Island Hopping: Part Two!!

This post continues with the adventures of the recent island-hopping trip. Part one began in the post titled “Iguanas, sea lions, and boobies, OH MY!”.  Warning, I think this is my longest post yet. There was just SO MUCH that happened over these five days! (Once again, photo credit to Jacquie Lonning and Corrine Dorais). 

Island Hopping – Part Two: Isabella

Monday (Halloween!)

In the morning we all hopped onto three boats that took us on the two and a half hour journey from Santa Cruz to Isabella.

A map to give some reference! We were based out of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz. Then we went to Isabella to the mainland area across from "Tortuga". We also climbed the Sierra Negra volcano shown on the fat part of Isabella.

We arrived around lunchtime to an amazing island where the roads are still made of sand and the population is much smaller. It felt much more intimate than Santa Cruz where many of us had felt like just another tourist instead of part of the community.

Cozy little town with sand roads

We were quick to get settled and have lunch and were soon out to explore! First we all got in small boats and headed out to an area full of "aa" (pronounced "ah ah") lava rocks. On the way we got to see PENGUINS! They were so tiny and cute! Very exciting!!

Just hanging out on the rocks! 

Then we got to our destination where we could see washed up and dried out coral, sea lions, hundreds of iguanas, and stretches of beautiful coast with big crashing waves. We also got a glimpse of some tintoreras (or white tipped sharks) in their natural resting place. However, the number of iguanas was absolutely insane – they were everywhere just piled on top of each other drying out and warming up on the lava rocks. There were even huge iguanas with little babies no bigger than your thumb resting on their backs. It was pretty neat.

Iguanas hanging around everywhere                         Coral on the rocks

Next we headed out to a sheltered area for some snorkeling. The day was cool and cloudy and the water a bit chilly but we all jumped in anyway (of course!). We got to see turtles, rays, and lots of fish before it was time to head back. It was time for a nap before dinner for me – I had taken some Dramamine for the ride over to Isabella because of the rough experience we had going to Santa Cruz. The water ended up being calm but that didn’t stop the drowsiness of the Dramamine from setting in full force. After dinner we walked down the beach to a little bar with an amazing fire pit. It was soo nice just to sit by the fire with the ocean about 100yds behind us and listen to the crashing waves.

Tuesday

The next day we were up early to head out on a boat to travel an hour to snorkel in the lava tunnels. Our small group was separated into two so there were only about 7-8 people in each boat. As we headed out we could see the water was big. The swells were around 6ft and up to almost 10ft at times. On the way we stopped at this neat rock in the middle of the ocean. It used to be a place where fisherman would store supplies so they wouldn’t have to travel all the way to the ports.

Enjoying sitting on the side of the boat with the waves in my face

The 'supply rock' with foamy waves crashing around it

From there we headed to the area we were suppose to go towards land to see the lava tunnels. We had heard rumors that big waves would prevent us from getting into this area. Apparently the boats have to time their entry to go between two wave sets, almost impossible with big swells. Only the best captains know how to navigate this and on this day it was too dangerous. So instead we traveled back a bit to another area with similar features. The captains expertly navigated towards the shore and through a series of inlets. When we got out we walked along more lava rocks. We got to see an octopus that was about a foot long which our guide even pulled out of the water to show us! A few people got to touch it but it got annoyed and kept inking so we had to put it back.

The area the boat captains navigated into

Then we all jumped in the water to snorkel through the natural formations of lava. Here we got to swim just feet away from white tipped sharks that were resting. Very neat. We also got to see a sea horse hanging out in the reeds – amazing!! The water was chilly (again) but definitely worth it!

Sea horse on a stick underwater! We got to snorkel right up to it!

We got to head back for a leisurely lunch and then headed to our second snorkeling spot of the day. This was very close - just walking distance from our hotel. Several people decided not to snorkel because it was a bit chilly but I was curious and jumped in with about 5 others. Although the water supported a lot of fish (as well as mangroves) we could see traces of gas (from the boats) in the water. The gas made it look like everything was a mirage when you swam into certain areas. We made a note to try and avoid accidentally swallowing any of water here and continued on. We swam through mangroves and lava rocks to see lots of fish and plants. After we got out we headed back to the hotel to change and then, of course, to explore Isabella’s panaderia J We found they had amazing treats there are Jacquie and I decided to splurge on some lemon meringue pie! We spent the evening playing cards and playing around on the rocks by an amazing beach!

