WARNING: Contains some gruesome content/photos (bullfighting).
I had big plans for my last days in South America, but the truth is after two weeks of going at it nonstop in the Galapagos and the jungle, and knowing I’m so close to going home, I’ve lost a bit of motivation and just become a bit tired. Especially after more than a month of traveling with others — the Aussie gals and then tour groups — it was harder to motivate myself to get up early, get a cab by myself, get a bus, find a hostel in a new place, etc. all when I still had to come back to Quito.
So after a couple mornings of being too tired to get up early for a bus (I had originally hoped I could find a daytrip so I wouldn’t have to really worry about any of the transport and details on my own), I gave up on my aspirations of going to the cloudforest in Mindo (even though I had been wanting to do the ziplining since I first planned this trip — I’ll just have to wait til I do a trip in Central America one day, where it’s supposed to be better anyways) and the markets in Otavalo (I settled for the markets in Quito instead).
My first day in Quito was supposed to be one of relaxation, but I felt a bit stressed and lonely. I was dealing with quite a transition after the past two whirlwind weeks, and I spent most of the day in bed on the computer. That and running back and forth to the agency trying to see if I was going to get a refund for my cruise or not. (In the past few days I’ve gone in there at least four or five times. FINALLY today I went in and they said, “I have some money for you!” My happiness was great, and doubled when they handed me $125! Woo! Now I don’t have to make another trip to the ATM before I leave!)
I had a whiny conversation on Skype with Oscar about how I just wanted to go home now and I didn’t feel like making any effort to go anywhere or meet anyone. He said to me, “Oh no, you’ll get off the computer and go to the common room and meet someone tonight, I know it.” And I said, “No, no. I don’t even want to meet anyone. I don’t even want to get out of bed.”
Well, of course he was mostly right. I didn’t have to get out of bed, but one of my fellow dorm mates, Claire, came in and we started talking, and she invited me to some bull fights the next day. But I did stay in bed the rest of that day…ha! I just couldn’t be bothered to do anything, I was so burnt out.
(It was a loud night though. Ecuador was playing Brazil and they had one the first game and needed to win or lose by less than four goals. They lost by three — so they won overall — which meant that everyone was out in the streets yelling and cheering and going crazy. I was glad I didn’t go out, because everyone came back telling stories of how dangerous it was, the fights and thefts they witnessed in front of their eyes. Even one gigantic British guy — close to 6 1/2 feet tall, and big, someone you wouldn’t mess with — said he got jumped by a couple guys!)
Bullfight
Then on Thursday I headed off to the bullfights with a group of four other people from the hostel. The sun was blazing down on us, but I was happy for it because I want to make sure I keep a bit of a tan until I get home!
The bullfight itself…I’m not sure how I feel about it. Claire loves them (she’d been to one that week already and is at another one today) and sees it as an artform, but I think the rest of us had mixed feelings. I’m glad I went, and I chock it up as a cultural experience, but I think it was actually even worse than I’d imagined.
Bullfighting team
They really do torture the bull, and it’s a bit shocking to actually watch an animal die before your eyes. Plus the bullfighters, to me, seem like haughty jerks. Just the way they stand, strut around, taunt the bull…all of it is this obnoxious show where they think they’re hot stuff, but I think they’re just full of it.
There were six fights in total. I had always thought it was just a showdown between a matador and a bull. Not so. There is the main bullfighter, but there are also a number of other “distracting” bullfighters. They run around waving their capes at the bull trying to confuse it, but then always run and hide behind this little gate so he can’t get to them and gets frustrated. Then two men on horses come out and the bull goes for the horses (who are blinded of course) while the men stab at the bull.
Main bullfighter
Then either the main bullfighter or another one comes out with two hooked batons and has to hook them into the bull’s back. He does this twice, so the bull has four of them in his back. So now the bull is bleeding and starting to get tired and distressed. At this point the very first bull that went on actually somehow totally broke/disconnected the bottom part of his foot (kind of like below the ankle, I guess). It was a bit disturbing, to say the least.
Then the main bullfighter comes out. He has a sword, and he spends what seems like FOREVER whipping his cape around getting the bull to run here and there until he’s exhausted. I have to admit, I was secretly always hoping the bull would be a bit of a smarter one and realize that there’s a person one inch away from the cape that he could go after, but they never did. Finally the bullfighter stabs the bull in the neck/back. Sometimes he has to do it a couple times if the sword doesn’t stay.
Dragging away the bull
Then everyone’s cheering like crazy (I think we all kind of just stared in a kind of gruesome shock). The bull lays/collapses down, usually coughing up blood at this point. Then a guy comes out with a small dagger and stabs it in the neck somewhere that kills it instantly. Then the horses come out pulling a little cart thing and they load him on and drag him out.
So, you can judge by how it sounds as to how you’d feel about a bullfight. I can’t believe PETA wasn’t protesting outside!
At the bullfight with some hostel friends
The bullfights are just one part of a larger celebration here in Quito right now. Sunday is Founder’s Day, and here they begin celebrating the week before. So all week there have been bullfights and parades every day. As we approached the weekend, there’s more and more parades and dancing and singing in the street. Everyone is out on the streets, at restaurants, bars, etc. And they have these open-air party buses called chivas that everyone rides around in, blasting music and having a great time. It’s definitely an eternally festive air here in Quito.
I also attended a bear charity/benefit event the other night with some people from the hostel. They had a raffle (sadly, I didn’t win anything) and it was a good atmosphere. Lots of fun, and I got to bond with my hostel-mates a bit.
Today I went to do some last-minute souvenir shopping in the market here in Quito. It’s been nice just relaxing, catching up on sleep, having some time to be on the internet, and just hanging out with new friends here in Quito.
Tonight is basically my last night, as I have an early morning on Monday for my flight, so I’m sure we’ll do something special (well, every night is always someone’s last night!), not to mention that it’s one of the biggest days of Quito’s celebrations, and I’ll have tomorrow to soak in my last bit of South America. But I’m excited about going home as well, and every time I see a plane fly overheard I get a little bit more excited.
I know that after a while (though I’m getting to drag it out a bit since I’m only two weeks at home, then off to Sweden to see my Oscar which won’t get old very quickly!) I’ll miss my time here, but one thing I’ve realized on this trip is that traveling is in my blood, and I’ll always find ways to make another trip happen. You meet so many people on the road with different stories and situations, and you realize that anything is possible!
This guy liked to pose for the camera!
Last Thursday night, after I arrived back from the Galapagos and had a Thanksgiving dinner, my Dutch friend Maaike and I boarded a night bus to Lago Agrio. I also again ran into the Kiwi guy that I have been running into for the past month, as he’s been on the same route but about a day behind (and also went the Galapagos the same day as me, but on a shorter cruise) and he was of course on the same jungle tour as well!
Once we arrived in Lago Agrio the next morning we had a few hours to wait before we were picked up. Then it was the beginning (or continuation) of one very long day of travel. First we went in a truck for nearly three hours, half of which were on an unpaved road, to get to the port. It was a long drive.
Parrot
Then we had a small lunch at the port (where there were some cute macaws and parrots hanging out!) and loaded into the motorized canoe that was to take us to our lodge. As my luck goes with jungle trips, it poured rain for the entire first half of the three hour boat ride. Luckily we were provided with ponchos, but that didn’t help the fact that we were going directly into the rain and it was pounding against our faces!
After a week in the Galapagos, I had grown so used to seeing animals everywhere, that it was hard for me to grasp that it’s not so easy in the jungle. I kept thinking I saw animals, but in the end it was always a log or something like that! And then when you do see animals, they’re often far and difficult to see, and definitely not so easy to photograph!
Nicky Amazon Lodge
Finally we did arrive to the lodge. We were at the Nicky Amazon Lodge, apparently the only lodge you can book in Quito that is in the middle of the Cuyabeno Reserve and not on the edge of it. It’s used solely by the company Dracaena. It’s funny, actually, because when I had gone around looking at jungle tours before, this one was the only one that sounded a bit different and more interesting, but it was also $40 more than the other ones. But Maaike (and so I in turn) had booked it at another agency other than Dracaena — in fact one right around the corner — for the same price as all the other tours. Funny!
The lodge was empty when we got there and our group was only nine people. The lodge had seven cabins, each with two rooms that could hold up to three people. So they told us we could spread out, and all four of us that were solo-ers got to have our own rooms! I was excited to be able to have a huge double bed, but of course it ended up being a paper thin mattress and uncomfortable — but what should I expect in the jungle!
Giant dragonfly
Overall it was very basic; only cold water (which is OK in the sticky heat of the jungle), no fans or a/c, no electricity at all (except for one solar-powered outlet area where we could charge batteries). That pretty much meant early bedtimes and lots of lounging in the hammocks in the main area, reading by candlelight.
The biggest downside was that it was harder to see and avoid bugs in the dark, and of course my flashlight decided to semi-break the second time I used it on the first day (it is a headlamp, but the button broke and you had to hold the button down to keep it on, which gets a bit painful and annoying, and totally defeats the purpose of having a headlamp!)
Boa spotted on the night walk
Anyways, the jungle trip started out with a lot of flashbacks. The canoe ride definitely had me thinking of my trip in Iquitos a few years ago. And the huts, mosquito nets, and hammocks all had me thinking of Southeast Asia.
Our first night we went on a short night walk in the jungle outside the camp. Here we finally saw some animals (though mostly a far cry from the cute and friendly sorts you see in the Galapagos!)
First we spotted a tarantula hanging out on a tree right outside our camp. This was followed by numerous other insect spottings: stick bugs, leaf bugs, cicadas, giant dragonflies, huge millipedes/centipedes, ants carrying leaves, etc. And plenty, plenty, plenty of spiders. I’m really just not a fan of spiders, and in the jungle they are big and they are everywhere. (Including in my hair one night when I was changing for bed!)
Cute lizard from the night walk
We also saw a snake, some frogs, lizards/iguanas, and some other things. An interesting night walk, especially with the sounds of the jungle echoing around you. In the jungle, the sounds of monkeys and birds are constantly going all around you. It’s pretty nice.
The next day we planned to get up early to go to a salt lick to see parrots, but it started to rain so we had a lazy morning napping in hammocks until later in the day when we went on another walk in the jungle down the river.
