Galapagos Birds -- Part I

I know I promised marine iguanas next, but Mike took some outstanding photos on our last day in the Galapagos, so I'm going to wait until he uploads those. In the meantime, I'll cover penguins, flamingos, and a few other birds.



The Galapagos penguin is the northernmost penguin found in the wild. It's pretty weird to have penguins hanging out at the equator, but the water is much colder than you'd expect it to be! We saw the penguins on our 4-day cruise when we stopped at Bartolome island.



This penguin is taking the plunge. We had the opportunity to snorkel with the penguins, which was a definite highlight for me. They really zip through the water like mini torpedoes. We were able to get almost as close to the penguins as you did your Thanksgiving turkey, but we didn't put any in our mouths.



The penguins were really hamming it up for the cameras. It's fun to watch how different they are on land versus in the water. They hop around with their heads hunched over, like the penguin in the foreground.



We saw flamingos on the last day of our cruise. They were hanging out in a lagoon on the north side of Santa Cruz island. We only saw 5, but it turns out that that is about 1% of the flamingo population in the Galapagos. It seems especially strange to me that there are flamingos very nearby penguins...



Some of the flamingos were a very light pink, but this one is fairly colorful. Supposedly they become brighter as they get older and better nourished.



So, if you try to picture the flamingo without its head and legs, what does it remind you of? Maybe the carnival? Maybe some nice, fluffy cotton candy?



This is a lovely little water bird that hangs out around tide pools. I think it's an oyster catcher.



This bird has a pretty sweet mohawk, but I don't know what kind of bird it is. All of the wildlife books on sale in the Galapagos were ridiculously expensive. There was one small (150 page) Lonely Planet wildlife guide that most stores were trying to sell for $35-40. You could see under the sticker that the regular price was around $20, and I'm sure you could buy it on Amazon and have it shipped to South America for $15 or less.



This is a male frigate bird. When they are on land they can puff out the red part so it looks like a giant balloon. Unfortunately, we only saw them in the air...



This frigate bird was soaring in the air around our boat.

Okay, you've reached the end of Galapagos Birds -- Part I. Part II will feature pelicans, blue-footed boobies, etc. Also, you have yet to witness the grandeur of the Sally light-foot crabs, the marine iguanas, and whatever else I'm forgetting at the moment. Until next time!

Sea Lions

You're excited to see the sea lion pics, right? They're so cute and silly, who wouldn't want to?

Well, sea lions are abundant in the Galapagos. Mike and I have had close sea lion encounters before (when we got Scuba certified in Mexico we dove with them), but we got to spend lots of time with them on land and water during our cruise. Here are some of the picture highlights:



Aww... Baby sea lions sound an awful lot like lambs when they are crying. This one is really young.



This mama sea lion had some sweet racing stripes! (By the way, it's easy to tell the males and the females apart becaust the males have huge bumps on their foreheads.)



She's such a pretty golden color, but if I'm not mistaken, she's sporting a double (or quintuple) chin.



Sorry about this gross-out picture...Mike wanted me to include it. This poor sea lion had a run in with a shark. Our guide seemed to think that she would pull through, but it wasn't pretty.



Just like a puppy. Awww...



Kisses! The next photo Mike took was a bit too close, though...



Sooner or later you're going to get sand in your craw if you're a sea lion.



"I've got a secret, but I'm not telling!"



We watched this sea lion eat her entire fish. It took about 20 minutes. Apparently it's not easy to eat without hands while swimming in the ocean. She would grab the fish with her teeth and then whip her neck super fast to tear the chunk of meat in her mouth away from the rest of the fish's body. Then she'd retrieve the fish and repeat the process. You can tell that this was early in the feeding, because the fish was still spraying blood everywhere.



I, too, have been eating fish recently. I thought I hated seafood, but I've had some really tastey meals lately. I guess fresh fish makes all the difference.



Time for a siesta. There are no pics of me with the sea lions, because none of them turned out too well. You can snuggle up right next to them though.



The sea lions really make themselves right at home anywhere they please. They make their way onto docks, boats, and benches, as you can see for yourself.



Here's the classic shot of the sea lion in front of a gorgeous Galapagos landscape.

Okay, that's all for now. Next up: marine iguanas. They're ugly buggers, but they're funny too. Have you ever seen an iguana swimming underwater?

