My Central & South American Dream

3/6/2017 This morning I woke up about 20min bwfore the sunrise (6:20) so decided to stay up and watch it. It was beautiful to see over the ocean and wonderful to watch from the comfort of our balcony. Then today, we set out for our first yacht tour. However, on our way via taxi boat from Finch Bay to Porta Ayora, we saw a boat sinking! My dad and I had noticed it before because it looked so delepadated and totally abandoned. He even saw some sort of notice sign on it before. But this morning when we drove past, the stern was in the water (see photo.) However sad, especially as an ecological disaster in a place such as the Galapagos where the ecosystem is so fragile! Anyways, for the tour we took a bus from Porta Ayora to the north end of Santa Cruz to the canal where we met the Sea Lion, the hotel's yacht. It was my dad and I, the Evans (the family from yesterday), a couple, and a few others that joined us. On our way, we saw a spotted ray, brown ray, and several seals. Our first...

3/ 5 / 2017 Today was our first full day in the Galapagos! We woke up to Beautiful blue sky, which was a nice surprise. It's the hot and wet season here so we've been very unsure what the weather will be like. After breakfast we got ready for our first tour. We met with three other people from the hotel, a family with a daughter a few years younger than me. Then, we set out for tortuga Bay. Here we walked out to the beach at Tortuga Bay that is known for the marine Iguanas. Ironic that it's named Tortuga Bay isn't it? On the beach we saw several marine iguanas and sand peckers. The marine Iguanas adapted to be able to swim to eat the algae on the rocks, and they even have teeth. They are also only found in the Galapagos. The sand pecker would run from waves, then stick it's beak in the sand, run back into the water, and then repeat. The beach was beautiful with blue skies and large waves. From tortuga Bay we went around the corner to another Bay that is secluded a...

3/4/2017 This morning we left our hotel in Quito to fly to the Galapagos! Unfortunately our plane was an hour late so we hung out at the airport for three hours. Ironically, we booked Tame airlines because Avianca is known to be late. But no, Tame was late and Avianca was on time. Anyways, we finally made it to the Galapagos. A tour guide from the hotel met us at the airport and escorted us all the way to the hotel. Which was nice because we had to take a bus, then a ferry, then a car, then a boat, and then walk there; it was quite complicated. On the way, we stopped for lunch and a tour at the Giant Land Toirtous Reserve. Lunch was delicious and served by the restaurant on site. The reserve is privately owned, but focuses on the land Toirtous' there because they were there first and there is such an abundance of them. At one spot where I was standing, I could count 17 of them! They ranged from young teenagers to old adults over 120 years old. After the Toirtous Reserve we finis...

3/ 1 1/2017 Today is the day we're going to Baños! After breakfast we packed to catch a bus. The weather is partly cloudy with a beautiful sky. Quito is surrounded by several volcanoes, which we have never seen before because of the clouds. However, this morning, way off in the distance is one. Finally. We caught a local bus in town to go to the main south station of Quito which was about an hour. Then we got a tourist bus from there to Baños. On the way, there was some sort of automobile accident so we didn't arrive until about 12:30. Once in Baños we walked to our hotel and checked in. Then for lunch, we went to a little cafe (Cafe Moon) which is just down the street and was delicious! Afterwards, we spent a little time at the hotel. Then in late afternoon we walked around to explore the town. We went to see the waterfall of Virgin Mary, then up towards the church, and down Ambato, the main street. Afterwards we had dinner at the hotel, which was once again delicious...

3/9/ 2017 The day finally came that I got to stand with one foot in the northern hemisphere and one foot in the southern hemisphere!!! I was pretty excited. Especially to do the tests to prove it (the scientist in me.) We started out today with a leisurely morning and breakfast, then met our tour guide. We drove from the southern end of Quito to the north end and up to Mitad del Mundo (middle of the earth.) On the way, we talked about various things such as getting to know each other, the upcoming election, and how cars and car parts are expensive here but gas is very cheap ($1.5/gl.) He brought us first to the monument for the equator which was created before the invention of GPS. However, this is the "old" or incorrect equator. Now, with the use of GPS, the correct equator is known to be close by. We knew that there were two places to go to. 1, the old monument, and 2, the new line which is basically a museum in someone's back yard. We looked at the monument, then mo...

