecuador, and ready with our best Spanish. When we got to the counter, we told the agent that we were students living here, and he told us to go to the “nationals” line! Haha, we felt pretty cool getting to stand in the locals line. So when we got to that agent, we only had to pay $25 to get in. Sweet!
Anyway, we continued through the open-air terminal to meet one of the guides from Hotel Ninfa, the hotel we were staying in that also led tours. We headed to the baggage claim, which was basically a pile of everyone’s luggage. But we got our bags without a problem!
One of the funny things about the Galapagos’ airport is that nearly everyone there is a tourist so I felt no shame at taking pictures of pretty much everything….the only problem was that I had to make sure I had room on my memory card!
Anyway, the guides herded us all onto big busses where we drove through the windy roads of Baltra. I have no idea why the roads were so curvy though because the island is pretty barren looking with few trees. The dirt is brown-red and makes a really cool contrast with the bright blue ocean.
So we finally ended up at a small dock where we all loaded onto some boats to take us across a channel to the island of Santa Cruz, the most populated of the three populated islands in the Galapagos where our hotel was.
From there we were officially introduced to one of our main guides for the weekend, Luis, as well as a bunch of other people of our tour group. Though the group changed slightly day by day, there were usually about 14-20 of us together. Our group was really cool with people from Ecuador (of course), Brazil, Germany, France, China, India and us from the U.S. Our guide spoke all in Spanish, but occasionally he like to throw in the random English words. He loved to say, “buenas pictures.”
So after taking a small bus to Puerto Ayora, the town our hotel was in, we went to the small restaurant area and ate a delicious almuerzo. The cool thing about the package for the trip that we got was that it included our lodging, meals, and tours.
Pedro, me,Megan, and Liz on the bus headed to the Baltra dock!
After lunch we met up with our tour group and headed to the Charles Darwin Research Station where there were lots of Darwin’s finches, crazy cacti, and of course lots of tortoises, including Galapagos!
One of Darwin's finches...maybe I should send my high school bio teacher this pic to show that I remembered at least some of what she taught
The plants and animals on the island are all so crazy-looking and absolutely incredible. Also, since none of the animals had any predators, they’re not scared of humans at all so you can get so close to them! Pretty much the only thing that keeps you from not touching them is Galapagos rules.
The cactus' "leaves" were so flat and big I wanted to give them a high five...except they happened to have ridicuosly long and pointy needles. Well, I guess that is a main characteristic of cacti
We also saw Lonley George, a big turtle who is the last of his species. He’s near 100 years old, but still holding on! The tortoises can actually live well over 100, sometimes 200 years. According to Luis, it’s because they eat a lot, don’t move much, and don’t talk much. He said he can’t live that long because he talks a lot.
Having a staring contest with a tortoise...he won, but I think I gave him a run for his money
So after walking back to the hotel, I got to swim in the pool and then we had a delicious cena! We planned on checking out Puerto Ayora’s nightlife, but decided to take a quick nap first. So we fell asleep a little after 7:30 with plans to wake up at 8:30. However, I kept hitting the snooze button on my trusty alarm clock, and by the time we finally woke up, it was past 10 and none of us could get the energy to go out! So we decided more sleep was the best choice. Haha, it was the most sleep I’ve had in weeks, maybe months!
Galapagos Islands - Day 2: Time to Explore
Saturday November 3, 2007
After getting so much sleep the night before, it wasn’t too hard to wake up a bit early and go for a run to explore the island. I didn’t exactly know good places to run and the town was pretty small, so I ended up just running up and down the town’s small streets. It was pretty cool because not many shops were open, but there were still quite a few people out, getting ready for the day. And there were lots of bikers! Mountain bikes, not motor bikes. It was pretty sweet getting to run in shorts and in low altitude!
After a quick shower, we all ate breakfast and met up with our tour group. From there our guide led us on a walk to the entrance of Tortuga Bay. We walked on a gorgeous brick path for about 3 km through a gorgeous forest filled with crazy-looking plants until we came upon…Tortuga Bay! I know, that’s a big surprise.