Tortoises

It turns out we have way too many favorite photos from the Galapagos so far, so my next several posts will be a bit unconventional. Instead of telling you what we've done day by day, I am going to post some pics animal by animal. I'll start with a general overview of our cruise in this post, and then I'll follow that up with tortoise pictures. I'll later have an outrageous amount of pictures of sea lions, penguins, Sally light-foot crabs, marine iguanas, birds, etc. I'll do my best to upload as many pics as possible in the next few days, so keep on coming back. The Galapagos is like a zoo, but without all the bars. It's amazing how close you can get to the animals, especially since they are not afraid.

So, our 4-day cruise began on Thanksgiving. We set out from Puerto Ayora with 14 other passengers, plus 6 crew members and a guide. On our first day we headed southeast toward an island called Sante Fe. We snorkeled (in freezing cold water), then went on a brief hike ashore. This was our first chance to see sea lions and land iguanas.



The boat on the left is the "Yate Amigo," our sturdy vessel.

The next day we visited an island called Sombrero Chino (Chinese Hat) and Puerto Egas on the island of Santiago. We snorkeled, hiked, and saw loads more animals.



This is a 90-passenger boat we didn't take, thank God. Do you know how long it took to unload this beast??



This is another boat that we almost took. It looks like a badass pirate ship, but supposedly the accomodations are very cramped.

Our third day brought us to Sullivan Bay (on the other side of Santiago) and Bartolome island. More snorkeling, hiking, and animals.



Sullivan Bay was the site of a fantastic lava flow. The landscape was quite dramatic and interesting.



I was trying to flow like the lava...



While most of the lava landscape was black, some of the gases left rainbow colors as they cooled.



In one direction, we could only see the lava landscape; in the other, we could see a gorgeous beach. That's the Galapagos for you.



This brilliantly colored, solar powered light was perched atop the mountian on Bartolome.



And this stunning picture was taken with that same light at our backs.

We finished up our fourth day after visitng Playa Bachas on the northern side of Santa Cruz. This was where we saw flamingoes.

Obviously we followed a stricter schedule than we're used to, but we had a great time. We got up early everyday (before 7:00!), and enjoyed three square meals at set times. Our cabin was tiny but nice, especially since we got one of the upstairs rooms that opens up to the deck. Big windows and less engine noise were a plus. Our fellow passengers were mostly Germans (who all spoke English), but there was one English couple our age and one older (70s?) Canadian/English couple. Most of the time we talked to Lisa and Mikey (the English couple) who were on a six-month honeymoon, or Monica and Chris (a German couple about our age) with whom we ate all of our meals. It was fun to spend a bit of time amongst other tourists. Our guide, Miguel, was a bit odd and perhaps not the most knowledgable, but he spoke English and offered some relevant tidbits of information. The crew was nice, but seldom around.

Well, that sums up our cruise. I'll be offering more snipets of info as I add more pictures from the trip. For now, I'll just add some pictures of tortoises, which we actually saw before we went on the cruise...



These baby tortoises are part of the breeding program at the Charles Darwin Research Station. Aww...



This tortoise was one of the older ones hanging around the CDRS. One of the islands contained a sub-species of tortoise that was only found there. When scientists discovered that only 14 of that species were left, all of them were moved to the CDRS. Now they're busy making babies.



Speaking of making babies...



Here's a nice profile shot of one of the tortoises at the reserve in the highlands of Santa Cruz.



How rude of Mike to take a picture of this tortoise with his mouth full!



Num, num, give me some!



Mike is posing with one of the turtles on the reserve.



Although "Mike the Turtle" doesn't have such a nice ring to it, he sure looks great in a shell.



The shells are so heavy and awkward, I could barely lift mine. By the way, these are actual tortoise shells. They're no longer colored because when the tortoises are alive these boney shells are actually covered with thin tile-like plates.

Well, that's it for now. Next time I'll feature sea lions or marine iguanas or something...

Origin of the Species

Guayaquil turns out to be a pretty awesome city, though a bit large for our tastes. It has several fancy and modern malls, a few of which might even rival the Scottsdale malls. Mike and I frequented the Mall del Sur because it is close to the house where we were staying, it is where Denis works, it has free Wi-fi, and it contains the best dessert shop ever. The Sweet & Coffee looks like a Starbucks, but the desserts far surpass anything Starbucks has to offer. We literally ate the raspberry cheesecake everyday. We also tried the triple fudge brownie, the caramelo cheesecake, the chocolate y manjar cake, and the oreo cheesecake. Divine.

In addition to eating at the Sweet & Coffee everyday, we visited several of the very nice parks in the city. The Malecon 2000 and the Malecon Salida are two separate boardwalks along the rivers. Both are very nicely landscaped and feature shops, eateries, etc. We also visited Las Peñas, which is a neighborhood on one of the hills by the river. The entire area has been renovated and made touristy in recent years. It's very cute and colorful.