3/10/2017 After breakfast today we went back into the historic district to the Palaza Grande to do a tour of the Presidential Palace. The tour was much more exceptional than I was expecting. Our guide spoke perfect English and translated for us after doing each section of the tour in Spanish. We saw a mosaic that was made depicting an important battle that Ecuador had with the Spanish when they discovered the amazon river. Then various rooms around the palace. What surprised me was the collection that the president, Rafael Herraro has open to the public. He has received 12,000 gifts since taking office in 2007 which are all on display as part of a museum in the palace. All of the other presidents have taken these gifts to their homes. In addition, all of his medals that he has received and academic diplomas are also on display. My dad said this is something that U.S. presidents have done, but that's not something that I knew of. After the tour, we stopped at a local artisan choco...

3/8/2017 Today was the day we left the Galapagos to head back to Quito on the mainland. Our five days in the Galapagos absolutely flew by. It felt like I blinked. We saw so many amazing animals, beautiful scenery, and met amazing people. We spent a leisurely morning at the hotel which was a nice change from early mornings always getting ready for a tour. But eating breakfast at 7:45 and seeing everyone leave for their tour today definitely made me envious. Going into this trip I though it would be "my galapagos trip." But now, I see it as just an introduction. I want to come back maybe twice. Once again in the hot and rainy season to do an eight day boat tour. This seems to be the way to go because you see more islands than when you're based on one. Also, having more days would be nice. I definitely want to see a penguin, a boobie dance, and climb the volcano. A chance to see the Galapagos in then cool and dry season would be nice too. Some say more animals are out beca...

3/7/ 2017 Today was another snorkel tour and hike on the Sea Lion (the hotel's yacht.) We started out after breakfast with the typical bus ride up to the canal on the north end of the island where we met the boat. Then we went to X island for another snorkel tour. Today we swam for much longer and thankfully I didn't have any more mask problems! We were probably out for about two hours. The water was more murky today than yesterday and there weren't any sea lions to swim with. But overall it was still great! I saw parrot fish, bright blue fish, purple fish, a shark, these small cow looking fish that swam right at the surface, and a large looking fish that was maybe a trout? After the snorkel we went back on the boat to get ready for the hike. We took the boat over to X island for the hike. On that tour I saw yellow Iguanas, more sea lions (and lots of cute baby pups!), gulls, and a Naka boobie. I also learned that the sea lions in galapagos are much smaller because it...

3/3/2017 I lost a day somewhere on my blog so I'm making up for it here. At least the dates are correct. Today was our earliest morning yet with a flight at 530am from Cusco to Lima, then lima to Quito, Ecuador. We woke up at 230am to get to the airport on time. Thankfully the flight went smoothly without any problems. Quito is a beautiful city that reminds me both of Guatemala and Peru. Each has large mountains and volcanoes surrounding the city with farming along the hillsides. After we checked into our hotel, which is about a 5min drive or 15min walk from the airport, we wanted to go into the city to explore and find something to eat. We thought we are just in the outskirts of the city (Quito), however it turns out that we are totally out in the middle of no where. The old airport was in the city. A taxi cab would have costed $25 each way just to get there! Instead, we walked back to the airport and ventured around the "airport mall." It was such a beautiful day for...

2/28/2017 Today was an early morning starting out at 4am in our hotel in Urubamba. We were picked up and brought to the train station in Ollyantambo where we caught the Vista dome train. The train ride was fantastic. It followed the Urubamba river all the way to Aguas Caliente, and thankfully the rain held off so the views were amazing. They fed us, had comfortable seats, and nice music that made for a great ride. As we descended along the river, we could see the obvious change in ecosystems from Low Highlands to cloud forest. The treeline went from bare mountain rock to dense forest to tall jungle. As we continued down in elevation, the jungle continued to grow in size. The trees were larger and the forest was more dense. It wasn't quite the same as what I saw in Belize, but I think this is because of the altitude change (and obviously I am in a very different part of the world too.) There were orchids, palm trees, and birds. After the train ride we met our guide in Aguas Calien...