Wow. A bit dangerous for swimming, but amazing to see
The beach was absolutely gorgeous with bright white sand, turquoise water, and deep black volcanic rocks. At first we thought the beach alone was amazing, and then we started to see all the wildlife on the beach! There were HUGE iguanas everywhere that weren’t afraid of humans at all and you could get so close. They bummed around the rocks and acted like lazy cats. Well, that is until they start swimming…then they looked like dogs doing the doggy paddle! Haha, I think the sight of iguanas swimming is one of the most comical things I’ve ever seen.
Iguana or dinosaur? You decide
There were also bright red crabs and all types of birds. I took tons and tons of pictures, but for a lot of them my camera was accidently set on the black-and-white setting, and the bright colors of the animals was half the reason they were so cool. Well, I still had plenty of pics that turned out!
Though the open water of the ocean was dangerous to swim in due to strong currents, we kept walking a bit to come upon a protected area of water where we were able to swim. Plus there was lots of gorgeous sand (trust me, sand can be gorgeous) and so we couldn’t resist building some sand castles and digging some holes. Though the top layer of sand was white, but as we dug down, there were distinct layers of blue and purple sand! It looked like those sand-layer creations we used to make in art class. Well, I guess we technically made them out of colored salt, but same idea.
After some quality beach time, we headed back to the trail and then to the town of Puerto Ayora. On our way back, Pedro, Megan, Liz, and I stopped by Laguna Las Ninfas where there were lots of kids diving off a pier and jumping off high branches. Then we had to hit up ice cream on the way back. Well, it wasn’t technically ice cream, but helados de paila, which is ice cream made with ice, egg white, and flavors such as fruit juice, and stirred in a paila, a large copper pot. So there’s no cream involved. They were quite delicious, but I’m not sure if it beats ice cream.
After lunch, our tour group drove to the lava tubes, which were as cool as the name implies. The lava tubes are huge underground tunnels formed by lava flow (hence the name). The outside of the lava cooled, forming the roof and walls, but the stuff inside kept going, forming a hollow tube. When I heard about them, I expected them to be fairly small, but they were huge – in width, height, and length! It was kinda like walking through a giant cave, except it was all dry with no animals. Plus the owners had added some lighting along the walls so it was pretty easy to see your way.
I guess a good thing about walking through these tunnels is that we don't have to worry about a train coming through!
After the lava tube adventure, we still had some time before dinner, so us four decided to check out Las Grietas, a cool place we read about in the handy Lonely Planet guidebook. To get there, we had to take a water taxi, and on our way we met up with Rubon and Kathy, a really nice couple from India in our tour group who are working in Quito. So we all hopped in the water taxi which dropped us onto a small dock. From there we followed signs to Las Grietas. At first the path was extremely easy to follow and easy walking but when we arrived to another beach we accidentally followed the path onto a hotel’s grounds where we were politely but firmly told that we had taken the wrong path.
So we back-track and soon found the right path and continued on our way. The terrain was like nothing I’ve seen before with big red rocks and barren trees. Again, I felt like I was on another planet and I wouldn’t have been too surprised to see a dinosaur pop out of the scenery. We also passed a salt mine with bright pink…something (salt-water?).
Salt mines...now I want to know why my table salt isn't pink
As we scrambled along the rocks, we passed a guy with a surfboard coming back from Las Grietas. He said it was pretty, but definitely not a good place for surfing. Well, none of us are exactly professional surfers nor had surfboards, so we weren’t too upset about that.
We finally came upon Las Grietas, which in Spanish means The Cracks, and was very-well named. It was a gorgeous, calm water-hole in between two huge walls of rock. I have no idea why the guy we passed thought it would be good for surfing. The water was one of the prettiest deep turquoise-blues that I’ve ever seen, and I tried to capture the color on camera, but some things film just can’t show. We were running out of time before dinner so we couldn’t swim, but it was still a really cool sight to see.