This is one of the colorful houses in Las Peñas.



Here's another Peñas scene.



The steps up to the top of Las Peñas were helpfully numbered. I think they went to 400-something. Anyways, there was a lovely little lighthouse up top and a fantastic view of the sprawling city.

After a long and very comfortable stay in Guayaquil (thanks to Denis and his aunt and uncle), Mike and I have landed in the Galapagos Islands. We are spending a week and a half here, squeezing in as much wildlife watching as we possibly can, both on land and under the ocean.

We spent our first few days in Puerto Ayora, on the island most commonly referred to as Santa Cruz (most of the islands have 2 or 3 different names). We visited the Charles Darwin Research Station on our first day here and saw baby turtles. Since many species of the giant tortoises that call the Galapagos home are endangered, the CDRS has a breeding program. The baby turtles usually live at the CDRS for about 4 years before they are returned to the wild.

The following day we took a highland tour on Santa Cruz. First we briefly visited two sinkholes called "Los Gemelos" (which means "the twins"). Next we walked through a lava tube for about 1 km. We ended our tour by visiting a giant tortoise reserve. Those buggers were everywhere. Mostly they just sit around, but they kind of sound like cows when they're having sex in the bushes. When we got back to the main building at the reserve, Mike and I both tried on a tortoise shell (real ones, from dead tortoises). They're pretty heavy, so it's no wonder the tortoises move so slowly!

On Thanksgiving we began a 4-day cruise on the "tourist class" yacht "Amigo." "Tourist class" is a fancy way of saying "budget" on the Galapagos. Nonetheless, the yacht carried 16 passengers, and we got a private cabin with bunk-beds and a "hot" water shower. There were no other Americans on board, but that didn't stop us from being thankful (especially since we have a lot to be thankful for).

During our cruise we made stops at several of the other Galapagos islands. This is important on any Galapagos visit, because some of the animals can only be seen on specific islands. I've got a lot to fill you in on in regards to our cruise, but I'll wait until I have the pics to accompany the stories. Unfortunately the Internet is slooooooow here on the island and Mike can't upload pics very fast. You'll just have to wait to see the tortoises, flamingoes, sea lions, penguins, marine iguanas, crabs, giraffes, etc. Just kidding...we didn't see any giraffes...yet.

Here's a ridiculous picture to hold you over for a few days:



Some man-hole cover manufacturer got the hook-up on the Guayaquil order. This city has more man-holes per square kilometer than any other city on Earth, I'm pretty sure. I can't imagine that they all go somewhere, so some of them must be just for decoration. This picture doesn't quite capture the ridiculous overabundance of man-hole covers since I could see 25 from where I was standing, but at least Mike managed to get a half a dozen or so of them in the frame.

Well, we'll get those pics up for you ASAP. We hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

La Nariz del Diablo

La Nariz del Diablo
A Play in 3 Acts

The Players:



Jackie -- a tourist in Ecuador



Mike -- her traveling companion



The Narrator -- or just some train conductor guy that Mike took a photo of

Act I: Hotel Europa

[The scene: a small but clean hotel room (well, clean except for the one rather large spider in the corner). The room is full-to-bursting with two beds (one double and one twin), a busted TV, two bicycles, and luggage strewn everywhere. There are articles of clothing hanging from both ends of the curtain rod, the bicycle handlebars, and the headboards on the bed – they appear to be drying.]

Narrator: Once upon a time there was a train that ran the entire distance between Quito and Guayaquil, the two largest cities in Ecuador. Unfortunately, the tracks proved difficult to maintain, and their demise was hastened by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the like. The only portion of the tracks which can still convey a train lies between Riobamba and Sibambe. The last stop on this short route is in the quaint mountain village of Alausi. Alausi, as you may recall, is where we last left our intrepid travelers…

Jackie: [wakes up, zombie-walks into the bano, turns on the shower, and waits with her hand under the faucet for ages] Are you sure they told you there was agua caliente?

Mike: Wha?? Yeah…agua caliente…

Jackie: Well screw this. I’m not taking an ice-cold shower when I’m already freezing to begin with. Maybe we can get a discount for tonight. Como se dice “discount?”

Mike: [pulling on his poncho and donning his feathered Panama hat] How the hell should I know? Just get ready – you don’t have to be squeaky clean to ride on top of a train that spews soot.

Jackie: Okay, let’s get a move on.

