Create your Trip Journal [click here]Did you know that Quito is cold in June? We sure didn't. The sun goes down early, too! We paid six dollars for a cab from the airport to our hotel, Mansion de Angel. Saturday night, and the new town was hopping. We got some small bites and a few beers at the square 1 1/2 blocks from our hotel. Afterwards we came back to our room and admired all of the fresh rose petals on our bed, on the sink, in the shower, . . . in the toilet?
I wish you could have seen all the smiling faces climbing off of the AeroGal plane. Each of us beamed, and then we got into line and secretly tried to catch a glimpse at the stickers we were given and proudly donning. The stickers that announce which boat you are boarding. We were all busy in our own heads thinking, "Oh, he's cute. I hope he is on my boat" or "God, help me if this rude idiot behind me is on my boat." I mean, everyone does that, right? It can't be just me. After a short bus ride we were ready to board the Eric. Here was our first of many sea lion sightings. After a nice swim under a perfect rainbow we SLOWLY worked our way to Kicker Rock. Our captain, Pablo, met us for a welcome toast. He then broke it to us that one of our motors was down and we would not be able to make it to Isabella and Fernandina. People were really yelling, and then they were really crying. We were mostly worried about the sea sickness that would follow from lack of speed and lopsided propulsion.
Genovesa island, home of the red-footed booby. A panga ride away from our long and arduous, sleepless night. Spirits were low at breakfast, but quickly rose as we faced a land of which we had never before seen. As we ambled past booby nests . . . on the ground . . . drawn in the sand by poop, we began to recognize that we were in a whole new world, and if we missed a couple of the islands, then we would still be okay. We would still witness wonderment.
Still, we did feel a little bit deflated as we stood on the beach watching our sister boats, the Letty and the Flamingo, sail away from us, their broken sister. But, in their hasteness to board their working vessels, one of our sister passengers left us a little gift. And, in the spirit of eco-awareness and "leave nothing behind" my husband attained a brand new pair of shades and a slightly used "I Love Boobies" hat.
North Seymour. The island where you "see more."
This dry, dusty, windy island is home to the land iguana and bands of frigatebirds.
Oh, and the dancing blue-footed boobies, too. That was fun to watch. Imagine a sharp shrieking whistle, and then a stiff little bird bowing his head while extending his wingspan much farther than it looks like he should be able to stretch. The couple then starts staring up into the sky as if they are questioning where the startling whistle came from. Meanwhile they are switching their stance from one foot to the other as if the rocks below are too hot for their cute little turqoise webbed feet.
While the frigatebird does look maginificent, I'm not inclined to call this species cute. Mean is more like it. Do you know the frigatebird can't catch it's own fish? It STEALS from the other birds. Pirates.
The third sighting of which I previously metioned was the land ignuana. They are so old and wise, that's why they take their time and smile. It's true! The land iguana has one of the best smiles in all the animal kingdom.
But, nothing compares to the smiles on board the broken Eric when, later that evening, Pablo announce that during our day's excursion, our hard working crew swam to shore with one arm tied behind their back just to find that elusive new part! Our crew had to swim back to the Eric with the part wedged between their teeth. So there! To all of you passengers who yelled and cried, I bet you wished you had stayed as calm as the wise old land iguana now. No matter, we were on our way to Fernandina and Isabella!
This morning began as usual, awoken by eighties music and the familiar voice of our guide, Ivan. "Good Morning! Welcome to another day in Pharadyze . . . Galapagos Islands. Breakfast will be ready in half an hour. Breakfast in half an hour." Holy Cow! I think I can actually face food for the first time on this trip. Oh thank you gods of the repaired ship parts!