Las Grietas, aka, The Cracks. Well, you gotta give the namer credit for accuracy
After getting so much sleep the night before, it wasn’t too hard to wake up a bit early and go for a run to explore the island. I didn’t exactly know good places to run and the town was pretty small, so I ended up just running up and down the town’s small streets. It was pretty cool because not many shops were open, but there were still quite a few people out, getting ready for the day. And there were lots of bikers! Mountain bikes, not motor bikes. It was pretty sweet getting to run in shorts and in low altitude!
After a quick shower, we all ate breakfast and met up with our tour group. From there our guide led us on a walk to the entrance of Tortuga Bay. We walked on a gorgeous brick path for about 3 km through a gorgeous forest filled with crazy-looking plants until we came upon…Tortuga Bay! I know, that’s a big surprise.
Wow. A bit dangerous for swimming, but amazing to see
The beach was absolutely gorgeous with bright white sand, turquoise water, and deep black volcanic rocks. At first we thought the beach alone was amazing, and then we started to see all the wildlife on the beach! There were HUGE iguanas everywhere that weren’t afraid of humans at all and you could get so close. They bummed around the rocks and acted like lazy cats. Well, that is until they start swimming…then they looked like dogs doing the doggy paddle! Haha, I think the sight of iguanas swimming is one of the most comical things I’ve ever seen.
Iguana or dinosaur? You decide
There were also bright red crabs and all types of birds. I took tons and tons of pictures, but for a lot of them my camera was accidently set on the black-and-white setting, and the bright colors of the animals was half the reason they were so cool. Well, I still had plenty of pics that turned out!
Though the open water of the ocean was dangerous to swim in due to strong currents, we kept walking a bit to come upon a protected area of water where we were able to swim. Plus there was lots of gorgeous sand (trust me, sand can be gorgeous) and so we couldn’t resist building some sand castles and digging some holes. Though the top layer of sand was white, but as we dug down, there were distinct layers of blue and purple sand! It looked like those sand-layer creations we used to make in art class. Well, I guess we technically made them out of colored salt, but same idea.
After some quality beach time, we headed back to the trail and then to the town of Puerto Ayora. On our way back, Pedro, Megan, Liz, and I stopped by Laguna Las Ninfas where there were lots of kids diving off a pier and jumping off high branches. Then we had to hit up ice cream on the way back. Well, it wasn’t technically ice cream, but helados de paila, which is ice cream made with ice, egg white, and flavors such as fruit juice, and stirred in a paila, a large copper pot. So there’s no cream involved. They were quite delicious, but I’m not sure if it beats ice cream.
After lunch, our tour group drove to the lava tubes, which were as cool as the name implies. The lava tubes are huge underground tunnels formed by lava flow (hence the name). The outside of the lava cooled, forming the roof and walls, but the stuff inside kept going, forming a hollow tube. When I heard about them, I expected them to be fairly small, but they were huge – in width, height, and length! It was kinda like walking through a giant cave, except it was all dry with no animals. Plus the owners had added some lighting along the walls so it was pretty easy to see your way.
I guess a good thing about walking through these tunnels is that we don't have to worry about a train coming through!
After the lava tube adventure, we still had some time before dinner, so us four decided to check out Las Grietas, a cool place we read about in the handy Lonely Planet guidebook. To get there, we had to take a water taxi, and on our way we met up with Rubon and Kathy, a really nice couple from India in our tour group who are working in Quito. So we all hopped in the water taxi which dropped us onto a small dock. From there we followed signs to Las Grietas. At first the path was extremely easy to follow and easy walking but when we arrived to another beach we accidentally followed the path onto a hotel’s grounds where we were politely but firmly told that we had taken the wrong path.
So we back-track and soon found the right path and continued on our way. The terrain was like nothing I’ve seen before with big red rocks and barren trees. Again, I felt like I was on another planet and I wouldn’t have been too surprised to see a dinosaur pop out of the scenery. We also passed a salt mine with bright pink…something (salt-water?).
