We were happy to be back at our nice hotel, even if it was just for one more night. That evening we had Thai food, which we´d both been craving for a while. That night we made it a mellow night and just watched TV in our room; who knows the next time we´ll be able to watch TV in a nice hotel!
The following day we didn´t have to check out of the hotel until 2pm! Yeah, 2pm! Have you ever heard of such a thing?! We had brunch at Kallari´s, which had amazing organic food. They also had amazing chocolate! After check out we took a cab back to our former hostel. Later that afternoon we walked into the Old Town. First we visited La Compania de Jesus, which was so beautiful! Seven tons of gold were used to gild the walls, ceilings and altars. We weren´t supposed to take pictures, but we snuck a few anyways. Sh, don´t tell! Afterwards we walked to Plaza San Francisco and visited the Monastery of San Francisco. It is the largest colonial structure in Quito, as well as it´s largest church. Katie thought it was cool, but Leif had a bad vibe about it.
The next day we got up early and visited Volcan Pichincha. We took the TeleferiQo, a sky tram that goes up the mountain. We had some great views on the way up, but at the top it was super cloudy, not to mention freezing cold! We waited for a couple hours to see if it would clear up; when it didn’t we headed back down. Later that night we decided to go out! Our first stop was Papillion, which played mostly Latin music. After hearing the few songs we actually knew, we got bored and left. We took a taxi to Matpioshka, the place we had been to before with the unlimited drinks. We started talking to a Canadian, who had just returned from seven weeks in Banos where he was studying yoga and Spanish. While at the bar Katie was handed a business card by a guy in a hat, which read `you are so damned beautiful. I am gay, but I just had to say hi.` He was hot, so we started talking to him and his friends. We all danced until closing, and then shared some cabs to an after hours place. We continued drinking and dancing with our new friends. The cute guy in the hat was trying to convince us to stay in Quito longer. We would have loved to, but we had to catch a plane to La Paz the following evening. Why do we always meet awesome people right before we have to leave a place?! One by one they each left, until we were the last ones standing! We left around 6am; we couldn’t find a registered taxi so we ended up taking a pirate taxi…which you should never do. Oops!
The next day we checked out at 12pm, but didn´t leave the hostel until 5pm. We got to the airport about four hours before our flight, during which we ran into a mother and daughter who were on our Galapagos tour. At the airport Katie started to not feel well. She was weak and light headed, and then began to shake uncontrollably. A medic came over to see her, and gave her an aspirin and told her to rest a lot. Basically what happened was her body reacted negatively to the drastic climate change. We had gone from 50 degrees in Quito to sunny, 80 degree weather in the Galapagos, and then back to chilly Quito. So apparently, this is not good! She finally started to feel better by the layover in Santiago. After Santiago we flew to La Paz, and arrived there around noon.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Galapagos Islands
We flew from Quito to Baltra Islands in the Galapagos Islands, which is one hour behind Quito, which makes us that much closer to Seattle time! We were greeted at the airport by our guide, Maurice. We took a bus to the dock, where we took a dingy to our yacht, the Galapagos I. While waiting at the dock we had already seen two sea lions and a marine iguana. We arrived on our boat and settled into our cabin. Our cabin consisted of a bunk bed, small night stand and bathroom. Surprisingly, in comparison to our Amazon riverboat cabin it was less spacious and there was no TV! We had lunch in our dining room, where the 16 in our group ate our meals everyday. The meals were three courses, and pretty tasty. That afternoon we had a wet landing onto Santa Rosa Island, where we took a two hour nature walk. Dry landings mean there is a dock to step onto, while wet landings have no dock and we have to step into the surf. We saw tons of wildlife; birds galore, sea lions, iguanas. We were able to get really close to the animals, as they do not feel threatened by humans. This is the closest we’ve ever been to animals in their natural habitat. After the walk we had time to swim and snorkel on the beach, although didn’t see much. We returned to our boat, and later that night we had a cocktail hour where we were introduced to our crew consisting of eight people. After dinner we went to bed early; we had an early wake up call the next morning, so we needed our beauty sleep!