Well, Fernandina is spectacular. I take back all the judgment I placed on those who turned red and fled to their cabins. Fernandina is worth all the temper tantrums in the world. The piles of marine iguanas are surreal. The ropey lava is so beautiful, I would carpet my house with it, if I could. I still don't really understand why there is a full skeleton of a whale meticulously placed on this island, but I'm okay with not understanding everything in this world. Like, why won't sea lions adopt an abandoned baby? I still get teary when I think of the cries of that courageous little one. I guess that's life. If you happen to find yourself on Fernandina, be sure to get tickets to the circus. That's right. There's a show on this island. It consists of a mommy sea lion, her cub, and the biggest bull in all of Galapagos, Shaq. They live in a lagoon and swim all day. Shaq will bark and bark and bark above water, dive under, pop up, and then start all over again.
We never made it ON Isabella, but we did take the most fantastic panga ride around her coast. On this ride we got up close and personal with crabs, penguins, marine iguanas, and blue footed boobies. Yuck! The crabs. It seriously looked like a scene from a horror movie. As the panga navigated into a cave, out came an unending swarm of alien looking crabs. AND THEN, the panga driver pushed my edge of the boat into the wall! AAAA! Don't let the crabs touch me! Turn left! Turn left!
"Look at the penguin on the rock!" I wish you could hear my accent here, but I know that is impossible. This saying is one of the funniest memories of the trip for me. Our guide Karina, Ivan's older sister, unbeknownst to us had an inside joke running with Enrique, the panga driver. Apparently Enrique didn't understand why the guides get treated differently than the crew, since all they have to do is sit around all day and say, "Look at the penguin on the rock." Well as it happens, there WAS a penguin on a rock. Karina caught herself half-way through saying this infamous phrase. So, as a little dig to Enrique she says to all of us, "Enrique is learning how to speak English. Diga, diga, Enrique. Say it." Enrique, knowing that he cannot compete with the fiery Karina, finally resigns to his fate and says, "Look at the penguin on the rock." We all clap and cheer. Later when I watch this scene replay on my husband's camcorder I notice that right before we all started clapping one of the penguins on the rock, pooped on the rock. As we started clapping for Enrique, the little penguin actually bows! He must have thought we were clapping for his poop. Another day in pharadyze . . . Galapagos Islands.
But, wait! There's more. I haven't made too much mention of our snorkeling days. Although they've been awesome, they simply have not compared to the snorkeling off the coast of Fernandina. And, that's because of the sea turtles. You are supposed to swim with a buddy in this deep ocean, but my new husband was all together way too slow. I could just feel the turtles ahead, even if I couldn't see them. He could sense the turtles were behind us. Separated already! But, in the end, we were both right. Imagine that. We met back in the middle, breathless, blubbering about the magically swimming turtles below us. It amazes me how slow they seem to swim, and how quickly they turn on the jets and away they go. I did try to race one, but the turtle was faster.
Word got out that we were on our honeymoon. And that night we were greeted in our room by a bottle of champagne and a card signed by the crew. We were speechless, not to mention a little scared of a whole bottle of champagne and a 7 AM wakeup call. It was fun for us to share the champagne with the crew. And, Ivan even sereneded us with his guitar. You can't beat a honeymoon in Galapagos.
Neil Armstrong said that Bartolome is the closest to the moon that he's seen on earth. Well, Bartolome is the closest thing to heaven that I've seen on earth. Something about the colors and the hot sun and the physical activity just appeals to me. I love this place. The crazy thing is, we didn't do much here. Just climbed a bunch of steps. The view is awesome. There's just something in the air here. The orange sand plays off the green ocean below, and the wind kisses you in congratulations for reaching the summit. And, again, the snorkeling was perfect. Especially dipping into the cool clear water after climbing three million steps, or however many they SAY are there. There's one poor sea lion at this site who had to endure my endless diving and twirling in his face to capture his attention. That's safe to do, right? Oh, another joy was following a group of penguins straight into the line of fire. More poop.
This afternoon brought us to the island of Santiago. Santiago was a nice place to be. There was a colony of birthing sea lions. Kind of gross, but really good birth control. Neither my husband or I were interested in joining this group anytime soon.
