A week earlier when we flew from Quito to the Galapagos our flight was more than an hour late. So we knew there could be a problem because we had only an hour and a half to get our luggage and then go from domestic to international terminals and check in. We had made calls to both airlines and was assured it would not be a problem. But we sat at the Galapagos airport for over two hours before taking off. We ended up arriving about 10-15 minutes before our flight took off but there was no chance to get our luggage and check in unless they held the plane for us. We thought they might for 25 passangers. But they didn’t. We spent at least a couple hours not knowing what are fates would be, After negotiations, the airline agreed to put us up at a hotel for a night and provide dinner. But they would not help us get on new flights. There was room for 15 people the next day for about $850, or we could wait and go standbye for flights that were mostly full for the next 10 days. Things didn’t seem very promising. Later that night most of us congregated around the internet terminals as people looked for other flights home. Some people booked tickets on other airlines but they chose to do so at their own cost. I wanted to get home but didn’t really have to be home so I my plan was to try the standbye for at least a day. As we were there the representative from the airline walked in with the good news that they would no longer charge us, and he would guarantee flights all the way to LA for 15 people on a 7am flight the next morning if we were willing to spend the day at the panama airport. The rest could try standbye at the afternoon flight or be guaranteed a seat on the 7am flight the next day. Some volunteered to stay an extra day ( a day tour and hotel was provided). I might have done that had LA been my final destination but I still had to try to get from LA to Chicago after missing my original flight. So I got up at 3am Monday morning for the 7am flight to Panama. 15 made the flight to panama and now had 10 hours of sitting in the airport waiting for a 7pm flight out. But after asking about day tours of panama we found that the airline would take us on a city tour for free. So 9 of us did that. So at the very least I was able to visit the Panama Canal, something I otherwise might never have been able to do. Then the bad luck hit us again. We boarded the 7pm flight from panama to LA and had most of the back of the plane to ourselves. Finally the captain announced that they were waiting for 25 passangers from connecting flight. That got some of our group very upset, one even talked to the captain about it. It was the exact same situation we had the day before, 25 peole on a connecting flight and they did not wait for us, and this plane ended up leaving 90 minutes late because we waited for a group. I have no idea who makes the all on whether to wait or not wait. Perhaps depending on if they have enough standbyes waiting to fill the plane.
We finally made it to LAX at around 1am. I was the only one not from California so most were tire and home and wanted to get out, so farewell to new friends were very rushed. I walked over to the southwest terminal and found it closed. So I called to try to get on a flight the next day. My original flight was at 6:50am so I hoped I could get on that. I was extremely bummed when I heard the earliest empty seat they had wasn’t until 3:45pm with a stop in Pheonix and not getting to Chicago until Midnight. And even then I had to pay an extra $250 for it to make up the difference in price of my original ticket. I waited and half slept at the ticket counter. Because I was there so early I was able to be the first person on the standby list to chicago. The problem was that that all the flights were not only full they were all over sold. So my chances did not look promising. I went in not expecting much, but before boarding they offered a guaranteed seat on the next flight an hour later and travel vouchers for anyone willing to give up a seat. I guess enough did because they eventually called my name and gave me a seat. I was so happy to get that flight and not have to spend another day at an airport.
It is way to early to think about next year. The friends I made on the trip are considering an april trip to Vietnam/Cambodia or Turkey. Neither one of those were at the top of my list. So I’ll just have to wait and see.
I’m back home now, but I’ll try to fill in the last few days. The last full day in the galapagos was two snorkeling trips. The first one involved some white water speed boating, We were transported to the bay of a small island and the seas were rougher than that first boat ride and we were in small boats getting soaked. But once we crossed the channel and made it inside the bay of the small island the sea was calmer and we were able to have our best snorkeling of the trip. The water was much clearer. Then we got back in boats and headed off to Tortuga Bay back on the main island where we would snorkel with the sharks. Here the water was murkey and green so there wasn’t much visability, and without my glasses I could see even less. So when a 6 foot shark finally swam right below me I was a little caught off guard. Someone on the boat had pointed overboard to what he said was a small shark. These were big. We finished off with another hike through marine iguana colonies. The two things that you are sure to see in the galapagos are turtles and iguanas. We had the rest of the day off. I checked out a bike from the hotel and road around town for a while. The other half of our group had returned but I didn’t get to talk to them until dinner. It was pretty much what I had feared, I had gotten stuck on the less active and less fun of the two groups. It sounds like the other group had less rough seas, and had a lot more luck swimming with the sea lions as we did.
