We left Sunday. We had everything packed and ready to go. We flew to Houston and then to Quayaquil, Ecuador. It was late already and we went to a small little hotel place for the nigt. The next morning we woke up early, went back to the airport. Calros forgot my dad´s laptop bag with his nice Viao laptop and all his material for the 2 presentations he was going to give at the Maely´s conference in Chicago when we got back. But we ended up tracking it down. So we flew from Guayaquil to the Galapagos islands. We were all excited when we got there because the airport was very small and outdoors. We ran into our guide, Federico. We got on a bus that took a 20 minute drive to the other side of the island. From there we took a short 5 minute ride on a boat to the neighboring island. There we took a cab all the way to the hotel. The cabs here are all the same: white toyota pick up trucks. We look the 45 minute drive up the moutainish background into the ity. The first thing to see that was man made was the gas station...$1.50 a gallon. It was the only gas station of the island. The driver said that since the islands were a big touristic place, Ecuador was subsidizing the gasoline so that the agencies there would not be affect. Sounds really nice, doesnt it?
We were at the Leon del Mar hotel. It was fairly nice; had a pool in the inside, a giant tortus shell, a filtered water cooler, an eating place, and a old computer with super slow internet all in the lobby. We had 2 rooms: One for Christopher, Calros and me and the other for Micheal and my parents. We went out to eat at this small nice restaurant that ended up being our place for food the rest of the time on the island Santa Cruz. There we were offered the same 2 choices that would remain for the res of the trip...Chicken or Fish. That was it. We got used to it really fast. After that we went strait to our first trip. We went on a boat and went over to small island off the coast. There the 3 older boys and my dad went snorkeling for our first time at the island Floriana. The water was so clear it was amazing. There was coral there and tons of very colourful fish. We went to another few spots close by that were very nice.
Tuesday we went on an all day trip. We got on a boat with 2 couples. One couple comprised of one from England and the other from Scotland, and the other couple were newly weds from Spain. It was cool. We went for 2 hours. We got at this one island and saw some sea lions up close just lying there. We took a 30 minute bus drive up the mountain. From there we went on some hiking into it. Very nice place. Ran into some nice wildlife and many different seaneries. Some were lush gardens, others were dry places, then some lakes, then some hills, and even some places that looked like the caves in the Lord of the Rings. Apparently there was a crazy lady who went there 2 centuries ago and tried to claim the land with her 3 lovers but they all ended up dying. Complicated yet interesting story indeed, but not enough room here to tell you everything. Also pirates used to come to these islands for fresh water. Heck, I even got to try some of that great tasting spring water. We drove the bus back down, got on the boat, and went around again. This time we went snorkaling close to some chunks of land in the middle of the water. This was so cool. We got into the water and were planning to go around the mini islands. Then we saw these sea lions chilling int he sun. THen one came into the water and swam towards us. I asked if it was cool, and the dude said it was fine but just not to touch them and not to get too close. We getting too close was impossible because this huge sea lion, about 8 feel long, would swim around playfulness, getting within inches of my face. It was so cool to see the sea lion swim under you and then go swim with him beneath the surface.
After we went around, we hopped on and went to another section. This time we were jsut off the shore. Last time I had the last mask and snorkel and it was alright but had some leaking problems. This time the last one was another one, and it turned out to be much worse. I got in and immediately my mask began to fill from the nose and up to my eyes. My snorkel had equal problems as water would come in and it was hard to get it out, and the salt was not leaving. Apparently Carlos told me when we jumped in we were surrounded by sea lions, but I couldnt see them because of my problems. I got it fixed for a second and saw 3 sea lions come up to me after Carlos pointed them out to me. We kept going and then we found a few sharks swimming beneath us. But because of the combination of my colour blindness and my terrible gear, I couldnt see it. Christopher was scared and jumped out. Micheal never came in to begin with. I should have switched my gear with Christopher´s since we was getting out but I didnt. I kept going and it got only worse and worse. Know what it is like to swallow some salt water and you cant get the salt out of your thought and it harder to breath because your inside is sticky with salt and you become thirsty for something to clean up your inside and then the waves get better and so you shake your head to get the salt out of your eyes only to get ht constantly by your snorkel that is attached to your mask which will not slide down the head strap but at the same time is completely useless and only creates more drag when you swim and.....you get the picture. It was not a good situation. But I kept at it and it was fun. When my dad was tired, he gave me his deluxe $100 set he bought in the states before we headed over. World of a difference. Then I started to dive underneath and go all around. The snorkel set had this 100 % seal so it was super nice going down under and coming in without anything to worry about.