Salt mines...now I want to know why my table salt isn't pink
As we scrambled along the rocks, we passed a guy with a surfboard coming back from Las Grietas. He said it was pretty, but definitely not a good place for surfing. Well, none of us are exactly professional surfers nor had surfboards, so we weren’t too upset about that.
We finally came upon Las Grietas, which in Spanish means The Cracks, and was very-well named. It was a gorgeous, calm water-hole in between two huge walls of rock. I have no idea why the guy we passed thought it would be good for surfing. The water was one of the prettiest deep turquoise-blues that I’ve ever seen, and I tried to capture the color on camera, but some things film just can’t show. We were running out of time before dinner so we couldn’t swim, but it was still a really cool sight to see.
Las Grietas, aka, The Cracks. Well, you gotta give the namer credit for accuracy
Galapagos Islands - Day 3: Out to Sea
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Upon until today, we had been spending all of our time on the island of Santa Cruz, but today we took a boat ride to some nearby islands!
The boat we took was just big enough for all our tour group, and we staked out some great spots on the bow. It was a bit cloudy and chilly, but a perfect place for sight seeing. First our boat went to la Isla Dapne Mayor where which looked like a huge mountain rock rising from the see and you couldn’t get onto the island, but it we boated around it, seeing tons of sea lions, crabs, and of course, birds of all types!
Let's keep a look-out for pirates!
Then we boated over to some nearby rocks that were good for snorkeling by. Luis Alberto informed us that the water was 16 degrees Celcius, but we figured that it wasn’t everyday you could snorkel in the Galapagos, so freezing our butts off would be worth it. So about eight of us from our group hopped into a small dingy and we puttered out to the rocks. After some moaning about how cold the water would be, we sucked it up and jumped in!
Looks like a quality snorkeling rock - just don't touch the rocks!
Though the water was chilly, Lake Michigan has broken me in, so it wasn’t too bad. Still, it was a bit wavy and I had a hard time getting my breathing rhythm down and I couldn’t see too much because the water was dark. Still, I got to see some fish! I guess those are good things to see in an ocean. Better than, say, antelope.
It's not easy to look cool in snorkeling gear, but I'd say we pull it off
After some snorkeling around, we climbed back in the dingy and puttered back to the main boat where we dried off as the boat headed onto the next island, where we got to do some more snorkeling off the shore!
There the water was a bit clearer, and as I was snorkeling, I thought that another snorkeler was by me, but when I turned, there was a huge sea lion playing next to me! I tried to stay still and just watch, but he didn’t seem to mind my presence. I could have probably reached out and touched it, but I didn’t really want to get kicked off the Islands.
After a while, we headed back to la Isla Santa Cruz. Once back on the big island, we drove to Rancho Permiso, where there are tons of giant tortoises in the wild. They didn’t look very wild to me since they walked at, well, the pace of a tortoise. It was incredible just how big they were! I probably could have easily fit into one of their shells. Well, except there was already a tortoise in it.
Hey buddy, I think that shell fits you just right
After making friends with the tortoises, we went to some more lava tubes, which were slightly more difficult to go through since you had to crawl in some places. Still, compared with the bat caves of the jungle, it was nothing!
I gotta remember, don't stand up, don't stand up
Later I got to got for a run to Tortuga Bay, where runners have to sign in at the main entrance before entering the path. I had to be off the path by 6 pm so I just made it to the beach in back before the Island FBI patrol came to get me. Well, maybe just someone would have told be I had to hurry back, but I didn’t want to risk breaking rules when they already limit the number of tourists in the Galapagos.
Upon until today, we had been spending all of our time on the island of Santa Cruz, but today we took a boat ride to some nearby islands!
The boat we took was just big enough for all our tour group, and we staked out some great spots on the bow. It was a bit cloudy and chilly, but a perfect place for sight seeing. First our boat went to la Isla Dapne Mayor where which looked like a huge mountain rock rising from the see and you couldn’t get onto the island, but it we boated around it, seeing tons of sea lions, crabs, and of course, birds of all types!
Let's keep a look-out for pirates!