Frog from the night walk
On the boat ride over (and all our rides on the river really) we saw tons of birds flying around — macaws, toucans, parrots, etc. But they are always far away, flying high above or sitting up high in trees so it’s impossible to get a picture of them. There was one interesting bird that can make fifteen different sounds, including sounds like a monkey and sounds like water dripping! We also saw some monkeys (I think in the whole trip we saw three or four different species) in the surrounding trees as we were in the boat, but again they try to stay mostly out of view. I wish I had brought binoculars!
Our native guide making a backpack out of leaves.
Then we went on a hike in the jungle. There we saw all kinds of interesting plants and huge trees. We had a bilingual guide and a native guide, and the native guide showed us all kinds of interesting things about the jungle and how the indigenous people use it. Plants that cure this and that, giant tree roots that you can drink fresh (delicious and cold!) water from, and he also showed us how they use leaves to make things like crowns (used in wedding ceremonies) and backpacks!
We also saw plenty more insects — ants, centipedes, and some beautiful butterflies as well. There was one giant blue butterfly that we saw everywhere during the trip that was absolutely beautiful, but impossible to photograph!
Piranha fishing
I was starting to get a bit sick of the jungle though, wondering how I was going to make it through three more days! Mostly it was the bugs — you just cannot escape them. And despite my best efforts, I still had plenty of mosquito bites everywhere. Plus my room was basically all open; the roof is raised a foot above where the walls end, and my door didn’t even close all the way.
In our free time I liked to lay and nap or read in the hammock on my porch or a hammock in the main common area, but these loud obnoxious flies would buzz loudly all around you, driving me insane! I was also a bit anxious to sleep in a decent bed, take a hot shower, and just be away from the bland tour food and be able to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted again!
I caught one! (First of three!)
I was feeling better about things though in the afternoon when we went piranha fishing, using big sticks with fishing line and cut up pieces of meat. Maaike caught the first piranha, and I went on to catch three! I caught the most, with everyone else only catching one or none. It was actually pretty fun.
On the way back from piranha fishing we took our time and did some caiman spotting. At one point we pulled off to the side and our native guide caught a caiman and showed him off. Later we spotted a turtle and stopped off to look at it. It had just dug a nest and had laid eggs, and the guide picked the turtle up and picked out an egg to show us.
Caiman
I was pretty bothered by this, I don’t really feel like they should be handling the animals, especially a turtle laying eggs! Apparently, though, the government here pays locals to go collect the eggs (supposedly so they aren’t eaten by predators) and hatch them in their communities, then they get 25 cents for each turtle. When we visited a community the next day we did see the big areas where they keep they keep the eggs/turtles.
Kichwa community
The next day we were up bright and early for another chance to go visit the salt lick. It wasn’t quite what I expected, as it wasn’t quite as visible as I’ve seen pictures of other ones being. It looked like we were just stopped in front of a bunch of trees. There were a ton of parrots though, flying in and out of the area in huge numbers. But again we couldn’t get that close, you could hardly even tell the color of them flying up above against the sky.
Kichwa kids
Then we went to visit a local Kichwa community. We were going to visit the school, but it was Sunday so of course it was empty.
We found a bunch of kids playing soccer (with a big chunk of styrofoam!) in the main recreation area. A few of the people in our group joined them (they did find a real ball eventually).
It was interesting to visit the community and compare it with the one I’d visited in Iquitos. They were pretty different. This one was much smaller, and there were hardly any people around. I didn’t see any adults really, just lots of (really adorable!) kids. Who of course loved having their picture taken and getting to see themselves on the digital cameras.
Adorable Kichwa girls
But they community is not so isolated as you’d think. Yes, they have to go three hours in boat and three hours by car just to get to the nearest city, but they have solar powered electricity and television and computers with Internet (well, they did but apparently they weren’t there anymore when we visited).
Our super cute monkey friend
Then we went to another area down the river where a family lives on a yucca/cocoa plantation, in a house away from the community. We had a nice little visitor then, an adorable monkey that comes and goes as it pleases.
He was a hungry little mono, but also not wanting to get too close to us, so he’d run around up on the rafters looking for food. At lunch he would take advantage of anyone who had their plate on the floor and run over and grab a handful of rice. In the end we set out some leftover fruit for him to eat. He was so cute, sitting there eating it right in front of us but kind of looking around afraid he’d get caught!
Making yucca bread
Then the family took us out and showed us how they harvest the yucca (a root, a bit like potato) and then how they make yucca bread out of it. It was really interesting; they make it using only yucca, nothing else is added. It’s a thin tortilla-like bread that is really delicious. They made tons of it for us and let us try it in different ways — with salt, sugar, marmalade, etc.
Scary tower
We took a short break at the lodge after this (it was the first blue-sky/sunny day and it was extra hot!) and then went out to this tower in the jungle to watch the sunset.
The tower, which is built around (but not attached to) a giant tree, is apparently 15 years old and was a bit terrifying to climb. It shook a lot and you can see clearly from the ground that it has a strange lean to it.
Parts were rotten or falling off, and I was definitely grateful to make it up and down without having any steps collapse beneath me!
At the top of the tower
The view from the top was nice, though. We were up high, and could see all the trees going out all around us, and a lovely sunset as well.
In fact, from the tower and during the boat ride back I probably took like a hundred pictures of the sunset, it was so gorgeous.
The next day was our last full day in the jungle (and a few people left who had only done a four day tour). We first went on a two hour walk in the jungle, but it was pretty uneventful and we didn’t really see any interesting plants or animals. We had a lot of free time to relax in the middle of the day, which I didn’t mind. It was nice to just relax in my hammock and listen to the jungle around me, enjoy the warmth of the air with a slight breeze. Try to ignore the flies!
Hanging on the hammock
In the afternoon we went out paddling (I think really this was just because both the motorized canoes were in use!) which wasn’t the most comfortable experience. One boat was basically sinking so they had to constantly bail out water, and our boat was just wooden benches very close to the floor so your knees were in your face and your butt was sore after just 15 minutes!
We paddled around a bit then went to do some more fishing. Eventually our two boats split up and the other boat (who had the native guide who is apparently specialized in fishing) went on to catch tons of piranha and catfish, which they cooked along with dinner that night. Our boat had much less luck (I caught one tiny catfish, no one else caught anything). But we did see some pink dolphins (which we had seen a couple times already, but they were closer and more active this time).
Piranha!
The next day our time in the jungle was done. I admittedly was pretty happy to get on the canoe and go. Of course, we still had a long, long day ahead of us. After the long journey back (again, three hours by boat, three by truck), we arrived in Lago Agrio with about seven more hours to kill until our night bus. And it’s not exactly the greatest town to have to kill time in.
Finally we boarded our bus, and I was happy to see that my seat actually reclined a bit! (On the ride up my seat was broken and didn’t recline more than an inch, which was miserable and I didn’t sleep at all.) As soon as I was basically asleep, the bus stopped, a military guy with a big machine gun got on, and we were all made to get off the bus. Some people were being patted down or their bags searched. We (a British couple, Maaike, and I) were the only foreigners on the bus, and they just waved us to a window where we had to show our passports and answer a couple questions.
I still have no idea why we had this random military check, but my best guess is that it was because we were coming from so close to the Colombian border. Lago Agrio is only like twenty minutes or something from Colombia, but it’s a really unsafe border. In fact, one guy in our group wanted to go to Colombia, and in order to do so he had to go all the way back to Quito, then go another five or six hours from there up to the one safe border crossing. Crazy!
Beautiful sunset
It’s hard to believe I have less than a week left in my trip now! (Yes, originally I was coming home the 14th but changed it to the 7th, as I realized it would be better to allow myself two weeks at home to get things sorted and see family before I head off to Sweden.)
It’s amazing how time on the road goes. While I remember there were many times when it seemed to be moving so slowly, it now feels like it went by all too fast! Though at the same time, thinking back on my first day in Buenos Aires, or even back to Bolivia or southern Peru, seems like ages ago! While at the same time, it’s impossible to believe that Halloween in Lima was already more than a month ago. Strange how time goes.
I’m also having trouble grasping the fact that it’s going to be snowy and freezing when I get off the plane in Ohio. It’s so hot here at the Equator…and every time I see Christmas decorations up — a Christmas tree in a hotel, tinsel in the airport or on a small house in a jungle village — I first find myself thinking, “Weird that they have decorations up now for Christmas.”
Then I remember that it really is Christmastime! But it’s hard to feel it, without the rituals of putting everything up at home, going overboard decorating our apartment at school, hearing Christmas music everywhere you go, watching Christmas movies and TV specials…without all that it seems so strange!
I’m back in Quito now, trying to figure out how to spend my last few days on the continent. It’s also weird being alone again. The past month I’ve always been with people; I had two weeks with Lauren and Kassia, and then two weeks of Galapagos/jungle tours with groups and with Maaike (the Dutch girl who was my cabin-mate on the Floreana and was on the jungle tour with me). Now I’m back on my own, in the same hostel as I stayed in before in Quito, but without all the familiar faces. And I’m back to battling with my travel agency about a refund for the cruise. Before they seemed ready to hand it to me, now they are not sure if I will get one or not. So frustrating!
But I updated the Galapagos post, adding more pictures. I will try to get a post on the jungle up as well, but it might take a few days.
The Thanksgiving dinner attendees...can you tell me and Maaike? I didn't realize how tan we'd gotten!
Oh and also, I did attend a Thanksgiving dinner last Thursday, in the few hours between the arrival of our flight from the Galapagos and the departure of our night bus for Lago Agrio and the jungle. Both Maaike and I were exhausted and probably weren’t the most exciting dinner guests, but it was nice to be in a real home (it was the apartment of an Ecuadorian family that was housing the two American students hosting the dinner), and having a real Thanksgiving dinner.
Baby frigatebird (I think?)
I’ve wanted to go to the Galapagos Islands since before I can even remember. And the truth is, it is everything that people say it is. The animals really are quite tame and generally unafraid of people. You really can get so close to them that you could touch them (though it’s a big no-no). And even more so, they are still wild animals, and you can easily stumble upon them doing things like nesting, attracting mates, nursing babies, eating, etc. that you often don’t get to see during an afternoon at the zoo.
Sea lion hanging on the beach at Genovesa Island
Overall my experience in the Galapagos was really amazing (how could it not be?), though sadly some boat problems left the trip with a tinge of disappointment and tainted feeling to it. It’s hard to spend a lot of money and time on a once in a lifetime experience/dream trip and have something big and important go wrong. But I’ll get into that in a bit.