Maurice woke us up at 6:30am the following morning. Breakfast was supposed to be at 7am, but it was delayed so that we could go out and see some penguins and blue footed boobies that were nearby on shore. We went out on a dingy and were able to get fairly close to them. We returned and finally had breakfast around 8am. After breakfast we got back in the dingy and went to Chinese Hat Island, which surprisingly enough looks like a Chinese hat. We walked around the island for a few hours and learned more about the islands and their formation. We went back to the boat for lunch and sun bathing on the roof. After lunch our guide took us out to go snorkeling. This time was MUCH better! We saw tons of colorful fish, penguins, sea lions, huge star fish, and even sharks! But don’t worry, they were all harmless. The best thing we saw was above the water on the rocks where penguins, marine iguanas and blue footed boobies were all mingling harmoniously. We were the only ones in our group with an underwater camera, so everyone was jealous! Back at the boat we changed and got ready for our afternoon landing. About 40 minutes before leaving it started to rain; and this was supposed to be our “dry landing.” We got our raincoats on and headed out anyways to St. Bartolome. We hiked up a lot of stairs and were able to see some amazing views of the surrounding islands. After a couple hours we headed back into the water for more snorkeling. Although this time wasn’t as good as the last, we still saw some beautiful marine life. By the end of the day we were all pretty tired and looking forward to dinner. However, about an hour before dinner the boat got really rocky. Pretty much everyone (except the crew) was nauseous. We managed to get a little bit of food down and then went straight to bed.
The third day our wake up call was at 5:30am! We headed to James Island, which had a black beach. There were tons of marine iguanas here. They all stand so still, you can barely notice them sometimes. We saw a double fur seal, which is really just a sea lion. The difference is in their fur and the shape of their head. We also saw the Galapagos Hawk, which apparently is rare to see. On the walk back we found a scorpion. It was a lot smaller and less scary then you’d think. When we returned to the boat we went whale and dolphin sighting. We saw a few in the distance, but nothing extremely close up. After lunch we went to Jervis Island, which has a red beach. Who knew sand came in so many colors! We saw more sea lions and even some baby ones that were playing together. So adorable! We saw several different kinds of finches, and learned about how the different species evolved on the islands. We also saw lots of pelicans, which are really freaky looking birds! We went out for one last snorkel, but unfortunately the water was kinda murky. Before dinner we had a farewell cocktail, which tasted like bananas. Around this time the boat started getting rocky again, and some people skipped out on dinner. We made it to the dining hall, but didn’t eat a whole lot. Nicole, from Boston took a few bites and then had to be excused. About 3 seconds later we heard her heaving off the side of the boat. The whole room grew silent for a moment, and then we all burst into laughter. She returned briefly and apologized, which just made us laugh harder. Poor girl! After dinner the boat finally docked, so we were feeling a lot better! We had docked in Puerto Ayora for the night, and a bunch of us decided to go into town. About twelve of us went to a bar and had a few drinks. A couple people started dancing, including our guide who was grinding up on one of the girls. It was hilarious! Us, two British girls, two of the crew members and our guide all went to a disco nearby, La Panga. Apparently, our guide is also an architect because he designed the bar. We drank and danced till around 2am when the place closed. We took a $1 water taxi back to our boat.
The last morning we had to wake up early yet again. We had our last meal on our home away from home, and then headed to the Darwin Research Center. Here we saw giant tortoises. We were able to get really close to them too. We learned that the only real way to know a tortoise’s age is to pour acid on their shell and count the rings, which of course you can’t do while they’re still living. After the center we said our goodbyes and left for the airport. We got back into Quito that evening and checked back into our wonderful hotel. The Galapagos Islands were definitely a big highlight of the trip. The weather was amazing; blue skies and clear blue ocean. It is amazing how much diverse wildlife you are able to see, and how close you can get to it. It was definitely an experience of a lifetime!
