Sunday, May 28, 2017

Galapagos 05/07/2017 – 05/17/2017

                                               
In the airport waiting for our flight.  Becky, I guess I only cut
off your head when I posted it, on Instagram
because here I have everyone in the picture.

05/07/2017(Sunday) -    On the morning of the 7th, we met Dave and Becky and Christine and Steve at the SLC airport, Phil and Charlotte were flying on Delta, but they joined us in the waiting area of our United flight to visit with us until it was nearly time for both flights to leave.  We left Salt Lake to head to Houston, Texas at 9:40 am.  We arrived around 2:00 pm (Houston – time).  We had a roughly 4 hour layover, which was enough time to see Elise and family, but because she’s coming in a few weeks, and because of the logistics of leaving the terminal, we decided we’d meet up with her at the end of the month.  Finally, we departed around 6:15 pm, arriving around 11:00 pm at Quito, Ecuador.  After about 45 minutes we met up with everyone (We had a short wait for Glenn and Rosaline to arrive).  We took a 45 minute bus ride to journey to the old town.  The hotel didn’t look like much from the outside but was quite quaint on the inside.  We slept on uncomfortable double beds for a couple of nights, but the breakfast was awesome.  Some of our family were lucky enough to have king sized beds. 
 
Becky and Dave
BREAKFAST AT THE HOTEL 


Christine and Steve
Roy, Catharine and Dave


Ranae and Shane Peck

Christine and Lyle Peterson

05/08/2017(Monday) - Touring in Quito
Monday after a delicious breakfast with a variety of usual and unusual fruits, granola, yogurt, and pastries we met our guide who gave us a walking tour of downtown Quito.  Quito looked a lot like some of the cities we had seen in Chile when we traveled in South America two years ago.  We did go into one Catholic church that was more ornate than any I had ever seen.  There was gold leaf everywhere, and hardly any surface that wasn’t decorated.  Interestingly, the décor was largely of middle eastern design, I don’t remember why, except that it had something to do with their conquerors.  We stopped at another church that was currently having services, so we did not go in, but it was connected to a series of tunnels that held gift shops, so we spent a little time walking through the tunnels and buying souvenirs, in our case, dark chocolate.
 After the city tour, we boarded a bus and headed towards the “middle of the world.”  On our way, we stopped for lunch.  Our guide lost some serious points because, after asking us if anyone had food allergies, and finding out that Charlotte and David both are celiac, he took us to the restaurant of his choice.  It did not have any options for them, so they ate some granola bars and fruit that Christine had taken from breakfast.   We had some fried chicken and potatoes covered with a sauce, and served also with rice (it is uncommon for us to have both, but not for Ecuadorians). 
City Tour




Lunch--Char and Dave couldn't eat anything here

Following lunch we stopped at place with a large winged Madonna, built out of aluminum.  We could go inside this statue and climb up a couple of flights, where we obtained a fine view of the city of Quito.  We could see the old part of the city (where we were staying) along with the newer parts of the cities with taller buildings.  Again, the city was similar to other South American cities we saw—very colorful, yet old looking.
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Overlooking the city of Quito

As we headed to the “Middle of the World, we didn’t know what to expect.  We had visited Ushuaia (the “end of the world”, in 2015, and thought it would be something similar, just a place where we could stand and say we’d been there.  In this case we thought we could stand with one foot on each side of the equator.  It turned out to be much more interesting.  There was a museum on the site, and we were shown various things of interest in South America.  One thing we saw was a real shrunken head.  It was over 150 years old (thankfully), but the tribes that shrink heads still live in the Amazon.  Our guide said that the tribe claims to shrink only animal heads, but that they’re not sure if that is true.  She (Miriam) explained the process of shrinking the heads, which was rather morbid.  She also showed us another group of people that still reside in the Amazon.  They wear little clothing, probably because of the heat.  The interesting point of their dress was that the men tied up their penis’ with a string that wrapped around their body.  This was done because of a fish that is now called the “penis fish.”  If you swim in the Amazon river and decide to pee, this fish will be attracted and can swim right into the urethra.  Once inside, it extends its barbs and cannot be easily removed.  At times, only removal of the penis could remove the man of this torturous fish.  Dad took a picture of the statue that showed this unique style of clothing.  Apparently, this indigenous group had come to the museum a few years ago to build a hut that was the same as the huts they live in.  It took them only three days to build, but the men suffered because in Quito it is 9000 ft. above sea level, and to them it was very cold.  They were quite a draw to the public who took many pictures which was also uncomfortable to these people.   We were told that we could visit their tribe, but we would be required to dress as they do.
This isn't the statue, it's a picture of the tribe when
they came and built the indigenous hut at the museum.