Just a little excited about this pie!

On the rocks along the shore

Wednesday

Today we were off to head up the giant Sierra Negra volcano (one of five on this huge island)!! We were taken up to the base of the hike and emerged in a misty cool cloud of fog. The trek up and back would take about 6 hours but after an initial steep climbs it was mostly flat. The only challenge was walking on the lava rocks that appeared about 2/3rds into the hike. After a couple hours the fog burnt off and we emerged into a warm, dusty path that took us right along the huge crater. 

Jac and I looking out toward the crater

The crater is the largest, active crater in the world (the largest inactive crater is in Africa). It’s 10km wide and amazing to see. At the top we got to head out onto the volcano and explore. First we got to crawl under some of the lava in a tunnel about 10-15ft long. Then we went to feel a hot spot where the hot steam fogged our sunglasses. After a few pictures it was time to head back down for lunch.

Sucked into the tunnel under the earth :-P

View out towards the top of Isabella and the sea

We then headed to a wonderful Hacienda and enjoyed an awesome buffet lunch, saw some more giant tortoises, and got to spend a few minutes relaxing in a hammock before heading back to town. 

Here I am hugging a giant tree (these were also found in Tiputini). They say if you hug the tree the spirit man will take all your bad energy. I'm also holding two pink bananas that I had picked!

Soon we headed back and spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the big waves along the coast and trying to rinse off the full layer of mud and dust that covered us from head to toe from our hike.

Thursday

On our last full day, Thursday, all the GAIAS students joined together for our excursion. We headed out along the coast to visit a historical site called “the wall of tears”. Back in the early 1900s Isabella was used as a penal colony (and later, as a US base during WW2). There are remnants of both scattered around the island. The wall of tears is a wall made of lava rock that the prisoners were forced to build. The idea was that it would eventually create a square area where the prisoners would be forced to live. However, they completed only one and a half sides due to the backbreaking work in the hot sun. Sick or tired men were forced to work twice as hard to speed their recovery or their death. Additionally, over 100 prisoners that tried to escape were brought back to the wall and shot one by one.

Looking out from a corner of the wall of tears

After this we walked back along the road and saw some wild giant tortoises. We stopped at three places along the way the way back. The first was a fresh water area surrounded by mangroves where the soldiers used to get drinking water. It provided a shady area for us to take a much-needed break from the sun. The second was another neat lava tunnel that goes far below the ocean. We walked in until the water came up to our shorts to cool off. The third and final stop was a beach where we just happen to see two male iguanas fighting over territory! It was like a ceremonial dance as they circled each other and hissed back and forth.

Lunch was once again at the hacienda with the comfy hammocks. That place had some of the best food on the island! Our last afternoon was adventure filled. We were told we might be going rappelling into one of the volcanic craters, which we were really excited about. However when we arrived we learned our idea of rappelling and their idea of rappelling was VERY different….

We split into two groups and I volunteered to go first with about 14 others. A man came around and handed us 5ft long pieces of climbing rope and regular rope that he fastened into makeshift harnesses around each of us. We were then handed a 4ft long piece of rope with a non-locking carabineer and a bike helmet and told we were ready to go. I was more then curious to see where this would all lead.

Ready for adventure!!

On the trip we had one staff member whose husband and daughter were also accompanying her. We had her husband go first since he spoke Spanish and I followed him with Jacquie behind me. We walked to the edge of a large gapping hole and looked down. The first part was a muddy/vegetation filled slope that then lead into a black hole (where we assumed we’d find lava rock and the actual crater). 

Looking down from the top of the descent

We soon found out we were not actually rappelling but instead climbing down “ladders” along the steep slope that would lead us into the crater. The ladders were muddy and wet and they twisted and turned as we went down one by one. It took about an hour for everyone to get down since we had to space ourselves out. Although we had on harnesses many of never clipped into anything since there wasn’t much to clip too. The harnesses were essentially useless although a few people were able to find ways to make them work.

Looking up one of the rope ladders

After we got through all the rope style ladders we got to this last straight ladder into the actual crater.