Act II: The Alausi Train Depot

[The scene: a tidy but abandoned-looking train station. A few decrepit tracks criss-cross around the main building and through the town streets, with nary a railroad crossing sign or warning light. Some local entrepreneurs are setting up tables to display their llama sweaters and socks and hats for the hoards of tourists they know will come.]

Narrator: Having suffered worse traumas than ice-cold showers, our travelers arrive unphased at the Alausi train station. Their infallible Lonely Planet guidebook advises arriving early for the 9:00 train, so our heroes show up at the platform around 8:30.

Mike: [reading sign] “Boletos” – that must be where we buy tickets, c’mon [he and Jackie climb the stairs to the ticket office].

Jackie: [to the cashier] Buenos dias. Queremos comprar dos biletos a Sibambe, por favor.

Narrator: Unfortunately, this simple transaction does not go as planned. Our beloved travelers learn that the early train leaves only if there are 20 passengers ready to board at 9:00. Since they passed only a few beggars, some goods-hawkers, and an odd-looking French couple on the platform, our travelers have no delusions of riding this train. They take solace, however, in the fact that the train the Lonely Planet guide advertised actually comes through from Riobamba at 11:00/11:30, and that it is guaranteed to be full of gringos on holiday. They promptly buy tickets for this later train (and for less than the price quoted in their guidebook!).

Act III: The Train

[The scene: a surprisingly clean passenger train. The train has approximately 6 cars bursting at the seams with gringos of most shapes and sizes. The gringos are primarily of the retirement class, however. The train itself is rickety (as most trains are), but one of the cars has seats on its roof, safely guarded by a railing and complete with seatbelts.]

Narrator: Our travelers are a determined couple, anxious to ride the fabled train over the infamous “Nariz del Diablo,” an extremely steep section on the route to Sibambe. Many railroad workers lost their lives trying to lay the tracks over the unforgiving mountainside terrain. The track is especially famous because of its unique design as well. Because the hillside is so steep, the train can only advance on its way to Sibambe by zigzagging down the mountain. It goes forward and downward as far as possible, then it joins a new track and travels in reverse down that portion. Finally, it again switches tracks and carries on toward the bottom of the valley in an ordinary, forward fashion. In addition to experiencing this dramatic feat of engineering, our travelers are looking forward to riding on top of the train, which is how things are done on this train…at least, so says their trustworthy guidebook.

Mike: Holy crap, have you ever seen this many gringos in the same place at the same time?

Jackie: Well, sure, back in the States. Still every whitey in Ecuador must be on this train…

Mike: Let’s go get our seats up top.

Narrator: Our travelers climb the stairs to the empty top deck of the train and linger there for only a few moments before one of the train conductors ushers them back downstairs.

Jackie: What’s this crap? I wanna ride on top.

Gringo 1: Oh honey, they haven’t let anyone ride on top for close to a year now. A Japanese tourist was decapitated by some wires crossing over the train not long ago.

Gringo 2: Naturally, they’re suing.

Mike: Why is it that dumb tourists are always ruining our fun? Someone falls and dies in Tikal, so we can’t climb the structures, and now this.

Jackie: The whole reason I wanted to ride this train was so I could sit on top!

Mike: C’mon, it’ll still be a nice, scenic ride.

Narrator: Indeed it is. Our travelers ride on the platforms between the cars so that they can still feel the wind rushing through their hair and so they’re not looking at the scenery through grimy windows. It’s a foggy and rainy day (as always), but not so foggy that they can’t take in the mountain views. Mike snaps photos while Jackie just enjoys the ride. La Nariz del Diablo, or the Devil’s Nose in English, does not look so impressive as one might think; nonetheless, the train’s precarious journey down the tracks that cover it is worth witnessing. Our travelers return from their brief train voyage refreshed and ready to bike once again. After all, they often get to see some pretty spectacular views from the seats of their bicycles, which always afford them the feeling of the wind rushing through their hair.

The End.

Production Stills:



The tracks criss-cross in every direction through the city of Alausi.



The train is full of tourists, but most importantly our travelers.


After Alausi, Mike and I started heading downhill toward the west coast…at least, that’s what our map lead us to believe. J There’s an awful lot of climbing involved in going downhill. Our first day brought us to a small town called Huigra, about 3000 feet below Alausi in elevation. There we found a hotel, which featured some nice landscaping. We especially liked the “bell tree,” as Mike calls it.



Here lies Huigra, a mountain town near the end of our mountain journey.



This "bell tree" not only looked cool, it smelled really nice too!

