Galapagos (Part 3, San Cristobal)

After a long, bumpy boat ride, complete with sea spray, we motored into Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. And for the first time on the islands we didn't have to pay a separate lancha to get us to the land, our boat pulled right up to the docks! We had heard from another traveler about The Albatros Hostel, so we decided to check it out after hearing some higher prices to rent a room for a few days.

The lady at The Albatros was about as happy as I have ever heard/seen anybody in a while. When we asked how much for a bed, she pointed at each of us and exclaimed "diez, diez, diez, Ahahahahahahaha!" and burst out in laughter, while escorting us up to our room. The room was a long 8 bed dormroom with a couple of fans and not much else besides termite tailings that made me think of a few places in Belize. But the place was saved by a third story balcony which gave us a great place to sit and chat while watching the locals pass by underneath us. We met a couple from Australia that were heading out on a cruise the next day as well as a Danish couple. We enjoyed a beer or two with them before heading to dinner.

Dinner was another great economy option called Herbs. We got the typical: soup, plate of rice or lentles or beans, and some kind of meat with a juice, all of that for $3! We have eaten out more on the Galapagos more than we have on the mainland but we haven't had the use of kitchens as much on the islands. San Cristobal seems to be the most chilled out and relaxed island, and there are sea lions lying about absolutely everywhere, and the big ones bark at you if you get too close...and you're walking on the side walk.

Our first full day on San Cristobal we would spend exploring a few beaches on either side of the town. The first one was called La Loberia, where we got to see a bunch of baby sea lions and on angry dad bellowing at us if we got to close. We had planned to snorkel a bit in the little bay but with that big fatty in the water we didn't feel as invited. A quick bit that confirmed that we weren't getting in the water there was when a smaller male sea lion came swimming up and hadn't noticed the big boy there. When he did see him, he turned and Bolted, the big boy absolutely Rocketed after him, both of them looked like torpedos ripping through the water. We can't swim that fast so we were content to gaze from a distance.. We were getting a lot of sun and decided to head back through town to see the other beach and stop off at the Interpretation Center on the way. The Interpretation Center was a great place to get some human history about the islands, how many times they have been "colonized" how devastated the local species were by stock and other animals/plants that potential colonizers brought along with them. I was always curious about the freshwater on the island and we found out that most of the wells or sources have been tainted or used up, one island (Floreana) doesn't even have a source of freshwater! After all that brain food we went to check out the other beach, again not really good snorkeling there so we soon retreated to our hostel to start cooling our now pinky skin. Dinner again that night was Herbs and we also got ice cream on the way back to our hostel.

Day two on San Cristobal we organized a tour to Kicker Rock (this is that huge rock that has a big slice missing in the middle, see facebook). We had a quick stop off at a calmer snorkel spot first were we saw heaps of sting rays, a few eagle rays, fish fish and more fishes, even got to see a few octopuses!! We also got to swim with some playful sea lions again. They are amazingly graceful underwater and so darn clumsy out of water its really funny. Then it was off to Kicker Rock. We had wetsuits to keep us a bit warmer, and they were needed, Kasey and a few others weren't ready to plunge back into the water, so the capitan circled the rock first. Then we slipped back into the water, the current here was pushing us through the fissure that was super deep water. There were layers of marine creatures, first jellys at the top, then a few fish layers, then Galapagos and Blacktip sharks. It was fun to freedive down amongst the fishes and see the sharks circling below, deep blue water underneath them. After floating through the massive crack, we circled around to our boat, on the way viewing more turtles (snacking on jellyfish), many different fish, and one of guys claims he saw a Hammerhead.. The tour was concluded with a nice "warm" lunch at a beach and then we motored back to port. Dinner was the usual Herbs and ice cream :)

Day three was another travel day, we caught an early morning ferry back to Santa Cruz. We were all astonished at how intense our guy who checks our bags for seeds or fruits not able to travel between islands, as on the other islands it was very quick and not very thorough. Anyway we got to Santa Cruz without incident.

