Galapagos - Best Spring Break Destination EVER

Sorry but this is going to be a long one.

As part of the BU program we went to Galapagos for the first part of our semana santa vacation (April 9-13). Our whole trip was completely planned for us and we did not have to think or worry about abything for the 4 days we were there. Maria, our program coordinator, takes care of us and we have dubbed her the Queen of Ecuador.

Day 1

We left Quito at 9 am on Thursday April 9 and flew through Guayaquil. The flight was not too exciting as it was a lot of ocean, but in the last 15 minutes or so of the flight, we started to fly over islands, which was super cool. When we got to Galapagos, it was not anything like I had pictured it. I'm not sure exactly what I imagined, but cacti were not it. It looked a little what I imagine Australia looks like. It was absolutely beautiful though.

Once we got off the plane, we took a bus to the ferry, which brought us to the island where we would be staying the first night, Santa Cruz. We then took a bus across the island to Puerto Ayora, the main city. The first night we stayed in a hotel called the Red Footed Booby. It was a nice place. The rooms had air conditioning and there was a pool on the top floor. As I said, Maria takes care of us. We did not have much time to settle in. Basically, we all just changed into swimsuits and went to lunch...and what a lunch. We had appetizers (patacones which are fired planatnos with cheese), soup, bread, main course (chicken, lentils, rice, and salad), and ice cream. We were all pretty full after soup and still just continued to eat. I repeat again, Maria takes very good care of us. After that we went to the beach (even though we all felt like beached whales). It was a beautiful beach and the sand felt like flour it was so fine. A bunch of us went swimming and I had a great time frolicking in the waves. This was my first experience with the Pacific Ocean and I am afraid I have now set an impossibly high standard. We then went back to the hotel and had a lovely night swim before dinner. At first we could see a bunch of stars, but then it cloudy.

Day 2

The next day we got up and had a lovely breakfast at the hotel. We embarked on our first snorkeling adventure. We took a little dingy out and went snorkeling. This was my first time snorkeling and it took me a little while to get used to the breathing. I saw a bunch of fish, a marine iguana swimming, a stingray, and a sea lion. I got super excited about the sea lion. Little did I know how much better acquainted we would become by the end of the trip. After that, we rode the dingy back towards the harbor. We stopped to see some more sea iguanas. It was funny, when we first started seeing iguanas as we were walking down the trail, we all got really excited and started taking pictures. By the time we got to the beach they were everywhere. This happened throughout the trip. At first all my pictures of an animal are from very far away and then as the pictures go on the pictures get closer and closer until you are literally standing next to the animal. After hanging out with the iguanas for a while, we went back via this sheltered cove where we saw some sharks chillin. We went back to our hotel to get changed and gave all of our luggae to people to bring to the boat where we would be spending the next 3 days.

Our group then took a bus up into the highlands to see some giant tortoises (aka galapagos - they are what the islands are named for(. They are unreal. The first one I saw I could not believe how huge it was. Pictures do not do them justice (not that we all did'nt try). Then on our bus ride back we stopped at this giant lava tube, which we walked through. For almost all of it you could walk normally, but for about a meter and a half you had to crawl. It was cool. Once we got back to port, we hopped on another dingy and went to our boat for the first time. It was a small boat for only 16 people so we had it all to ourselves. There were hard wood floors and wood paneling. There were also a covered deck and a sun deck, a TV with DVD player, and large quantities of awesome food. We were in the lap of luxury and we all felt rich. I cannot say it enough...Maria takes care of us. The rooms were cozy (aka tiny) but nice. I was lucky and never really felt seasick. I just took a Mareol (which is essentially Dramamine) every night before bed and was good.