As we got down we started to explore a vast, dark hole filled with lava rocks. We found bones of horses and cows and lots of slippery rocks. Our guide came down fifth and just watched us explore. It’s pretty much a liability nightmare but we were left to wander along the rocks down into the crater. Luckily someone had a flashlight so we could see past the small area the sun lighted. We eventually found our way to an even deeper hole that lead far beyond where we could see. Eventually we wandered back towards the ladder to take us up and as the last person got down those of us who had been down for a while started back up.

Muddy and wet but having a great time down in the crater!

It was an awesome experience, although I’m not sure it’s something that will be done again based on safety concerns. The last part of the day we spent exploring a cave where a man used to live. He would spend three weeks in the cave and one week in the sun each month. Apparently your yes adjust after a couple days..... We walked into the cave (with headlamps this time!) and explored for about 30min. At one point we all turned off our lights and the darkness was enveloping! To end the day we politely asked our bus driver to drop us off at the panaderia (which he kindly did) so we could stock up on goodies for our long boat ride home the next day :D

Then we walked to the fire pit near the shore and enjoyed a happy hour special. However, the day did not end well. When we got to dinner Christina learned she had a message to call home where she received some sad news around a serious medically related-issue within her family. The rest of the night was spent sitting out on the beach with the girls and toilet paper for tissues watching the waves crash and spending time in each other’s company. It was a sad night to end a very good day.

The beach right after sunset

Friday

We took the boat home early in the morning and despite the 4hr ride the time passed fairly quickly (esp with our snacks!). We were all glad to see our home island and we were welcomed by the barking of the sea lions (which we had missed quite a bit during the week - no other island has so many!).

The whole trip was a huge adventure full of friends, laughter, new experiences and some sadness. It’s definitely something I’ll always remember.

This one time, when I got married in Ecuador.....

I'm interrupting the blog posts on the island hopping to give a little explanation to some pictures popping up on Facebook....

Wedding Bells


So a couple entries ago I wrote about our field trip we took around the island. As I mentioned, we made a stop at the Hacienda up in the highlands. On that day, as we walked around the grounds, we passed a little chapel and Amy mentioned that the owner of the Hacienda, Giovanni, had the ability to marry people. Interesting.... Then one of the first nights of our island hopping trip we were all hanging around in the room chatting. Someone mentioned that it would so neat if Jon and I could get married here and that's when it all began.

Shelby and Christina, along with some others, came up with the perfect idea - to have a wedding ceremony for Jon and I when he came the following week! It would be a once-in-a-lifetime type experience. Although you can't legally marry in Ecuador without US papers (which we didn't have) it would still be close to the real thing and lots of fun. Why not throw a spontaneous wedding in the Galapagos?! So the planning started!

I bought a white "dress" (beach cover up) our last night in Santa Cruz and sent a quick email to Jon. I didn't tell him what was happening, only to "bring a nice shirt and shorts/pants, something you might wear if we were to go out to an anniversary dinner". Amy emailed Giovanni and confirmed that we could do the wedding on Wednesday at 5pm. That's about as far we could get on another island so further preparations were put on hold til our return.

On Saturday Jon and Dan arrived to the island. One of our first stops was lunch and since pretty much every GAIAS student knew what was happening we figured we better tell them what was going on. Jon was really excited and totally on board. However, as much as we really wanted this to happen we didn't want to spend our 6 days planning the whole time. Luckily, Shelby and others graciously took over the work of making the wedding happen and planned everything!

The girls bought supplies to make pizzas and cake (of which there were 3 -- two quinoa cakes made a student of Dorys (Shelby's host Mom and my former tutee) and one vanilla with strawberries made by Sarah and Elysse). Shelby's host mom Dorys helped her buy a small bouquet and a flower for my hair. All the other students helped out too. We had a photographer, a musician, someone to do my hair, someone to do my makeup, and lots more! Everything was coordinated via Facebook (who needs those formal invitations anyway!?) and around 35 GAIAS students came plus three Ecuadorian host families and several Hacienda workers and volunteers!

