The Galapagos Islands

I'm not entirely sure how to sum up my last 8 days in the Galapagos, but I'll start by saying that it was definitely as amazing as I thought it was going to be. The wildlife, geology, history, etc of the Galapagos is so unique that it will stick out in my mind as one of the coolest places I've ever been HANDS DOWN. There is no denying that the Galapagos seems to be entirely for tourism (and maybe a little bit of research), but I am actually okay with this for once. Tourism brings a lot of money to the islands (yeesh - you have to fork over $30 before even getting on the plane, and another $100 in national park fees upon arrival), but its obvious that at least part of it really does go to protecting the islands and the species of the entire Galapagos. The rangers and tour guides enforce VERY strict about rules about where you can walk and how close you can be to wildlife, so the ecosystems on each of the islands actually seems to survive the thousands of tourists that pass through. It's unlike any national park I've ever seen before!

The main reason I wanted to see the Galapagos was because of its scientific significance. I've heard about the Galapagos and Charles Darwin in seemingly almost every science class since I was in middle school. Yes, I nearly crapped my pants when I saw my first Darwin finch, but as my trip went on, it became less and less about Darwin and more and more about how unique these islands really are. Ironically, I was reading Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle during my down time on the trip. I would encourage you to read at least the Galapagos part of the book because I think Darwin did a fantastic job of describing what the islands looked like and the species that inhabit them. His writing is way more detailed and eloquent than my lousy attempts of capturing what these islands were like. But I think that's about where my praise for Darwin stops. He was kind of a racist dick and not all that great of a scientist (to put it bluntly)! I mean, how do you just not label where your specimens come from?!?

My first reaction upon arrival to the Galapagos was how DESOLATE it was. In my mind I imagined the typical equatorial tropical foliage, but there was hardly any vegetation on the islands we saw! This made it very easy to spot wildlife as we walked over the black lava fields and sandy paths of the northern islands. I guess this a better time than ever to talk about where - and how - we went. With a little bit of research, the most effective way to see and do everything we (as in my mother and I) wanted to was to go with a guide on a Galapagos cruise. Before you cripple yourself with hysterical laughter at the thought of my mother and I on a cruise, let me begin by saying it's not what you think. Because our 'cruise' was on the budget end as far as cruises go, we were accompanied by 14 other really fun budget-seeking folks as we took in the luxuries of the Galapagos rather than the boat we were on. Yes, the boat was a bit rough around the edges, but was first class in South American terms considering there were no gaping holes to the water below. I loved seeing the comparison between our boat and others of much bigger size and luxurious conditions when we anchored in harbors around the islands. Not surprisingly, the only people who could afford those boats seemed to be super old people who must have been much more boring than the youthful, charismatic companions we had. Suckers! We had a pretty packed itinerary of exploring the north islands - adventuring by day and sailing to the next island by night:

Thank you google image search for this plagiarized image

Day 1: Baltra and Santa Cruz
Day 2: Genovesa
Day 3: Bartholomew and Santiago
Day 4: Isabella - Sierra Negra Volcano
Day 5: Isabella - Elizabeth Bay and Urbina Bay
Day 6: Fernandina
Day 7: Santiago and Rabida - Bucaneer Cove
Day 8: North Seymour, Mosquera beach, and Baltra


There are in fact 128 islands of the Galapagos, but not all of them have names, some are allowed to have human visitors, and only a handful are actually inhabited. So I think we did a really good job of seeing a majority of what the Galapagos has to offer! Each of the islands we visited were so different in terms of the species that inhabited them, the temperature and color of the water, the climate, the landscape, etc. I never thought I would walk on white sand, black sand, and red sand beaches all in the same week!

boobie sightings (teehee)

Within half an hour of arrival to Baltra, my mom and I were already on the boat and on our way to the north side of Santa Cruz. That afternoon we went hiking on the island, enjoying our first Galapagos wildlife sightings: ghost crabs, blue footed boobies, pelicans, marine iguanas, and flamingos. From the beach we then threw on snorkel gear and set out into the ocean. Within 30 seconds of being in the water a giant shark swam underneath me and I nearly had a panic attack in my snorkel. YES! And this was only the beginning. I could get used to this...

To be honest, all of the days blur together. We would wake up for a 7am breakfast, sometimes earlier for a sunrise snorkel or hike. We would spend the morning adventuring, come back to the boat for lunch, relax for a bit, and then head out adventuring again. We would come back to the boat for dinner, lift anchor, and start cruising to our next destination. I would lay on the deck every night before I went to bed to admire the stars. Such hard work! But here are some highlights:

Genovesa Island was my favorite of the ones we visited. While eating breakfast, I watched as shark fins

Frigatebird mating display

broke the surface of the water around our boat as schools of fish jumped for their lives. A pod of dolphins came around for the fishing frenzy too and I concluded that only great days can start like this! We went hiking on the island which was PACKED with birds - herons, frigate birds, swallow tail gulls, galapagos doves, mocking birds, pelicans, boobies (tee hee), and owls! You have to look up the frigate bird mating dance immediately because it cracked me up. The males would inflate this giant sac under their beaks, spread their wings, and wiggle all while making this hilarious chirping sound. The females would choose the male by nuzzling up to his inflated sac and then they would carry on with happy time. So funny! It took me about 3 days to not giggle when our guide would point out the boobies. Red footed boobies, blue footed boobies, and nasca boobies...maturity is not something for the Galapagos Islands. 

