Good bye Ecuador.... Hello Peru

My Journey through the Galapagos on Isabela Isalnd has come to an end. I will miss it and the people who I can now call friends, but one day i will return because if legend holds true, as Junior told me, those who eat the Guava fruit of the island while on the island will either return to the island or stay on the island. From here my journey will move on to Peru. Where I will visit my father's home town Ancash. It's a small village up in the mountains of the northern middle Peru. Perhaps my dad will remember how to speak Ketchuan and teach us. Given the fact I am no longer in the Galapagos I've decided to change the name of my blog from The Galapagos to Peruvian Adventures. I will finish adding the pictures to the Galapagos blogs once I get the chance.

Too much play = poor presentation

Yesterday...I'm almost caught up. This day was almost the exact same as it was the day before...Working on video stuff....so much harder than had originally thought it would be. We did present our work today to some of the people of the community of Isabela.... of course the work between Paola, Drew and me was the worst, and horribly put together for the presentation. It was interesting to watch the faces of everyone as we followed two good presentations with a bad one. Later on was great though. After all the work we did, Rebeca and her friends went out with us for one last time. Junior(la Monja), David(Cabeza de Leon), Chimaru(I think that was his last name...), and then Mario, y Jihro or Jairo (don't know how to spell his name but sounds like Hi-ro) and our little group met up at the famous Bar de Beto and we danced the night away. I couldn't hold in the need to rave at this point so I borrowed to phones that had super bright lights on them and just went at it for a good while. Followed by salsa, and bachata dancing with Jairo (Junior's brother). After all of that we decided to head over to the beach and play 7 poon again, which was a failed attempt. So we ended up just hanging around talking while David, Junior, and Jairo took turns playing the two guitars they had and singing. Sadly, the night had to end.

Concha de Perla

Sunday June seventh was a lot of work for virtually nothing...what ever i did do for the video projects ended up not being used anyway. It was a very long day of fruitless work for me, unfortunately, but it was in the Galapagos so it was all good. The very productive part of my day was waking up in the morning to watch the Sunrise in Concha de Perla. It was beautiful. I almost didn't wake up. However, it was almost as if the rooster were crowing earlier than usual (5:15am), louder, and more frequently just to wake me up. Soon after I was on my way to Concha de Perla they stopped crowing as frequently. After this wonderful morning I returned to the hotel to sleep and wake up a little later to eat breakfast and continue with one of the bleakest days in the Galapagos. Given the fact that it was in Isabela Island it wasn't so bleak.

Los Tuneles

So continuing with this game of catch up, on June sixth we ventured out early in the morning to Los Tuneles. On the one hour boat ride over we saw the ginormous manta rays in the water at least 2.5m in wingspan. The hype on this place was so big we just had to go. It was a little bit different than I had thought it would be but it lived up to the hype. I had pictured the entrance being the opening of a cave and the boat we were in having to ride a wave into the cave. So it wasn't a cave but it was amazing. We did have to kind of ride the waves a little bit, but on the side of the wave drifitng with it rather than something like a surfer riding the white waters. That was a big relief. There were two snorkeling areas we visited. In the first one we swam with so many sea turtles i had never thought it would be possible to do in my lifetime. The fishes were as always, amazing. Damsel fish, Parrot fish, Mexican Hog fish, Razor surgeon fish...the list just keeps going. When we went over to the second snorkeling spot we saw even more amazing sights. This spot was where the name Los Tuneles came from. The rocks have eroded away over time to create theses natural bridges. As we entered with the boat (which was a ridicualously insane idea, the captain had awesome skills to navigatearound the rocks) we saw a huge sea turtle that was completely visible and then a spotted eagle ray. Under the water you can swim through the holes or tunnels if you can hold your breath long enough. I know I couldn't, but I tried.