I’m going to talk about each day separately, in its own context, in an attempt to keep later situations from affecting my description of the first half of the trip which really was incredibly amazing and awesome.
As for the details, I was on the Floreana, a tourist or tourist superior (I’m pretty sure it’s not superior) class boat depending on who you ask. There were fourteen of us on the ship (two others joined us for the second half, but ended up only staying a day and then ditching it because of the problems and itinerary changes).
Floreana
Along for the trip with me were two Swedes, three Norwegians (two sisters and an older random guy who jumped on at the last minute), a British couple, an Aussie/Brit couple, three Americans from California, and a girl from Holland, who was my cabin-mate. We were all fairly young, in our 20s and 30s (except the one Norwegian guy), something that seemed to set our boat apart from pretty much every other boat we ran into!
And finally, we were on the Floreana’s 8 day/7 night “northern” itinerary, which was supposed to be like this:
Thursday – Baltra Airport/Santa Cruz Island – Twin Craters/Highlands
Friday – Genovesa Island – Darwin Bay/El Barranco
Saturday – Santiago Island – Sullivan Bay/Bartholomew Island
Sunday – Chinese Hat/Santa Cruz Island – Dragon Hill
Monday – Isabela Island – Breeding Center Arnaldo Tupiza/The Humedales/Tinterones
Tuesday – Fernandina Island – Espinosa Point/Isabela Island – Tagus Cove
Wednesday – Santiago Island – Egas Port/Rabida Island
Thursday – Black Turtle Cove/Baltra Airport
The highlight of the trip was supposed to be Fernandina and Isabela on Tuesday. This was basically the reason I chose this cruise, as I was told these islands are the best, worth missing out on the much-loved southern islands for, and that this was pretty much the only non-luxury cruise that visited them, a truly unique experience. So I was basically pumped up and most excited for this part of the cruise. Of course, this is the one day of the cruise that we missed and was changed to a crap alternative itinerary. But again, I’ll get into that in due time.
DAY 1
I shared a cab with another guy in my hostel going to the Galapagos and we arrived at the airport two hours early, as we were advised to. In less than ten minutes we were through all the security and stuck sitting in the small domestic airport, where there is only one little over-priced cafe to get food and drink and absolutely no other options, not even a small shop to buy a snack or drink.
Finally I boarded the plane, which departed around 9:50am. I was pleasantly surprised with the flight (TAME). The plan was huge, six seats across. I thought we would have to stop in Guayaquil and spend an hour waiting for more passengers to board, but we were lucky and our flight went directly to Balta airport. There our group slowly gathered together and boarded a bus to a port. There we got on a boat that took us to Puerto Ayora, where we sat and waited for quite a long while for another boat to finally take us to our boat.
Already spotting pelicans and sea lions right off the ferry!
Before we’d even gotten off the first boat in Pt. Ayora, we’d already spotted our first sea lion playing in the water next to the boat. Sitting and waiting for our next ride, I sat and watched the sea lion play in the water while a Galapagos pelican hung out below me, entertaining me with his funny habits. Already I could feel I was in the Galapagos!
We settled onto the Floreana (into our super tiny cabin!) and had lunch, then we were off on our first excursion. We first visited the Twin Craters, two craters that are really old, that’s basically what I got from it! It wasn’t exactly the most interesting or exciting start to our trip.
Giant tortoise
But then we visited a reserve with a bunch of tortoises, which was cool. There were a lot of giant tortoises just hanging around, laying in the pond or walking around. Getting so close to them, I realized what funny creatures they are.
They really are like dinosaurs, so prehistoric looking—their big, thick, wrinkly legs and dino-like feet, and the funny way they move—and they make this funny raspy-breathing/hiss kind of noise when they want you to go away, that’s very Jurassic Park-esque.
We finished the excursion off by visiting some underground lava caves. Mostly they just seemed like any other cave, but there were some cool parts. Then we sat at a bar/restaurant for a while, where no one really wanted to get anything, probably because we’d all just dropped so much cash on this trip. It was a bit of an uninspiring first day, but we were in the Galapagos, we knew better things were to come.
Even that night after dinner things picked up. Nature gave us a show right from the safety of our boat’s sundeck. Under the boat’s lights we could see tons of flying fish, sea lions, sharks (huge ones!), and pelicans, hunting or playing, flying/zipping around. It was a really incredible thing to watch.
DAY 2
Wildlife everywhere!
After breakfast we went for a dry landing on Genovesa/Tower Island, where we the only boat (it is a much less-visited island). Immediately on the beach we saw tons of sea lions sleeping and relaxing. But overall Genovesa is definitely a bird island. Once we got walking into the island, we saw tons and tons of birds. Red-footed boobies, Nazca/masked boobies, great frigate birds, nocturnal herons, the list goes on and on. Though since I was a kid I always kind of had this weird thing for blue-footed boobies, which we didn’t see on Genovesa (I had these National Geographic pamphlets for different endangered animals, and for some reason I only remember the blue-footed booby one and that I was obsessed with it), I normally don’t really care that much about birds. But these were cool birds. Big ones that acted and looked interesting.
Red-footed boobies
The red-footed boobies made this crazy loud noise. They almost sounded like elephants or something. Some of them were white, some were gray, but they were all beautiful, with bright red feet and lovely pink and blue multicolored beaks.
The Nazca boobies were just black and white, but they made this funny whistling noise, that sounded almost like someone blowing into a cheap plastic whistle or trying to whistle with their fingers. (In fact, I often thought someone was trying to imitate the boobies, but I’d look around and realize that no, it was in fact the boobies themselves.)
Nazca boobies
There were also tons of baby chicks everywhere, all looking and sounding cute and funny. And of course there were also lots of nesting birds, from parents sitting on eggs to newly formed couples flying in with branches and building their nest together – all right in front of our eyes!
The scenery itself was also great – beautiful cliffs and water (especially when the sun came out). Then we went snorkeling right off the beach, which wasn’t bad. There were some interesting fish, and I also saw two small rays, buried in the sand.
Snorkeling from the beach with sea lions nearby
We returned to the boat for lunch (spotting sea turtles in the sea right out the dining room windows!) then went for some more snorkeling. We took the zodiac boats out to a deeper area, where we saw a lot more fish, and I also saw a gigantic ray (like the kind you see at the aquarium and think “Whoaaa!”). I didn’t realize at the time how special it was, but throughout the rest of the trip everyone was always talking about how they wanted to see a big manta ray, and I had already seen it on the very first day of snorkeling!
Baby bird
After that we went to another part of the island and climbed some steps (guarded by a sea lion!) to an area with a ton more birds. Colonies, it seemed, of great frigate birds, Nazca boobies, and red-footed boobies. When we were finished and sitting and waiting for the zodiacs to retrieve us, there was a local fishing boat nearby and we watched as tons of birds circled around, waiting for the fishermen to throw out some guts or fish.
DAY 3
Docking by Santiago Island, there were a few more boats around. First we visited Sullivan Bay, where we walked on a ton of black lava flows, which was pretty awesome. There were a ton of different kind of formations/flows, so it was cool to see all the different patterns. We saw a lot of crabs and some herons, and even a couple penguins swimming around in the bay!
Crab by the beach
Then we went snorkeling. We saw a shark! Like a proper, Jaws-theme-inducing kind of shark. It was really cool, but then it turned and started heading back in our direction, and I got a bit freaked out and hurried away. I had finally taken my camera with me for this snorkel (I had been a bit paranoid about trying out my supposedly watertight camera bag-thing I’d bought in Quito, but decided that I bought it so I needed to try it) but it must have turned off without my realizing it and when I thought I’d been taking pictures of the shark, I ended up with none. I did see lots of fish and starfish, though.
Sea lion swimming by!
After lunch we went snorkeling again, seeing a lot more fish and starfish. I also had a sea lion swim by me, which I did manage to snap a quick picture of!
Then we walked up to the mirador at the top of Bartolome, looking out over the infamous Pinnacle Rock and some overall great views of the surrounding area.
On the way up we could see tons (and I mean TONS) of manta rays in the distance in the ocean, jumping up out of the water, flipping all around, apparently trying to get parasites off their backs. It was a really incredible sight! Then coming back through the bay we saw more penguins and sea lions.
Pinnacle Rock at sunset
By day three I was definitely starting to feel like, “This is the life.” Our typical day was just like this one: breakfast at 7, excursion to an island a small walk at 8, then some snorkeling off the beach, back to the boat to relax (nap, reading, tanning, whatever), lunch at noon, more relaxing, off for some snorkeling at 2, sometimes back to the boat for a little bit, then another excursion/walk, then back to relax, dinner at 7, then more relaxing, maybe watching the animals in the lights around the boat, then bedtime. What a life!
DAY 4
Cuddly sea lions
This was definitely one of the best days of the trip. We first went for a walk on the small island Chinese Hat. We saw so many sea lions, and tons of baby pups. They were so unbelievably cute! They reminded me a bit of my own pups at home (mostly Morgan). They were playing all around us, and we were sitting so close to them we could have easily touched them.
Cute sea lion pup
One was hiding under a bush, but kept making noises and coming out toward us, then waddling back under the bush. One girl had an SLR with a big lens on it and he came right up and stuck his nose in it, checking it out! The others were playing around with each other, and one was running in out of the water after his mom, trying to keep up with her. It was so adorable. And they make these funny sounds, that sound almost like they’re trying to throw up, while the adults make this sound that sounds almost like burping. It’s really funny, all the crazy noises sea lions make!
Iguana
We also saw tons and tons of marine iguanas everywhere. Our guide, Victor, told us that if we were lucky we might get to see some of the marine iguanas feeding under water when we went snorkeling later. Supposedly it’s a kind of rare thing to get to see, but it was a possibility.
Well, we definitely got to see it!I’d say we saw at least five marine iguanas feeding underwater when we went snorkeling at Chinese Hat later. There were tons!
I got some decent pictures of it as well, although unfortunately while trying to fuss with my camera in the stupid underwater bag I have, I a) accidentally zoomed a ton for a while and so got some totally useless pictures and b) accidentally changed the picture size to small, which is like 640xwhatever and I didn’t realize this until the end of the next day, so a ton of my beloved photos are only that small and can’t be enlarged and look nice at all – very, very sad indeed!
Iguana feeding underwater
While snorkeling we also some some rays, some nice fish, and another shark! Again it was a big one, and unfortunately I did take a pic of it, but when I was looking through my pictures on my camera later I accidentally deleted it – grr!