I'm going to cover our last few days on Santa Cruz here too, even though its the Cristobal post..

We got some brunch at a place that was recommended by Lonely Planet, and had good food, but the price was a bit higher than we've been paying. Then we trekked out to Tortuga Bay to lay in the sun and soak up some rays as Kasey ran laps on the big beach (she did 5!!) We enjoyed the low tide and the lazy day in the sun. Soon it was time to head back to snack on some Empenadas (this guys make the best in the world!! Chicken with peas, carrots, other veggies and even raisons, and has the best hot sauce too). Then we went down to the main square where school kids were performing their holiday songs and skits. It was fun to watch these kids all decked out in costumes but most of it was a bit out of tune, still great to see everyone out to support them. We decided to eat dinner and head to bed early as we had an early morning wake up call for our DIVE!!

Dive Day!

We got on with a company that after asking our experience diving they decided on Gordon Rocks. Oscar and Alice were our dive masters and after a quick check dive (we had to make sure we remembered how to dive and what all the gadgets did and how to use them..) we were off towards Gordon Rocks. The dive site is sort of like a crater/valley between two main rocks, the dives usually go on one side or the other but not through the middle as the current would take you away. Our first dive we dropped down to about 12 meters (36 or so feet) and hung out on some rocks. We had to be patient about the currents and letting the sea life get used to us so we watched fish float in and out of crevaces as we held on. I was just getting a little flustered by just sitting underwater and then Oscar made a move, deeper and along the rockface. Near the sandy bottom we started to see dark shapes floating around, they were Hammerheads!! I think there were about 30 of them, circling, most of them were about 8 or 9 feet, a few bigger ones, but it was sooooo awesome to see such a strange looking shark. They, like sea lions, make it look so easy just flying around and cruising lazily. Both myself and another guy had to grab our dive master's extra regulator and start breathing their air as we were pumping through ours. As everyone's air was getting low we headed up to our safety stop then a few minutes later we were in the boat. After a quick switch out of the tanks so we had full air, and a 45 minute wait at surface we went back to the other side of the crater/valley. Again we saw these massive predators, gliding in circles. Then our trip was over, the dive included lunch so after we got back to land and showered we grabbed lunch on the dive shop! Both of us felt as though we already had a full day and it was only noon! So it was back to Tortuga Bay, this time I ran a bit before blisters slowed me down. We enjoyed some snooze time on the beach before heading back to town for Empenadas!!

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Big news we got from Dave, Ellyn and Kelly: Kasey got accepted to the UW Nursing Program!!! We celebrated the best we could and are really looking forward to being around Seattle for the next few years (once we get back from travels). I am so proud of her, she was a bit skeptical as it is a really good school, but I knew she'd get in :)

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All in all the Galapagos has been the trip of a lifetime. Kasey and I knew it would be expensive but we both think we did a good job of finding deals, and doing as many things as we could without paying for it. It is amazing to see a place like this, so secluded from the outside world and yet such awesome creatures all around. Some of them look like they have come out of dinosaur hiding or something, others you think how the hell did they get here? We enjoyed our trip here and would love to do it again sometime, we could even be guides for anyone who is looking to go?? :)

So thanks for reading and we wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas!! We hope all of you are spending time with family, enjoying home cooked food and good beverages, and have a drink as well as your favorite Christmas food for us, we love you all!!!

Kicker Rock.

Sealion pups, so cute.

Romantic walk along Tortuga bay´s wet, white sand.

Galapagos (Part 2, Isabela)

We arrived on Isabela in the morning and had a bit of a hard time getting into the docks. The tide was really low and we had to be extremely careful about where we went. Eventually we got a lancha (water taxi) to come out and take us, and then a separate trip for our bags (we were apparently too heavy). After getting our bags we grabbed a truck taxi with a Hawaiian lady and headed for The Jungle, a hostel we had heard about from a friend who had explored the Galapagos a few weeks before.