The day of the wedding everyone got really dressed up (we don't have many excuses to wear our few nice clothes here) and took taxis up to the Hacienda. Even though it was raining it was fairly warm and we found a covered area to do the ceremony. The following are pictures that were not taken by me (credit to Jacquie and Dan, Corinne, Erin, and especially Sam) to show what happened:

Our sweet ride up to the Hacienda in the back of a taxi

Preparations begin! Here inside the Hacienda Jon gets some advice (in Spanish) from Paul who is an Ecuadorian and one of the workers at the Hacienda

However, Jon was soon sent to another part of the Hacienda and the girls got to work on my hair and makeup. I definitely felt pampered - it was pretty amazing!

Jon wasn't forgotten - Elysse is pinning a flower to his shirt here

We had a whole procession - the IPSL girls were bridesmaids (minus Christina who left that morning for the US to be with her family for personal reasons - but she was absolutely there in spirit) and walked two by two with Dan and Jacquie last and finally me. Giovanni (pictured) performed the ceremony (in English) with everyone looking on. 

In one of the tourist shops we bought $1 Galapagos rings which we exchanged

Part of the ceremony also included this fruit known as a "Tiger's Egg" or "Tiger's Ball" (although upon googling it I couldn't find anything so not sure of the actual name). It's SO sour and Giovanni had us each eat half. After we swallowed he said the fruit is representative of relationships - the sour times are only there for the moment, like the taste of the fruit, and you have to remember all the happy, sweet moments. It was very cool!

After the ceremony we processed back out and the celebrations began!

We had punch complete with fresh oranges that Jacquie, Dan, and Paul picked from the trees at the Hacienda a couple hours before the wedding.

We also did wedding pictures (luckily the rain slowed to just a mist!). And yes, I have real intense tan lines on my chest!

Classic shot :D

The wedding party: Sarah, Amy, Jacquie, me, Jon/Bearclaw, Dan, Shelby, and Elysse

And just the bridesmaids!

Despite the rain we still had some fun outside! My shoes (dark blue flip flops) are my something blue. I also had something borrowed, new, and old!

We took lots of pictures with friends including this one with Dorys and her husband!

Everyone worked together to make some amazing pizza (a rare treat here) in the Hacienda oven. Many of the GAIAS students spent hours to put together 16 delicious pizzas!

They even made us our own heart shaped one!!

No wedding is complete without a bouquet toss! Jon spun me around even though I swear I threw it straight it went way to the right, surprising Corinne who caught it! 

Not everyone can say their wedding included a donkey - Here we are with the Hacienda's donkey (named Ricky Martin) who was hanging out a few feet away.

This was the cake cutting - we started with the quinoa cake (which tastes a bit like pumpkin pie) and also enjoyed the strawberry vanilla cake too!

Yum :D

Finally the celebrations died down and we headed back into town. We ended the night at a little bar where we got a first dance (pictured) and got to sit by a fire with some beer and popcorn under the stars with friends.

The only bad part of the night was that both Jon and I ended up getting sick (vomiting). Rumor has it that the tiger egg fruit is mildy poisonous. It seems that for Ecuadorians it might just be sour but for "gringos" it might not sit so well. No matter, we were fine and recovered fairly quickly the next day.

Overall it was an amazing wonderful experience. It absolutely would not have been possible without help from SO MANY different people who really made things happen. Both Jon and I are really grateful for everyone's help in making such an unforgettable experience. 

We're calling this "wedding 1.0" or the practice wedding. Get ready for wedding 2.0 - coming next fall (maybe!) in Portland, OR!!

Iguanas, sea lions, and boobies, OH MY!

Wow! It’s been quite an amazing two weeks! There’s so much to write about! I haven’t been on much between the island hopping trip and Jon coming to visit (he just left yesterday). The next two posts will be about the island hopping trip and the third post will be about the time that Jon spent here! Apologies for the length of all!

 Island Hopping – Part One: Santa Cruz 

So back on October 28^th we turned in our summer papers, presented our class presentations and turned in our research papers all by 12pm. Then it was time for a much needed vacation!! At 1:30pm everyone piled onto two boats to head to Santa Cruz. 

Shot of GAIAS as we headed away from San Cristobal!

Unfortunately the water was quite rough and the boat was overcrowded (22 people in a 19 person capacity boat). They had to pull down the trap covering meaning it was quite hot leading many of us to feel pretty queasy (and a couple to even get sick) on the 1.5hr ride over. However, we got to Santa Cruz and the sun came out! Beautiful!

