JustinShar

6 Septiembre This morning we caught a cab to the Cartagena airport, to fly to the Colombian Island of San Andres, located in the Caribbean. The island is 12.5 km (7.8 mi) in length and 3 km (1.9 mi) in width.San Andres is a coral island, "Geographically near Nicaragua, past historically tied to England, and politically part of Colombia". This means that most people here speak a confusing and endearing combination of spanish and english, in a strong "island" tone. It is even hotter and more humid here than it was in Cartagena. The east side of the island, facing the Caribbean, has long stretches of white beaches, while the west side, more sheltered by nearby Nicaragua, had a coast consisting of dead coral. San Andres island was supposedly Captain Morgan's base of operations, back in ... read more

We took a bus from Quito to Bogota, Colombia, which was an excruciating 23 hours. Upon arrival, we went to the hotel that Lonely Planet had reccomended, but it sucked, was noisy, and had no hot water. After some exploring the next morning, Justin found a new place around the corner, still in the rustic district called Candelaria. Our new hostel, Casu, has incredibly friendly and helpful staff, and through their reccomendations we discovered much about Bogota. We had heard about a salt cathedral in a nearby town, but were unsure of how great we would find it, after the spectacular Salar de Uyuni and the salt hotels there. One of the hotel workers persuaded us otherwise, which I am very happy about. The "cathedral" was amazing! It was originally a giant salt mine, and now ... read more

This morning we had to say goodbye to the Queen of the Galapagos and her wonderful crew members. Primicias Ranch We rode the bus up to the island to go to a privately owned ranch which allows wild Giant Galapagos Tortoises to roam free in and out of the property. Javier showed us some giant shells from some tortoises that had died in previous years, and we tried them on. They weighed about 60lbs. The whole tortoise could weigh about 500lbs on average (most of the weight coming from their 30% bodyfat), and could live to an average of 150 years. We explored the ranch, finding tortoises having mudbaths or snacking, or inviting Galapagos Finches to come clean them of pests. The Twins Next we visited the twins, where giant underground caves ... read more

We got up early this morning, ate breakfast, and then had the emergency drill. We then landed on South Plaza Island South Plaza Island This skinny Island had beautiful red and green plants growing on it, sort of like our ice plants back home. There were lots of Sea Lions here, too. The Galapagos Sea Lion originally came from the California Sea Lion, but it is now considered endemic. We saw many Swallow Tailed Gulls, the only nocturnal gull in the world. It has a bright red ring around its eye, so it is very distinctive. There were Marine Iguanas everywhere, but we also got to see our first glimpses of Land Iguanas. There were many birds flying about- Brown Pelicans, Tropic birds, and more Frigatebirds. We even saw a Frigatebird catch another small bird and ... read more

We flew this morning to Quito, Ecuador. Its nice and warm here, which is a nice change. We went to the Mitad del Mundo, right on the equator, and did some cool experiments, like balancing a raw egg on the head of a nail. We also found out about some anomaly where you're not as strong when you're standing right on the equator...crazy! We played around with the way water drains in the north and southern hemispheres.. I never thought that only 5 feet on either side there'd be such a difference! Ecuador actually got its name because its right on the Equator. Equator...Ecuador We visited the Old Town section of Quito and checked out a cool cathedral. We had lunch in the square, and the musician was really awesome. SO EXCITED for the Galapagos. We ... read more