Later we walked on Dragon Hill on Santa Cruz. There we saw more marine iguanas, as well as some land iguanas (which are huge and yellow), but they were harder to see because they were all hiding in the shade under bushes to keep cool (the sun was blazing and it was ridiculously hot…this is the equator after all!)
Then we were back at the boat for dinner. Our guide has been filming parts of our trip, so he showed us the first half of the DVD he’d made after dinner (which we could, of course, buy for $30 – like I haven’t spent enough on this trip!). But it was waaayyy too long, especially considering it was only half of our trip so far, and I was falling asleep by the first half of it (cheesy music and too much repetitive, pointless footage!) We were also joined earlier in the afternoon by a Finnish couple, who were supposed to be on the cruise for the next four days. (The Scandinavians had officially taken over!)
DAY 5
This was where things started to go bad. We were told the boat would be navigating from one until six in the morning to get to the southeastern port of Puerto Villamil on Isabela. At around four in the morning I woke up and realized we weren’t moving. I though it was weird, but fell back asleep. The next morning my roommate and I discussed it, as she’d heard loud noises on the boat, possibly by the engine she though.
At breakfast we were all talking about it, “Didn’t it seem like the ride was a lot shorter last night than it should have been?” And rumors were flying. After breakfast they told us the news: some water had gotten in the main engine, and they weren’t sure how long it would take to fix. (It later turned out to be that basically a huge part of the engine was broken.)
So we had to pack everything we’d need for the day and take a speed boat for about two hours to get to Isabela. There they made us pay a $5 tax (which was supposed to be included in our trip cost) and we hopped on a bus. We stopped at a lagoon where there were three flamingos. While it was interesting to see them feeding up close, they kind of trawl their beaks through the water making this funny noise, it got old pretty quickly and we stayed there for what seemed like forever just watching them eat. Maybe it was because I saw so many flamingos back in in Bolivia, but I just didn’t really care that much.
Tortoises eating
Then we went to a giant tortoise breeding center. It was pretty interesting. The giant tortoises were in different areas according to age and sub-species. First we watched a bunch of younger ones (I think around 5-7 year-olds) crawl all over each other in a rush to eat when they dropped food in their enclosure. It was funny.
It was amazing to see how they grow over the years. We were able to see little baby ones, which are so small it’s incredible to think that they grow so big. But then you see how they’re still so small until their teens, and even how they’re still not so big in their 20s and 30s. They don’t even start mating until they’re 35-40 years old! Then the really huge ones are those that are 70-80 and older. They can live up to around 150 years!
Flat shelled tortoise
We also got to see the little-known subspecies that only appears at one volcano on Isabela, the flat-shelled tortoise. It literally looks like someone stepped on the shell and pushed it in. Each volcano on Isabela has a different subspecies, so it was interesting to see them all in one place and how they differ.
Then we walked down to the beach, which was practically deserted and quite pretty. (This part of Isabela is the only part that is inhabited.) We saw some huge marine iguanas hanging out all over the beach.
Then we went into town, where we were to have lunch. It was a really tiny town, with maybe four restaurants, a store or two, a travel agency, and that’s about it. The first thing we all did in the short free time we had before lunch was go to the store and buy sodas! I thought that was funny. After days on the boat without any soda (you can buy it but it’s really expensive), it was amazing how much I was craving a Pepsi or Coke! And apparently everyone else felt exactly the same. Although I, being the clever and thrifty person that I am, didn’t have to pay any kind of outrageous price for mine. The secret is to buy Pepsi here, the caps always have something on them, and every time I’ve gotten one it has been a free drink (except this time where I got 10 puntos – for what, I don’t know!) and so I’ve never had to pay for a Pepsi since!
Tinterones Trail
ones TrailAfter lunch we took the boat out to another place where we walked along Tinterones Trail. Basically it’s a rocky trail along this little channel of water where sharks all hang out. There were just tons of these white-tipped reef sharks swimming around or laying at the bottom hanging out. I liked the sign nearby, which said basically, “No swimming, this is a rest place for sharks.” Haha!
Iguanas on the trail
Also the trail was totally overtaken by iguanas. It was always one big, somewhat colorful (green, sometimes with some pinkish-red) one, I guess the male, and a ton of smaller black ones. And they were all always spitting!
Then we went and watched tons (and I mean TONS!) of blue-footed boobies flying together, then dive-bombing (sometimes all at once) into the water to catch fish. I knew there was a reason I liked them so much, they totally lived up to their awesomeness! It was really an amazing sight to see. And before someone told me that they were blue-footed boobies, I couldn’t have believed it. So many birds flying like that, I though they’d be some boring little ugly bird. Not the totally-cool-already boobies!
Tons of blue-footed boobies flying together
I got some cool video of it which I will have to link to when I am able to upload it. Seriously, you couldn’t believe how many of them there were, all together in this giant swarm. Nor the way they dive, straight beak-first fast as you can imagine, into the water. You’d think they’d all be running into each other, but they don’t!
There were also a bunch of penguins swimming around, though to my dismay they swam right up to the other boat with half our group on it, but not to ours! Boo!
We also did some snorkeling in the afternoon, but it was terrible. The water was murky and algae and crap floating, terrible visibility. There was all this really high sea grass everywhere, that no matter where I swam I couldn’t seem to avoid. I started to feel claustrophobic and panicky and had to get out of the water, but it’s not like I missed much with such terrible visibility.
Then it was back on the speedboat for a long, cold ride back to our boat – sitting in the water near Baltra, the airport we’d flown into the first day! Lame, lame, lame.
After dinner (which, annoyingly, was fish and chips just like we’d just had for lunch), we were informed that the engine was not fixed and that the next day’s trip, the highlight of the cruise and what most of us were there for, was going to be changed. The alternate itinerary? North Seymour Island.
There were varying degrees of anger/disappointment/etc. I think what made me even more annoyed was how maybe half the passengers didn’t care much because in reality they didn’t know anything about the Galapagos and didn’t know the difference. Plus North Seymour is a blah island you could easily do as a daytrip on your own (if you for some reason wanted to). In fact, the Finnish couple, who’d joined this cruise solely to go to Fernandina and Isabela, had already been there and said it was pretty boring. They ended up leaving the boat the next day and getting a 50% refund.
I was also mad because I was basically sold this cruise because of this part of the itinerary as well, and the fact that they were replacing it with some crap daytrip made it even more frustrating. They also told us basically the only thing we could do about it would be to go back to the agency we’d bought the trip from (back in Quito for me) and see if they would offer any kind of compensation. This angered me even more, because even if I did get money back, I would be back in Quito so it’s not like I could use the money to do some more sightseeing or daytrips in the Galapagos.
Even now, with the trip over and still being absolutely amazing and seeing just about everything I could have wanted to see (wildlife-wise), I’m still somewhat upset and a bit bitter about this. It is people’s once-in-a-lifetime trip that we’re dealing with. And all they would talk about is what this was costing the company for repairs, etc., and so little concern with what it meant to us. But I digress.
DAY 6
The Replacement Day. It only merited less than a page in my journal and well less than half the amount of photos of every other day. Definitely no spotting orca, dolphins, and whales or seeing hundreds of penguins, swimming with them as they darted around us in the water, or getting to see newly evolving species – all things we might have seen if we’d had the original itinerary.
Magnificent frigatebird puffing out his chest to attract a female
Instead we visited North Seymour Island. There was basically only one cool thing we saw there: the magnificent frigatebird. This was cool because the males have this red pouch they puff out when they’re trying to attract a mate. We got to see a few of them with the red out, including one which had his thing chest puffed, was waving around his wings really showing off. And one female finally did fly toward him, but he rejected her and she flew off!
Land iguana eating some cactus
We also got to get a better view of some land iguanas, and got to see some nesting blue-footed boobies and some frigate birds nesting, where we could actually see the tiny ugly chicks in the nest underneath the parents.
Then we went snorkeling. This was probably the most redeeming part of the day because we had some sea lions come swim around us, which was pretty awesome. One of them was quite a little poser, making all kinds of funny poses and flinging his body in all kind of contortions in the water. They were very friendly and playful, happy to swim with us.
Swimming with sea lions
We took the speedboat back to the Floreana for lunch, then got back on the speedboat and went out to Las Bachas beach on Santa Cruz. All we did really was walking along the beach. It was a nice white sand beach, and the sand was really soft in a couple parts, but it wasn’t incredibly interesting. I did have one of those “Yes, I’m in the Galapagos” moments (usually there’s at least one every day – the day before it had been floating past an abandoned boat with sea lions sleeping inside and a pelican chilling on the edge, with penguins swimming around below), while watching sea turtles swimming out in the water around us (waiting for night so they could come in and lay eggs), with blue-footed boobies just chilling on the rocks by the shore, and penguins swimming in the water as well. Just another day in the Galapagos. A less interesting one, at that!
Then we just hung out on the beach. Some people went snorkeling, but I was a bit cold and tired, and there was nothing to see really anyways. But again, the sand was nice and soft and powdery, and you can’t really complain about that.
DAY 7
This was another pretty good day, as I tried to put the previous day’s disappointment behind me. First we went to Puerto Egas on Santiago. (Really we barely left the central island area, which is what really pisses me off about taking an 8 day cruise and then ending up basically doing 7 days of easy day trips I could have done on my own for cheaper!) We did a dry landing onto a black sand beach where there were some sea lions.
Walking along the beach and into the island we saw pods of dolphins swimming out the water. We also saw a lot of seat turtles bobbing around. On the rocky shores we saw some fur sea lions (aka fur seals) hanging out sleeping. (They’re nocturnal and hunt at night.) Some of them were sleeping in these lower caves in the rocks – there were tons of these holes/caves that would fill up all the way with water as the waves came in, then completely drain really low. Back and forth, up and down, again and again. Some people in our group were totally mesmerized by this for some reason!
Swimming with sea turtles
Then we went snorkeling! This was a real highlight. The whole trip I had been really bent on seeing a sea turtle. I have seen one once before – in the warm crystal clear waters of Pulau Perhentian in Malaysia, after years of wishing to see one, I finally was able to see one there on my last day before I left the island – but I was keen to see one again, and especially now that I had my camera with me!
Well, that dream came true times a thousand! There were TONS of sea turtles feeding out in the water off the beach. We were all super excited when we spotted the first two, feeding by a rock not far from the beach. But the more we snorkeled, the more we saw, the more it became, “Oh, just another sea turtle.” There were so many! I couldn’t even keep count.
