Kate's Ecuador Adventure: Island Hopping

Boat Trip!!!!!!

Day 1: So, we headed to Santa Cruz last Friday after the exam and turning in the paper and everything. That made for a very rushed exit. I did manage to say good-bye to Concepcion before we left, but it still felt rushed. We saw some dolphins on the way. The boat was a bit cramped, but it was only about a two hour ride, so it wasn't that bad. When we got there we checked into our hotel, which truly reminded me of a Dr. Seuss book with all its twists and turns and maze-like staircases. Then, my roommates (Danielle and Maureen) and I went to get food because we were starving. We ended up finding pizza. :) For dinner we ate at this really nice place that looked like a bar, and was decorated for Halloween, but served us bruschetta, chicken and veggies and ice cream for dessert). It was called the Rock.

Good-bye, San Cristobal

Hello, Santa Cruz

Pelicans in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz

A Pelican with a very nicely colored beak

Statue of the Hammerhead and Giant Tortoise, the symbol for the Galapagos National Park

Day 2: The next day we went to North Seymour, an island above Baltra, which is above Santa Cruz. We took a bus all the way across Santa Cruz and a boat to the island. There were lots of frigatebirds, blue-footed boobies, iguanas, and lizards on the island. We took a walk and observed them and took lots of pictures. We even saw a baby sea lion that had literally just been born. The placenta was still there. When we got back on the boat, we saw several sharks under the water (which explained why we were not snorkeling there). Then we went to a beach on Santa Cruz called Las Bachas. It was really nice and snorkeling was great, but several of us got stung by jellyfish there, which made things less fun. Luckily it was the kind that hurt badly at first and then faded quickly to nothing. We also saw some sea turtle nests at the top of the dunes on that beach. We had dinner at Chocolat. The food that first night was not as good as the name, though.

Land Ho!

Christmas Iguana

Day 3: We took a bus to go explore the lava tunnels in the highlands of Santa Cruz. We were even able to walk down into one of them. You could see where part of it had collapsed, leaving a giant hole in the top of the cave. It was fun sitting in the very back of the cave and trying to take pictures/ just enjoying the silence. We then went to Garrapatera Beach, a gorgeous white sand beach with lots of lava rocks. We walked around to explore tide pools and play in the sand. Alexis even attempted to fly a kite. After lunch we went to Las Grietas, a channel in between two walls of rock. Some of the students jumped off the rocks into the water. Then, we took a boat to Tintureras, where we saw some slumbering sharks (while we were on land). We snorkeled around part of Santa Cruz and saw glowing damselfish (we think they were juvenile Giant Damselfish) along with lots of other fish. There were lots of big waves, so it was difficult to stay in one place on the little boat. We made our way to Caamano, where I was the only one who wanted to get in to snorkel. Another tourist from another group with us and a guide went in too. We saw lots of sea lions playing and swimming around. We also saw a large Galapagos shark, who was apparently hunting. We got out at that point. We ate at Chocolat again, the best part being the limon pie for dessert, and then walked down the malecon to savor our last night on Santa Cruz. We stopped to get ice cream (nutella and moka, yum) and then went down to the tourist pier. There we saw a pelican (who several people got too close to, as he was sitting on the pier), a group of cownose rays feeding in the light of the pier, and a few baby sharks! Then, Maureen and I rode the psychadelic caterpillar around town.

Las Grietas

Day 4: We headed to Isabela Island, the largest island in the archipelago. The town there, Puerto Villamil, is the smallest of the three major towns in Galapagos (the others being Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno). After the two hour boat ride to the island and lunch, we went snorkeling in a little lagoon near the harbor. We ate lunch at The Oasis (pumpkin soup with popcorn (cangeal in Spanish) and chicken with slaw and rice and ice cream for dessert). Unlike the other towns, the harbor in Puerto Villamil is not near the rest of the town. It is a fifteen to twenty minute walk down a dusty dirt road away. Anyway, we again saw lots of fish and corals and other fun stuff in the lagoon, while fighting the currents that were created as the water came into the lagoon through the rocks. I also saw two penguins swimming around on the far side of the lagoon. They were adorable. I ended up in another area after trying to follow them, though, and had to climb over some rocks in shallow water while fighting the strong current to get back into the lagoon where everyone else was. Then, we went to Tintoreras (after seeing a juvenile penguin sitting on the rocks where the penguin colony roosts). At Tintoreras we saw several white-tip sharks resting at the bottom of a narrow channel and also lots and lots of juvenile iguanas. When we got back to the dock, there was a penguin zipping around in the water hunting for fish.

