Weeks 29 & 30, Peru and Ecuador: Buses and the Galapagos

I know, I've been home for about 6 weeks. Admitting that this chapter is closed is not my favorite. I'm determined to finish the blog though. This post in particular was difficult to write because it was AMAZING and the pressure to make it good was high. So quality be damned, I am putting something likely sub-par out there to close this out.

The experiences
It will be obvious in a minute why I'm combining these weeks, but this one will be a bit long because I had a new type of travel experience that I quite liked.

I spent a few nights in Lima, Peru where I didn't do too much but relax, read, and book a bus to Quito, Ecuador from where my Galapagos tour left. I did, as usual, walk around the hostel neighborhood. I had to see Kennedy Park where 50 plus cats live. It's a very pretty park and the cats are just happily napping or being cuddled by people on a break from work. It does smell like a litter box though.

Looks like a normal park....

Until you look closely at the ground

Would you like to have your lunch break here, cuddling a cat?

I decided long ago that I was going to take the bus up to Quito and I knew that would be a long journey (I'd read 38.5 hours). I booked a ticket that had me arriving in 36 hours which actually turned into 40 hours. Overall it was an uneventful ride, but for my health I said I won't be doing that again. Buses are more cramped than trains or planes even (given that I'm flying business class on long journeys). And during that time we had a few movies to watch but they were all in Spanish (I don't speak any Spanish). So why did I do this at all? I had the time to kill and it was a quarter of the flight price.

By the time I arrived at my hotel in Quito it was only 10am but the hotel right away put me in the room. I had an amazing shower, washed half of my clothes, and successfully stayed awake till our tour kickoff meeting. Thank goodness Kavita, my roommate for the journey, kept me entertained with some great conversation. I must say that science teachers from the UK are all lively and hilarious. I feel I can make this judgement because that evening we met another, Thomas Carey, and he is evidence in support of the theory as well.

Part of this journey was trying different things to understand what travel plans I like the most. This nine day camping trip in the Galapagos with GAdventures is my first tour. Thirteen of us met up in Quito and flew very early the following morning to the Galapagos Islands. For many people this was the trip they'd been dreaming of, for me it was a better cost alternative to going to Madagascar (nearly triple the cost) plus it's a lot safer. The cast of characters is often what held me back from booking a tour. In this case I think we all lucked out, the group was filled with superstars and tolerance (for when silliness took over). Because of this, this blog post is just one of those that will never be good enough. I'm sorry I cannot do it justice, but I'll try.

The most hilarious part of the first day was our boat ride to our first location (Floreana). In a speed boat, filled with all 16 members of the group (3 joined us here) we were tossed about the sea mercilessly. Some had taken sea sickness tablets, others had mental strength but no one enjoyed the two and a half hours of turbulent waters. I had taken a Bonine tablet which is supposedly just as good as Dramamine but without the sleepy side effects. However, I had to rely on my mind to keep from getting sick and luckily I was able to lay down for a bit which is always helpful.

Eventually we arrived on Floreana, greeted by a crowd of sea lions at our feet (literally). We didn't know what to expect here since we were staying with families on the island (only about 150 people live there). We were surprised with lovely hotel like accommodations and delicious food everywhere we went. It's refreshing to be in such a sustainability focused environment, the last time I saw this was New Zealand. There was one place we ate where they made everything from the jam and butter to the coffee (from that island). Here we snorkeled, stopped for cerveza (beer) on a black sand beach, met our first giant tortoises, learned of the island's mysterious past (if you're curious, read all about the Baroness) and celebrated our arrival in this wild and wonderful oasis.

Science teacher bonding...prior to seasickness, note the choppy waters

This lovely lady is pregnant!

The first of many gorgeous sunsets.

Intro to the island and the signs of the dry season

Black Sand beaches are not as interesting as I thought

Being with a group is nice because you can commiserate with your fellow travelers. When we knew another two hour boat ride was on the horizon we collectively had an external and internal panic moment. We all drugged up the next morning, and prepared for another difficult journey. Luckily we found that in two days and with a change of course, the water was much more calm. We were all very drowsy since we were heavily dosed with motion sickness medication and yet somehow we powered through with plan B: singing Disney tunes. This turned into a full two hour session looking for songs, not just of the Disney variety, that we all would know. And thus the theme of our group was born. We were the Karaoke Kids (paying homage to the Madison karaoke bar we all know and love for sake bombs)--sorry if none of the rest of the group likes the brand, I probably won't use it again :).

So...we made it to the largest of the Galapagos Islands, Isabela, without incident. Now we started to play the part of beach bums. There was volleyball, beach-side bars, ice cream, drinking from coconuts, swimming with penguins, and body surfing past sunset (and I payed with a cold the following day). Maybe the best of it all was when we all powered through a local specialty drink made with sugar cane liquor (image how sweet that is) and we knew we needed some wine and more Doritos to wash it down. We spent the afternoon learning more about the giant tortoises of the Galapagos and visiting the flamingos. Going out on a limb I think this was our most destructive day but also where we solidified the bonding, especially as we crafted a group crush on our tour guide, the fabulous Jose, who at least one person offered to marry (you know who you are :)). I only took pictures of the respectable parts of the day--sorry :(.