Like the last few days today started with what was supposed to be a 2 hour boat ride from Isabella back to Santa Cruz. Actually for some of us that wanted to get up early we went a couple places before breakfast, a place called the wall of tears, which was where Ecuador tried to turn an abanded US military base into prison, (like alcatraz, nobody could escape an island 600 miles off shore), In attempt to kill the prisoners they made them build a wall around the camp. If they got hurt or tired the guards just let them die or shot them. On the way back we saw a pink flamingo. I had hoped to see more of these. Isabella island is home of the worlds 2nd largest volcano. I had thought we were going to go to the top of it, but apparently that was a different trip that ads an extra day.
Then came the boat ride which started out with the roughest seas I have ever been on. It started out worse than the trip two days ago, But about 30 minutes into it it settled down some. but even still it took 3 hours rather than the average of 2. Nobody got sick, we all learned our lessons. And here is some words of advice if you are ever here and don’t speak spanish. You can just go in to a pharmacy, wave your hands up and down in a wave-like motion, then pretend to throw up and they will understand what you want, and then give you the sea sickness pills for free.
Now that we are back to the main island we are getting more free time. Today we walked a kilometer down the road to the Charles Darwin Research Station. The turtles on each of the islands are different from each other. And in attempt to save them they go around collecting all the eggs that get laid in the wild, bring them back here and keep them in incubators until they hatch, then they also keep them in captivity for 5 years before taking them back to be released on their original island. They turtles reach maturity at 30 years old, then live up to 150 years. The most famous turtle there is nicknamed “Lonely George” because he is the only surviving turtle from one of the islands. They have tried to get him to mate with other turtles as similar to him as possible but he has never mated with any of them. So he is the last of his species. (that reminds me, I took a picture of two giant turtles doing it) In my free time I walked the street line with shops into town. After drinking a lot of warm water I was craving something cold to drink and some sweets so bought some cokes and cookies. Tomorrow is the first time I don’t have to wake up early, we leave for a snorkeling trip but not until 10am, and then have the entire afternoon off. Our second group arrives back here tomorrow afternoon too. I can’t wait to talk to them to see how much they enjoyed the boat rides. I am interested in hearing how those I shared the white water rafting trip did on the rought seas.
This morning also began with a 2 hour boatride from Floreana to Isabella, only this time it actually did take only 2 hours and nobody got sick, although most of us took the sea sickness drugs and ate very little for breakfast, and we also had a different boat, one that was almost entirely open. For wildlife today has easily been the best day. After getting to this island we hopped into smaller boats to hike a trail that took through the marine iguana colonies, the only place on earth these animals live. On the way we saw a few penguins and the also famous blue footed boobies. There was also supposed to be the islands largest sea lion colony but they were aparently sleeping somewhere. The hike also took us along an interesting channel where sharks go to rest. At one point I saw 6 white tipped reef sharks swimming around together. The look similar to the great white shark but were probably about 6 feet long. After lunch we went on another snorkeling trip. We could have swam with some of these sharks but we didn’t see any. I did have a sea lion playing around me for a little while. I got pictures of him and a sting ray, again the water wasn’t as clear as I would like so I am not sure how those pictures will turn out. I believe tomorrow we sail back to the island of Santa Cruz where we will spend the final two nights. I believe we are going to the Charles Darwin Research Center.
Day 5, Floreana
This turned out to be the most adventurous day of the trip so far, but in a bad way. In the morning we were to travel by boat from where we were on the island of Santa Cruz to go spend the day on the island of Floreana. As we were eating breakfast we were watching rain come down. I had heard reviews of this trip comment on the rough sea conditions on the between island boat rides. So we suspected the rain would make it bad. They say that on average it takes 2 hours to make this trip but is in the range of 1.5-2.5 depending on the currents and wind. I’ll just say that our trip took 3 hours and 15 minutes. And it was 3 of the longest and most miserable hours I have ever spent. I won’t say how many times I blew chunks of breakfast over the side. This was the first time I had ever gotten sea sick before. But I wasn’t the only one. (Now a couple days later back at the main island, we found out that two people quit after their boat ride the day after ours) One of the problems was that it was a small and inclosed boat, with only room for a few outside in the air. To get an idea of what it was like my roommate wondered if “this is what death feels like”. Things didn’t get much better once we got on land because we were immediately picked up in a safari type vehicle and driven up to the highlands to see some sights. Even though we were on ground the bumpy road didn’t help much. We were 2 hours behind schedule because of the slow trip and everyone was hungry from loosing their breakfast. But instead of eating we went to visit some more giant turtles that are in captivity, and visited the only fresh water spring on the islands that was an area where pirates dug a cave and the first settlers settled. It wasn’t until after finally eating that I began to get my energy back. After lunch we went to our little huts on the beach. They weren’t exactly huts but each “room” was a separate structure. The electricity was run by a generator that only came on at certain times of day. We then took a walk to our first snorkeling experience. It was okay but not as clear as I would have hoped.I did take a picture swimming over a giant sea tortoise. After snorkeling and dinner we were back to the huts and since we were on a otherwise deserted island we were able to look up and see a clear sky of stars.