Before we headed back we looked at some cool land places including this little cove and a spot where penguins dwell. It was a beautiful place; very very calm.
When we got back after the 2 hour trip back, I started to feel sick. I didnt know what it was. I got to the hotel and just wanted to lie down. I felt good enough to go eat, so we went to this real cool restaurant. It was on another island, so we ahd to take a boat taxi from on side ot the other. We got on this mini doc and up a wooden pathway up to the place. After having some piña colada, I felt much better. But that was the last time.
Weds morning I felt terrible. I was feeling weak and didnt want to do anything. I found out that Christopher was with me. Almost. I had diarrhea and he had thrown up a few times into the night. So we two stayed and my mom did as well. The rest went to go see the giant turtles in the Darwin Centre to see turtles and lonesome George. and to the beach. We were planning to go to another hotel on another island, but since we got sick, my dad didnt want us to go on the 2 hour boat ride with Skunk (Christopher) and me sick. So we went to another hotel on the island on Thursday. This time Skunk, me, and now my mom were sick. The other 3 went again to see craters, lava tubes, and turtles in their natural habitat. They also went to the mini super market and got some bread of life, the name my dad and brothers gave to this super good bread. We kept buying more and more of these loves and would tear it appart and chow down. Amazing bread of life. Its name shall live forever.
Friday I was feeling much better and skunk was pretty much normal as you can see from this little short clip in the hotel. So we left and got on the boat on the 2 hour super bumpy ride over to the island Santa Isabela.
We got there on friday and it was a whole new world. When we approached I couldnt see the port. I couldnt see the city. There were only some boats floating together. There was a small dock and we got off. It looked like a jungle that we were at. Then we took a 25 minute cab drive over to the mini city. This place was crazy -- the most relaxed place I have ever seen. If you think Corpus Christi is laid back, if you think Rockport is laid back, you havent seen anything yet. This place was small, had dirt roads only, wooden lampposts, everything was outdoors and the beach was on all sides, including the galapagos iguanas. We went to El Volcan, the hotel that had only been around for 5 months. It was a nice hotel, had a TV with no cable, a step up from no TV at all, but the showers had no hot water.
The next day we went out. Saterday was a new day and I was felling all right, but not full up to speed. I was just weak fromt he lack of nutrition, but was getting better. We went with our guide and another lady called Maria, who was from Puerto Rica. She was really nice. We saw some of the lakes there and some more turtles and iguanas. Iguanas are everywhere...lets just get that out there. We went to San Fernadina. We went to see la Muralla de Lagrimas, or the wall of tears, where criminals were held building a giant wall of lava rock. Afterwords we stayed there and went snorkeling for the last time. This time the water was smooth because it was in between some land. There were 5 differnt sea lions that we swam with this time and even Micheal got into the action this time. We also got to see the peguins up close and swim with a few of them. These were the small penguins that live int he Galapagos, the smallest type of penguins in the world. That was a cool day. I felt fresh after getting out of the water.
