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Published: December 23rd 2008
Hiking by Lagos Mojandos
The group on our hike by the lakes near Otavalo.Susan´s parents arrived in Quito on Thursday night, December 4th. Their flight was a little delayed and one of their bags was missing, but, they were here…in Ecuador. I never thought I would see the day, but it came. Of course, after a full day of traveling, they were very tired so when we got back to the hotel, we got them into their room and Tom, Hannah, Sue and I visited for a few minutes then we all went to bed.
The next morning, we all ventured to the Peace Corps office to store some of our bags and then we went to the Mariscal section of Quito so that we could finalize the details of our Galápagos trip - mainly we had to pay the balance of what we owed and book our flights. You would think that this process would be simple, but its Ecuador and nothing involving buying something is an easy task.
Originally we were going to charge the trip on a credit card, however, the tour company charges something like an 8% fee to use credit cards. On a $3000 trip that amounts to nearly an extra $250. So, Susan and I paid
in cash. To do this we had Kay put the money in our home bank account and then we withdrew money from the ATM, $500 a day and put it into our Ecuadorian bank account. Then we transferred funds from that account to the account of the tour company. What a whacko way of doing it.
When we got to the tour company we had to book our flights - this was another whacked process. Kay and John could book theirs in the office, however, Susan and I had to go to an airline office to book ours since we get a special resident of Ecuador rate. In the end, though it took an hour, we saved a couple of hundred dollars. One would think that since the Galápagos is a huge tourist destination that companies would have this whole credit card thing and paying on-line thing worked out by now, but alas, they do not.
After that fiasco, we headed to the Magic Bean café for lunch. Everyone raved about their food, which was a good way to start off the trip. We then contracted a van to drive us to Mitad del Mundo (the Equator museum)
and Otavalo.
The museum at Mitad del Mundo (Intiñan) was really cool. We had an excellent tour guide and the museum was interactive and had a lot of cultural things to see and experience. Seeing as how it was on the equator, it also had a bunch of activities that proved you were on the equator. One of which was a demonstration of the Coriolis Effect (that thing that causes water/air to spin counterclockwise in the N. Hemisphere and clockwise in the S. Hemisphere. Being the scientist that I am, I have read that Coriolis has no effect on such a small scale as your toilet bowl or sink - however, I am a changed man, I must re-evaluate my thinking. One display at the museum was a pan with a drain in it. When we were a step North of the Equator line the water spun to the left, when we were a step South it spun to the right, and when we were on the equator it drained straight down - UNBELIEVABLE!!! It was the same damn pan each time.
Another experiment was to balance an egg upright, which I was able to do after about
10 minutes of trying (nobody else in the group could master that feat) - I was awarded a certificate for my accomplishment. There were a host of other neat experiments as well involving balance and the force of gravity - it was really cool for a science geek like myself.
The only downside to the experience was that we were there during a bit of a rain storm so we had to cut the tour a little short. We hopped back in the van and continued up to Otavalo. We checked into our hotel, John and Kay napped while us kids went out to scout for a restaurant. We returned, got the parents and then headed out to dinner. After dinner, we returned to the hotel to rest up for a big day of shopping at the Otavalo market. Tom, Hannah, Susan and I did sit around a fireplace at the hotel and drank a wee bit of wine before calling it a night.
The next morning, we got up, had breakfast, and then hit the market. The ladies wanted to check out the animal market first, so they took off and did that. Tom, John and I
strolled around the big market for an hour and a half and then met back up with the girls at the hotel. We then all went back out to the big market - though we stayed in our groups (guys and girls). Seeing as how this was my 4th time in Otavalo, I was not in shopping mode, just guiding mode. After a good hour more of walking, John was hot, thirsty, and tired so we returned to the hotel so he could rest. I went out and found him a strawberry milkshake as well - John is a sucker for strawberries and ice cream.
While he rested and the ladies shopped, TJ and I played a few games of pool at the hotel. We played three games and I think I won all three. Yeah, you can tell it was a heated match between two esteemed pool players. We missed more than we made.
