Galapagos, Day 2

Day 2 on the Galapagos was exciting for sure. Our journey began by boarding a water taxi in Santa Cruz to take us to the larger boat that awaited us.

Leaving Santa Cruz

Our boat for the day.

We boarded the boat and set out on a 2 hour ride to Isabela Island. We were greeted upon our arrival to the island by sea lions.

Sea lions resting on the dock

After a quick stop on shore, we boarded another water taxi to take us to a small nearby island called Isolte Tintoreras. This small island island is covered in lava rock and iguanas! You can also find beaches, mangroves, sally lightfoot crabs, and white tipped reef sharks.

Sally Lightfoot Crab

Just a few of the Iguanas found on this small island.

Hard to see but there are like 6 white tipped reef sharks in this canal.

A sea lion joining the iguanas on the beach.

More iguanas and sally lightfoot crabs...the iguanas were everywhere!

Blue footed boobies on volcanic rock.

Water taxi waiting to pick us up.

It was pretty neat to walk along the trail and be so close to the iguanas. There were times when I wasn't sure if I should walk around an iguana or just stop and let them pass on their own. Iguanas were everywhere! 

Picture of my shadow at about noon time. Can you tell that I was near the equator?

One of the coolest things that took place this day was my first attempt at snorkeling. After we completed our jaunt around the island, we boarded the water taxi again to don our snorkeling equipment and jump in for a swim. I am not really big into swimming and I had never snorkeled before. However, with the support of my travel-mates I was able to take the plunge and go snorkeling. While snorkeling I was able to see some pretty cool fish, but the best was when a sea lion swam under me!

After snorkeling we headed back to Isabela for lunch at local establishment steps away from the beach. After enjoying a wonderful meal, we were able to spend some on the beach. A few us elected to take a walk down the beach and enjoy the scenery. 

Later in the afternoon we boarded our boat for the ride back to Puerto Ayora. We had a chance to clean up before dinner. After dinner we had time to stroll around the community and check out the local shops. We also got to see the local fish market in action. Here the daily catch is cleaned before your eyes and some is then cooked up on spot and served. It was cool to check out. 

Galapagos, Day 1

We were up early Tuesday to begin our journey to the Galapagos Islands. We flew out of the Mariscal Sucre Airport on its last day of being open. This airport was located in the city of Quito and I mean in the city! Check out these photos via USA Today and an article from the Sydney Morning Herald. It was kind of cool to fly out of an airport on the last day it was open.

From Quito we flew to Guayaquil and then onto Baltra Island in the Galapagos with Tame Airlines. Baltra Island once was home to the US Air Force during World War II. There is not much on this island other than the airport. The warm weather and sunshine was welcomed after experiencing cool weather in while in the Andes.

View from the backside of the airport on Baltra Island.

Upon arrival to Baltra, we then boarded a bus to take us to the ferry landing. There we boarded a small boat to shuttle us across the channel to the Island of Santa Cruz.

Once on Santa Cruz Island, we boarded another bus to bring us to the other side of the island and the town of Puerto Ayora. A few miles into our bus ride, we stopped off at the twin craters, Los Gemelos. These craters were created when the roofs of empty magma chambers collapsed. I was amazed at the size of these craters.

Panoramic view of one of the craters. 

Closer view of the crater.

We continued on to the town of Puerto Ayora, where we stayed at the Hotel Silberstein. Toby and I shared a room that was located across the street from the main hotel, above a dive shop. Our room was pretty cool. It had a nice patio with a hammock, table with an umbrella, and chairs. We had a nice view of the main street where many shops we located.

Nice patio!

A store in tribute to Lonesome George.

View of Hotel Silberstein from our patio.

View down the street from our patio.

After checking out our room, we ventured off to the Charles Darwin Research Center. Toby and I sported our school t-shirts for the occasion. 

Toby and I at the Charles Darwin Research Center.

The Darwin Center was unbelievable! Here we got our first glimpse of the Galapagos Giant Tortoise. We were also able to see land iguanas, lava lizards, various species of cacti, and birds. Here we learned about the conservation and restorative efforts to keep populations healthy and increasing. One effort was with the tortoise nursery where they keep newborns in order to protect them from predators in the wild. They also house eggs in incubators. A cool fact that I learned is that they can control the sex of the tortoise by the temperature of incubation. If the temperature is 29.5 degrees Celsius the tortoise will become female and at 28 degrees Celsius will become male. I will look to my biology friends to explain that one! Here are a few pictures from the center.

First glimpse of a giant tortoise!

Land Iguana

A shedding land iguana 

Giant Tortoise

Lava Lizard

Equator

After our visit to Yunguilla, we made our way to the Intinian Museum on the equator. It was somewhat of an odd museum. Our first stop with the tour guide was to view a tomb of sorts, followed by "experiments" while on the equator, and concluded by seeing some shrunken heads. Odd...