Getting up close to a sea turtle
Everywhere I turned there were more and more. It was a bit different than my Malaysia experience – the waters not as clear, the colors of the turtle and surroundings not as bright and tropical feeling – but it was still probably more awesome because of the huge numbers, and the fact that they were so close, sometimes I had to quickly swim away because they were directly under me and almost running into me as they made their way up to the surface for some air!
We also had a bit of a scary experience. I heard a loud splash not far from me and looked to see what it was. I saw a sea lion had come into the water. Excited, I started to swim toward it. Then I saw that it looked really, really big. Then I heard our guide yell to us all to get out of the area! It was a bull male, and they can get a bit aggressive. It’s a good idea not to try to swim near them!
Sea lion pup on Rabida
After some lunch and relaxing, we went to Isla Rabida. There was a nice red beach, again littered with sea lions (made for some nice pictures!). There was right away a really loud young pup, making all kinds of noise. He kept waddling up to us and sniffing around curiously at our stuff. So cute!
We walked along the beach and saw tons more sea lions all the way along, including a pup Victor told us had probably only been born the day before! We saw a big pregnant sea lion as well.
Cuddling sea lions
Then we walked to a lagoon and then up to a nice viewpoint, then back down to do some more snorkeling. I didn’t take my camera this time, which was too bad because there were some really cool fish I hadn’t seen anywhere else before. There were also some sea lions swimming around us, and I spotted a marine iguana up on the land coming down toward the water, and I got to watch him jump in, swim around, and then begin feeding. It would have made for some really great pictures.
After dinner we had a kind of strange ceremony. They had certificates for us declaring that we’d crossed the Equator (a couple times) on our cruise. The weird part was that in order to receive our certificate, we had to say our favorite animal from the Galapagos, which would be our new name, and then we had to act like the animal in the middle of the dining cabin! I chose the blue-footed booby, so I had to fake dive and waddle in front of everyone. Other people were sharks, frigatebirds, sea lions, spotted eagle rays, iguanas, etc. Very random.
Rabida
Then it was time to start thinking about things like tips and packing. None of us could believe that the week was already over. It really flew by!
DAY 8
The last day. Hard to believe! We had an earlier breakfast at 6:30, and then boarded the zodiacs. We went out to a place called Black Turtle Cove. It was lots of calm water in mangroves; it reminded me a lot of the flooded forest I visited in Cambodia.
Once we were into the main area we killed the engines and paddled around. There were tons and tons of sea turtles in the water everywhere, attracted by the calm water. Again, it was unbelievable how many there were, everywhere we turned. The cove was really peaceful and silent, with only the sounds of the insects and birds buzzing around us, along with the occasional quiet slap of water and sound of the turtles breathing as they came up for air.
After spending some time floating around the cove, we headed back out to the open water. Fitting in with our luck, the other zodiac’s engine had died and wouldn’t restart! I take this as a sign as it was someone on that boat that had brought the bad engine luck, so we narrowed down who to blame! Haha. So we had to tow that zodiac behind us until we got to the boat.
Back on the boat we had very little time left to do last minute packing and take a last glimpse around the boat. The week really felt so short, I felt like I’d barely even spent time on the boat (of course, the two days spent mostly on speedboats might have had something to do with it). I definitely could have spent a few more days living that dream-life of a cruise on the Galapagos!
Next thing we knew we were hopping onto another boat and arriving at the mainland, where a bus was waiting to take us to the airport. I had been deep in conversation with Evelina, the Swedish girl, as we were switching boats, and didn’t realize until we were getting off the ferry onto the mainland that I had forgotten my shoes in the crates on the boat, where we’d had to dump them after each excursion. I’d been so used to walking around barefoot, I hadn’t even noticed!
So I had to wait at the pier for them to bring my shoes, and unfortunately this meant I didn’t get to say goodbye to the Swedes, who I had most enjoyed spending time with on the cruise. I had been hoping to get a group photo of our whole crew, but sadly we arrived at the airport and scattered and it never got to happen. Oh well.
We had about three hours to wait around at the airport. Luckily it was all outside, so we could at least walk around and peruse the touristy souvenir stalls in the small area outside the waiting room. And of course there was still only one food place in the airport, with more options than in Quito but even more expensive. But we couldn’t resist getting some soda and chocolate!
After some delays we finally boarded the plane, and that’s where I sit now, writing this.
Once in Quito I will be go, go, go. In just a few hours I will have to visit an agency to book my a jungle tour starting the next day, buy my bus tickets for the night bus tonight, go to the agency where I bought my cruise and see if I can get anything back, and get online to send e-mails, get in touch with people, and let them know I’ll be gone again without any contact.
Then I’ve been invited to a Thanksgiving dinner thrown by the friend of a friend of my cabin-mate from the cruise, so I’ll be celebrating our holiday after all! (I hadn’t even realized it was today!)
Then tonight I will be off on an eight hour bus ride to Lago Agrio, then a boat ride into the jungle to a lodge in the Cuyabena reserve, where I will spend the next five days! Busy busy. But then I’m sure there will be another big update, then I’ll be down to the wire on the last days of my big trip, with a couple short trips to visit the cloudforest in Mindo and the Otavalo markets, then I’ll be ready to come home. Crazy!
Cute sea lion pups
The three of us at the real Equator
I’ve been in Quito the past few days. I’ve also found that I’m starting to pick up some Aussie slang from spending so much time with Kassia and Lauren. Suddenly I find myself thinking or starting to say things like, “I can’t be asked to do such-and-such,” “I reckon blah blah,” or “We’re just gonna rock on up and see about this-and-that.” So if any weird phrases are sprinkled around in my entry, you now know why.
We arrived on Sunday afternoon, as I mentioned before, to a shiny new bus terminal after a surprisingly short and painless bus ride from Banos. Our afternoon in New Town was fairly pleasant and didn’t feel at all like the scary, dangerous, terrible Quito we’d often heard about.
The next day we dove into the city and took the bus (about an hour and a half, switching buses once) to Mitad del Mundo, also known as the Equator. It’s funny because a visit to the equator actually involves visiting two different sites: the big, touristy Equator town/line/monument, and the neighboring museum that features the real, GPS-calculated equator.
Which hemisphere am I in ?
So first we visited the touristy one. It was kind of strangely deserted. I guess because it was a Monday? It was funny because we sat on the plaza in this big, empty town, eating lunch, and listening to this cheesy, tourist-town (think Disneyland) type music that they blasted over this empty town. It almost felt like a scene from a horror movie! Then we took the requisite pictures hopping from hemisphere to hemisphere over the “we-kn0w-it’s-not-actually-real” Equator line and in front of the big monument.
Then we left the little town and walked a few feet down the road to the Museo Inti Nan, site of the actual Equator, as calculated by GPS. (The first town/monument was erected in the 1960’s or something, before GPS, while this one was calculated and marked in the 90’s sometime, I believe.)
Museo Inti Nan and the real Equator
The museum was much more interesting than the previous place. It was kind of strange and different than I’d expected — all outdoors, and almost a bit hippie-ish looking! — but still impressive. We had an English guided tour included in the entrance fee. First he took us around to show us this little hut that was the home of the woman who first lived on the site, then to some areas showcasing random things: a shrunken head, along with a step-by-step lesson on how to create one, stuffed animals from the jungle, examples of different houses and burial tombs that the Shuar peopled used.
Then finally we were led to the (much less hyped than the tourist town one) line of the Equator. It was much less showy, but we again took pictures on it. Then they showed us some interesting experiments. There was a special two-sided sundial, a “which-way-the-water-spins” experiment (they had a movable tub that they first poured water down on the Equator – little to no spin – then on each side of the equator to show how it spins clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the south), a stand-the-egg-up-straight experiment, and then one where you walk on the line with your arms out and eyes closed and “feel” the pull of the opposing forces.
Satisfied with our equatorial experiences, we made our way back to Quito and took some time to grab a snack in a cafe (just in time to head out into the daily afternoon rain), relax at the hostel, and head out to a late dinner. On the way home from dinner we were talking about how safe we felt in Quito, and how it didn’t seem nearly at all as scary or dangerous as people said, when of course we found we’d spoke too soon. Our hostel is only a couple blocks from the main plaza/tourist area, but we hadn’t realized we were walking down another street that was a bit more deserted.
This guy came up to us asking for money. I took my usual plan of action and just ignored him and started walking fast. Unfortunately, Lauren and Kassia either didn’t do this or were held back by him in some way, I’m not sure, but apparently he made some very threatening motions at Lauren and when I turned around to see why they hadn’t caught up to me, he was reaching out to grab at her. So I ran back and we grabbed each other and went into an open shop off the street. The guys there luckily came out and got the guy to go away, and we went back down the way we’d came (we were only a block from the main plaza) and walked around another way to get back to the hostel.
I guess because I had been ahead of them and hadn’t been bothered specifically by the guy and hadn’t seen how he acted toward Lauren and Kassia, I wasn’t that bothered by the incident. It was a bit scary, but not something I would have continued to think much of. But they were really almost a bit traumatized by it, and kept talking about it and how they were ready to just give him all their money. So after a while I started to get more freaked out by it too, and so now we’re all much more wary about being out in Quito.
TeleferiQo
Anyways, the next day we went with two Canadian girls from our hostel to the TeleferiQo, a big cable car that takes you up to 4,100 on a mountain to a place called Cruz Lomo. It’s supposed to be one of Quito’s biggest attractions, and guidebooks all describe it as a “dizzying, hair-raising, thrilling” ride. (They also say it’s $4, but it’s $8. Not a great surprise.) Well, that’s not exactly how I would describe it. I’d more say slow and fairly unexciting. It is really high though, I think one of the highest in the world, so I guess if you were afraid of heights it might be those things.
Kassia and I at the O2 Bar
And the views are pretty great from the top. The Aussies and I also spent a couple bucks to try 15 minutes at the oxygen bar. It was pretty cool, I’d always kind of wanted to try it but they’re pretty expensive (and not exactly common) so I never have. I can’t say that I really felt much difference — I’m guess the benefits they extoll about relaxing your muscles, increasing memory, awareness, etc. are probably more if you do it fairly regularly, but it wasn’t an unpleasant way to spend 15 minutes (and hey, maybe it did help with the altitude and I just didn’t have time to notice since we did it right away). Plus the O2 was “flavored” (scented?) so you could increase the levels of orange, or apple, or whatever the other one was.