Sunday we had a different day. It was our last full day. Our plan was to go see the craters and volcanos on island __________ and get back around 3 to rest before mass and then chill for the night. We got up earlyish and went to the place. We were on the taxi truck for 45 minutes to go up the mountain. And then there was mud. Mud. Everywhere. It was nuts. We took the short cut trail, which took us about 2 1/2 hours to get to the resting location at this huge tree. That path was wickedly crazy and hard to get around and muddy. The long cut would have taken a little over 3 hours. ON our way we saw the huge crater. Too bad the weather was fogyish and sprinkling to whole time. It is the second largest crater in the world. It was amazing. So many miles long and wide. We finally got to the resting tree and we thought we were there. Only to find out after tearing through our tuna sandwiches that we had another hour to go though the volcanic rock to see what we came to see. So we got ready and went on our way. It reminded us a lot of going over the volcanic rock in Hawaií. I will post some picks of Hawaií and of here. We took some good pictures and footage. When we got to the top, it was amazing. The view was so cool and the drop was so deep. Truely amazing.
On the way back skunk and me decided to hustle back to the tree. it only took us 20 minutes of running over the lava rock and brush and hills and everything else in our path to get back. Then we made the long trip through the mud back to the cars. Christopher fell all these times and my mom and Michael were always in the back. We chilled when we got back after a good shower. Mass was nice and simple. Not many people but a great message from the nice priest. We ate and then got some pan dulse, or sweet bread. Not as good as the bread of life back at the other island, but pretty scrumptious.
Then Carlos wanted to play socer with the locals. Apparently there was this Amarican group there playing against them and they werent doing to well. Carlos went in there and had a few good moves but didnt score yet. Then Christopher tried to get in. After filming a little, I felt it was time and I too joined the fight. I went in when it was 1-o them. We fought back, I had a few defensive stops and Carlos scored to go 1-1. Later on I had 3 chances to make the goal but each just inches away. We scored and we were up 2-1! We should have called the game there. They later tied us after a long rally at 2-2. Then 3-2. We were on the verge of scoring with the three Pinedo brothers taking control, but then our good goaly had to go and it was over. We got creamed there on because our goal was so vulnerable. And then these fat little white American kids came in their and got in our way and did a terrible job and would always kick the ball in the wrong direction and were always out of breath. I was getting so mad. Our public education system is terrible. On top of that, our physical education system is worse. These kids must have never run in their lived b/c they were breathing so hard. They must have never played competitive sport, b/c they didnt know the phrases "I got it" or "Ill pass it to you up ahead" or "get on the left side of the field to spread out the defense" or nothing. They obviously didnt know how to play soccer because they kicked always in the wrong direction. I mean, if you cant even figure out soccer, where you kick in one direction, how do you expect to get through life? Heck, you wouldnt even know where you are going! Im not going to speak about this night nay more. It makes me mad just thinking about it.
Monday morning we woke up at the fresh time of 4:30 to leave at 5 on the taxi to get on the boat at 6 am and get to the other island at 8 am and take an hour break to leave from there at 9 am on taxi to get to the dock to take a boat to the other airplain island to take another 25 minute bus to the airport. Then we took off at 12:30pm and arrived at Guayaquil at 3:30 after the 1 hour time differnece. We were stuck there till 11:30 pm so we went out and saw some of the city including the huge steps. I got some funny video footage of that.
When we got back to the airport we went through everything and got on the airplane and ended taking off at 12:30, a bit late. We arrived at Houston at 6 am. On our way to our terminal, and just before my dad was going to split with us to go to Chicago at 7:10 am, we noticed that the camera bag was missing...that was carlos´job. Since he lost my dad´s computor bag, we gave him the camera bad, not because it was less important but because it was smaller and lighter for his fragil bones and muscles. And he left that in the international airplane next to where his feet were at. So we headed to our 7:45 terminal, my dad went on his way back to the international terminal. On his way he ran into Yoa Ming and got a super legible signature. He ended up finding the camera bag, thank God. Us 5 landed and got back to the house at 10 am after a heart iHop breakfast. It was a long 28 hour trip, but as our reward we had a hot shower, a super breakfast with meat, and my Apple MacBook and iPod touch where awaiting me...
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