Then we boated over to some nearby rocks that were good for snorkeling by. Luis Alberto informed us that the water was 16 degrees Celcius, but we figured that it wasn’t everyday you could snorkel in the Galapagos, so freezing our butts off would be worth it. So about eight of us from our group hopped into a small dingy and we puttered out to the rocks. After some moaning about how cold the water would be, we sucked it up and jumped in!
Looks like a quality snorkeling rock - just don't touch the rocks!
Though the water was chilly, Lake Michigan has broken me in, so it wasn’t too bad. Still, it was a bit wavy and I had a hard time getting my breathing rhythm down and I couldn’t see too much because the water was dark. Still, I got to see some fish! I guess those are good things to see in an ocean. Better than, say, antelope.
It's not easy to look cool in snorkeling gear, but I'd say we pull it off
After some snorkeling around, we climbed back in the dingy and puttered back to the main boat where we dried off as the boat headed onto the next island, where we got to do some more snorkeling off the shore!
There the water was a bit clearer, and as I was snorkeling, I thought that another snorkeler was by me, but when I turned, there was a huge sea lion playing next to me! I tried to stay still and just watch, but he didn’t seem to mind my presence. I could have probably reached out and touched it, but I didn’t really want to get kicked off the Islands.
After a while, we headed back to la Isla Santa Cruz. Once back on the big island, we drove to Rancho Permiso, where there are tons of giant tortoises in the wild. They didn’t look very wild to me since they walked at, well, the pace of a tortoise. It was incredible just how big they were! I probably could have easily fit into one of their shells. Well, except there was already a tortoise in it.
Hey buddy, I think that shell fits you just right
After making friends with the tortoises, we went to some more lava tubes, which were slightly more difficult to go through since you had to crawl in some places. Still, compared with the bat caves of the jungle, it was nothing!
I gotta remember, don't stand up, don't stand up
Later I got to got for a run to Tortuga Bay, where runners have to sign in at the main entrance before entering the path. I had to be off the path by 6 pm so I just made it to the beach in back before the Island FBI patrol came to get me. Well, maybe just someone would have told be I had to hurry back, but I didn’t want to risk breaking rules when they already limit the number of tourists in the Galapagos.
Galapagos Islands - Day 4: Blue Skies Shining at Me
Monday, November 5, 2007
I got up a bit early and headed to the Tortuga Bay path for a quick run. After signing in at the entrance, I headed down the path once again, which was much less crowded than in later in the day. Pretty much the only people on it were me, and locals either jogging or walking for exercise. I finally came to the beach, which I ran along a bit, and realized I was the only person on this gorgeous beach. There was absolutely no garbage or signs of humans and I praised God for His awesome creativity. Something is pretty cool about just being able to run along a bright white beach with just you and the iguanas.
I then headed back the hotel, where we ate yet another breakfast, this time figuring out that we could steal left-over marmalade from tables whose occupants had already left.
We were a bit bummed at the overcast skies as our bus drove to the dock, but as soon as we loaded onto the boat and headed out, the skies cleared up, and our spot on the bow was the perfect place for tanning! Yes, I know tanning causes cancer, but we wore lots of sunscreen, thanks to Liz’s fantastic supply of Target’s waterproof 30 SPF.
It's a good thing the national park believes in letting nature take its course...I can't imagine mowing this tube-like vegetation (This pic so does not do the scenery justice)
We first went to another crazy island with bright red tube-like vegetation and tons of sea lions. There were all types of birds, including blue-footed boobies doing a mating dance, and lots of other huge birds.
Buen provecho! That's "bon appetite" Ecuador style
Then we hopped on the boat again and those of us who wanted to were able to snorkel for about 40 minutes along a huge cliff. The water was so much clearer and since it was a sunny day, it was much more enjoyable to swim. And we saw so many incredible fish! They were brightly colored and HUGE! I got to swim after and watch a sea lion play right by me again.
My sea lion friend, I don't know which one of us is more curious about the other
Eventually, we had to get back in the boat, but we headed to another island, we got to do some more snorkeling! There we saw a manta ray and a shark and of course lots of crazy cool fish! Sorry for all the exclamation marks, but it was amazing! !!!!!!