We also were shown demonstrations of how the magnetic pull of the earth is noticeable at the equator.  If you walk in a straight line with your eyes closed, putting one foot in front of the other, a little away from the equator line, then you have balance (even though it’s still hard), but on the line it’s virtually impossible because of the pull from either side.  Also, they showed water going down a drain.  It moves clockwise on one side, and counterclockwise on the other side, and straight down when you're on the equator.  We also tried to balance an egg on a nail right at 00.00 degrees (latitude and longitude) None of us could do it, but the guide did it easily.  The trick was feeling the weight of the egg yolk, which would center in the fat part of the egg, and then balance. 
The siblings: Christine, Bruce, Dave, Glenn, Phil and Catharine



The group split up at dinner, 6 eating at the hotel, and 10 eating at a hotel down the street.  The guide recommended it because, he said, they had men dressed in purple robes bring the ice cream out (the robes look like KKK robes but are purple instead of white).  They symbolize the penitents, those men who went before Christ with the palms, sweeping the way clear for Him.  He said the KKK is an offshoot from this group. The original use of the clothing was not evil, but as with many things, it was twisted into something evil.  At the restaurant, Catharine ordered ceviche, which she has come to love.  It was served with popcorn, corn nuts (of a sort) and fried plantains).  We didn’t realize that these sides went with Catharine's meal and therefore didn’t put any of them on the ceviche (in fact, we thought they were probably Roy’s and left them for him to eat).  Later in the trip we were served ceviche and told to put the popcorn on it, so we learned a new and delicious way to eat ceviche.  Roy had some large shrimp (with the heads on).  We had ordered dessert when we ordered our food, but the rest of the table hadn’t.  When we saw our ice cream all dished up, we were worried that it would melt while everyone else ordered.  We needn’t have worried because, right before they served us, they lifted the inner bowl and poured water over dry ice to make the dish smoke, they then brought the ice cream and stood behind us in their purple robes.  They were rather creepy. 
Shrimp


Ceviche




It happened to be Roy’s birthday, so the table sang to him.  After a few minutes, we heard music playing Happy birthday, and the purple robed penitent returned with a piece of cake complete with candle. 
On Tuesday morning the 9th, we had a very early flight to catch to go to the Galapagos islands.  We had to leave the hotel by 4:45.  In the USA, this would have meant no breakfast, but our guide talked with the hotel and they graciously agreed to provide breakfast.   It was a little early to eat, but it was good, and we had a long wait for lunch (It was about a 3 hour flight, including a layover in Guayaquil). 
Becky and Dave at the airport in Baltra

 We were met at the airport by some of the crew from our ship--the Ocean Spray.    We took a bus to the dock where a Panga (rubber inflated boat) took us over to the Ship.  We settled into our cabin, and then immediately went snorkeling to the Island Bartholomew.  Within 45 minutes we saw a couple of blue footed Boobies, sharks, Galapagos Penguins, Saly lightfoot Crabs, fish,  white tipped sharks, and Galapagos Sea Lions – when we got out of the water the mosquitos were bad but most of us didn’t get bitten because we were covered in salt water.  When we got back on board, we stripped off our wet suits and were covered with a warm towel --this  happened each time when we came back from snorkeling. 
In the Panga

Razor Sturgeon fish

Saly Lightfoot Crab

Galapagos Penguins

Steve, Dave, Christine and Ranae and penguins
Roy




We had a nice lunch, a short rest and then went ashore for a hike to the top of the Island.  It was very humid as it had just rained.  Roy was drenched in sweat, but it was very beautiful with a great view.  We saw Galapagos grass hoppers, lava lizards and a lot of the Saly Lightfoot crabs.


