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

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.

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.

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.

Into the Mountains and Beyond!

EXCURSION A HUASALATA, COTOPAXI Y QUILOTOA

The above was the official title of the schedule we got for the U of I program’s trip to an indigenous community in the Andes, the famous Cotopaxi volcano, and the gorgeous Quilotoa Lagoon. And yes, it was in all caps, and yes, I felt the need to replicate that.

So last Friday, October 19, those of the U of I group that could make it (many were sick or had a Saturday class :-() hopped on a trusty yellow bus with our resident director, Maria, and her totally cool assistant, Erika. Since we were a smaller group, the bus was smaller than our past trips so we were somewhat cramped, to say the least, but we had an awesome driver who played good music, so that made a big difference.

We rolled out from USFQ around 2:45 Friday afternoon and headed toward the province of Tungurahua. After lots of driving (and of course snacking/sleeping/singing) we arrived in pitch blackness to a community of the Huasalata people, in the land of the Salasacas. (the last part is translated from my itinerary which is in Spanish and that’s why this sounds like the beginning of a legend…)

Anyway, we piled out of the bus and climbed to the second floor of the Hostal Inkahuasi. Megan and I claimed the U of Iish room. Well, I called it that since the bed covering was orange and blue. I-L-L!

Then we all headed down to the community room where a bunch of the people of the community cooked a DELICIOUS dinner for us…soup, choclo con queso, chicken, aba, mote…sorry I only know the Spanish words for some of the food.

We also got to talk with the owner of the hostal who built the hostal himself which was incredibly impressive. I also got to talk with his daughter, Paulina, who could have been anywhere from 14-25 years old and was really welcoming.


Some local musicians playing traditional Andean folk music for us in the hostal

After dinner, some men of the community played some Andean folk music for us, and some of the girls showed us a traditional dance. And then…they got all of us to dance.


This is so much harder than it looks. Trust me.

Well, I thought the dance looked fairly straight-forward, but when I got up to try it, I amused the community members and the U of I kids with what I’ve heard resembled an Irish jig, not a traditional Andean dance. And to think I’ve never had an Irish dance lesson in my life! Maybe I should drop out of school and become a professional Irish dancer. Or not.

Anyway, after a crazy long time of bad gringo dancing, we wrapped up our dance party and headed to bed.


Howdy, cows! It's almost like being back in Champaign. Minus the soy beans. Plus the mountains.

They next morning we woke up bright and early (as in before 7) and headed into the community to check out some of the animals. We saw a family’s collection of rabbits and guinea pigs (both which are food here) as well as one of the cutest puppies I’ve ever seen (which is not food here).

Then we headed into a cow pasture where some of us tried our hand at milking a cow. Well, I’d milked goats before in Wisconsin, but I had never milked a cow before, and I squirted the poor man who was helping me on my first try. After that I hit the bucket! Still, my speed was no match for the professionals.


A lady from the community showing us how they make their own thread BY HAND from sheep's wool. We would pass women talking in the streets with each other while making this thread at the same time. The community produced gorgeous woven products, all made and dyed by hand, as opposed to by foot, I guess. Just kidding.

After our cow-milking session (complete with Meet the Parents jokes. For those of you who haven’t seen/don’t remember this hilarious movie:

Greg Focker: You can milk just about anything with nipples.
Jack Byrnes: I have nipples, Greg, could you milk me?

Yep. We’re mature.) we headed back to the hostal where we enjoyed a delicious breakfast.


Hostal Inkahuasi in la communidad de Huasalata

After breakfast, we went with a bunch of community down to the river where a bunch of the community members showed us how to cut “hierbas,” long grass, that they have to cut everyday by hand for food for their mules and cows. Paulina showed me a bunch of plants along the way and explained all the uses for each one. A bunch of the kids borrowed our cameras and went around taking crazy pictures. Jose had mine and his pictures turned out about 20 times better than any of the ones I took!


Doesn't this look like it belongs on the cover of a fantasy novel?


Katie demonstrating her superior hierba-cutting form with the machete and Paulina and I discussing sambos, a fruit similar to melon

After we had cut a decent about of hierbas, one of the men helped load them onto Pedro’s back and we headed back up the hill to the community. There we saw some weaving demonstrations and some works in progress as well as some gorgeous finished tapestries!


Walking around Huasalata and Pedro hauling the hierbas on his back


How cool is this picture? Jose, a 10-year old, took it, along with about a bunch of others


Jose, who in addition to photo-taking know how to weave, showing us his skills

After we packed all our stuff, we piled onto our cute bus and headed to el Parque Nacional Cotopaxi (Cotopaxi National Park). Along the way we passed through the town of Salcedo, which is known for its ice cream. Talk about my kind of town! So naturally we made a pit stop and got some of the delicious stuff.


¡Yo grito, tú gritas, todos de nosotros gritamso por el helado!
I guess "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" doesn't quite translate

We finally came into el Parque Nacional Cotopaxi which was surprisingly flat, minus the large volcano of Cotopaxi. We managed to get lost in the moon-like park, but eventually found our way to a lodge in Tambopaxi, and got to eat a delicious almuerzo.

Since we were behind schedule, we didn’t have time to walk around so we rolled our very full selves onto the bus and began what we expected to be a 2 hour trip to the town of Chugchillan.

Well, thanks to very windy and steep mountain roads, some confusing directions, and LOTS of fog (I have no idea how our bus driver knew where to drive next. I guess there’s a reason that he was the driver and I was just the passenger who held onto my seat for dear life), we arrived at our destination five hours later.
Once again we claimed beds in a hostal, this one named Mama Hilda. I think I even got to see Mama Hilda! But I’m not sure. Anyway, we ate a very late dinner after 10 pm and then crashed into bed.


Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to hiking we go

The next morning we woke up around 8 for a quick breakfast and then prepared for a hike to la laguna Quilotoa (Quilotoa Lagoon), following the Quilotoa loop. We had one guide and 12 Americans and lots of water and apples. I don’t even know how to describe the hike other than it was absolutely incredible.

The hike started by going through the small pueblo of Chugchillan where there were lots of people out. It then continued into some trees with a steep downhill for about half an hour. We passed by lots of farms and people working.

After our downhill honeymoon, we began what would just be the start of lots and lots of uphill. Still the scenery was absolutely gorgeous with tons of mountains, green trees, and valleys. I took pictures, but they just don’t do the scene justice. It’s at times like those that I remember how truly awesome and creative God is.



Check out that scenery!

So we continued up up up. Sometimes we would walk on relatively flat ground, but it turned into uphill again (which I guess makes sense considering we were climbing a mountain.) We passed through the town of Guayama, which was so quiet and empty I thought it might be a ghost town. But our guide said a lot of people were at the market in Chugchillan.

We passed lots of crops fields planted into the side of the mountain which were so vertical I expected some of the plants to succumb to gravity and pop out at any minute. I was amazed that people could sow, care for, and harvest these fields by hand when I was sucking wind just walking.



Hmmmm...beach of the Andes?

Finally we came to an area that was covered in sand, which was quite strange for being on a mountain in the Andes. We continued our way and came to the rim of a huge crater hole and looked down to see the giant Laguna Quilotoa. Many people say that this is the most gorgeous lake in Ecuador and I can see why. Again, pictures don’t do it justice, but I tried.


la Laguna Quilotoa. Enough said.

Still, just because we could see the lake didn’t mean we had reached our destination. We continued hiking, though and eventually came to the village of Quilotoa where our bus, Maria, Erika, and of course our bus driver were waiting for us.