The ladies finally returned from shopping and we packed up our stuff and headed off to lunch. After lunch, the ladies wanted to go shopping for a little longer so Tom, John and I got our stuff and headed to the next hotel
Kicker Rock Galapagos
Just before snorkeling where we would be staying that evening. This was a lodge about 20 minutes outside of Otavalo near a set of lakes nestled in the mountains. The lodge was really cool. We had our our cabin with four bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Our friend Roger was going to be joining us out there as well. About 30 minutes after we arrived, the ladies arrived with Roger. We settled into the lodge and then played a few games of Euchre, drank some wine and some scotch that Roger had brought with him.
That night we snacked on Nachos, ordered a light dinner, and then played some poker. Kay and John retired early. I won the poker match - that had a rough $0.50 buy-in. There were two others staying at the lodge that night, a couple from Wales. Naturally, Kay was excited to chat with them seeing as how her family and the town where see lives in Ohio is of Welsh heritage. The guy joined us in poker, though he was just learning and wasn´t much of a threat. You know, I really don´t like playing poker - its boring. I mean, I enjoy chatting with people while I
play, but the actual game is dull. After about 30 minutes I am done whether I am winning or losing. It seems as though everyone and his brother is infatuated with Texas Hold´em. For me this is just but one poker game and not even close to being the most interesting to play. To me, poker is a game best played among friends where the dealer determines the game played and the deal rotates among players. ESPN has made Texas Hold´em the standard and that is a true shame. When did poker become a sport?
The next morning after breakfast we contracted a truck to take us up to the lakes for a hike. It was an overcast day, but still beautiful. We hiked for a couple of hours and then returned to the lodge to get our things and head back to Otavalo. We grabbed lunch, said goodbye to Roger, and then got on a bus headed to Quito.
The bus ride was uneventful except for the Jackie Chan movie marathon that we were watching at about 150 decibels. The trip actually went quite quickly and we got back to Quito in less than two hours. Everyone
except Hannah and I returned to the hotel. Instead the two of us went to the Peace Corps office to pick up the stuff we had left there and to drop off some of our purchases from Otavalo.
When we got back to the hotel, Sue and I then went to the airport to get the missing bag. After waiting for ½ an hour we got the bag and headed back to the hotel. Kay, John, Tom, and Hannah were all resting and eating buckeyes. We motivated enough to go out to get dinner. We went to Sports Planet, which is much like a TGI Fridays or Applebees in the States. We noticed that among their sports memorabilia was both a Buckeyes Pennant and a Browns Pennant. Ohio was well represented. Our food was good and we enjoyed our last meal all together. TJ and Hannah would be leaving at 5:00am for the airport and Kay, John, Sue and I would be leaving at 7:30 to catch our flight to the Galápagos.
I got up the next morning at 4:30 to ensure that Hannah and Tom were awake and then helped them get a cab to the airport. It
was hard saying goodbye since we had such a wonderful time with them in both Ecuador and Perú. Tom and Hannah are great people and I am so happy to be part of their family.
At 7:00am, Kay, John, Sue and I had breakfast at the hotel and then went to the airport. Checking in was a bit of a fiasco. We waited in line, then were told we had to go into another line to get a Galápagos pass, then we had our bags scanned, then we got back into the ticket counter line, then we were told we were in the wrong line and got into the one next to us, then when we got to the front of the line the guy who had told us to get into the other line told us to come back to him since he had nobody in his line. Did you follow that? Because I had trouble following it. I just laughed and took it all in stride, afterall, I was headed to the Galápagos - a dream of mine ever since learning about Charles Darwin in 7th grade science class.