Galapagos turtles, etc. instead of gargoyles at the Basilica del Voto Nacional
Then we took the TeleferiQo back down and took a bus to the Old Town. We visited the Basilica del Voto Nacional, which is this gigantic gothic church. It was really cool, with pretty spectacular, colorful stained-glass windows. The coolest detail for me was on the outside, where instead of gargoyles they had Galapagos turtles and lizards!
From there we walked into Old Town, grabbed lunch (this Krishna buffet lunch recommended in all our guidebooks, called Govindas, which was cheap but I really don’t recommend, unless you like the taste of dirt!), and explored a bit.
Plaza San Francisco
We wandered around the main plazas and saw the “dancing virgin” up on El Panecillo from a distance (we weren’t in the mood to take a taxi up and climb it). Then we headed back toward New Town so the girls could do a bit of souvenir shopping in the market.
By then we were all a bit exhausted, and I had to go pay for the rest of my Galapagos trip. I am heading out tomorrow, which is exciting! I managed to get an 8-day cruise for a little more than half of what it regularly goes for in Quito, and less than half of what it would be for someone booking it online! I also had to arrange for my flights, etc. It’s definitely going to be a pricey trip, but I think well worth it (especially since my boat does a unique itinerary that usually only luxury boats do, visiting the islands of Genevosa, Isabela and Fernandina, all of which are a bit farther our and less visited).
We ran into a Kiwi guy that has basically been a day behind us (ran into in Mancora, Cuenca, and Banos all previous!) and went out to dinner with him. So we felt a little better walking back with a guy after dinner 
Today the girls went on a daytrip to Cotopaxi. I decided to pass as I didn’t want to be too exhausted for my early morning tomorrow, and I still needed to get some things out of the way (i.e. buying toothpaste, getting out even more money to pay for the Galapagos entry fees, etc., all that exciting stuff).
Me & Quito (from Cruz Lomo at the top of the TeleferiQo)
Being alone again felt really weird though. Even just wandering around by myself in the morning (which is also when it’s a little more dead, since the power is always out from 7-11am here as part of the mandatory blackouts), the difference in attention is jarring, compared to when I’m usually walking around with two other girls. Again it was back to everyone staring at me, yelling out things at me, etc. I will definitely be happy to get away from that when I leave South America.
So I haven’t spent a lot of time outside the hostel today, admittedly. There’s a bakery right by the hostel that I frequent for breakfast, and I visited a couple agencies inquiring about jungle tours (still have yet to find one that sounds interesting enough — and different enough from my time in Iquitos a couple years ago — to spend the time and money on), as I will have 10 days to fill once I get back from the Galapagos and I’d like to spend as few of them in Quito as possible! I also grabbed lunch near the hostel and have managed not to stray far from the main La Mariscal area.
Yeah, the equator is cool.
Quito has been really interesting, though. The Equator was cool, the TeleferiQo and Old Town were interesting enough as well. The city itself is just a bit intimidating, though. It’s just so huge, it’s not really somewhere I’d like to tackle on my own. I prefer cities that are more walkable and one-type-of-transportation-friendly (i.e. just a subway or something, instead of like here where there’s three or four different types of transport that aren’t at all connected.) I suppose that’s why I enjoyed La Paz (and of course Buenos Aires) so much. And why I pretty much only stayed in Miraflores in Lima.
Another thing to note about Quito is its diversity. There are people from a lot more ethnic backgrounds here than I’ve seen anywhere else in South America. Again, it also seems that people here (in Ecuador in general) dress more “normal” (aka like people from home).
I’ve also noticed that every time I see a couple with a young baby (of which there seem to be tons!), the man is always the one holding and carrying the baby! That’s something you never seen in Peru or Bolivia (or even Chile or Argentina that I can recall). It really seems like there’s just a bit more gender equality here than anywhere else. In fact, in Cuenca we even had a female taxi driver once. That’s been unheard of everywhere else.
So there are a lot of positives here in Ecaudor. And I’m sure it will quadruple in positives in my mind once I’ve done the Galapagos! It’s a shame now about some of the feeling of insecurity here in Quito, but I think even that will become a bit less intimidating in my mind once I’ve been back to being on my own for a bit. I’ve grown a bit soft and it’s been a bit too easy traveling with Kassia and Lauren for the past week and a half. I’ll harden up and get used to my solo ways again soon 
But now we’re off for a farewell dinner before we part ways tomorrow and they head off for some adventures in Colombia. It’ll be at least 8 or 9 days before the next update, but I’m sure it’ll be worth it. Galapagos here I come!
Accomodation: Blue House Hostel – $7/nt for 6 bed dorm, shared bath – pretty good location, nice hostel (wifi, a couple weekly activities including a kind of expensive BBQ, it was pretty social the first night we were here but seems to be kind of hit or miss – a lot of people coming and going, just here before they fly out)
Banos from the hostel roof
After another long bus ride we arrived in Banos. It’s a really beautiful town, entirely surrounded by gorgeous green mountains. We even had a great view of a waterfall right nearby from the roof of our hostel!
Walking to our hostel (after accidentally walking for a while in the completely wrong direction after I remembered one turn wrong) I noticed a couple restaurants with people eating by candlelight and thought it was strange how many romantic restaurants there were in such a small town. Then we arrived at the hostel and found that all the lights were off.
Our first thought was maybe we should find another hostel. Then we learned that because Ecuador is going through a kind of drought, the entire country had forced blackouts at different times, and it seemed to be Banos’s turn. We were too hungry to care that much, so after dropping our stuff we headed out to dinner at a placed called Casa Hood, which would quickly become “our place.”
We ended up having an excellent meal, leaving to find a place for dessert, not finding a place, and returning back to Casa Hood again for dessert as well. In the end we actually ended up eating there for dinner all three nights we were in Banos! Really great food and atmosphere – plus a gigantic book exchange which was nice.
Eucalyptus steam bath
The next day we decided to indulge and have this eucalyptus steam bath offered by our hostel. What an experience that was! First you go into this wooden box, with just your head sticking out, that has eucalyptus burning and full of steam. It gets realllly hot and you have moisture dripping all over you. My legs felt like they were on fire. Then you get out and you have to keep dipping this towel in cold water and running it all over your body. Then you get back in, sit for a while, then get back out and do the same thing again.
You do this two or three times, then the next time you get out you have to sit in this tiled bath/seat full of cold water, and you have to splash yourself with water and the assistant also splashes you with water. It’s FREEZING! Then back into the box again, then the next time out you do the towel again, then have to dump an entire bucket of water over your head.
Steam bath
Finally you get back into the box for the last time, and then comes the worst part of the whole experience. You get out and stand in this open shower. Then the assistant makes you turn around, front, back, sides, etc. while spraying you with this super strong/sharp water from a hose. He “massages” your abdomen and back back and forth for a while too and that REALLY hurts! It’s pretty painful. Then when he gets to your feet it’s just really ticklish!
But it was really cool overall. I’d definitely never done anything like it before. It must have relaxed us pretty well though because we ended up crawling into bed and sleeping for an hour and a half after it!
The rest of the day we spent wandering around Banos, booking a tour for the next day, and just relaxing.
We survived whitewater rafting!
The next day was an exciting one: whitewater rafting! Both Lauren and Kassia had done it before in Cusco, but this was my first time so I was a little bit freaking out. Once we got to the river and they started giving us the safety lesson is when I really started to get terrified. They were talking about what to do if/when you fell off the raft, the raft flipped, etc. and it really started to make me scared.
I had always thought that when you rafted you were actually sitting IN the raft, not ON it. So seeing that I was going to be sitting on the edge (the further to the edge the better) and holding myself on the boat only by wedging my foot as much as possible under a thing in the middle of the raft, I was becoming much less sure about the whole thing.
Once we were on the river, though, it was tons of fun (but still scary)! We were on 3-4 class rapids, and Lauren and Kassia had only done 2-3 in Cusco and they said this was way crazier. Right away we were into huge class 4 rapids. Almost first thing we had to follow the command “INSIDE!” which means throw yourself inside the raft and hold onto the rope around the side as tight as possible or else you’ll fall out! During the lesson when we we learned the different commands, Lauren and Kassia were like, “Oh you’ll never have to use that one, they just teach it to you in case.” Ha! We did it twice!
But it was definitely really thrilling! So much excitement! We even jumped the raft over a rock one time. And they would get us to row into rapids so we’d spin around and around. And many times the raft was totally full of water from crashing into rapids like crazy.
Kassia really happy to be alive
There was only one bad part. We were in some rapids and our guide told everyone to get out (he’d done this a couple times in calm water just so everyone could jump out and swim for a minute). I was still just getting comfortable with being IN the raft, so I stayed in.
But everyone else got out, and they had to just hold on to the rope on the side of the raft and float on the rapids, but Kassia wasn’t able to grab on and she started being carried away on the rapids. It was the scariest minute ever, because I could see her going and was just imagining how much I would be panicking if I were her, and it seemed like forever before the guide was able to grab her and pull her back. Luckily we were almost done rafting by then, but she was really shaken up by it (as she should be).
BUT, aside from that incident, the rafting was totally amazing. I’m not sure it’s something I would do again anytime soon, but it is something I’d definitely do again someday. It was a lot of fun and really, really exciting!
View from Cafe del Cielo
We had lunch with the tour, then went back to Banos to relax. Then we went up to a cafe, called Cafe del Cielo, way up in the mountains that had incredible views of all of Banos and the mountains and the volcano surrounding. We watched the sunset and had a really nice hot chocolate/coffee/snack.
The evening was again spent relaxing and then at Casa Hood for dinner. We planned to go out and get a glimpse of the weekend nightlife in Banos, but I think the early morning and crazy rafting experience had taken it all out of us and we ended up just going back to the hostel and hanging out for a bit before totally crashing in exhaustion.
This morning we woke up feeling the effects of the rafting. From the intense rowing and using everything I had to hold myself in the raft, all my muscles are crazy sore: lower back, sides, abs, butt, and to a lesser extent arms. Every time we have to sit up or move around, we all kind of groan and say “Owwww!”
Anyways, then we had a nice breakfast and a relaxing stroll around Banos before packing up and catching a bus to Quito. I probably could have spent another day or two hanging out in Banos, it was such a nice city, but I also am enjoying having someone to travel with for a bit and Kassia and Lauren were leaving today (they’re in a bit of a rush through Ecuador so they can have some time in Colombia before they flight out in a few weeks).