Day 3

The next day when we woke up, we were north of Santa Cruz. We had an amazing breakfast on the boat and then went to North Seymour Island to see blue footed boobies and other animals. Blue footed boobies are some of the most adorable animals. The way they walk is a little like the penguin waddle and their big blue feet just add to the overall picture of cuteness. At first, the boobies were all pretty far away, but as we kept walking, they were right next to, and sometimes in, the path. We also saw frigate birds. The male frigate birds, in order to attract a mate, have a very large pouch in their throat which they inflate. They are rather bizarre but very cool birds. Another fun fact about them, their feathers are not water proof so they cannot get wet so the way they eat is by chasing other birds, pulling on their tales trying to make them vomit so the frigate birds can eat the vomit. Lovely no? We also saw some land iguanas. Land iguanas are bigger than marine iguanas and instead of being black, they are yellow and brown.

After we completed our tour of the island, we went back to the boat and changed for snorkeling. This time I was a lot more comfortable with the whole thing. It was also a cooler place. There were more fish and these ones were more colorful. I saw those crazy tropical fish you sometimes see in fish tanks or in the aquarium live and in their natural habitat. It was so cool. Some people saw a shark, but I was not that lucky. I did get to see a couple of stingrays relaxing on the sea floor and a manta ray swim by. Towards the end of our snorkel, a bunch of sea lions (or in spaish lobos de mar) joined us. They swam right up to us. I have to say sea lions are one of the cutest things ever. They were spinning in and among the rocks. After snorkeling, we went back to the boat and ate lunch while we sailed to San Bartolome. In transit, we hung out on the sun deck, which resulted in a few sunburns. San Bartolome is an island famous for this spire of rock. It is in a lot of the books about Galapagos. When we first got there, we went out in the dingy to see penguins. That's right penguins. The penguins that live in Galapagos are small and adorable. I have now achieved a major goal in my life to see penguins outside of a zoo. After our penguin watching, we went snorkeling again. The coolest part about this snorkeling experience was when we saw penguins up close and I saw a couple swim by me. After snorkeling, we climbed 365 stairs up to the top of a hill across from the spire. From the top we had an incredible view. It was unreal. I could not believe what I was seeing, it looked like a back drop or something.

Day 4

The next morning we got up at dawn to see wildlife at Plazas. I is an island with many land iguanas and sea lions. One of the highlights of this island was first watching and iguana eating a piece of cactus and then watching him fight with another, smaller iguana that wanted some too. There was a lot of head bobbing and a few narrow get aways with the food. We a also saw a sea lion baby nursing and ta sea lion graveyard where old and infertile sea lion males go to die.

After that we went back to the boat to eat breakfast and travel to Santa Fey. Once we got there, we went snorkeling again. The coolest part was the big schools of fish. I would dive down and just be swimming in the middle of this big group of fish. Also, the water at Santa Fey was that ridiculously bright blue water that doesn't even seem real. Again we were joined by sea lions. There was one point when I was swimming and there was a sea lion right under me swimming around through this big group of fish. I cannot even describe how cool it was. When we got back to the boat, almost all of us jumped off the top of the boat. It was great fun and only a little painful when you hit the water. After lunch, we went to the island proper of Santa Fey to see another type of iguana (green iguana) and a sea lion colony. The sea lion colony was super cool. One of the best things about Galapagos animals is they have no fear of people. We were able to walk around really close to the sea lions. One even sniffed my foot. We also saw a green iguana. It is bigger than either the land or marine iguanas. There was also this cool looking hawk. This was essentially the last of our Glapagos wildlife experiences. We then sailed for our final destination, the capital of Galapagos San Cristobal. It was a really nice ride. For a while I sat on the second deck in the front of the boat just enjoying the view and the breeze. I saw a bunch of sting rays swimming. We spent the rest of the night watching Arrested Development - good times.

Day 5

This was our last day and we didn't do too much. We went to a museaum about the Galapagos. It was ok, but a little anti-climactic after seeing it all in person. After that, we just wandered around the town. We found this cool park with lots of fun paintings, a stage, and play ground equipment. It was a chill last day.