Our plane was delayed about 45 minute
- more waiting. But what I found most interesting was that in the domestic departures lounge there were three gates. One gate for each of the three airlines offering domestic flights. Out of our gate they were boarding 4 flights at once - efficiency, I love it. So even though the sign listed all four flights and said ¨currently boarding,¨ in reality they were only boarding one flight at a time. Never-the-less people from all four flights stood in the same line and many people were late to their flight because they thought the line they were in was for their particular flight when instead they should have skipped in front of everyone and boarded their flight. You know, because that just makes sense. Again, I just laughed and took it all in stride.
I gave up about 22 months ago in trying to make sense of certain practices in Ecuador - namely the concept of lines - really lines are a construct of western thought. We tend to like things all neat and orderly. For Ecuadorians a line exists for the sole purpose of putting a bunch of people in a group that you can then side-step and
get in front of. Whether at the store, the bank, the airport, or waiting for a bus, a line is nothing more than imaginary. This of course is closely linked to how people unload from buses. In Ecuador, we unload from the rear of the bus. So, if you have the seat right by the door, you are naturally the last one off the bus.
So despite the 4 flights boarding seemingly , though not really, at once, we did in fact board our flight to the Galápagos. By 2:30 pm we were in San Cristobal, Galápagos and on our way to our first hotel.
The 5th person in our tour was, Daniel. He was in his late 20´s and from Ireland. He was good-natured and quickly fit into our eclectic group from Ohio. After lunch, our guide took us on a short hike to the Nature Center and then to a beach to go snorkeling. Susan, Daniel, and the guide continued on the hike to an overlook and separate beach, while John, Kay, and I stayed at the first beach. The surf was rather rough and the beach was really rocky so getting in with our flippers
was a bit of a challenge. I managed though and within the first two minutes of snorkeling I saw a sea turtle and a whole slew of fish.
I attempted to help John and Kay get in the water, but all we really accomplished was getting wet, cut up on rocks, and bruised. So, they gave up and just sat on the beach watching me and the sea lions. After an hour or so, Susan, Daniel, and the guide returned and we walked back to the hotel. Once at the hotel we nursed our wounds and took showers.
We had dinner and met up with a representative from the tour company who explained the itinerary for the next day. We were going to go on a boat trip to go snorkeling and site-seeing along the coast of Isla San Cristobal.
The next morning we boarded our boat and headed out to the other end of the island to see Blue-Footed Boobies and Frigate Birds. We did in fact see them. We then went to Kicker Rock to go snorkeling, however, the swells were really big and it seems a bit too dangerous. This was a place that
Finches - Darwin Station
Why Darwin thought about Evolution - can you see differences??? people often see hammer-head sharks and we were hoping, but alas, we had to go to the other side of the rock where the water was more calm. Kay and John didn´t snorkel, but the rest of us did and we saw some cool fish and sea life, but no sharks.
After kicker rock, we went to a small protected inlet/beach. We had lunch and took a nice walk around to spot some birds, lizards, and other wildlife. It was really pretty and we even saw an octopus tucked away in a group of mangroves.
After that, we headed to another snorkeling area where you can swim with sea lions. This was really cool. The sea lions literally come right up to you. We snorkeled around there for awhile and along with sea lions we saw marine Iguanas, sea turtles, and many various types of fish that I am unable to name.
When we returned to the hotel, we were exhausted. John and I stayed in the rooms to nap while Susan and her mother went out to shop a bit. We met them later at dinner, as well as Daniel and our guide.
The next
morning, we boarded a boat to take us to Santa Cruz, the next island on our stop. The boat ride was about 2 hours and was as smooth as it could be when in the open ocean on a 24ft. boat with 500 horse power of engines. We arrived and were met by our non English-speaking host. This is where things got annoying. The two days we spent on Santa Cruz were the most disappointing because we had non English-speaking and non certified guides as our hosts. Susan contacted the tour company and they were apologetic, but didn´t rectify the situation for us during our stay on that island. Subsequently, we will be receiving a partial refund.