Our tour guide conducted a series of experiments to demonstrate phenomenon felt or observed while on the equator. First they demonstrated how water drains from a sink on the equator as compared to 10 feet south of the equator. They attribute the change in how water drains to the Coriolis effect. Here is a summary of the experiment. They started with water in a sink with three small leaves floating on the surface. They pulled the plug, allowing the water to drain  into a bucket below. While on the equator, the water appeared to flow straight down and the leaves did not "swirl" in the water. They moved the sink about 10 feet away from the equator and repeated the experiment. While the water was draining out this time, the leaves did "swirl" . Wow... the proximity to the equator impacts the direction to which water swirls. Actually, it doesn't! Check out this link for a break down of this phenomenon!

Sink where the impact of the Coriolis effect and the proximity to the equator was tested. 

Our tour guide conducted a few more experiments. One compared your strength to resist your arms being pulled down on the equator and a few feet away. We also tested being able to walk a straight line with our heads tilted toward the sky. Then there was trying to stand an egg on a flat part of a nail head. I found a YouTube video for you to see these experiments and their results in action. 

Visit to Yunguilla

On Monday, February 18th, we visited the community of Yunguilla, a conservation community. This community is located in a cloud forest, north of the city of Quito. A cloud forest is a forest area that is typically covered in clouds or mist. They are found within subtropical, mountainous areas. Due to being in higher elevations, they experience cooler temperatures.  One of the more important features of this type of ecosystem is that the trees are able to draw moisture from the clouds, which bring in the majority of freshwater into the ecosystem.

Back in 1995 the community of Yunguilla began its conservation and sustainability efforts. In terms of sustainability, the community began jam and cheese making operations. Using fruits and milk produced in the community, they create jam and cheese that they are able to sell. We were able to taste both products and they were delicious. The jam as made just from fruit and sugar, with no artificial preservatives or flavors. I brought a jar of the strawberry jam home and enjoyed some this morning on my multi-grain english muffin. Delicioso! 

Path leading to the jam "factory".

Toby stirring uvilla, a fruit similar to gooseberries, and sugar over heat to make some delicious jam.

Preparing chihualcan to make jam.

Jars of strawberry jam ready to sell.

 This community has numerous conservation activities in place. They have a nursery to begin replacing some of the native plants and trees lost from deforestation. They also have a greenhouse where they grow some exotic, but indigenous orchids. The reforestation project is immensely important. With the loss of trees, there will be loss of freshwater into the ecosystem. As noted earlier, the trees are responsible for drawing water from the clouds and bringing it as a major contributor to freshwater for the area.  Lastly, they are quite the recyclers. There are many bins located through out the community to separate organic and non-organic materials. 

Group photo with community of Yunguilla in the background.

Our group taking in the beauty of the community.

Community of Yunguilla

 

Example of one of the many orchids in the greenhouse.

More orchids. Aren't they beautiful?!

Our tour guide, Galindo, explaining about the plants within the nursery and their reforestation project. 

Here you can see their organic and non-organic trash bins. Toby and I doing our part.

Days 4 & 5

On Day 4 we departed the Amazon to begin our journey to the city of Otavalo. We boarded a bus in the morning and headed back up into the mountains. Otavalo is over 8,000 feet above sea level. The roads leading there were full of twists and turns as we made our way around and up the mountains. The scenery was beautiful as well.

View from the highway between Tena and Otavalo. You may be able to make out the road we came down across the way.

Along our way to Otavalo we stopped to have lunch at a restaurant in Baeza. Our meals were typical of the Ecuadorian culture. For lunch on day 4 we enjoyed a chicken based souped with yucca, which is a root vegetable similar to potato. The second course included lentils, rice, fish, avocado, and some vegetables. This was followed up with a chocolate covered banana. 

After lunch we boarded the buses again and headed for a second stop over to the Papallacta Hot Springs, Termas de Papallacta. Here we found hot spring pools and cooling pools to enjoy. Papallacta is near two volcanoes, Cayambe and Antisana, which supply the energy to heat the springs. After this brief stop, we continued on to Otavalo. 

Our first morning in Otavalo was a memorable one. We were able to enjoy breakfast while hearing from Maria, one of the the authors of the pre-tour book that we read, The Queen of Water by Laura Resau and Maria Virginia Farinango. This book is about Maria's life and it was truly inspirational to hear directly from her. 

Maria Virginia, left, in traditional dress.

Following Maria's talk, we ventured out the famous artisan market. Here the indigenous otavaleños sell their handmade wares which include ponchos, scarves, art work, wood work, and more. I was able to purchase a scarf made from a man who has been making and selling scarves and other handmade goods for the majority of his life. He had a photo album of his "shop", which was nothing more than having a loom in his home. He was proud of his craftsmanship and I was happy to purchase a couple of items from him. 

We left Otavalo to head back to Quito. We stopped along the way to visit Bosque Protector Jerusalen, a dry forest. We were able to take in the beauty of park via one of its footpaths. Here we learned about the flora and fauna unique to this ecosystem. There were a variety of cacti and an agave-like plant called penco. Penco has a variety of uses, one that I found interesting is that they used the leaves as soles for shoes. 

 Penco, an agave-like plant.

Prickly-pear cactus in bloom.

After leaving the park, we boarded the buses once again to continue our trip back to Quito. We stayed at the Hotel Reina Isabel and were reunited with our luggage that could not accompany us on our trip to the Amazon.