Our hostel owner welcomed us with a "Welcome to the Jungle!!" I knew we´d have a good stay here. The kitchen was more or less off limits but we would soon find that cooking for yourself is overrated when you have dinners available for $4!! After setting up a tour for the next day we headed across town to the "beach" Concha de Perla which is basically a swimming hole. You walk out past the port and through the mangroves on a boardwalk and suddenly appear at the end of the dock and a beautiful blue hole. We would come here most afternoons and hangout, jump in and snorkel if we saw an iguana swimming or a sea lion decided to come play. We also saw rays, turtles, fishes, etc, but the sea lions were the most fun to play-swim with until one bigger one tried snacking on one of the other guided-tour-group-peoples flippers, as if to say "that´s not fair, you can´t be faster than me!". We concluded the day with a walk through the salt marshes where we saw a few flamingos, and also another giant tortoise reserve where we saw little baby ones that you could easily fit four in the palm of your hand. So tiny, yet they grow so big!! We had met a girl from Germany at our hostel and she had mentioned a good, cheap place to eat, so we followed her down to the square and had dinner (soup, bread, rice/chicken/veggies on a plate and juice!) for $4. We will be back there soon.

Our second day on Isabela we had organized a tour to Los Tuneles. This was a little bit of a boat ride from port and we were excited to do some snorkeling. Los Tuneles was basically formed when water met molten lava, this lava field was riddled with hole, bridges, channels, crevaces, even a table formed by lava flows. It was a sweet place to see where two powerful, natural forces met, and it provided a calm place for lots of fish, birds and heaps of turtles. The turtles were chasing the females around as it was that time of year, the largest group we saw was 8 turtles in a "raft" of sorts. After doing the boat tour of Los Tuneles we headed around the point to get some snorkeling in. We saw spotted eagle rays soaring in the water, more turtles, white tip reef sharks sleeping in underwater caves, and tons of fish. Our tour included lunch so we munched on that before heading back to port. And if we hadn´t got enough snorkeling in the tour we decided to head to Concha de Perla again. We were lucky this time and got to play with some nice sea lions, snorkeling around them as they launched left then right, spun in summersaults and barrel rolls, glided effortlessly through the water making humans look like the clumsy land lubbers that we are. It was soooo Awesome!!! Dinner that night was again at the square, our cheap and filling option. ( I think it was called El Encanto de la Pepa)

Day three on Isabela was up to the highlands. We were taking another tour, this one to Sierra Negra y Chico, the active volcanos on the island. The last time Sierra Negra erupted (October 22nd, 2005) it spilled into the crater/caldera (we were told it is the second largest in the world, but we have heard that many calderas claim second biggest, and there is some discussion as to the definition of caldera and classes, blah blah blah). At any rate the eruption lasted 10 days and spilled into the crater, you could still see the ripples and cracks as it cooled. The smaller and visually barren group of volcanos or parasitic cones just north of Sierra Negra have erupted in 1963 for a month, and then again in 1979, for about two weeks. Our guide showed us the two lava flows, the newer one (1979) was darker, while the older flow (our guide said 1000 years ago...) was more red, it was cool to see two different colors and ages of lava rock laid on top of the other. I can imagine lava rivers pouring out of the fizzures and cracks and making there way to the edge of the island to the north. We enjoyed learning a bit about the geology of the islands.

On our fourth day we had to say goodbye to Isabela, but we had some excellent times there, from checking out lava formations, to swimming with green turtles and sea lions, and finding great little places to grab dinners!!

I think I will cover our travel day here too.

Since there are no ferry boats directly from Isabela to San Cristobal we had to make a stop over in Santa Cruz. Our boat from Isabela to Santa Cruz was packed full, but the boat was fast and we arrived in Santa Cruz in less than 2 hours. Now we had something like 6 hours to wait around until our next boat left to San Cristobal. We made the time go by somehow and we didn't even get to Tortuga Bay! The line up for the boats was pretty messy and very much a thing we have become more accustomed to as that seems to be the way things work in Ecuador, unorganized and no lines whatsoever. Eventually we got ourselves and bags on a boat and we were soon off to San Cristobal!!

