Galápagos!

*its not letting me add pictures :( so i will try again later

So, yeah, the Galápagos are basically as sweet as you would expect them to be. The trip started off with taking a plane from Quito to Guayaquil and then on to the Galápagos . Right from the beginning we split into two groups of 11 and didn’t really see the other half the entire time. My group began with the homestay portion on the island Isabela. I lived in a family consisting of a mother, father, and 3 daughters along with another SIT student, Anna. Right when we got there the first night we headed to a Catholic mass (this is a Tuesday night) with the family. I have yet gone to service in Ecuador (my Quito family isn’t too religious) so I never would have expected to go to mass for the first time in the Galápagos . It was really interesting and upbeat, like a lot of singing and clapping. And they also sang the “Our Father” to the tune of “The Sound of Silence”. No joke. And a stray dog just kinda ran through the church midway through and people weren’t really phased by that.

We would have breakfast with the family and then leave with the group for the day, and return home for dinner. We spent the first day snorkeling around Isabela. This is a picture of the part called Los Tuneles. The snorkeling wasn’t too great but I really loved how the rock had eroded into little bridges over the ocean.

The next day we went for a hike up Sierra Negra to see some active craters and volcanic area (active as in the last eruptions were in 2005). I don’t know why I had in my mind that there would be some forest-like parts to the islands because that is pretty wrong. Sure trees and plant life does exist but a large portion is just exposed dried lava from previous eruptions. It looked like a completely different planet, totally barren.

After 3 nights on Isabela we switched places with the other group and began living on the San Jose, a really really nice boat. We had all our meals on the boat and then we would get in wooden pangas (smaller boats) to arrive onto different islands. We would travel during the night (thank you motion sickness medicine) and then each day snorkel or walk around the islands. This is the boat. It was super nice—we were definitely not roughing it.

We spent one day each at San Cristobal, Espanola, and Floreana. All the beaches were absolutely beautiful with white sand and clear blue water. And the animals here, most with no history of being hunted or anything, have no fear of humans. We all came within inches of sea lions, sea turtles and penguins while snorkeling. While on land, we got to see tons of blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, and frigate birds. There was even a baby 4 month-old albatross that was along one of the walking trails and began pecking at the shoes of one of the guys in the group. This is a picture of me with a sea lion pup.

Our day on Floreana was probably the highlight of the entire trip to the Galápagos . We started out visiting Post Office Bay. Post Office Bay used to be used by whalers as a way to keep in touch with people not on the islands but today is basically continued by tourists. It’s a barrel where people drop letters or postcards to send. You then take back any notes that are for people that live near you and hand deliver the letter. So I put in a postcard for home…. and hoping someone from TO area will deliver it for me! While we were sorting through letters someone saw some whales breaching out in the distance. So what better thing to do than drop all our stuff on the beach, call in the pangas, and chase after the whales. I was really skeptical of actually being able to catch up to them but sure enough we came right alongside what turned out to be a mother and baby humpback whales. This was the best picture I was able to get, but it may show up a bit blury.
Afterwards we headed back to the beach in time to play soccer against the crew of other boats. On Floreana there is permanent sand/dirt field with goals and we played along with some of our boat’s crew in small-sided games. Running around for a bit and I was ready to go snorkeling off the beach. We went one more time in the afternoon at one of the best spots in all the islands called Corona del Diablo, or Devil’s Crown and it was so amazing. The water was so clear and it was incredible how much we were able to see.

Our Galápagos excursion was much more relaxing and low-key then the Oriente but I can actually say I learned a bit while out there. Managed to escape without getting sunburnt and pretty much had an amazing time overall.