Maurice woke us up at 6:30am the following morning. Breakfast was supposed to be at 7am, but it was delayed so that we could go out and see some penguins and blue footed boobies that were nearby on shore. We went out on a dingy and were able to get fairly close to them. We returned and finally had breakfast around 8am. After breakfast we got back in the dingy and went to Chinese Hat Island, which surprisingly enough looks like a Chinese hat. We walked around the island for a few hours and learned more about the islands and their formation. We went back to the boat for lunch and sun bathing on the roof. After lunch our guide took us out to go snorkeling. This time was MUCH better! We saw tons of colorful fish, penguins, sea lions, huge star fish, and even sharks! But don’t worry, they were all harmless. The best thing we saw was above the water on the rocks where penguins, marine iguanas and blue footed boobies were all mingling harmoniously. We were the only ones in our group with an underwater camera, so everyone was jealous! Back at the boat we changed and got ready for our afternoon landing. About 40 minutes before leaving it started to rain; and this was supposed to be our “dry landing.” We got our raincoats on and headed out anyways to St. Bartolome. We hiked up a lot of stairs and were able to see some amazing views of the surrounding islands. After a couple hours we headed back into the water for more snorkeling. Although this time wasn’t as good as the last, we still saw some beautiful marine life. By the end of the day we were all pretty tired and looking forward to dinner. However, about an hour before dinner the boat got really rocky. Pretty much everyone (except the crew) was nauseous. We managed to get a little bit of food down and then went straight to bed.
The third day our wake up call was at 5:30am! We headed to James Island, which had a black beach. There were tons of marine iguanas here. They all stand so still, you can barely notice them sometimes. We saw a double fur seal, which is really just a sea lion. The difference is in their fur and the shape of their head. We also saw the Galapagos Hawk, which apparently is rare to see. On the walk back we found a scorpion. It was a lot smaller and less scary then you’d think. When we returned to the boat we went whale and dolphin sighting. We saw a few in the distance, but nothing extremely close up. After lunch we went to Jervis Island, which has a red beach. Who knew sand came in so many colors! We saw more sea lions and even some baby ones that were playing together. So adorable! We saw several different kinds of finches, and learned about how the different species evolved on the islands. We also saw lots of pelicans, which are really freaky looking birds! We went out for one last snorkel, but unfortunately the water was kinda murky. Before dinner we had a farewell cocktail, which tasted like bananas. Around this time the boat started getting rocky again, and some people skipped out on dinner. We made it to the dining hall, but didn’t eat a whole lot. Nicole, from Boston took a few bites and then had to be excused. About 3 seconds later we heard her heaving off the side of the boat. The whole room grew silent for a moment, and then we all burst into laughter. She returned briefly and apologized, which just made us laugh harder. Poor girl! After dinner the boat finally docked, so we were feeling a lot better! We had docked in Puerto Ayora for the night, and a bunch of us decided to go into town. About twelve of us went to a bar and had a few drinks. A couple people started dancing, including our guide who was grinding up on one of the girls. It was hilarious! Us, two British girls, two of the crew members and our guide all went to a disco nearby, La Panga. Apparently, our guide is also an architect because he designed the bar. We drank and danced till around 2am when the place closed. We took a $1 water taxi back to our boat.
The last morning we had to wake up early yet again. We had our last meal on our home away from home, and then headed to the Darwin Research Center. Here we saw giant tortoises. We were able to get really close to them too. We learned that the only real way to know a tortoise’s age is to pour acid on their shell and count the rings, which of course you can’t do while they’re still living. After the center we said our goodbyes and left for the airport. We got back into Quito that evening and checked back into our wonderful hotel. The Galapagos Islands were definitely a big highlight of the trip. The weather was amazing; blue skies and clear blue ocean. It is amazing how much diverse wildlife you are able to see, and how close you can get to it. It was definitely an experience of a lifetime!
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