February | 2013 | Rule #2: Don't Die.

Archive | February, 2013

The Galaps, Volcan, and Carnival

We (M and myself) are officially done with our portion of Ecuador. There have been numerous requests (which means at least 2) for more wildlife photos from the Galapagos, so here they are. We spent quite a bit of time with giant tortoises – including some newborns,

some five year olds,

some 75-80 years old,

and some sort of hybrid.

We also hung out with sea lions, who took a strong liking to M,

knew how to drive boats,

and found some sort of hybrid sea lion laying on the dock.

Plenty of marine and land iguanas.

And of course birds, birds, birds including more boobies.

We were most impressed with the really large hybrid blue-footed boobies.

The Galaps were enjoyable, tranquil, evolutionary, and tormendous! The Red Mangrove lodges were very nice but the staff (especially Rafael – yes, like the ninja turtle) were even better, although we did stay at a cabin on a secluded beach with an epic sunset.

After we left the islands behind, we immediately transferred from Quito to Latacunga… which pretty much knocked me out for the rest of the evening due to the high elevation at 2800m. Then we decided that we were not high enough so the next day we decided to hike to Lake Quilotoa at 3800m, which then took M down (and she is from Wyoming!).

The trek to the lake was full of indigenous people and agriculture everywhere – all the way to the top of the mountains and on some very steep slopes. The crater lake was beautiful, truly emerald.

After the hike down from the rim, M and I took a horse and mule back up (we tried to hike it, but my heart was working pretty hard after only 5 minutes and M was out of breath – I was further up the hill than her… in a non-competitive way) but H and R hoofed it straight up the 400m climb. Our horses only caught up to them after they took a brake. Impressive… it’s like this is their job…

We spent our last few days relaxing in Banos, literarily on the side of a often-violently-active volcano with a many meters tall waterfall just off one of the town streets.

We also woke up early to participate in Ambato’s Carnival for the floras y frutas parade. We managed to snag cushy seats for the reasonable price of a $8 brunch at the hotel across from the VPs parade seat (he also happened to be staying at the hotel, which we learned after the parade was over because we temporarily could not leave while the military aggressively took control of the block while he leisurely transferred back).

The parade was wonderful with floats covered in flowers, fruits, and beautiful women, followed by live bands and troops of dancing people in crazy costumes. We hung around the parade until we had enough soap bubbles sprayed on us.

Back at Banos we participated in a large Eucalyptus bonfire (with the height of the flames and embers I am surprised there were no additional fires).

We were all a bit overwhelmed at the crush of humanity in Baños celebrating carnival,

and so we all transferred up to Quito for our last night together.

It rained all day and night in Quito so no partying or salsa dancing for carnival for us in this sweater-wearing, book-reading city. One more game of pinochle?

Tags: Ambato, Baños, Ecuador, Galapagos, Latacunga, Quilotoa, travel blog

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Categories Ecuador, Our Travel Stories
Author G

Boobies!

4 Feb

That’s right, the guest star is back for more fun-filled Epic Adventures and this time I have managed to drag M along for the tour – actually all I did was mention the possibility of the Galápagos Islands and she jumped on board. Her reason for going – to deliver new salsa dancing skirts to mis hermanas; unfortunately the skirts did not arrive in time to make it in her suitcase… Haha

After 18 hours of flight and airport time (Ecuador is really far away from Hawaii, at least as the plane flys), M and I arrived in Quito and were NOT greeted by our REI Adventure and Red Mangrove guide (NOTE: I was projecting forward during the original draft of this post). This will be our first time traveling with REI – I love their stores, products and company, just ask anyone who has had to drive me to their store on mainland visits (no stores in Hawaii 😢, but free online shipping which is a big deal in the islands). Most visits to the Galápagos Islands are arranged through travel tours, because to go anywhere outside of the port towns you must have a tour guide (to protect the natural setting) – although my travel book says it is possible to just fly to the islands and hook up with walking tours. With M’s requirement (and my extreme interest) to go to the Galapagos, we decided to take REI up on all those Adventure emails they send. And I have been talking about Boobies, the blue-footed kind, ever since!

But before the islands there was a day in Quito and we managed to fill it with a trip to the Equator, a trip to the actual equator and some old churches. Our first stop was Mitad del Mundo where we looked at a large ball (which was the earth) on top of a giant podium (which was a giant podium). We grabbed the typical photos standing on the equator line then booked it next door to the Museo del Intinan where the actual equator is. Apparently when the French marked the middle of the Earth they were about 300 meters off according to GPS. The Museo was quite good and included not only different experiences to try out while standing on the equator, like draining water in each hemisphere, balancing an egg on a nail and trying to walk in a straight line, as well as shrunken heads and a highlander dance in which we all participated. We end our daylight hours by peeking in the doors of churches (apparently everyone gets married on Saturdays) in Old Town Quito.

We called it a early night due to our early flight the next morning.

Our guide arrived exactly on time in the morning for our transport to the Galapagos (which I am told is quite an event since Ecuadorians are usually late). Our morning consisted breakfast then transit from one end of Ecuador to the other with a 2nd breakfast then onto the islands with an early 11zs via a plane then to another island via a boat then over to the other side of the island via a coach to our Red Mangrove Lodge all before 11:30am. We explored the lodge for the rest of the morning and watched marine iguanas swim in and out to sea, brown pelicans bathing themselves, sea lions sleep under the deck, frigate birds cruise the wind currents, and examined the finches’ bills as they came to our table to display.

After lunch and the arrival of the rest of our group, we headed to the beach with our nature guide to enjoy the beautiful afternoon – then just as H and I swam out into the ocean we noticed an usual bird sitting next to the pelicans – our first blue-footed booby! We immediately swam out to check out his feet which were a lighter blue then we were anticipating, still a beautiful blue though. The rest of the afternoon we watched numerous pelicans and boobies drive bomb the ocean in search of fish – all and all a pretty great start to an exciting 2 weeks.