I guess my husband fancies himself a boxer. He works with animals, so should be smarter than this, but he found himself in a dance with a female sea lion. They bucked and ducked in the surf. Husband thought he was tough. Ivan got a little nervous. But, hey, who's gonna stop a good show when they see one. It wasn't until the bull focused his attention on my "float like a butterfly" husband that husband snapped back into reality and stepped away from the wild animal.
Oh my gosh, I almost forgot the most adrenaline filled moment of our trip. Earlier on this day, way earlier, as in the sun hadn't rose, and the tiny cabin was feeling extra clauserphobic, husband and I climbed to the top deck with pillows and blanket in tow for some real sleep. About half an hour into our romantic sunrise rest, Pablo, the captain, appears, skipping the steps two at a time. We must have startled him, because he stopped short when he saw us. He tells us that whales are nearby. What?!!! Where?!! Husband and I spend the next ten minutes straining our eyes in search of a something, anything that looked whale-like. As soon as we stopped straining we looked over the deck to the left, and there was a huge eye staring back!!! Oh my gosh! The whales were SO big! Two of them jumped into the air RIGHT NEXT TO US! It took our breath away. We had the deck to ourselves for the closest sighting, but soon after Pablo made the announcement to the rest of the ship that there was a whale sighting. As the sleeping guests made their way to the top deck and the whales made their way farther into the ocean we heard gripings of, "Oh, I live in Syndey. I see whales all the time from my gym." Uh huh. I'm sure that's as cool as seeing it right next to you. Reminder: I've got to take another trip looking for more whales. I've never been so exhilerated.
Santa Cruz. I remember Santa Cruz from an earlier trip that I had taken here with my family. I remember flaming drinks and dancing. Lots of dancing. Lots of Cuba Libres. This was not the Santa Cruz I remembered from my youth. This was Santa Cruz in the day light.
Now, I know that I should pay more attention to the briefings the night before, but I still think that somebody should have seen me wearing my little short shorts and reminded me that we are going into tick infested forestation today. I was blindsided when we arrived at the giant turtle reserve. "What do you mean we have to put on those muck muck boots? I'll be fine in my sneakers." At least this time someone warned me that, yes, I did need to wear the proper attire. Okay, even though my bare calves are sweating in these boots that have seen who knows how many other feet today, I am happy to have some protection from the mud and grossness of it all. Where are we going, anyway? Wait a second . . . what is that? A giant turtle! How unbelievably cool. It almost made the humidity and itchiness worth it. Those turtles are so cute! They really remind me of dinosaurs. We were amongst grapefruit trees, so somewhere along the line husband opened one. I ate half, and I fed the other half to the cutest turtle ever! His little lips were all covered in grapefruit! I could die from cute overload.
Afternoon. Sovenirs, gifts, shopping, blah blah blah, frozen drink. Back on the boat.
Espanola is for lovers! At least for that Galapagos symbol of love. The ever graceful albotross. Have you ever seen an albatross land? There could be reels of blooper footage focused on this one act. And, these birds are huge! HUGE! I don't know how they get into the air in the first place. If you're lucky you will get to see them dance. If you're really lucky you won't break an ankle while doing so. I loved it! I mean, I do have a compromised ankle from my youth, but that's not stopping me from jumping from one boulder to the next. I was having so much fun on the boulders, that I lost my group. At least I still had my husband. And, as it turned out, alone, we caught glimpse of the elusive Galapagos Hawk. Espanola really is for lovers.
Darwin Center. Lonesome George. I think I just read something somewhere that said Lonesome George is no longer lonesome. There were eggs in his nest or something like that! Yay George!
It was fun to be so close to the turtles, but we knew it was coming to and end. Husband and I made a pact to each find ourselves a native Galapagos resident so that we could marry an never leave again.
Quito is not open on Monday's. Don't even try to see a museum. I'm sure there was something to see, but we didn't find it.