This morning we flew over to the Galapagos Islands, they are located 600 miles west of Ecuador, and are located right on the equator. This hasn’t been the greatest of days. it started out with a huge scare in that I couldn’t find my passport as we were about to leave. Four people turned by backpack inside out looking for it because that is where I said I put it. We finally left without me having a passport. The trip might about to be over for me early. But after I got on the bus I was taking things out of my packpack yet again and reached in and there it was. Where it was and how it was missed in all the other searches I don’t know but it was right where I told everyone I put it the whole time. Then the flight was about an hour late. Once we got to the islands were were taken away right away to start the touring, everyone was still wearing what they wore on the plane and the bags were taken to the hotel so we couldn’t get inside them. The first place we went was to lunch, then a farm where giant land turtles roam freely. They were cool to see but it was a long hike there and I am not sure the reward was worth the effort, especially since we were sweating it out in the humidity not everyone was wearing the right stuff for this kind of activity. After this we took about a 15 minute hike through a lava tube. It was actually better than what I expected. it was basically like a 15 minute hike through a cave. Then we got taken to the hotel/lodge we were to be staying at and things fell apart again. The first problem is that me and my roommate got to our room and it was a small room, with just one standard sized bed. Looking around at other people’s rooms, almost everyone had two beds, at least one of them being king sized. After some complaining, and me winning a coin flip, I got to take this room by myself for tonight. My room mate is going up to the penthouse room, a huge room with multiple rooms and sleep on a matress on the floor. The next problem is the itenerary is not what we were all given, including our leader. Because there are few rooms on the islands we have to split into two groups of 14 and do different things different days. But we thought we would be together the first two days, split two days and come back together the last day. Instead we found out we are splitting up tomorrow and won’t be back together until the 5th day. So we had to decide how to do the split. Me and my roommate agreed who we would prefer to be with or not be with and it was looking good, 10 people volunteered to be in the group that goes to another island tomorrow. All the people we didn’t want to be with. But then no more volunteered, and maybe we were sitting to close to the leader because me and my roommate and two girls beside us got volunteered against our will to be part of this group. I have been having a great time with a group that I have done the biking and rafting with, and now I am forced to spend the rest of the trip with people I either don’t know yet or didn’t really like. So I hope this doesn’t affect the how much I enjoy the rest of the trip. Early in the morning my group is going to be taken by boat, about 2 hours, to another small island. We’ll visit a tortoise breeding facility in the morning and will spend the after noon on a beach or snorkeling. The snorkeling will likely be with sea lions. We will be staying on huts on the beach, which I think may have bunk beds, with no water or electricity. So definitely no updates tomorrow.
this is always easier when I have time to write this up the same day. I’m writing this at the end of day 4.
River rafting was a lot of fun. The bad part about it was it was a 3 hour drive out there through a
winding mountain pass through the Andes Mountains, then a 4 hours drive back. As the guides said, the river was rated class 3 but the drive was rated class 5. The adventure began by the guided giving the safety talk, it was a little intimidating because he had to tell us what to do in all of the worst case scenarios.
We finally got out on the river and it seemed to me to be rolling pretty good. There was 5 people per raft
plus a guide. The guide said he needed the stronges paddlers in the front, so I took the front right position
and another guy the front left. After we were going for a while I made a comment about how it seemed I was
taking every splash face first. A girl in the back thought felt that she was getting plenty wet. At one point
we had to stop and scope out the most difficult rapid we would run. So this girl wanted to switch with me and take the front position. Lets just say that from the time she moved up front and lunch we had two people fall overboard. Nothing too bad, they were able to grab the rope on the outside of the raft and the nearest person able to pull them back in. So after lunch that girl got voted back to the back and I went back up front. It was quite scarey at time but extremely fun and wet. I’ll do it again every oppurtunity I get.
After getting back to the hotel at 8:00 6 of us went out in search of dinner. We actually haven’t been eating
that well, at least I haven’t, for the mountain biking they fed us carrot sandwiches for lunch, and even
the rafting didn’t have any meat for the provided lunch. We found a local family run restauarant, if you
want to call it that, It was awesome, I got steak, french fries and a bowl of rice for three bucks. The
entire bill for the six people was $12.75.