Two different lava flows.

Luke at our swimming hole, Concha de Perla.

A bridge at Los Tuneles.

The crater rim at Sierra Negra.

Galapagos (Part 1, Santa Cruz)

Hello friends and family, it has been a while since we last posted, mainly because we have been busy in the Galapagos (and internet is not so good here). Instead of doing one gigantic post on the whole of Galapagos we will split it up between the three islands we explored.

Isla SANTA CRUZ (Puerto Ayora)

We flew into the island of Baltra, just north of Santa Cruz and separated by a small channel, which we had to ferry across. The airstrip was an old US Airforce base back in WW2. After going through customs, baggage check, paying our Galapagos National Park entrance fee of $100 (each), and getting on to Santa Cruz proper, we still had a 45 minute truck taxi ride to Puerto Ayora (PA).

We met an Ecuadorian guy that was on vacation in the Galapagos and had just missed his flight so we headed back to PA and he had a few things he still wanted to do, and insisted we tag along. After shleping our bags over to the Darwin Hostel, and eating a quick set lunch (at a place Nico recommended) we joined him at the docks and took a short lancha ride to the other side of the bay/port where we hiked to Las Grietas. Las Grietas is a large crack in the island that has a good bit of water (salt and fresh) mixing from underground sources. There are rock walls on either side and we jumped in, snorkeled around and enjoyed exploring for a bit. After this Nico, our "guide", wanted to head out to Tortuga Bay for some surfing, so we tagged along again. Tortuga Bay would be a place that we visited at least once every day we were on Santa Cruz. Tortuga Bay is really two beaches, one for surfing, and running apparently and the other is much more relaxed in waves and attitude. There are marine iguanas everywhere on the beach (they really look like minature dragons), you have to be careful not to step on them! And we found later on that there were actually green sea turtles making love in the calmer bay, basically turtles riding piggy-back in the water ;)

Day two we decided to check out the Charles Darwin Research Center. It was free and we heard that there would be some giant tortoises there at their breeding program. There was a bit of good information in the "Center" but it was pretty spread out, I think the Giant Tortoises was the highlight, although it would be a sweet place to do research!!! On a quick, sad note: we just missed seeing the longest lived (they think) and last specimen of the Pinta Island subspecies of giant tortoise, Lonesome George. They tried getting him to mate with some "strange other island" lady tortoises but he was either too tired, old, or just didn´t like the looks of them... He passed away in July of this year..

After the research station and a bite (PB&J sammies) we headed off to Tortuga Bay again as we were not able to get to the smaller, more secluded bay as the park was closing down. We brought our snorkels but the viz wasn´t the best, lots of kicked-up sand. We did see some turtle love, lots of fishes and a few white tipped sharks through the haze. This day we also had our first offical boobie sighting!! We took this as a good omen as it was Ellyn´s birthday and a special day for Dave too! This one just stared at us as we walked by, wondering how many pictures we were going to take. We retreated into port to satiate our grumbling stomachs and met up with a Norwegian trio we had stumbled into earlier that day. Kasey, Luke and I all had burgers of somekind (chicken and churibon), while the Norwegians (Maria, Therese and Mike) ate pizzasa.