Perfection

Not just a lawn ornament

We scared this little guy so much he peed twice

A beautiful sunset

We were scheduled for a hike up a volcano the next day but Kavita and I sat it out in our tent. We instead had a lovely morning doing nothing but resting and I used a significant amount of Kleenex as the cold was ramping up. Everyone came back very happy and we had the afternoon of snorkeling and wildlife tours to go. I was very proud of myself when I got a sea lion to come off the shore and join us as we were snorkeling--they respond well when treated like a cute puppy :). Our campsite while on Isabela was really cool, we had giant tortoises in the back yard and the food they made was amazing. But what is likely to make everyone have a tough time? Cold Showers with giant spiders (like fist size). I got through a shower by making a deal with the spiders that we wouldn't touch each other and the spiders kept me from thinking about the cold water. But like the awesome guide he is, Jose picked up on everyone's shudders and arranged for us to stop at a hotel in town for a hot and bug free shower. Nice bonus on a camping trip. And of course we spent the rest of the night enjoying dinner and drinks on the beach.

This guy was just as curious about me

SHARKS!!!!!

Blue-footed Booby!

Our final stop in the islands was Santa Cruz. We again drugged ourselves pretty heavily (just in case) and about 3.5 hours of napping later we arrived. Here we split into two groups, those that wanted to learn to surf and those that didn't. I didn't. I saved up my energy for kayaking later in the afternoon. Our group had a couple people who were not comfortable with swimming and snorkeling and the like so it was a big when they all jumped in for some swimming and kayaking. Kayaking here was interesting because the bay we were in had a lot of tall rock clusters which called for us getting stuck more than once. At the end of the day we got to the new campsite complete with hot showers and a very cool camping atmosphere among a mini forest.

Our final day on the islands also gave us a lot of free time. Kavita, Merete, and I were a combo of needing more relaxing time and feeling ill so we stayed in the city and bummed around (literally, we were napping on benches). The rest of the group went to a beach with one of those cool swimming areas surrounded by cliffs perfect for photos but apparently also very popular therefore crowded. We met up late in the day for dinner. The restaurants down one street set up tables through the whole street and it's like a nice outdoor communal dining experience. After filling up on delicious Ecuadorian food, Jose arranged for us to go to a karaoke bar so that our efforts singing at every opportunity gained some legitimacy. Personally I'm thankful that the karaoke disinclined among the group were good sports, I don't know how much I would have been able to stand if I were them.

Lastly we began a 13 hour journey back to Quito and went out for one more dinner as a group. Celebrating Kavita's 30th a couple days early. Our last morning a few of the ladies and I went shopping and got some laundry done before we parted ways. Super sad. I walked to the nearest Marriott and spent the night in luxury for a change before my next stop.

Nice view from the corner room top floor. I was wearing a bathrobe :)

The lessons

Not everyone is interested in understanding you. If you don't speak their language, that's really your problem. Latin America is the first time I've encountered that, most times in other countries I've been to people will go get someone who can translate or help or try to pantomime or piece together the words they know to help out. I attribute this to the large amount of Spanish speaking tourists and like most people you prefer to travel somewhere where they will speak your language.

In the interest of full disclosure we did see some some of this in Italy. When you got your point across that you didn't speak Italian, they'd just say the same thing over even louder at you.

How to avoid seasickness

Be in the outer portion of the boat/deck so you can see the water and feel the wind
Lay down (works best for me)
Take motion sickness tablets (warning: extreme drowsiness may follow, it is after all just an antihistamine)
Try the Seaband sweatbands which use the pressure points in your arms. Some people swear by these but they didn't work well for me so I ditched them a while back.
Sing at the top of your lungs

For women with larger chests, don't fold your arms across your chest. This bolsters your assets and will always result in unwanted attention from passers by.
Singing when recovering from a cold doesn't help the recovery process.
Minibar chocolate is not always very good.
Always have a sunscreen spotter--someone else can tell before you when you missed a spot.

Interesting

They played several R rated movies on the bus journey when there were at least a few small kids there. It was tough watching the parents trying to distract the kids during the very bloody scenes in films like The Equalizer.
Ecuador uses US currency.
Ever wonder where all the Sacajawea dollars went? Ecuador
What's super fun? Explaining Sacajawea to Europeans--it's part of US history that makes me feel cool.
Three of five Brits were the only ones to toss their cookies (1 altitude sickness, 1 seasickness, 1 too much drinking). We really thought for the first two days that someone from the group would be sick each day...thank goodness we were wrong.
Since we had a few people ill on the trip, I was interested to find that the main pain killer used is called Paracetamol for the rest of the world. In the US we know it as Acetaminophen but that took some more googling for confirmation since most other countries also have Acetaminophen.
Very few people knew the term "heterosexual life-mates." Perhaps this was just a term invented by Nick and Eric to make sense of their relationship. Either way, it's better than the common bromance.

Memorable Moments

Katey jumping out of the kayak to dislodge it from the rocks
Thomas Carey's undying love for Mariah Carey
Kavita kayaking and Sean jumping in for a swim. Awesome that they trusted us to make sure nothing happened to them.
Jenny trying to sit on a tortoise.
Tommy for celebrating his 18th birthday with us old people and inspiring envy in everyone--he is still traveling South America.
Alex who will always be a co-conspirator.
Becky getting a local coach to achieve dominance over the slack line at the bar.
Fake slack lining with Merete and Kari. I prefer a teamwork approach.
Philip and Paul for a solid bromance and juggling antics.
Thomas and Sean for being the parents of our expedition.
Jose for laughing at us and beating my karaoke score.
Filip and Malin for being wonderful and the clear winners for most normal and kind even though we sang no ABBA.
Jeff, for being Jeff. I'm sorry there's no better way to put this, but I just really liked Jeff's goofy and quiet humor. He let Thomas scold him quite a bit in that kayak and everyone was laughing.
Photos stolen from Facebook. I claim no credit:

Group photo minus Becky who was sweet enough to take it

Water taxi laziness at the end of the day (for half the group)

Slack-lining for beginners

Last supper under the stars

Kavita's premature 30th birthday

Beachside bar time

American food in Ecuador.

The group in motion