¡Que chévere! I spent a week in the Galápagos Islands! We left early, early, early Monday morning from the Quito airport, flew to Guayaquil, and then to the airport on Baltra Island. We took pangas (small boats) to our boat, The Galápagos Legend, a huge cruise ship with about 90 passengers and 70 crew members. The days went something like this:
6:45am - Wake up song, announcements in at least 5 different languages
7-8:00 - Breakfast
8-8:30 - Panga ride to an island for a guided tour, snorkeling, and sight seeing
11:30 - Return to the Legend
12:30 - Lunch
1:30-3:30 - SIESTA
3:30-6:30 - Another guided tour, snorkeling, and sight seeing
7:00 - Meetings with information about the next day, and some history of the islands
8:00 - Dinner
9:00 - Meetings with our ACLAS group about Quito/Ecuadorian culture
9:30/10:00 - FIESTA
??? I won´t tell you when I finally went to bed each night... haha
Monday afternoon--Sombrero Chino, or Chinese Hat.
Tuesday morning--Cerro Dragon, or Dragon Hill on Santa Cruz Island
Tuesday afternoon--Punta Cormorant, or Cormorant Point on Floreana Island
Wednesday morning--Punta Suarez, or Suarez Point on Española Island
Wednesday afternoon--La Galapaguera on San Cristobal Island
Thursday morning--Nourth Seymour on Seymour Island
Thursday afternoon--Playa de Baltra, or Baltra Beach while we picked up new guests
Thursday afternoon--Bartolome
Friday morning--Urbina Bay on Isabela Island
Friday afternoon--Punta Espinosa, or Espinosa Point on Fernandina Island
Saturday morning--Egas Port on Santiago Island
Saturday afternoon--Rabida
Sunday morning--Charles Darwin Station on Santa Cruz Island
Sunday afternoon--The Highlands on Santa Cruz Island
Monday morning--Bachas Beach on Santa Cruz Island
Monday afternoon--Baltra Airport for our flight home :(
Plenty to do, huh? I have never been in a place so breathtakingly beautiful. The air is clean, the water is incredibly clear, the cliffs and waves and lava and rocks and plants and animals and volcanoes are absolutely perfect. We were split up into groups for tours depending on language, and I was in a spanish group with a fantastic guide. His name is José Hurtado, born in Guayaquil but raised in Santa Cruz since age one. He speaks spanish, english, german, japanese, and bits and pieces of italian and french (at least!). His specialty is geology, but you´d think it was all things natural and Galápagos, because he know so, so much. He can mimmick just about every bird and type of sea lion on the islands, and he´s a great dance instructor! We got to be pretty good friends during the trip, which was really neat because we only spoke in Spanish. I also met new friends from Argentina, México, España, New York, Italy, Germany, Japan, and QUITO! I was in a group with two siblings from Quito, and it turns out they live about 10 minutes from my house. We had a blast, and plan to hang out in Quito over the next few months. I have a pretty good handle on salsa and meringue (thanks José), so I´m excited to go dancing with my buds.
Some of the animals I saw:
iguanas terrestres, land iguanas
iguanas marines, marine iguanas
tortugas marines, sea tortoises
tortugas terrestres, giant land tortoises
piqueros con patas azules, blue-footed boobies
piqueros con patas rojos, red-footed boobies
tiburones, hammerhead sharks
pelícanos, pelicans
flightless cormorans
cucúbes, mockingbirds
lizards
crabs (can´t remember the name in spanish)
pulpos, octopuses
pinzónes, finches
canarios, yellow warblers
fragatas, frigates
ostreros, oyster catchers
albatroses
Galápagos hawks
manta rayas, manta rays
sting rays
pez, various coral fish... parrot fish, puffer fish, a lot of others that I couldn´t write down
AND MUCH, MUCH MORE... I couldn´t remember some of the names in spanish or english at times.
I really do promise that pictures are coming. It´s been difficult to do anything on my own yet, and in order to share pictures I need to be using my computer with the internet. It´ll happen. Maybe tomorrow. Long story short, this was the best trip of my short 20 years, and I hope, I hope, I hope I can go back again with other friends and family.
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3 comments:
We just took the most wonderful trip around the Galapagos Is. --with map in hand and putting x's when we could find the places you went. And all that other activity sounds exciting, too - and this wonderful adventure is just barely off the ground. Keep flying high and blogging!
Oh my. What wonder and joy! Thanks SO much for sharing it with us...wow! Love you lots...
Oh, Larkin, I had no idea you would be able to see and do so much on the Galapagos, and to have such an incredible guide with you was perfecto! Doesn't meeting someone like that make you hungry to learn Spanish even more? I think you did great to get as many names recorded as you did! Am going to google earth and map out your path!
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