Day 7- Off to the Galapagos!
We woke up very early to fly from Quito to the Galapagos! We had to stop after an hour and 45 minutes to refuel the plane, only to go 15 more minutes to our location. I guess the plane doesn't have the capacity to hold it all, so they have to stop. We finally made it to the airport, paid an entrance fee of $100 and were on our way!
Once we got out of the airport, we took a 5 minute bus ride to a boat. The boat drove us 10 minutes, then got on another bus that drove us 40 minutes. The bus was waiting for the other passengers to come, so we had to wait forever. So Alex, and I watched Space Jam to pass some time. I didn't get to finish it, so now I need to watch it again! I definitely forgot how good that soundtrack is though!
We finally checked into our hotel, and it was pretty cute! They had hammocks in the lobby, and the only place to get wifi was in the lobby. So I knew I would be spending lots of time on those hammocks!
Once we dropped off our stuff, we walked down the streets looking for a place to eat lunch/dinner. It felt like we were in a movie. We found a place that served a lot of american food and ate some pasta!
Once we were finished eating, we bought a pack of water bottles so we wouldn't die of dehydration. Then we walked to the pier to also use the ATM. Unfortunately the ATM wouldn't work for me, but I still had enough to get me through the next few days. We stopped at some shops, but it was all pretty expensive since it was a touristy place. While walking back to the hotel, we saw a ton of sea lions on the dock.
They are actually pretty friendly. Well to an extent.
Mau finally had her hubby.
When we got back to the hotel, I called home to see if dad could call the bank again. He worked it all out, and I got to talk to Nathan as well! It was nice to get a little taste of home.
Day 8-
Quito, where we were the week before, they were 2 hours ahead, which nearly killed me waking up so early. In the Galapagos, they were only 1 hour ahead, so I appreciated getting to sleep in a little bit.
Half of our group left super early to scuba dive, and everyone else went snorkeling. It was a mixture of a hike and snorkeling in the water. The first location we went to, you couldn't see too much unless you swam a lot lower. I was fortunate enough to actually see a turtle too!
We also saw some other animals on our travels like the "blue footed boobie" and the "water iguanas".
Our next location had a lot more people but you could see everything in the water!
I know snorkeling isn't a huge deal, but it was really fun and I'm happy we went!
After our tour was finished, we went back to the hotel to freshen up and then get lunch. Everyone was getting alcoholic drinks that looked kind of like smoothies. So I decided to get a pina colada. The waitress could not comprehend why I would want it without the alcohol. It was half off though, plus all my friends loved it, so who is the real winner??
Once we were done eating, we headed over to the scuba diving place to pick up the rest of the group and head over to the Darwin Institute. They were all exhausted!
Their english is as good as my spanish.
The Darwin Institute was more like a zoo in my opinion and kind of boring, but maybe if I read the signs explaining everything, I would have appreciated it more.
He said he wore it to protect his head, but really he just liked being gangster.
Signing cactus.
Audrey showing me how Iguanas lay.
Drew and his walking stick.
Ugly face contest.
Outside of the Darwin Institute there was a beach with actual sand! The beach near our hotel has volcanic rocks, so we were excited to be at an actual beach!
Sea lions sitting outside a restaurant.
I ventured out and tried something new!
Pizza with octopus! I don't usually like sea food but since it was fresh, it didn't taste as fishy! The octopus was kind of chewy, but still good! I'm happy Audrey suggested we split that pizza!
Everyone got a picture sitting on top of a ginormous tortoise statue, and I was jealous so I took a picture with this little guy.
That evening we went back to the pier. This was probably my favorite thing to do in the Galapagos for 2 reasons.
1. You could see in the water and there were a ton of baby sharks near the surface.
2. We would take a water taxi out on and you could see the stars so well! Plus it was a different constellation than what we were use to.
Some titanic also went down. It tended to be a common theme all because "My Heart Will Go On" played on the bus.
Day 9-
We drove 30 minutes to see a volcano that has sunk in, and then tortoises in their habitat.
More terpin'.
Kylie is a beast!
Go-pro improv
While on our walk/hike, we went into a cave. It had just recently rained though so stuff was constantly dripping on my head.
We pretty much spent the whole morning here. Around 1 we changed to get ready for the beach and lunch. While eating lunch, two boys on bikes in white shirts pulled up. My first thought was, oh they have to be missionaries! So I yelled, "Elders!" They turned around and then I realized I knew one of them!! It was Trevor Espinoza! I got up and he said really fast, "you can't hug me!" Hahaha! I've been trained from all the elders in my singes ward, so I knew better, but it was still funny! That sure caused more questions about mormons, all my nonmember friends were so confused why we couldn't hug.
He is doing so good though!
After lunch, a group of us started walking to a different beach that had sand. The plan was to take a taxi a part of the way (the whole thing was an hour and 45 minute walk), and then walk the remainder. Well we got a taxi and it drove us like 2 blocks.
Drew had to ride in the trunk.
Luckily the road was paved and meant for tourist, but it was so hot. My friend started getting sick, so we went back. It was our first day taking Malaria pills, so I felt a little dizzy all day anyway. Once we got back, it was nice having down time- first time the whole trip. We sat on hammocks and answered more "mormon questions" from our professor. Then Ali and I went shopping and bought ice cream from our favorite soft serve place.
Everyone came back just in time for dinner. So my usual group (Liz, Audrey, and the Volk boys) all found a place that accepted credit cards. First place the whole trip!
More pina coladas! They were a day apart, don't worry!
Sometimes life gets hard and you just have to eat chocolate cake in the corner.
After dinner we told the whole group about how great the late night water taxi was, and invited them to come with. Crappy picture but it was a good time!
Everyone on their phones. This was a daily ritual. None of us had service all day, so this was the one time to text our families, and do a quick social media check.
Side note: Most of the girls went out on the town to dance and drink. They would try to get me to go, but I wasn't sure if the DD would actually be sober, and I was scared of the environment. Well I told Drew (Cindy's son) if he didn't drink any alcohol the rest of the trip, I would go out one of the nights. He agreed, so we had a little challenge/deal going the last 6 days.
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