Now, it wasn´t that we didn´t see great things, just that we were not getting what we paid for. Anyhow, we checked into the hotel and headed to a Tortoise park where we saw some really big tortoises - they were HUGE. After that, we ate lunch and took a long walk to beach. Kay and John stayed at the beach while Daniel, Susan and I went a little further to a cove where we went sea-kayaking amongst some mangroves. We saw
Susan hiking to the Griegas
You can see how flip flops would suck on this hike. sharks and some mating turtles, so that was pretty cool.
We returned to the beach and discovered that Kay and John had already started back towards town. We caught up with them and eventually made it back to the hotel. This was the longest day of walking and it took its toll on Kay and John. They were pooped out. I was impressed though considering that Kay has a bum knee and John has some sciatic nerve problems. After dinner, we crashed early and slept until 7:30 or so.
The next day, after our complaints, we had a ¨new¨ guide, though this guide didn´t really speak English and she was a college student, not a guide. She was told to shepherd us around - Annoying. Anyhow we went to the Darwin Research Center and saw more tortoises and read up about all the work they are doing in conservation of the islands. We left there and then headed for the Griegas - a place where volcanic action has created some small canyons that are now filled with sea water. Kay and John stopped at the beach along the way to take a nap, while the rest of us
went to the Griegas and swam. It would have been neat to have our snorkeling gear, but alas, we did not. We eventually walked back, however, Daniel and I had flip-flops on which made walking on volcanic rock both difficult and dangerous.
That afternoon we boarded a boat to Isla Isabella. Unfortunately, we did not get the boat we were supposed to and instead were on a boat with only 230 Horsepower. So the normal 2.5 hour trip turned into a 3.5 hour trip and we were all getting antsy near the end of it. We arrived in Isabella around 5:00 and quickly dropped our stuff off at the hotel and went with our EXCELLENT guide to a Tortoise breeding center. It was getting dark, so our tour was cut short a bit, but we enjoyed the walk back along a boardwalk at night.
After dinner we returned to the hotel. Daniel, Susan and I got some beers and stayed up chatting for an hour or so before cashing in for the evening.
The next morning we all headed up to one of the parks on the Island. The plan was for Susan, Daniel and I to
go horseback riding up to a volcanic crater on the Island. Kay and John were not able to ride so they were going to go for a short hike and revisit the tortoise center.
Susan, Daniel, and I mounted our horses and took off with our guide and another guy who was in charge of the horses. Oh my God, I never really knew what pain was until my horse took off at a gallop causing my nuts to rhythmically smash against my saddle. The only time I was comfortable was when the horse was walking. Canters, Trots, Gallops all hurt. How did the cowboys ever do it? Is it possible to build up calluses on your nuts? The problem was that our horses were ponies and that they were mutts at that. They were not bred to be ridden and thus were not smooth in the saddle. Anyhow, we reached the top and the horse guide commented that it was the fastest any group had reached the top. Of course it was, our horses practically raced up there and we really didn´t have much control over them. I mean I could get my horse to turn one way
or another, but his speed was determined by the guy behind me whipping my horse. Oh well, it was an experience.
The crater was amazingly big and the whole area was like a barren moon-scape of volcanic rock and very little or no plants. We hiked around for an hour or so, had our lunch, and then re-mounted for the ride back down. This time, we asked to go slow and were much happier as our horses walked down the volcano - or at least they walked most of the time.
We returned to the hotel to get changed into our swim trunks and to pick up Kay and John. The two of them had an equally exciting day site-seeing and they especially enjoyed trying to communicate with their non English-speaking driver. They said they drew pictures and used a lot of hand signals. Seriously, they laughed and laughed about it all and really enjoyed it.
We got on a small boat and went around the harbor. We saw more boobies, some penguins, sea lions, iguanas, and pelicans. Then we went to a small reserve and saw some white-tip reef sharks, iguanas and more sea lions. It
Lone cactus in the crater
This cactus is probably about 200 years old. was wonderful. After that, our boat took us to a spot to snorkel. This was by far the best snorkeling I have ever done in my life. We were in the water for about 30 minutes and I saw, Eagle Rays, Stingrays, Reef Sharks (that at one point surrounded me), sea lions, about 40 different types of fish, and a bunch of cool coral. The amount of sea life was astounding. I really could have stayed in the water for hours looking at stuff. We took a bunch of photos on the underwater camera, I hope they turned out well.