In Huigra we consulted our map, which showed how we would end the following day almost at sea level: we would drop another 3000 feet or so in elevation. We figured on a pretty easy day of coasting downhill, but we figured wrong. For starters, we climbed fifteen hundred feet. At the top of that hill we were thrilled to be heading downwards toward the coast. Of course, the downhill ended and we climbed right back up fifteen hundred feet again. After another downhill and an uphill of about a thousand feet, we actually were heading downhill for the rest of the day. This might sound easy, but it’s actually quite painful to be going downhill for over 3000 feet. My wrists get very sore from all the pressure put upon them and my fingers go numb very quickly. On top of this, Mike was operating his bike with only front brakes (due to an oversight we won’t mention here) and had to stop quite often to cool them down. Not that I minded.

We figured we were going to have to camp short of our goal city for the day since all of that climbing really messed up our calculations. However, once we got to the bottom the road was plano (Plano means flat in Spanish. The locals are fond of telling us that the road ahead is plano even if we end up climbing for most of the day. Everything seems more plano in a car than when you are carrying 100 pounds on your bike.). Although it took us at least 5 hours to travel the first 35 kilometers of the day, we covered the last 45 in about 2 hours. The epic day (4000 feet up, 7000 down, and 80 kilometers) brought us to El Truinfo, where we holed up for the night.

The next day brought us to the coast with more very flat terrain. The highlights of the day included sighting a boa: it was road kill. The snake was at least as big around as my upper arm. Freaky! I thought they lived in the jungle, but apparently there are a few that hang out in the marshy area we were biking through. We also crossed the mouths of some very large rivers on our way into Guayaquil. The bridges and the traffic that ushered us into the city were fun to navigate.

Now we’ve been hanging out in Guayaquil for a few days. We’re staying with Denis, whom Mike found through the Global Freeloaders web site. He’s very nice, speaks very good English, is an engineering student, and works at the nearby movie theatre (he even got us in for free the other night and we saw Lions for Lambs). He lives in a nice house with his Aunt and Uncle. His Aunt and Uncle don’t speak English, but they are amazingly hospitable. We’ve had several meals with them (which we weren’t expecting at all), and we’re getting in loads of Spanish practice because Denis is very busy and is often not around to translate.

Last night I experienced my first earthquake ever. It was pretty weird. I was sitting on my twin bed when it started to shake. I thought we were going to need an exorcist or something, and I looked over at Mike and said, “My bed’s shaking.” He responded very matter-of-factly with a “Yeah,” so I asked him why it was shaking. “Earthquake, I suppose.” Oh. Right. About this time Aunt started screaming for us to come downstairs, which we did. We stood in the doorframes for a few more seconds until it passed. Earlier that day we had read about the 7.7 earthquake in Chile, so it was a bit surreal for me to be experiencing my first earthquake. Ours was rated a 6.7, but it occurred on the other side of the mountains, close to Macas. Apparently it didn’t really do any severe damage, even closer to its epicenter. An earthquake is called a terremoto in Spanish, by the way.

We are going to be staying here for a couple more days before flying to the Galapagos Islands on Monday. We’re really excited about this side trip, even though it will probably be the most expensive part of our South American journey by far. Oh well, early Christmas present to ourselves, I suppose.

Internet on the Galapagos is supposed to be pretty expensive, so don’t be alarmed if you don’t hear from us for a while. We don’t get back to the mainland until November 29th. In case we don’t get another chance to do so, we’d like to wish you a “Happy Thanksgiving” now. We’re not eating badly by any means, but we won’t have the traditional Thanksgiving fare to stuff in our bellies. Think of us when you are so full of turkey and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie that you can’t move for hours.

Since the latest poll just ended, I'll also fill you in on that. Although soccer is indeed popular in Ecuador, we have seen tons of people playing volleyball. To be fair, the number of soccer players we have seen may have surpassed the number of volleyball players since I posted the question. However, before we got to the city (Guayaquil) we saw a surprising number of people playing what is known locally as Ecua-volley. I guess it's easier to fit a volleyball court in the average person's yard than a full-blown soccer field. I'll try to think up a new trivia question soon!

Okay, so I know that this post is one of my longest ever, but I have one more fun fact to leave you with. Although our guidebook is useless when it comes to things like whether or not roads are paved or whether we can ride on top of a train, it does offer some good info occasionally. I learned the other day that Lorena Bobbit is Ecuadorian. After chopping off her husband’s penis, the President of Ecuador invited her to the presidential palace for dinner. Ha!