Pinguinos!!!!

Hunting

Day 5: We got up early and took a bus up to the Sierra Negra volcano. Then, we spent around 5 hours walking around the rim of the volcano and then through a lava field to Volcan Chico. The views out over Isabela were amazing. I fell on the way back through the lava field and scraped up both my knees and (to a lesser extent) both my arms. I did manage to save the apple I was eating, though. We ate lunch at Campo Duro, this hacienda in the highlands with amazing food and giant tortoises. We got back to the hotel super dusty and tired. We got the rest of the day to shower and relax, which we all took full advantage of.

Hiking up into the mist

The group at Sierra Negra volcano

Welcome to Galapagos!
Day 6: We went to see more lava tunnels, although these were mostly underwater. We took a boat out, stopping a few times on the way to jump into the water whenever we saw a manta ray. We ended up scaring them deeper, but it was still cool. We also saw a shark on the way. It felt like we were playing a new game, shark or manta, a few times. Luckily we guessed right the times we jumped in. While snorkeling in the lava tunnels, we saw a seahorse, a baby eagle ray, and several white-tip sharks (up close and personal). They were incredible to see. I was extremely glad they didn't show much interest in us, though. It was fun to swim through the lava tunnels (they were small) and under arches in the water.
In the afternoon, we went snorkeling at Concha de Perla, which ended up being the area I got sucked into on our lagoon trip. We swam around to look in the mangroves that fringed the area and through a channel in the rocks where there were lots of corals. I saw a giant sting ray that was larger than I was sitting on the bottom in a corner of the bay. It was intimidating.

White-tip shark

Day 7: On our last day on Isabela we went to El Muro de las Lagrimas (the Wall of Tears), a giant wall of lava rocks built by prisoners on the island many years ago. The Galapagos Islands have a very interesting history, going from scientific marvels, to refuges for pirates and whale hunters, to prisons, and then finally to populated tourist areas. Before reaching the wall, we stopped at a lagoon to see the flamingos the island is so famous for. Anyway, we walked around the wall and then walked the 4 km back towards the town. We stopped to walk through a mangrove forest to a small, beautiful bay where some of the kids swam while others enjoyed the shade of the mangroves. We also stopped at yet another lava tunnel and then at Playa del Amor (beach of love). There were lots of iguanas there, including two fighting, and the view of the ocean was great. After lunch, we went to a cave in the highlands and enjoyed the silence and darkness (after everyone turned off their lights). Apparently some guy used to trap wild hogs in these caves to eat. Luckily, we didn't run into any. Then, we went to a vent where we climbed down a bunch of rickity rope ladders 100 meters down into the earth. It was absolutely terrifying. The equipment we were using seemed to serve little purpose. For example, our caribiners would not have helped us much if we'd fallen. The knots were too few and far between to be much help and in some places there was nothing to clip onto. Anyway, we all survived the trip down and the climb back up was much easier. It was getting dark by the time we made it back up, though. We rode the bus back to town in the dark and went straight to dinner, covered with mud as we were. That night, I went out with Rikki, Katy, and Wyatt to get Pina coladas at this shack by the beach. They were delicious. We then walked down to the bonfire and I ended up with a passion fruit daquiri, also delicious. We were exhausted, though, and ended up going to bed soon after that.

Pink Flamingo

I see you!

Ladder down into the vent; looks really stable, right?

The next morning, we ate breakfast and had some free time to walk around Puerto Villamil and visit the Flamingo Lagoon (there weren't flamingos there that time, though) and the panaderia (bakery) and enjoy. It was sad to think that we wouldn't be coming back to Isabela, although a part of me was ready to be back "home" on San Cristobal.

Yay! Random extra pictures (AKA: I don't feel like moving them where they belong)