Sorry for the long entry, but a lot happened. Imagine, this was only the first half of my spring break trip. I'll write about the rest in the next blog.

World Cup 2010 Qualifying Games

That's right I got to go to two World Cup Qualifying Games: Ecuador vs. Brasil and Ecuador vs. Paraguay. My friend Jake and I waited in line for a couple of hours and got a voucher for the tickets for both games. They ran out of general tickets (the cheapest option) before we got to the ticket booth so we ended up in Preferencia which was the next cheapest seats. Even though they were a more expensive option, the tickets were still only $54 total for both games. Not too bad. The preferencia section is the whole eastern side of the stadium and the general section was the two ends, so we got better seats.

The first game, Ecuador-Brasil, was Sunday March 29 at 4 pm. Jake and I got to the stadium around 12pm. The seating is general so we had to go early in order to get decent seats. We also had the difficult task of trying to save seats for our friends Justin and Ari as well as for my host brother and his friends. Miraculously we were able to claim enough space for us to all sit near each other although spread out over 3 rows. We had great seats almost right in the center. The game, and even waiting for it, was so much fun. The entire stadium was yellow, it was super cool. Soccer/futbol fans don't mess around. At one point while we were waiting it started raining. No body moved, everyone just put on jackets and took out their umbrellas. It was funny all of a sudden seeing this wave of motion as everyone was putting on coats.

There was lots of yelling - both positive and negative things. Every time a member of the opposing team was announced the crowd yelled "hijo de puta" which essentially means son of a bitch. The whole crowd also sings. My favorite of the songs was "Va-mos, Ecuatoria-nos; Esta tar-de, tenemos que ganar!" This means lets go Ecuadorians, this afternoon we have to win. Doesn't work nearly as well in English. Also in the northwest section of the general seating they had a giant Ecuador flag that covered the entire section. Where we were sitting we had a mini (in comparison) flag. It was pretty exciting to be under it.

So to the actual game. Ecuador dominated. They had possession at least 75% of the time. They were playing really well, but there was a little problem with finishing. There were so many beautiful opportunities and shots on goal, but they just couldn't score. Then about a quarter way through the second half, Brasil got the ball and very quickly scored. As the game went on Ecuador kept playing really well, but still couldn't score. Then in the last few minutes they scored to tie the game. It was so exciting. The entire stadium exploded. Everyone was really glad they were able to tie it, but there was still some disappointment because they should have won.

The Ecuador-Paraguay game was Wednesday April 1 at 4:30pm. I had a test at 11am, but after that I went straight home and then straight to the game. Conveniently I live within walking distance from the stadium. I once again had to save seats, but this time I was on my own since everyone else had class latter. This time luckily I only had to save 3 seats, one for Jake, Bailey, and one of Bailey's friends. My host brother and his wife and friends had seats some where else, but Julio and Vero did come to visit me and use my sunscreen, so I wasn't too bored. There is more tension between Ecuador and Paraguay than there is with Brasil so there was even more yelling. Also Ecuador had to win the game in order to still have a realistic shot to qualify and Paraguay is the number 1 team.

This game was similar to the last game. Once again Ecuador dominated possession, although less than against Brasil. But again Ecuador could not score. There were so many close chances. It was super frustrating. Then in the second half Ecuador scored. The excitement after was even more intense than the goal against Brasil, because this goal put Ecuador in the lead. There was about 20 minutes left and all they had to do was hold on. Unfortunately Ecuador did not have it together as much in the second half as they did in the first. They were not always making the best decisions and there passing were often not sharp. In stoppage time, with less than a minute left in the game, Paraguay scored to tie it up. It was heartbreaking.

Moment right before our goal

Despite the fact Ecuador did not win either game, I had a blast. It was such a great and exciting experience. I had promised to not leave Ecuador without going to at least one futbol game and I got to go to 2 world cup qualifying games. I can now leave the country in peace.