Today we got to see a little of the Andes Mountains. Quito, the capital of Ecuador is set at about 9,000ft elevation in the Andees. This morning the 12 of us going mountain biking got picked up by 2 4×4 vehicles with bikes standing on the top of them. This was the first time to get out of the city and it was an amazing drive up and down hills on cobble stone streets. About 60 kilometers out of town at about 13,000ft elevation we pulled off the side of the road and unloaded our bikes. Helmets, elbow pads, and gloves were passed out. I think most people were prepared for the weather, at that hight it was quite cold and rainy at times. The first half of the day was to be a 21 kilometer ride down on the ‘highway’ we had just driven out on. This was the short portion of the ride. 21K might sounds like a lot, but when you are whizzing down the mountain at 25mph it was over in no time. The worst part was the rain, the road was snaking it’s way down the mountain and the wet roads had me nervous for a while. But I was flying down at 25 mph even though I was almost always using both breaks. At about 11:00 we made it to the hot springs. SUpposedly the best hot springs in all of south america. Apparently the water there is heated by the volvanic activity in the area. It was somewhat like a swimming pool back home. I think I heard there were 9 pools in all. They would have 2 or 3 interlocked, where the hot water would enter into one, and the water would be cooler as you went to the connecting pools. We sat in the pools for over an hour. Then the fun began. They drove us back up to the same point we began the first leg, only this time we started down another direction. This second leg was to be 51 kilometers and had a little more variety. It started on a bumpy dirt road for the first 7 miles or so before it ran into the main highway where we followed it down for another 12 miles into a small city. At some point in this leg I had a flat tire. There was a car in the lead and a car that brought up the rear. I could have waited for the rear car but since it was mostly downhill I just coasted as much as I could on the flat tire. I was somewhat in the middle, the people ahead of me now long gone and for some reason the people at the rear never caught up. I eventually was walking the bike in the the next checkpoint. The had some extra bikes so I was able to use one of these for the final leg. It began for a couple miles over the cobble stone streets of this little town, and believe me, it was a butt buster of a ride. Then outside of town we came to the best part of the ride which was a old no longer in use train track that was now a path down a beautiful canyon. We just followed the train tracks, which were now filled in to make a trail, as it winded it’s way mostly down the canyon. We went through 5 tunnels. The final one was so long that it got so dark that you couldn’t see the ground, all you could see was the opening in the distance. I had somebody if front of me so I could see her head in the light so I used her as my guide, just kept my eyes on her, others apparently had some problems, one guy fell. You just had to have faith the that trail was going to be straight and smooth and it was for the most part. After the final tunnel things took a turn for the worse. Earlier when someone asked how we know when to stop they were told there will be the car to meet you and you end with a hill. Well, me and 3 others got to the ’stopping point’ before the pick up car did and there really wasn’t much hill to speak of yet so not knowing to stop we kept going. And it was a grueling climb all the way back up out of the river valley. Thankfully the truck was waiting for us at the end, but everyone else had stayed back at the real stopping point, I guess in case we came back. That last climb was brutal, we had great 21 speed bikes, and I was down to gear 1 and barely moving. But we made it through, did a little more that the advertised 71K but it was a an amazing ride. The guy that organized this vacation has been putting together trips for 24 years now, and he said this was the best mountain bike ride he has ever had. Next we are going to the dinner and show that we didn’t get to see last night. Thankfully it was an opera we didn’t see and tonight will be more of an Ecuadorian singing and dancing thing.
Day one got off to a questionable start. I sat on the runway at O´hare for 3 hours waiting for the thunderstorms to pass. I finally got to LA to meet up with the group but was 3 hours later than scheduled. I was a little nervous at times but I made it in time. But not enought time to get any dinner. The flights from LA to panama to Ecuador went smoothly, but I´ve never been able to sleep on the planes. So I am over 36 hours without sleep tonight. Soon we are going to a dinner and show, but after that I am coming back to the hotel and going to bed. I´ll need my rest for a 41 mile mountain bike ride starting early tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow evening I start my journey to the Galápagos Islands. I have a early evening flight to Los Angelos and then have to wait for a 4:20am flight to Panama, then change planes and arrive in Ecuador elary Saturday afternoon. I will be staying 3 nights in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. One full day will be mountain biking, the next day will be a full day river rafting trip. Right now the weather for Quito is showing 60% chance of rain for every day I will be there. I hope that doesn’t effect the biking and rafting trips. Then I’ll fly over and spend 5 nights in the Galágos. I will be staying on the islands in lodges and huts on the beach not on a cruise ship. So I will get the full experience. I’ll spend at least one day/night on 3 of the islands.
Depending on internet connection I will try to post what I do each day.