Tortuga

Sorry for disappearing for two days, but I got back up with assignments that turned out to be tougher to make than I thought I'll make up for that by writing a blog for each day i missed. Anyways, on Friday June fifth we took a trip over to Tortuga. A small island off the coast of Isabela that is inaccessible to humans. I realized that when i got there. Originally I thought we would get off on the island and snorkel around a bay or something of that sort... Little did I know we would be snorkeling in virtually open ocean with and next to the waves crashing against the island walls. We did a little bit of bird watching and we got really lucky to see some male frigate birds in heat even though their mating season has already passed. All over the island were masked boobys, blue-footed boobys, frigate birds, and maybe a few albatrosses. There so many different birds could only name those few. Later we jumped off the boat and into the dark blue water. With Manuel, or Manuku (the hotel owner of where we are staying) as he is known, as our guide the dive was amazing. He had the ability to find some of the more cryptic animals in the area like an octopus, and this beautiful and huge lobster. Once again, we were joined by a sea lion. Sadly, the water turned bad when tiny jelly fish swarmed in, so we had to jump back into the boat and snorkel else where.

Down Time

This island is always relaxed, but the one day you have to relax feels as if that is the only thing you can do. All of the hiking, the sightseeing, snorkeling, surfing and every other carzy activity you decide to partake of catches up with you. So you end up sleeping half the day as I did. However, that is a good thing, because it sets you up to be energized for the next five days of non-stop adventures all over again. I attempted to go to the beach...that did not work. I also attempted to wake up to watch the sunrise in Concha de Perla, a small bay 10 minutes walking distance from hotel Delfin, but that did not happen either. Basically it was a day of nothing, but in paradise. Aside from the two guest lectures/presentations from a fisherman and a representative from the Charles Darwin Foundation, we did NADA! Oddly enough, we found out the Foundation is actually a Belgian program. Not from Ecuador!!! We also found out how hard the fishermen have it around here. The season only lasts 4 months out the year. How do they feed themselves and their families you ask? Good Question. Apparently they either take loans or do "IOU's" with markets for a few months until they have to switch to another market and so forth until the fishing season begins. At which point they have to payback everyone... Talk about the hard life.

Sierra Negra y Volcan Chico

An all day volcano hike is no joke. Sierra Negra is the second largest caldera, and the largest active caldera in the world. When standing on the rim of the volcano and the sky is clear of clouds one can see the cooled lava stones. The green patches indicate the older eruptions while the lava rocks bare of vegetation came from the last eruption in 2005. According to our guide, it takes about 70 years for plants to start growing again. Throughout the hike we spotted Darwin's bushes both thin and wide leaved. We also spotted a Preying Mantis... a very tiny one. When we made it to Volcan Chico the landscape had changed from lush green growth to bare rocks with cacti speckled all over. At the very top of Volcan Chico the wind was extremely strong. It felt as if a person could tip over walking upright. Professor Pinto's hat flew away on her way up. It was quite the adventure. The fatigue came into our bodies on the way back when the up-hill climb began. Amazingly enough, not a single person in our group slipped and fell on the muddy terrain on the way back.

Biking down-hill

The day began as usual with breakfast at 7:30am followed by more art creations in the sand. The real kicker was heading south, down the side of a volcano. On the ride up I thought: "This won't be bad...these slopes will be pretty slow." Man was I mistaken! Speeding down the roads was nearly uncontrollable at times. Sometimes the road would be covered with cracks aside from the constant rubble on the road, and anyone would think as i did: "This time I'll go flying for sure." The decent took about 4 hours in total. The end was the most gruesome up-hill, down-hill combos. By the time we all reached the beach my legs were about to give out involuntarily. Although it was an exhausting ride at the end, the exhilaration and the landscape views during the decent were completely worth it.

Waves and Caves!

Yes, today was my first time surfing! It was amazing. Aside from the total wipes outs, I got two really good waves which I rode till it ended. At one point a sea lion joined the group in our surfing adventures. Later on after lunch, the group went cave exploring. the cieling looked like it was covered in gold. after treking through the wet, slipery, and moldy rocks we emerged in a beautiful rain forest. My sister arrived today as well. She had a more pleasant boat ride to Isabella island than I did. The day proceeded on as usual later on with dinner followed by relaxation and writing this blog. Good night.