Each night we had a briefing about what was going to happen the next day.  The first night the crew introduced themselves and we were served a "cocktail," in this case juice.  Later in the trip we asked our guide if he'd ever had an entire boat of non-drinkers.  He laughed and said that when we first told him that none of us drank, he thought we were joking. 
Briefing




On Wednesday we arrived to the island of Genovesa.  We started early and went on a snorkeling trip in the morning, close to the ship and around the edge of the bay.  The visibility wasn't great, but we did see some hammerhead sharks (well, I only saw one and very briefly). 
 After a delicious breakfast, we  went on a shore excursion.  The path was very short but there were several different bird species nesting (Frigate Birds, Red Footed Boobies, Finches, some land iguanas, red crabs and there were several Galapagos Sea Lions on the beach. 
Frigate Bird

Galapagos Mocking Bird

Swallow Tail Gull

Swallow Tail Gull

Masqued  Booby


 Ranae Peck, (one of the friends that was with us on the ship), decided that it would be a fun picture if she was lying by the sea lions, so she laid down between 2 of them.  It was definitely a little tighter than the suggested 6 feet.  She didn't count on one of the two sea lions being an alpha male.  He grunted loudly at her.  She was on her feet and out of the way VERY quickly.  Unfortunately, no one got the picture ;)  Six of us were able to go kayaking around the bay.  The rest of the group stayed on shore.  The idea was that they could get in the water and keep cool, but the same alpha sea lion made sure that he controlled the bay; so no one got in.  He would swim across the bay, then come and nudge one of the sleeping sea lions to swim with him, then swim, then nudge another one to get in.  It was very definitely his territory. 



Red-Footed Booby





Our cabin






 While kayaking, we saw some small marine iguanas and lots of birds nesting along the cliff line.  
The ship then took us to El Barranco – We had lunch, a short rest, and a nature walk.  This time wee saw Masked Boobies, more Frigate birds with their puffed up red chests making their mating calls (they sounded like turkeys), lots of birds on their eggs (the daddy birds took turns in every species we saw), and newly hatched baby birds.  Our guide showed us the Incense trees which are very plentiful on the Islands.  The locals used to (before they were protected) use the wood for smoking incense in the churches and to keep the mosquitoes away. 
Everything on the islands are now protected.  Even the locals cannot eat the crabs or fish in the area.  I didn't think the crabs would taste very good, but our guide said they were delicious.  He said the problem was that he, as a small boy, could easily eat about 25 crabs in one sitting. 

05/11/2017(Thursday) We arrived in Santiago Espumilla Beach and Buccaneer Cove 
This was another very early morning.  We had our wake-up call at 5:30.  Music was piped into the rooms for a minute, and then an announcement that it was time to get up.  Catharine told Roy that their alarm clock was more annoying than his.  We were served a mini-breakfast because we started the day so early.  The first nature walk was along lava rock, close to shore.  This was the first large group of sea iguanas that we were able to see.  We even saw one blow the sea salt out of its nostrils.  We could see some iguanas swimming, also.  There were a lot of natural coves in the lava and the sea lions liked to rest there.  Here we saw the only "first seal," This is the other type of sea lion found in the Galapagos.  There are fewer of these and we only saw one the whole trip.  They call them first seal, but they are sea lions.

Notice the black sand on this beach



]




Sea Iguana on left, Catharine on right

Lyle Peterson

"First Seal" Sea lion

sea iguanas

We got back on the ship for a real breakfast and then were taken back to shore to snorkel on the black sand beach.  Here, at the very end of our hour of snorkeling, we were rewarded because Catharine spotted our first sea turtle.  We (Christine, Steve, Roy and Catharine) watched him for several minutes, and then Roy spotted a 2nd one.  We called Phil and Glenn and Dave over, but only Phil was quick enough to get a glimpse.