Day three started out with a planning session to get the most out of our time in the Galapagos. We had heard about three places in the interior of the island that we decided to check out: Los Gemelos, Lava Tunnels and Rancho Permiso. We hired a taxi truck to shuttle us around. Los Gemelos are two massive craters that look more like sinkholes. They were two of the "vents" for the main magma chamber that made Santa Cruz, and after the magma was all gone the remaining cones sunk into fill the chamber, making big sinkholes. Our next stop was the Lava Tunnel. We had brought head lamps but didn´t need them as it was lit the whole way, and it was walkable except for a squeeze point that we had to belly slide into the next chamber/tube. It was a pretty large diameter tube and must have held a lot of lava at one time. There was a second tunnel but it was not lit, we explored a little bit but didn´t feel too safe going very far. Our taxi man then drove us to Rancho Permiso, a tortoise reserve where they let the giant tortoises roam free, and people walk amungst them. We had a fun time hanging out with these amazingly big, tanks, and I really enjoyed watching them mow through grass in a very slow deliberate manner, as they watched us intently, exhailing loudly if we got too close. (Tortoise poo was everywhere too). This place also had an awesome tortoise shell that you could climb into, my only regret was not standing up (it would have been very heavy..) and becoming Donatello. After this inland tour we headed out to Tortuga Bay again, as a day would not be complete without a trip out there. As hunger called us back in, we found our way to the street lined with restaurants and filled with chairs and tables. It´s a great place to try the local fare without paying too much, I think I got Carne Apanada and Kasey got a fish dish, yummy!

Day four we started early with a 7 am ferry to Isabela Island! The youngest of the major islands and the least "touristy". . . (see next post!)

The Quilatoa Loop and Cotopaxi

We have had a wonderful week of hiking around the Quilatoa Loop and Cotopaxi! Our legs are tired, boots are dirty and clothes need to be washed, but we covered some spectacular ground this last week.

The Quilotoa Loop is a four day and three night hike through the mountains west of Latacunga and the famous volcano crater lake Quilotoa. It takes you through rural Andean villages and farmlands that are unreachable by bus and sometimes even truck. You are immersed in the simple lives of the colorful and friendly Kichwa (Quichua) indiginous people. The only catch is, the maps are not good nor are they to scale, the diretions are written by someone who does not speak perfect english and read something like ¨walk about 30 minutes down the road until you pass 3 white poles and continue to a clump of Eucalypt trees and find a trail descending to the left¨or cross the bridge, walk through some trees to the left, cross a small meadow diagonally and find a tiny trail.¨ We have met up with our Australian friend Luke, who joined us on this loop, and we were glad to have him so that three brains could work together to decipher the scavenger hunt that was our trail.

We took a bus from Latacunga to the tiny village of Quilatoa. There is nothing there, except a few buildings, a restaurant, and oh yeah, a HUGE crater lake, Laguna Quilotoa. The lake is rimmed by steep, jagged edges, over which a path was somehow formed. We did the hike/scramble in about three hours, and made it back to our hostel just in time for the clouds to roll in and turn the entire crater into a giant bowl of pea soup! All of the hostels along the loop provide breakfast and dinner in their room price, because there is literally no food (besides cookies and chips) for travelers to buy. Our hostel in Quilatoa was run by a Ketchwa family and we were pleasantly surprised with a substantial, traditional meal of potatoe/veg soup, rice, potatoes, veggies and chicken. It was FREEZING up in Quilatoa, so we huddled by the only stove in the house with the family and drank hot tea until we retreated to our beds with about 5 heavy wool blankets apiece!

The hike on day two took us from Quilatoa, along the west rim of the crater and then north 11km to the town of Chugchilan. In the first few minutes of our hike out of Quilatoa, a little boy appeared above the sandy cliff of the rim above us and told us that the hike to Chugchilan was very dangerous and we would need a guide. We had heard that some local people might try to get us to guide them for pay by feeding us absurd stories about the walk being long and hard, roads being washed out or it being dangerous. In fact, some of the local guides had removed the blue arrow signs that would have directed us to Chugchilan so that we would get lost and need a guide. We continued on without the aid of the 14-year old and had a sunny and succesful hike into Chugchilan. We explored the tiny town, attempted to play frisbee golf but were deterred by a charging llama, watched a local game of Equavolley and enjoyed another delicious dinner with people at our hostel.