I think I might be in a postcard
Well, our guide finally rounded us all up and we took our dingy back to the slightly bigger boat and headed back to Santa Cruz. We did some quality tourist shopping and then booked it back to the hotel for dinner. After dinner, we finished up with tourist shopping and then realized that we really wanted ice cream. By this time, it was fairly late so we wandered around town trying to find an open place. Many restaurants were open, but had shut off their ice cream machine or stopped serving ice cream. WHO DOES THAT? Seriously.
But finally, we found a restaurant that was smart (if restaurants can be smart) and were able to sit down and order a HUGE thing of ice cream to share. But it turned out that the chef (er, ice cream preparer) had forgotten some ingredients, aka almond pralines, so we got another one for free! Talk about a successful ice cream run.
Ice cream that was so worth wandering around the streets of Puerto Ayora late at night (don't worry, Mom and Dad, we were the most dangerous things on the streets due to our intense craving for ice cream)
After we were nice and hyped-up on sugar, we headed back to the hotel and crashed.
I got up a bit early and headed to the Tortuga Bay path for a quick run. After signing in at the entrance, I headed down the path once again, which was much less crowded than in later in the day. Pretty much the only people on it were me, and locals either jogging or walking for exercise. I finally came to the beach, which I ran along a bit, and realized I was the only person on this gorgeous beach. There was absolutely no garbage or signs of humans and I praised God for His awesome creativity. Something is pretty cool about just being able to run along a bright white beach with just you and the iguanas.
I then headed back the hotel, where we ate yet another breakfast, this time figuring out that we could steal left-over marmalade from tables whose occupants had already left.
We were a bit bummed at the overcast skies as our bus drove to the dock, but as soon as we loaded onto the boat and headed out, the skies cleared up, and our spot on the bow was the perfect place for tanning! Yes, I know tanning causes cancer, but we wore lots of sunscreen, thanks to Liz’s fantastic supply of Target’s waterproof 30 SPF.
It's a good thing the national park believes in letting nature take its course...I can't imagine mowing this tube-like vegetation (This pic so does not do the scenery justice)
We first went to another crazy island with bright red tube-like vegetation and tons of sea lions. There were all types of birds, including blue-footed boobies doing a mating dance, and lots of other huge birds.
Buen provecho! That's "bon appetite" Ecuador style
Then we hopped on the boat again and those of us who wanted to were able to snorkel for about 40 minutes along a huge cliff. The water was so much clearer and since it was a sunny day, it was much more enjoyable to swim. And we saw so many incredible fish! They were brightly colored and HUGE! I got to swim after and watch a sea lion play right by me again.
My sea lion friend, I don't know which one of us is more curious about the other
Eventually, we had to get back in the boat, but we headed to another island, we got to do some more snorkeling! There we saw a manta ray and a shark and of course lots of crazy cool fish! Sorry for all the exclamation marks, but it was amazing! !!!!!!
I think I might be in a postcard
Well, our guide finally rounded us all up and we took our dingy back to the slightly bigger boat and headed back to Santa Cruz. We did some quality tourist shopping and then booked it back to the hotel for dinner. After dinner, we finished up with tourist shopping and then realized that we really wanted ice cream. By this time, it was fairly late so we wandered around town trying to find an open place. Many restaurants were open, but had shut off their ice cream machine or stopped serving ice cream. WHO DOES THAT? Seriously.
But finally, we found a restaurant that was smart (if restaurants can be smart) and were able to sit down and order a HUGE thing of ice cream to share. But it turned out that the chef (er, ice cream preparer) had forgotten some ingredients, aka almond pralines, so we got another one for free! Talk about a successful ice cream run.
Ice cream that was so worth wandering around the streets of Puerto Ayora late at night (don't worry, Mom and Dad, we were the most dangerous things on the streets due to our intense craving for ice cream)
After we were nice and hyped-up on sugar, we headed back to the hotel and crashed.