We went on a 2nd snorkel, this time in Buccaneer Cove.  Our guide Carlos let us hold a sea urchin that sucked on our hand.  We were looking for sharks and sea lions.  Carlos had told us that we could play with the sea lions by blowing bubbles in the water.  If they responded, it meant they wanted to play.  However, we didn't see any sea lions either.

Roy and Phil asked the guide for a quick panga ride before lunch to take some pictures of the surrounding area.  He took them, even though we all went on the same ride later in the afternoon.  We saw sea lions, Blue Footed Boobies, noddys, and more crabs, but the best thing was on the way back.  We were looking out front of the Pangas we saw some fins which we initially thought were sharks but it turned out to be a Manta Ray.  We followed it for some time.  It was huge, probably 9 – 10 feet wide.  It  was swimming right below the surface, and was very beautiful.  We also saw sting rays jumping out of the water.  Some even did flips.  They were a little distant, but we could tell what they were.  
After lunch we set sail in the middle of the afternoon.  The idea was to see if we could spot any whales or dolphins  Only Dave and Glenn had a quick view of a couple of dolphins.  Roy and I gave up and had a nap.  After all, we aren't used to getting up at 5:30.

05/12/2017 (Friday) -      Arrive North Seymour
We started the day with another early morning nature walk.  This time we saw lots of iguanas, lava lizards, and Frigate Birds, but the real find on this island were the Blue Footed Boobies.  There were many of them on their nests or performing mating rituals for us (one of my favorite things – Roy).  Some had even made their nests right on the trail.  They certainly don't follow the rules.  We also saw more sea lions--they were also breaking rules and laying right on the trail.  Looking down the cliff we could see large groups of razor sturgeon fish in the ocean.


Mating Dance

Land Iguana

Female Frigate bird with baby


Their nests hardly looked like nests, but even before
they had eggs, the birds would defend their nest.
Shane Peck and Catharine

One of the sights we went to see on the Panga

We then went on a snorkel activity along the coast.  Right after jumping in we saw a white tip shark below us.  There weren't as many fish here, but the ones we saw were pretty.  After about an hour of snorkeling, the pangas were loaded.  Roy and I were about the last ones to climb out of the water--but not quite.  Barbara was in the water, several yards away from everyone else.  Bruce was nowhere to be seen.  He'd climbed aboard the 1st panga without his snorkeling buddy--Typical!

After cleaning up, having lunch and a short rest we took the Pangas to a nearby port where we boarded a bus in order to go to the Tortoise Reserve on the Island.  A farmer had created a protected area of a few hectors for the turtles habitat even though the turtle have full run of the entire island.  We asked the guide why, when everything is protected, and no one is supposed to interfere in the habitat of the animals, is a private group allowed to create a sanctuary for them and make money.  He said, "it's a fine line."  If no one cleared the land and filled up ponds for them, it would be very hard for the tourists to see them. 
We saw a large turtle on top of a medium sized turtle in the process of mating.  It was very interesting.  The tortoises were of various sizes, some over several hundred pounds.  They were somewhat shy.  If you got too close to them they would suck in their heads.  The decompression of their body made a hissing noise that sounded like they were warning us off.

What is he doing???




We also saw carpenter finches (these finches break off twigs and dig in the holes of the tree to get grubs--they even measure twigs against each other, if the first one failed to get the grub out), and some poisonous apple trees.  They are very poisonous, even fatal to humans, but the tortoises can eat a small amount of the fruit.  The reserve offered yummy lemongrass, ginger, mint, iced (herbal) tea in their refreshment area.  (Bruce thought that was very nice since they didn't charge an admission fee :)  We assured him that they most certainly did charge, it's just that we paid for everything in advance.  He also thought the guide at the middle of the world was a volunteer, as they didn't charge an admission fee there either.  :)  He gave her a very good tip because of it!

05/13/2017(Saturday) -                 Arrive Puerto I Ayor – Santa Cruz   
Another early morning--we had to fit in one last nature walk on a sand bar frequented by the local sea lions.  It was a good reason to start early!