Santa Cruz is the most populated island which was immediately apparent by the abundance of tourist shops and variety of restaurants (there’s even MULTIPLE pizza places!!!!). We headed to our hotel which was really nice. Amy, Jacquie, Christina, Alexis (a marine bio student), and I shared a room. Since it was my birthday we decided to go in search of some dessert and drinks before dinner (why not right?!). We found an incredible dessert place which had awesome apple pi and ice cream waffles which we enjoyed with some caipirinhas (a Brazilian drink that is sort of like a mojito, only with lime). From there we headed to dinner which was so delicious and they even did a special birthday surprise for me – a HUGE piece of cake and all the waiters singing “feliz cumpleaños”! They even smashed my face in the cake, a traditional way to celebrate birthdays J It was a great 25^th birthday!

Cake in the face!!

The next two days (Sat. and Sun.) we spent on Santa Cruz. We are going back in a couple weeks so we didn’t spent as much time there. On Sat we traveled to Seymour Island via a pretty sweet yacht. We saw some amazing wildlife including the frigate birds with their huge red chests, inflated because they were preparing to mate. We also saw blue footed boobies and a sea lion who had just given birth! 

Mom, baby (with after birth), and a curious bird

Frigate bird with inflated red chest

Blue footed boobies!!

Later in the day we went to a wonderful beach where we spent a couple hours playing the water and enjoying the sand. Unfortunately, there were blue-bottle jelly fish in the water which gave a handful of people some pretty good stings. This is also where I took my underwater camera underwater (go figure) and it broke L Sad day. Therefore, the rest of the pictures for the trip are from various other cameras including Jacquie’s.

That night there were Halloween celebrations all over the island. I really love Halloween so I was excited to hear a group of students were dressing up to go out! We all put on whatever clothing we had to make costumes. A group of us went as “80s girls” with crazy side ponytails and outrageous brightly colored outfits. There were also sports players, trolls, models, and other crazy outfits. We must have looked pretty crazy around town. We went to several discotechs (dance clubs) looking for the best deals and had some fun dancing! A group of us headed back early because we knew we had a big day tomorrow but I know some folks stayed out til the wee hours of the morning.

The best 80s costumes we could come up with!!

Sunday was also an excellent day. First we headed out on a VERY choppy boat ride to go snorkeling. There were nine of us in my group so it was small which was nice. It was really cold but we all jumped in and were rewarded with amazing snorkeling - full of great fish! I started swimming to a slightly deeper area to check out a large school of fish that were swimming really quickly. I dove down to check them out and when I looked out all of sudden SHARK! It was a big guy just lurking about 20ft away. It totally caught us all by surprise but was really cool to see!

Then we were back in the boat to go check out more sharks and iguanas (however, for this view of the sharks we stayed on dry land!). The iguanas were all over the lava rocks - we saw dozens. They aren't dangerous so you can get up real close to them (when they hold still). It felt a little like being in jurassic park - almost creepy!

A HUGE iguana!

Our last stop of the morning was a river that was partially salt water and partially fresh water cut between two high cliffs. This was the place we went cliff jumping (one of my favorite parts of the trip!!). We climbed up to the top, about 45ft up, and looked down. It was definitely intimidating to see how far down it was but the way the cliffs were there was really little danger of hitting any rocks. They told us to jump like a pencil and so off we went! Jac jumped before me. Unfortunately she started absolutely perfect but by the time she got to the water she had accidentally started to tip backwards causing her landing to be on her back and leaving her with some amazing bruises (but no serious problems). I jumped without any issues - it was the craziest feeling to be in the air for long enough to realize that I was still falling!! It was really freaky the first time but after that I went back and jumped again! Super great adrenaline rush!

Not the best pic (video coming soon) but you can get a sense of the heigh even though you can't see the water!

After this we had a break for lunch and then we went to visit a neat lava tunnel which was pretty cool. Finally, we ended at a beach to relax but unfortunately it was pretty chilly. Corinne, Elysse, Travis, and I went in the water but ultimately we left early because both those on land and those in the water were chilly. The night was fairly uneventful although we did do a little shopping and lots of chatting as we got ready to head to Isabella the next day!!