That afternoon we went snorkeling around the island. I have never seen so many sharks in one place in my life! The white tip reef sharks were boring - they just kind of sat on the bottom. But the hammerheads - WAH! What weird looking creatures! The size and strangeness of them gave me the heebeejeebees as they swam right past me, but it was comforting to know they were even more scared of me. I struggled to keep up with the hawkbilled sea turtles that I saw - I would be practically hyperventilating in my snorkel as the turtle maybe moved its fins up and down like once. What efficient swimmers! I would get tired, look up, and realize I followed the turtle out to the middle of the ocean and nobody was to be seen. My life. On the way back to the boat a carpet of easily a hundred sting rays swam right under me - yahoo! 

Bartholomew Island

Bartholomew island, although super tiny, was another of my favorites. We went for a hike on the morning of Day 3 to the top of the volcano there. It was so cool to look down at the under water craters that surrounded the island and the unique volcanic landscape of the area. Lava lizards ran around the islands, sea lions barked and sunbathed on the shore, and cute little penguins darted about in the water below. What planet are we on again? I think this island is best known for pinnacle rock, but I was sad to learn that this was a manmade feature. This island was used by the US for military training around the time of WWII, and pinnacle rock is simply the remaining formation from the target practice by bombers. Lame. Regardless, the snorkeling was really cool around the island. There were so many starfish it was as if Van Gogh's Starry Night were painted on the sea floor! So so so cool. I was also mesmerized by the moray eels that poked out of the rocks below - yikes! Those are some ugly looking buggers! We finished the snorkel by swimming with some might playful sea lions who would swim circles around you, nibble on your fins, and blow bubbles underneath you. 

The sailing through Canal Bolivar (between Isla Fernandina and Isla Isabela) was my favorite part of the pacific ocean. At sunset we watched as killer whales fed on fish and sea lions right in front of the boat! Did

full moon rise over isla isabella after just crossing the equator!

you know that killer whales are actually a specie of dolphin? It was so sad to watch the cute sea lions swim for their lives. Childhood ruined: Free Willy was actually a vicious marine predator. The evening only got better from there though, I promise.  We watched the full moon rise over the north part of Isla Isabella as we crossed the equator - latitude 00.000! I was nerding out hard core next to the captain as we approached zero degrees. He couldn't figure out why I was so stoked...it's not like there is a line drawn across the ocean or anything. The moon was incredible and the starry sky that developed throughout the night was absolutely brilliant. The waves were quite rough as we rounded the north part of Isla Isabella, which made for a rather sleepless night considering there were times I was literally levitating over my bed. I could have sworn the boat was going to fall into a gazillions pieces at any moment...

The best snorkeling that we did was hands down around Fernandina island. The Humbolt Current made the

Marine iguanas are so ugly and creepy!!!

water an almost unbearable cold, but the wildlife was way too interesting to get out of the water. I didn't even know where to look! Sea lions blew bubble under me, dozens of sea turtles and marine iguanas were feeding on the algae on the rocks underwater, flightless cormorants dove into the water, and octopi scurried over the bottom. UNREAL! I had to have a come to jesus about swimming with the marine iguanas though. They really really really creeped me out and I don't know why exactly. The way they swam, their giant claws, their super ugly scaly faces... yeeeeeeeeeeikes reptiles just shouldn't be under water like that! 'They are vegetarians too they are vegetarians too...' I would think to myself as dozens of them swam around me. If the sea turtles weren't so cute, I would have been out of that water way sooner.

Quality mom time! And teaching her about jumping pictures :)

I could go on forever about the magical wonders of the Galapagos, but I think it is something you just have to see for yourself. A lot of my favorite memories from the islands aren't even ones I can capture... such as the ones shared with folks from our boat and laughter with my mother. I learned so much about myself this past week and had the time of my life! Arriving back to the cold, rainy, 2800m of Quito was definitely a shock and an abrupt closure to an amazing trip-within-a-trip.
The taxi driver I had to take me from the airport to my hostel was extremely patient with my Spanish (which was back to being a little rusty after not speaking it for 9 days). He offered to take me out for a beer after I arrived at my hostel which was definitely a first for me. Aren't you supposed to not drink on the job... especially if your job is driving a car?! That stuff would never fly in the States so of course I logically decided 'why not?'... Adventuring on! 2 cervezas later my Spanish was back to where it was 10 days ago and Nicholas and I shared quite a few laughs. He invited me to go Salsa dancing afterward and I just cracked up. Oh no. No. Absolutely not. Especially not after telling me about his girlfriend and 3 kids.
I went back to my hostel and found out my roommate was someone who I met 3 weeks ago on a water taxi in the jungle in Peru. Small world! He had just gotten back from a short trip Columbia and wanted to spend a few days in Ecuador before heading back to England. Two other roommates arrived shortly after I did and they were from Erie, PA. I haven't meet to many people from the States so that was a pleasant surprise. It turns out they both are in their last year at John Carroll University in Cleveland, which is 2 miles from where I grew up and a quarter mile to where I went to school for 13 years. Yep, small friggin' world! I thought I was going to make it to Mindo today, but I missed the 7am bus so I'm kicking it around Quito today. It's been nice to have a low key day to catch up on the blog, post pictures, respond to emails, plan the next few days, etc. There's quite a bit to do up here before I start heading back down south! Mountain biking down the side of the Cotopaxi Volcano? Sure! Otavalo market on Saturday? Absolutely. Zip lining in the cloud forest of Mindo? Can't pass it up. Hiking and hot springs in Banos? Life is so hard sometimes...