 But, sadly, we had to end our catamaran tour right after breakfast.  We boarded a bus and went into the city on the island of Santa Cruz. 
Several people may have gotten stomach bacteria from this city, maybe the water or dinner. After we settled into the hotel, Phil, Dave, Steve, Christine, Catharine and I set out on a walk to Tortuga Bay (Turtle Bay).  It probably took us 40 minutes or so just to get to the main gate that had a long path to the beach.  We bought ice cream bars (we hadn’t had lunch yet), Coconut for Roy and Guanabana for Catharine.  They were really good.  We then hiked on a brick path to the beach for about 50 minutes.  It was hot and sweaty but it felt really good to do a more rigorous hike, and of course, when we finally got there, we were able to cool off in the ocean.  We enjoyed the beach, though the waves were red flag rough.  However, we managed to get out into the surf (wading height--for dad.  Mom got all the way in and jumped the waves--she even rode a couple.  The water was bath water warm, to our surprise (on all of the snorkeling trips the water was pretty cool, maybe 76 degrees).  We hung around on the beach for a while and then headed back.  We were in the mood for another ice cream bar to cool us down but by the time we got back to the entrance they were closed (it must have been siesta time).  We hiked back to the hotel. It was mid-afternoon and we still hadn’t had lunch so we ate at the outside café that was part of the Hotel Silberstein.  We had snack size lunches which were adequate.  Roy had fish and chips and Catharine had a mozzarella and tomato salad.  We then had showers as we were very sweaty and then were able to take a short nap.  When we got up we did a little shopping nearby and then met everyone for dinner at 7:00 pm.  Our group was so large that we split up.  The Petersens, Pecks and Bruce and Barbara went to a pizza place.  The rest of us went to a restaurant in an open air deck.  The food was pretty good but not the best that we had had.  Glenn and Rosilene were sick with colds and they said that they couldn’t find the Pharmacy, so Phil, Char, Catharine and Roy went on a mission.  We found it down the street and got some type of Robitussin for them.  It's hard to buy medication with a language barrier.

During the night we were disturbed when some delivery boy came by the hotel with his car radio on full blast.  This went on from about 4:00 – 5:00 am.  Dave and Glenn both thought it was their neighbors and  knocked on their walls to try to get them to be quiet.  It was very obnoxious to be forced out of a sound sleep. 
05/14/2017 (Sunday) – Depart Baltra to Quito to Cloud Forest
Sunday was a long traveling day.  We had a mediocre breakfast.  The helpers seemed to be annoyed when we asked for water, cups, spoons, etc.
We hopped on the bus at 8:00 and headed to the airport.  We drove for about 40 minutes to the dock, got off the bus onto a ferry, then after a 15 minute  ride to Baltra Island, we boarded another bus to the airport (10-15 minute) ride.  We then had to wait about 2 ½ hours for our flight. Catharine had some Ceviche and Roy some rice and shrimp for lunch.
We then flew to Guayaquil, Ecuador (a layover), then on to Quito.  Our guide met us at the airport.  We boarded the bus and since it was kind of late in the afternoon and we had a 3 hour ride to the Cloud Forest (Bella Vista Hotel), we decided to have some dinner on the outskirts of Quito.  The restaurant was next to del Mondo (Middle of the World).  The food was okay, Catharine and I had strip steaks with (2) over easy eggs on top, with rice and salad. 
It was very  windy and when we were about an hour away from our destination, we ended up on a very bumpy dirt road (part of the main road was impassable due to mud slides).  That road was also windy, wet, etc. and it was dark. It was quite the adventurous ride.  We arrived around 10 pm, found our rooms and crashed.  Our room had a queen bed.  It was not as hard as some of the beds that we had had, but not everyone had as nice of accommodations as we had.  Char and Phil shared a double bed and were pretty uncomfortable.

05/15/2017 (Monday) –Bella Vista Cloud Rain Forest
The first "hike" offered was at 6:30 am.  Roy and I figured we'd get up the first morning and sleep in the 2nd.  It was beautiful, but Catharine found she is not patient enough for bird watching.  Dave was, though, and got some great bird pictures.  Steve and Christine saw toucans.  At least the humming birds were beautiful and abundant and we enjoyed watching them.