The third day, we trekked from Chugchilan to Isinlivi. This was probably the most beauitful day of hiking. The sun was out and we followed grassy roads and trails that wound alongside cliffs, dropped deep into a valley and followed a muddy river before ascending through farmlands to Isinlivi. Perched in Isinlivi, we could see the stunning mountains all around us, green and quilted with square farms. Some of the hills were stepped with plateaus and looking down into lush sinkholes our eyes could barely perceive the depth. We were fed the best meal yet on our trip that night: Lasagna!

The fourth day we made the dusty trek into Sigchos, the biggest town we had yet encountered, and caught the only bus from there back to Latacunga. We rested the night and then took off the next day with a group from our hostel to do a day trip around Cotopaxi. We were able to visit surrounding lakes, hike up to the refuge and even further up to the glaciers and beginning of the snow. The highest elevation we hiked to was 5,000 meters, which is higher than Mt. Rainier, so we felt pretty good about that. Cotopaxi is a pretty volcano, but it is dusty and red right up to the snowline and even though people rave about its beauty, we have seen much cooler things growing up in the Pacific Northwest.

For tomorrow, we will relax in Latacunga, visit markets and do some much needed laundry! Then its off to Quito to catch our flight to the Galapagos Monday morning!!!

Otavalo markets and hiking!

On Tuesday we arrived in Otavalo, a town two hours north of Quito that is famous for its markets. The biggest market, on Saturdays, has lots of animals as well. The timing unfortunately didnt work out for us to be in Otavalo on a Saturday, but we enjoyed the small markets all the same. They are filled with colorful trinkets, jewelry, hammocks and clothes. Jon found a pair of brightly colored striped pajama bottom-looking pants that he had been wanting to buy since he saw another guy wearing some in Mindo.

Another attraction in Otavalo is the Parque Condor, a rehabilitation center for birds of prey. It is perched on top of a hill southeast of Otavalo, about a 5km walk from the city. We saw eagles, falcons, hawks, owls and other birds of prey, the most impressive being the Andean Condor. This is the largest bird in the world, with a wingspan of over 9 feet. Some of the birds werent in cages, contained only with a strap around their ankle, and you could get 3 feet away from them! They are such intelligent looking creatures, and so majestic, you feel slightly humbled in their presence.

We also hiked Laguna Cotacachi, a huge crater lake just outside of Quiroga (a small town within bussing distance from Otavalo). We hiked with a German man, Toni, who has been traveling the world his whole life working as a guide in Peru for many months every year for the past 12 years. We were also joined by an Austrian man, Bernard. The four of us hiked around the rim of the crater, which brought us high above the lake and gave us views of the entire surrounding area. The valleys of Otavalo were beatuiful, with hillsides that looked like giant green quilts of farms that were patched together. Since it is the rainy season, clouds covered most of the peaks of the volcanos in the area. On the hike, Toni offered us some coca leaves since Jon has been dealing with a bit of altitude sickness as we have been moving up and down throughout this trip. It really did seem to help settle his stomach, and you could also feel effects in your mouth and throat.

We bussed into Quito Thursday afternoon to meet up with our friend Luke, an Australian we met in Colombia. We plan to head down with him to the Cotopaxi area (Cotopaxi is a huge volcano here in Ecuador) for the next week to hike. In preparation for the higher altitude hiking, Jon and I climbed Rucu Pichincha with our friend Hugo. Standing at 4,696 meters, you have to take a gondola up part of the way (hiking the area between the outskirts of Quito to the top of the gondola is not safe) and then hike the remaining distance. The hike is pretty well marked and follows a ridgeline up to rounded rocky towers, but the last bit was a make-your-own-way rock scramble. It hailed on us as we hiked up, so the last section was a little bit tricky but we made it to the top and were rewarded with views of all of Quito and quite a few surrounding peaks (sadly, not Cotopaxi). We hiked back down to the gondola just in time to be safely in a taxi for a monsterous thunder and lightning storm!

We head towards Cotopaxi tomorrow, and will be back in Quito in a week to catch our flight to the Galapagos where we will spend 10 days on the beach snorkeling and diving!