Galapagos Islands - Day 5: Adios Islas
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
I woke up Tuesday slightly sad because I didn’t want to leave the Galapagos, but determined to get in one last run to Tortuga Bay.
So I headed to the entrance and signed in, once again, and headed to the beach, which, once again, I had completely to myself. On the way back, the guard remembered my name and I felt pretty cool. (Ok, granted I was the only foreigner who signed up to run on the path, and I kinda stand out here, but still.)
The people on the bus go up and down...especially on these roads! Actually, compared to a lot of roads I've been on recently, Galapagos roads were in great condition
So after breakfast, our group had one last excursion on our way to the airport. We stopped by Los Gemelos (in Spanish, The Twins) which are large craters that you can peer down into and hope you don’t fall. It was pretty foggy so picture-taking wasn’t that great, but we were still able to see just how big and awesome they were!
Us U of I kids with Luis Alberto, one of the coolest guides ever
One of Los Gemelos, I hope its fellow twin isn't upset that I didn't post a picture of it as well
Then we had to continue along and took a ferry across the channel to Isla Baltra, the airport island. Isla Baltra has way less vegetation than Isla Santa Cruz, and in some ways it reminded me of Tijuana – except for the bright turquoise ocean in the background. It was also pretty weird because there were lots of old shelters and foundations falling apart, left over from the U.S. military base that used to be on the island.
Scenery on Isla Baltra...you can see the remains of a U.S. miliary building from World War II on the left
Once at the airport, we checked in, did a bit more tourist shopping, and hung out, waiting for our flight. Our first flight to Guayaquil went smoothly, but then right when we were approaching the Quito airport, we had to turn around because the airport was closed due to bad weather!
I took this pic from INSIDE the airport terminal, I guess windows are overrated
So we flew back to Guayaquil (I was very happy that there was apparently plenty of fuel) and we chilled on the Guayaquil runway for a while. Apparently, the Quito airport opened again, because after about an hour of waiting, we took off again, and landing in fog and rain, but safely, in Quito’s airport!
Thus concluded one of the most amazing trips of my life.
I woke up Tuesday slightly sad because I didn’t want to leave the Galapagos, but determined to get in one last run to Tortuga Bay.
So I headed to the entrance and signed in, once again, and headed to the beach, which, once again, I had completely to myself. On the way back, the guard remembered my name and I felt pretty cool. (Ok, granted I was the only foreigner who signed up to run on the path, and I kinda stand out here, but still.)
The people on the bus go up and down...especially on these roads! Actually, compared to a lot of roads I've been on recently, Galapagos roads were in great condition
So after breakfast, our group had one last excursion on our way to the airport. We stopped by Los Gemelos (in Spanish, The Twins) which are large craters that you can peer down into and hope you don’t fall. It was pretty foggy so picture-taking wasn’t that great, but we were still able to see just how big and awesome they were!
Us U of I kids with Luis Alberto, one of the coolest guides ever
One of Los Gemelos, I hope its fellow twin isn't upset that I didn't post a picture of it as well
Then we had to continue along and took a ferry across the channel to Isla Baltra, the airport island. Isla Baltra has way less vegetation than Isla Santa Cruz, and in some ways it reminded me of Tijuana – except for the bright turquoise ocean in the background. It was also pretty weird because there were lots of old shelters and foundations falling apart, left over from the U.S. military base that used to be on the island.
Scenery on Isla Baltra...you can see the remains of a U.S. miliary building from World War II on the left
Once at the airport, we checked in, did a bit more tourist shopping, and hung out, waiting for our flight. Our first flight to Guayaquil went smoothly, but then right when we were approaching the Quito airport, we had to turn around because the airport was closed due to bad weather!
I took this pic from INSIDE the airport terminal, I guess windows are overrated
So we flew back to Guayaquil (I was very happy that there was apparently plenty of fuel) and we chilled on the Guayaquil runway for a while. Apparently, the Quito airport opened again, because after about an hour of waiting, we took off again, and landing in fog and rain, but safely, in Quito’s airport!
Thus concluded one of the most amazing trips of my life.
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)