The breakfast was pretty good, granola, yogurt, homemade bread, and scrambled eggs.  At around 9:00 we went on a hike with the owner (Richard) for our guide.  It took about 2 ½ hours, but we went slowly.  It was fun.  Half of the group went with a different guide, and I think they saw more than we did.  We passed them about half way (we were on the same trail going in opposite directions), they told us they saw a frog, so I was on the lookout.  If finally saw one hop.  It was about 1/8 of an inch tall and wide.  Tiny!
Our guide, Richard.  He and his wife run
the place, but it seemed that they did
a lot of things separately from each other.  She was
not there when we were.  They had also chosen
not to have children, which, he said, he was beginning to regret
a little bit.  




At lunch we had the first downpour, and I mean downpour.  They must have had 4 or 5 inches of rain in an hour--if their rain gauge was correct, they did.  There was another hike at 3:00.  The rain had mostly stopped, but we still opted for a nap and missed the hike.  Only about 3 of our group went.  In the evening, we played Hearts with Steve and Christine, and after dinner we played the animal game with everyone.  It seems no one really knew how to play it, so it was hard to get anyone out (we realized towards the end of the game that when our family plays, we always change signs when we change chairs).  We laughed like crazy, though, but you would have had to be there.  Dinner was hardly worth eating.











Tyra--a sort of weasel


Our room
05/16/2017 (Tuesday) – Last day at the Cloud Forest
There were no hikes included on this day, but 7 of us (Dave, Phil, Char, Lyle and Christine Petersen, Renae Peck, Catharine and Roy) paid for another one anyway, and we were so glad we did.  It was muddy everywhere, and slippery in places.  The sign said difficult, but we didn't realize what that meant.  We both thought that it would probably get steep (especially as we lost quite a lot of altitude at the beginning).  It did get steep, but part of the hike up was hiking up the waterfall.  It was awesome.  We climbed a rope ladder, rappelled across a large rock, and got wet.  We had been so careful not to step in the deep water and get water in our boots--and then we had no choice.  We were all soaked.  Lyle Peterson, another friend, ripped the seat of his pants open trying to avoid getting water in his boots. This time we had the other guide.  She was fabulous!  All of us tipped her well.



Glenn and Rosilene.  Unfortunately, they both struggled most of the
trip with sickness.




Thankfully, lunch was better than the dinner had been. Roy had trout and Catharine had broccoli souffle.  We had another downpour (how we timed our hikes just right, I'm not sure) throughout lunch.  We had to run through the rain to get on the bus, I think we were delayed a little because it was raining so hard the driver didn't want to load our bags.  We were a little nervous about the ride down, but we took a different road and it was much less treacherous.  We were warned by our guide that we might have trouble getting to the airport because there had been so many mudslides due to the excessive spring rain in Quito.  We didn't have problems, but we did see mudslides. 
Before we went to the airport we were able to have one last adventure.  We stopped at a chocolate factory in Mindo.  It was really just a miniature factory, set up for tourists, but they did a nice job explaining the process of making chocolate.  We also had samples and Catharine was chocolated out before we got out of there (do you believe that's possible?)
This is what the raw cocoa bean looks like.  It's really kind of gross



We arrived at the airport in Quito at 7:30 pm.  Our flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 12:35 am.  Some of the family left at 11:30.  We had plenty of time for dinner.  Some of us had a very nice meal.  Part of the group ate at Johnny Rockets, and their meal, though probably tasty enough, was twice as expensive as the meal that we bought. 
Overall, it was a wonderful trip, with great people and with beautiful birds, animals, and scenery.  We made some new friends (we already knew the Pecks from our Antarctica trip, and they brought along the Peterson's who are from Bountiful). 
05/17/2017 (Wednesday) –There's no place like home.  Getting back to normal wasn't as hard as expected because we only ever had a 1 hour time difference.  It was just trying to sleep in the airplane all night that was (all right, I'll say it)--miserable.  It was worth the bad flight for the great experience of going to the Galapagos.
  


Each night we found new sculptures on our bed, but the best was when
they put a person in everyone's bed (see below).  Several of the women
were startled when they walked in the room to see someone else in their room,
wearing their husband's (or their) clothes, reading a book


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