So the three of us are now in Quito. It was a bit of a shock arriving here. First off it only took three hours to get here, which is a) an INCREDIBLY short bus ride in South America, possibly the shortest I’ve ever had!, and b) an hour shorter than what we’d read the bus ride would be. Then we got off the bus to find ourselves at this shiny, super nice bus terminal/shopping center. This was not at all the Quito we were expecting!
Even on the long taxi ride into the New Town, everything seemed nicer than we had expected from Quito, which has a terrible reputation as being a horrible, dangerous, dirty city. So far it all seems OK! In fact, Ecuador overall seems much nicer than we expected. Though it is supposed to be just as poor as Peru, the buildings and cities seem nicer, the people seem to be generally better off — dressed nicely, etc. Of course it may be just that we’ve only been in nicer cities so far in our time here.
It’s also really, really weird using the American Dollar, which is the official currency of Ecuador. We kept looking at prices and wanting to divide by three (like soles to dollars) or something to convert to the “real” price, but the price we were looking at WAS the real price! It’s always a bit more shocking that way, seeing the price upfront like that. I’m still getting used to it. And it’s also funny because they have the same bills, but they use a mix of American coins and Ecuadorian ones (they have 50 cent pieces, as well as an Ecuadorian 25 cent and 5 cent used alongside the quarter and nickel). And they also use the one dollar coins a lot, which we loathe using in the States!
Overall, though, Ecuador has been better than expected, as none of us were really looking forward to it. I’m starting to get much more excited about the Galapagos as well (will go searching for a deal for a tour tomorrow after we visit the Equator!), as well as getting a bit excited for going home (and to Sweden to finally see my favorite Swede again!)
Accomodation: La Chimenea – $6.50/night for 4-bed dorm – mostly recommended; there’s wifi and computers, a pool (have to pay to swim though), a rooftop cafe serving breakfast (not included) that has great views of a waterfall and the surrounding mountains and town, OK beds/dorms (no lockers though) with ensuite bathrooms.
Mancora beach
After well over a month in Peru, it was hard to believe I was finally at my last stop in the country. And it was also one I’d been looking forward to for a while: the beach!
Mancora is known as being the beach to go to for travelers. It has great surfing as well as a reputation for being sunny and warm all year round. Luckily, it lived up to its reputation! After a couple days under gray skies in Huanchaco, I was happy to arrive, already, at 6 in the morning to a bright blue sky and shining sun.
Loki del Mar
I stayed at the Loki hostel in Mancora, which is brand new (actually celebrated it’s first birthday my first night there, with fireworks and everything!) and was built to be a hostel but looks like a resort. The buildings are blindingly white and funky-nice looking, and there’s a big pool with lounge chairs and a poolside bar all right in the center. So we got to feel like we were staying at a resort (minus the bunkbeds and lockers in the room) while paying hostel prices. Very nice!
There I met back up with two Australian girls, Lauren and Kassia, who I’d met in Lima and run into in Huaraz. I split my days between walking and relaxing on the beach and laying by the pool getting a tan. Not a hard life. The hostel itself was kind of a strange crowd, though, and even their big one-year bash wasn’t really that great. I hung out mostly with the Aussie girls and we didn’t really meet a lot of other friendly people (at least, of course, until the day we were leaving!)
It was nice to be by the beach and relax, though. Again I still felt that it would have been more fun if I’d been with friends. I was constantly thinking back to great times I’d had on beaches back home, in Southeast Asia, in Australia, etc. with good friends. Mancora just couldn’t live up to those memories!
The upside though was the sea was beautiful, I got a bit tan, and I finally started to feel like I was ready to actually DO something besides being a bit lazy. Though at the same time I wasn’t feel incredibly excited about Ecuador and the next five weeks (which I had quickly come to find was far too long to spend in Ecuador).
But lucky for me, the Australian girls were heading up to Ecuador the same day I was, to Cuenca as well. It’s always nice to have someone to share long (8-9 hour) bus rides and border crossings with.
So a little after noon we were on the Cifa International bus heading toward the border. This was the recommended bus by all the guidebooks, but that far from meant it was nice! First thing I was stuffed into a seat next to a woman with her naked baby, who was kicking me and screaming and breastfeeding all at the same time. Later it turned out that apparently she hadn’t paid for a bus ticket and she had to get up, at which time we discovered the baby had pooped everywhere, and it dripped on my seat as she left. Ugh. Not not NOT a pleasant experience at all — thank goodness Kassia had some baby wipes to lend me to wipe off my seat!
The bus ride was more bearable after the woman and the baby were gone, but it was still really crowded and uncomfortable overall. And then after we crossed the border out of Peru, they still made us switch buses! (The apparent reason for taking Cifa was that you didn’t have to do so.) Luckily the Pullman bus we switched into was much, much nicer and not at all crowded so I could have two seats all to myself. Then it was a matter of crossing the border into Ecuador (where they just print a bunch of numbers and words onto your passport instead of giving a nice stamp!) and another five hours driving up to Cuenca.
Main square in Cuenca
Cuenca is a really lovely city. You would never even know it was the third largest in Ecuador. It feels very small and safe, which we could tell immediately even arriving late at night. We took a taxi to a random hostel out of our guidebook, Hostal Monarca, where they only spoke Spanish so it was lucky I could understand most parts of it (though later one miscommunication about where to leave the room key meant we had to pay an extra $3 which was ridiculous.) The three of us were shown to a gigantic room that had four double beds in it (but room for probably ten!) and we all took a moment to collapse and roll around in our big beds.
Then it was out to see the town a bit and grab some dinner. We headed to a place called Blue Monday, where we had some fairly good (but incredibly filling) Mexican food. Then we grabbed dessert at an infamous hot chocolate place called Cacao & Canela. The guidebook had mentioned they had tons of hot chocolate flavors, including mozzarella. I decided I had to order it and see what it meant, but it turned out to mean they just served you a number of slices of cheese on the side. I even tried tossing a few into my (still incredibly delicious!) hot chocolate, but there wasn’t really much mozzarella flavor going on. It was still really good though.
The next day we decided to explore Cuenca. We visited the tourist information office, had breakfast, and walked around the main square, the markets, and along the river all in just a few hours. All of us were feeling just a bit tired and blah. After laying on the beach for a few days, the long hours of traveling and moving up in altitude were taking their toll on us.
Cinema!
Then we discovered the most perfect cure in Kassia’s guidebook: a cinema! And not just any cinema, but a cinema with a food court! Having felt a bit homesick the past few days, this was EXACTLY what I needed. We were so excited, we took a taxi to the place across the river because we couldn’t stand to take the time to walk. The taxi dropped us in front of every long-term-traveler-missing-home’s dream: a mini mall. We immediately grabbed lunch at KFC (which of course was absolutely nothing like the KFC at home, but still “popcorn” chicken and french fries hit the spot!) and bought tickets to see a movie.
We originally went to watch some Scrooge movie with Jim Carey that none of us had ever heard of, but because it was a kid’s movie it was in Spanish so we switched theaters and saw “I Love You Man” instead, which I had seen but it was a long time ago, in South Carolina, at a drive-in so it was almost like seeing a new movie! We walked out of the cinema an hour and a half later much, much happier and more rejuvenated people. And then on the walk home we ran into a guy we’d met in Mancora (well, actually the girls had originally met him in Argentina) and agreed to meet him for dinner later.
The rest of the day was spent doing more relaxing, and then going for a really delicious dinner at a tapas placed called Cafe Eucalyptus. Overall, it was a really great “breather” day for us all. And Cuenca was the perfect place for it. It was a very beautiful and tranquil town. Not at all stressful or overwhelming, a perfect way to begin our time in Ecuador.
Now I’m in Banos, and I already love it! So far we’ve already had some really amazing food and had a eucalyptus steam bath, which is an interesting but good experience. Now we’re off to see about some whitewater rafting and whatnot, but I’ll do a full Banos update later.
Huanchaco Beach
The past couple days I have been in Huanchaco, a small beach town outside of Trujillo. The main reason people visit either of these towns is to visit the surrounding ruins.
I arrived on the night bus from Huaraz with two French guys and a Spanish guy, so we decided to visit the Chan Chan ruins together. I have to admit, I wasn’t overly impressed. Part of it was surely that we decided not to spend the extra money to hire a guide (being that there wasn’t a common language between all of us that we could listen in), and so we were basically wandering around a big mud-adobe area that was, well, pretty ruined. You could only sort of imagine what it must have been back in the first century when it was built.
The main complex, the museum, and two huacas (temples) are all included in the entrance ticket, and crazy us decided to try walking between them all. It was a LOT of walking, and we ended up skipping out on the last huaca because we were pretty unimpressed and the ruins had thus far not been worth the effort!
So we all separately made our ways back to Huanchaco. I spent some time walking along the beach. It was nice to be on the ocean, but I have to admit that it really made me miss a lot of people from home, our random trips in college to Charleston or Myrtle Beach, or spring breaks in Florida. It would have been nice to have someone to share it with.
There’s really nothing much to do in Huanchaco, so by 9pm we were all back in our dorm, all on our netbooks just making use of the hostel’s wifi!
Murals in Huaca de la Luna
Today Oriol (the Spanish guy) and I headed out early to buy our bus tickets for tonight and to visit the Huacas del Sol y Luna. These were much more impressive (to me) than Chan Chan. The Huaca del Sol is just a huge pyramid. The Huaca del Luna you can actually go inside, and what I liked about it was how well preserved all the murals were. They were all over, and many still retained their color! It was definitely more interesting.
We took lunch in the Plaza de Armas in Trujillo, which is surely the only nice place in the city! The buildings around it are colorful and it looks really nice! The lunch was different. I got the famous Peruvian dish, aji de gallina, which was fine enough. But the soup I got before (it was a cheap 4.50 soles set lunch) came out complete with an entire chicken foot still in it. The little chicken claw was sticking out of the soup staring me down the whole time and kind of made me lose my appetite!
The beach, with a tortora boat (Huanchaco is famous for them)
Then it was back to Huanchaco again. While it is definitely nice staying by the sea rather than in Trujillo, it is a bit of a pain getting the collectivo back and forth between them (about 30 minutes each way). The collectivos get very crowded, and the seats are so close together it is impossible for someone with even slightly long legs to fit in them! Today we somehow found ourselves squeeze into the back seat multiple times, which meant crushed legs and banging heads on the ceiling!
