As my trip is coming to an end. I thought I would put the Galapagos all into one blog since it isnt as exciting to me as climbing mountains, but was more of an amusing trip!
So my day in Quito before I left was amazing, just becuase every Sunday they close down the main road in town from 8am until 2pm! Everyone bikes and run down it and of course I tied up the running shoes and took out to the street. I people watched more than anything, running through a park also that everyone was outside playing soccer and an outdoor aerobics class was going on, hilarious! I only think if the US did something like where they would close down a long street to get everyone out to bike and run, etc. Yeah our logtistics might be a little harder, but it is amazing how many people get out and get active.
Alright, the next morning I headed off to Galapagos. The flight is about 2 hours long and the airport is a gong show. I got dropped off at the international terminal and had to find my way to the domestic which has no type of organization. Typical for Ecuador. On arrival I actually had someone waiting for me! Woohoo, so after we road a bus, we got on a ferry, to where we then got in a taxi cab to head to the port of Santa Cruz where we were getting a boat to Isabela island. Gees! The other people in my group were a couple from Canada that were great! They were both teachers and Toronto has a program where you can teach for 4 years and then have a whole year off. Um this was country 87 for them. WTF! So of course I asked them about 3,524 questions the whole trip. The other couple was an old chinese couple that supposively were from Canada also....hmmm. They brought enough luggage to probably go around the world twice! They had two of those humongous suitcases that most airlines dont even allow anymore, plus two smaller roller suitcases. I asked if they were traveling around the world, and they ignored me...more on this later.
Finally we got on the boat to isabela, a tiny speed boat. WHAT! I was going to be on this boat for 2 hours?!? And on top of that we were paired with a French tour group on the boat and instead of saying the long story, I ended up sitting on the groud at the end of the boat..not happy. I put on the ipod and did fine, not some of the others who lunch came up the whole trip. These speed boats were nuts, but got us to the island, eventually.
As we headed to our hotels, i had no idea where I was staying, dropped the chinese couple off- really nice hotel, knew i wasnt staying there, next hotel the canadian couple, pretty nice and i regonized the name, hmm why am i not there? Finally we got to me shack of a hotel..wtf! and i was by myself. The only good part was the girl that worked there was from Australia, but the huge bugs, spiders, moths that were everywhere, werent my cup of tea and i was not too happy. On top of that i had to walk to another hotel for all meals. ahhh Id make it work, but wasnt happy. So I went for a run on the beach at sunset....sooo amazing.
The first day on the island was a Volcano tour to Sierra Negra Volcano, not much to say other than it was a big crater and lots of mud. Another guy that was on our tour (we had new people all the time join our tours) was from chicago and we just talked the whole way to soak up some of this time. This day is when the food hit me and my stomach has not been the same since then, it sucks so bad..i cant wait to come home and eat healthy good food, the food is good here, but im done with it since my stomach hates it. Did some snorkeling later that day and saw some sweet fish, iguanas, coral, manta rays, etc etc, before dinner and drinks where Anthony (chicago guy) and I just talked and hung out before I was super tired and went to bed.
The next two days on Isabela we did a lot more snorkelying and tours. Saw some turtles, iguanas and lots of wildlife. Ill put up some pictures to better explain. I think the coolest part was when i was snorkeling a penguin came right up to me! Super cool. We also had an interesting character join our group for this day...let me explain. First, she had a pigtail curly mullet..yea not joke. And she had two humongo cameras, two underwater cameras, plus a point and shoot. I took a picture it was ridicolous. She held up the group wherever we were going! She would take a zillion pictures of everything a zillion times. I was like how many freakin pictures do you want of iguanas and turtles, they all look the same! Her husband just followed her around and held the camera cases and then would shout at her when she would lag behind. I think the best quote was when they were coming out of the water from snorkeling (they brought full wetsuits with hoods and footies and the water was like bath water) and she had a hard time getting back into boat and instead of him helping or anything he just says -ahhh she is a beached whale- haha i had to laugh. Oh might I add she wore orthapedic sandals with socks...
Update on chinese couple too...so you know how they brought all that luggage, we were on day 3 and they WORE THE SAME THING EVERYDAY! So I came to the conclusion they either packed only the same outfits, or really there was nothing in there suitcases and they were saving the space for souveniers!
Finally we took the speed boat back to Santa Cruz on the 4th day (after they forgot me at my hotel and i had to hail a cab to once again be the last one on the boat and almost not get on)Sooo frustrated, but the ride was much nicer. The next part of the tour was just exploring the island, seeing Lonesome George (a turtle that is last of his species) and I hung out with a group of college students that were super cool that were studying in Quito. I went to the beach and my stomach still wasnt feeling well so running that day was out of the question.
I decided that i wasnt going to stay on santa cruz either, as i wanted to check out San Cristobal, so got on another crazy boat the next day and headed there. The day has been great snorkeling and hanging and beaches and walking around. Though just found out the boat leaves at 7am tomorrow morning and not 6am like they told me! My flight isnt until 1130, but the boat ride is at least 2 hours and its another hour to the airport...keep your fingers crossed for me. Though tomorrow is the day i head back to quito, and then back home on monday! Im ready to be back though since my stomach just hasnt liked me while i have been here and i want to get back into a routine.
Traveling by myself has been great! I have met soooo many amazing people and might just do a blog about all the great people i have met. So yea that is the super short version, and cant wait to share my pictures too with everyone. Traveling is so great and I am already thinking about my next trip, but am ready to get back to colorado springs since i miss my friends a lot! And I want to start climbing mountains, I think I got enough beach for me for awhile.
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