All in all, Trujillo was a pretty necessary stopover on my way up the coast, but it’s been gray and the ruins weren’t exactly life changing, so I am read
y to head up the coast to Mancora tonight!
Accomodation: Hostel Naylamp – 15 soles/nt for dorm; right on the beach, has wifi, hot water, all the regular necessities, a nice courtyard with hammocks. Breakfast not included, but has a decent cafe that is open all day. I’d say it’s probably the best deal you’ll find in town.
View from my hostel
The other night I grabbed a night bus up to Huaraz. Arriving at 6:30 in the morning, I was quick to call my hostel, Caroline Lodging, to have someone pick me up and show me to my room! I spent the majority of the day sleeping. Rising from sea level to the high-altitude town of Huaraz overnight, plus not sleeping that great on the bus anyways, took its toll on me. It was the first time I could actually feel the altitude (I even woke up on the bus at one point realizing it was harder to breathe).
After a day of mostly sleeping (walking around and exploring town didn’t take too long), I was ready to get out and see the Huascarán National Park and Cordillera Blanca mountains. So I decided on a daytrip to the famous Laguna 69. Being a daytrip, I didn’t expect it to be too difficult. I was in for a bit of a surprise!
Trekking to Laguna 69
Our day began at about 6:30 when we loaded into the van for a three hour drive to the park and the start of our trek to the lagoon. Almost as soon as we started walking (on the first part, which is “flat”) I could already feel the straining in my calves. It wasn’t at all what I’d call steep, but it was a consistent slight incline that at first I could really feel. Eventually that was fine, but there wasn’t really much of a trail per se, and we were just a group of us from the hostel without any guide, just a map the hostel had given us. We had a few moments of confusion about which way to go, and there were a couple times we had to cross a river or two and had to scout out a good place to cross.
After crossing the river we left the grassy and forested valley area (full of cows!) and traipsed across some rocky terrain to what was the second part of the trek. At the briefing the night before we hadn’t really been told much about the second part, so I just assumed it would be easy, as the third part was described as the steep switchback part. Well, the second part wasn’t easy! In fact, it was steep and switchbacked in itself! And long!
More views while trekking
We had been told that we would eventually reach a small lake and that would be the halfway point of the trek and the beginning of the third and final part. Huffing and puffing up the second part (like I said, I was really feeling the altitude at this point — and feeling a bit lightheaded and having extra trouble breathing from my cold as well!), I kept anxiously anticipating this lake.
Finally I reached the lake (I was at the head of the group, except for a crazy Frenchman who had missed the crossing at the river, taken the wrong way, and yet still somehow passed me on the second part and jaunted off ahead) and sat for maybe five minutes to catch my breath and relax.
Then I was off again, ready for the final part. First you are in a big grassy area, and unfortunately here I got a bit lost as I couldn’t find where the trail up the mountain started. So I waited a bit and eventually the Swiss guy and Swedish couple from my group caught up and found the path (I had dropped my map somewhere, why I couldn’t find it). Soon I was ahead again, but I was really really feeling this trek! It seemed like an incredibly difficult one!
We had been told that the trek would take about 3 1/2 hours, and that the fastest time someone’s done was two hours and 15 minutes. So I was thinking maybe I would be able to do it in three hours since I am fast. But after two hours of walking I was starting to feel exhausted. Another hour of this? Steep uphill with switchbacks…it seemed endless. Then I saw the crazy French guy ahead of me, standing on a rock. I went up and asked him if he had already been to the lake and he said yes, it took him only one hour and 40-some minutes! I told him he was crazy, then he told me it was only another 50 meters up and then a short flat walk to the lagoon.
The new waterfall crashing forth!
This is why I call him my beacon of hope! Haha. So after that I felt totally rejuvenated and rocked up the last bit of uphill, finding myself soon at the most incredible sight! Laguna 69 (no idea why that’s the name) is absolutely gorgeous. The water is the most unbelievable blue color. This is pure water straight from the glacier above! And there are waterfalls all around, with impressive snow-covered mountains on all sides.
Soon the Swiss and the Swedish arrived as well, along with the Frenchman again, and we all took our requisite pictures and sat gazing in awe at the sight before us. Then I heard this loud noise that sounded like thunder. My first thought was, “Great, a storm is coming.” But then I looked up and saw a gigantic rush of water burst forth at the top of the mountain. I had literally just witnessed the birth of a waterfall from a glacier! It was seriously one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen! Before I knew it a full-fledged waterfall existed where none had just moments before. As the Swedish girl said, “Global warming in action.” Yikes!
Los Rapidos - The fast walkers! Me, the Swiss guy, the crazy Frenchman, and the Swedes.
Because we had done the trek so fast, we were able to relax for over an hour at the lagoon (which is at 4,800m by the way, or 15,700ft). The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm. We each found a rock to lay and just rest and admire our surroundings. Eventually five of the other six in the group made it (one older woman gave up halfway and turned back). We were told it often rained in the afternoons so the Frenchie, Swiss, a Spanish girl, and I all then started back the same way we’d came.
The walk back flew by compared to coming up! Of course going so much downhill is still a bit of a challenge and hard on your knees, but we chatted and concentrated on the walk ahead of us and it went by quickly. The hardest part was finding our way back once we had to cross the river. We couldn’t find where we’d originally crossed, so we had to find a somewhat doable replacement crossing and then kind of bushwhack our way through some prickly trees until we eventually reached the “path.”
The hardest part, in fact, was the very last maybe three minutes or so that we had to climb up big stone steps to get to the road! Since the Frenchman and I reached the end first, we go to watch everyone’s unhappy faces as they did that last aching climb! Haha. Then our bus, who was supposed to be waiting for us the whole time, wasn’t there and we had to wait for him to come back. (He told us we should be back by 3:30 at the latest, and then he didn’t even arrive until after then, once everyone was back!) But lucky for him, it hadn’t started raining or else we would have been much more upset about it.
Overall it was a really great day! I was a bit sick on the loooong (bumpy!) drive back to Huaraz. All I’d had was crackers and a small bag of yucca chips, and I was starting to get a migraine (probably from the quick and extreme changes in altitude, complemented by the lack of substantial food). I thought I was going to throw up or pass out before we got back to the hostel, but luckily we arrived in time and I nearly ran into town (a feat in itself, as here our hostel is at the bottom of a huge bank of stairs that are killer and leave you breathless even in normal circumstances!) and got a gigantic plate of a delicious burger and fries for only 7 soles at a place called La Brasa Roja, which had been recommended to me by a couple girls the night before.
In the end, I think I’m ready to take a break from trekking for a while and head to the beach! Tonight I will catch a bus to Trujillo/Huanchaco and visit the Chan Chan ruins, then Friday night I will catch a bus to Mancora. There I will bunk up in my fave hostel chain, Loki, meet up with a couple friends, and spend a few wonderful days relaxing on the beach before heading into Ecuador. Already I feel my trip is almost winding down — it’s been almost two months now (in 3 days!) and just over five weeks left. Unbelievable!
Accomodation: Caroline Lodging – 13 soles!/nt in dorm – Really great place to stay, for such a good price! And they will pick you up and drop you off at the bus station. Decent place to meet people, help arrange treks and daytrips, good breakfast (bread and jam plus a “surprise” — pancakes, cake, etc — addition every morning). Decent rooms and bathrooms. Only downside: pay internet, no wifi.
Really since Cusco I’ve been pretty lazy about the whole tourist thing. I mean, who says you have to always do everything you’re “supposed” to do? That’s the beauty of solo travel! So here in Lima I’ve basically stayed only in Miraflores. And why not? It is a really beautiful area, and it keeps me liking Lima despite all the bad things people say about it.
Miraflores, for one, does live it to it’s name. I mean I am always walking around thinking, “Mira! Flores!” (“Look! Flowers!”) and it’s spring so the flowers are blooming and gorgeous. And everywhere you go there are parks, parks, and more parks. It’s wonderful. At first I was a bit disappointed that they’d taken this beautiful coastal cliff and slapped a mall down on it. Then I walked a bit further along the coast and realized there are little parks everywhere along the coastline.
Parque del Amor
The other day I just spent hours park-hopping along the coast. There’s el Parque del Amor, which is basically a mini Parc Guell, with benches decorated with broken ceramic, etc. And a giant somewhat promiscuous lovers statue in the middle of the park. And also a ton of Peruvians making out.
Then there’s a park around a lighthouse, a small park with just a bunch of benches, one with weird sculptures, and on and on. Eventually I walked my way out to a huge park that was filled with just locals. It had tons of places to sit and watch the ocean and a big playground for kids. I sat there for a long time, just thinking.
The coast in Lima
It was then that the thought actually struck me that, whoa, I was here in this place soooo far from home, all on my own. And I had been for almost two months. It was really weird to think about it, because it just didn’t feel like a big deal. I guess partly because though I may wander around in the day by myself, every evening I’m always meeting new people and I never feel alone. And I have (knock on wood) yet to face any really huge difficulties with traveling on my own. Hopefully it stays that way!
Anyways, I did celebrate Halloween here in Lima. It was pretty fun, though nothing overly special. We eventually went to a party at another hostel where at least almost everyone was dressed up, and I ran into a couple Irish guys that I had known in Cusco.
Also, I suppose due in part to my laziness and occasional tendency to indulge myself because I’m alone, I have been embracing the obsession Lima seems to have with fast food. I can now expertly tell you that though they have every fast food chain here that we have in America (except apparently Wendy’s and Taco Bell), the food is NOT the same. For one, Burger King, KFC, and McDonald’s all have the same generic french fries. Very sad for me who loves Burger King fries and KFC wedges. Pizza Hut breadsticks and pizza just taste like butter, and their dipping sauce is this weird unappealing pink sauce. Also Pizza Hut here has invented the absolutely weirdest fast food thing ever. I wanted the cheapest thing they had, which was called a “Pizza Roll.” It turned out to be pizza bread with two hot dogs, cheese, and mustard baked inside it. So gross!
But despite all that, Lima isn’t a bad place to hang out for a few days. Especially now that the spring has come, it’s warm and beautiful out. Though I have had problems with allergies — not sure if it’s because it’s spring or because the city is a bit smoggy. But so many people skip out on Lima, and I think they should reconsider. Miraflores is beautiful and the coast is a really nice place to go. Plus there’s surfing and tons of paragliding if you’re looking for something a bit more adventurous!