We went back to our hotel feeling pretty damn good about the day´s activities. Isabella was by far my favorite Island. There are only 2000 people living there and very few tourists. This made it seem like we had the place to ourselves. In fact during our whole Galápagos trip we managed to be places where few other gringos were. It was like we had a private tour of the islands.
That afternoon, before dinner, we drank some more beer, ate some snacks and played euchre. After dinner, we crashed knowing that we would have to get up
at 4:30am to catch our boat back to Santa Cruz. This time we got on a faster boat and made the trip in a little over 2 hours. When we got to Santa Cruz, however, nobody from our tour company was there to greet us. Susan got on the horn and got things fixed.
We caught breakfast and then had someone pick us up to take us to another volcanic crater on the way to the airport. We got to the airport, got on the plane and said goodbye to the Galápagos. The whole experience was wonderful, though, I feel as though there is so much more to see. So, if any of you want to go to the Galápagos in the future, let me know and I will come along as well. I really liked doing a land-based tour as it gave you more freedom at night and you get to see a lot of stuff that people on boats don´t see. However, I have heard that boat-based tours go to more remote areas and do more snorkeling (which was my favorite part). Anyhow, the Galápagos is amazing and I recommend it to any and all.
We
got back to Quito around 4:30 and got our stuff and headed to the Mariscal so that Kay and Susan could go to one of the markets there. The plan was for me to go to the bus terminal to get our tickets for the 8:45pm bus to Puyo and then meet up with the group at the Magic Bean Café for dinner. I hopped on the metrobus and it was packed tight. Traffic was horrible so I made the decision to get off the metro and walk the rest of the way to the bus station. I didn´t know the way exactly, but managed to find it with the aid of a few people along the way. What I particularly liked were the people who told me that the station was far away and that I should board a bus headed there. What they failed to recognize was that in this heavy traffic, I could and did walk to the station faster than the bus. One person even told me to board the bus when we were only a block from the bus station.
I got our tickets and then took a different metro line back to the
Mariscal. The metro was super-crowded and traffic was still bad. When the doors would open people would bull rush the doors to either get on or off, I was lucky that I was standing to the side of the door and could hide behind it when it opened, thus avoiding the stampede. At my stop, or at least where I decided to get off, a crippled woman with crutches was waiting to get on, when the metro stopped and opened the doors, people started to rush toward the woman - she didn´t have a chance on her own, so I stepped in front of her and turned to face the onslaught. I made myself wide and pushed them all back so she could board. People were shouting insults at me and as the doors began to close, I stepped back, smiled, and got off the bus, much to the dismay of the 15 or so people who wanted that to be their stop and who probably wanted to punch me. However, I saved an old lady from harm and I have no qualms about that.
I made it back to the Magic Bean and had dinner with Sue, Kay
Stingray
Isabella Island and John. We then went to the bus station and boarded our Cocha Cama bus (has half the normal seats and the seats recline almost all the way). We made it back to Puyo around 1:00am. John and Kay were ready to get off the bus - they were dead tired and sore from the trip. We got to the apartment and we all went to bed.
The next morning (Sunday the 14th) I made doughnuts for John. He loves doughnuts but can´t eat them anymore because he can´t eat wheat flour (he is gluten intolerant). I made them with Plantain flour and he was in heaven. After that we went into town to go to the food market and do a little sight-seeing in Puyo. We really just kept Sunday as low-key as possible. That night I made quesadillas for dinner with homemade corn tortillas. Again, it was a big hit with John. So good to know that food is the way into good graces with my father-in-law. We then played a bunch of euchre and hung out with Matt and Casey a bit before going to bed.
The next day we took John and Kay to
the orchid garden in town. Kay loved it, and John left confused about how the guy keeps track of all of his orchids, especially the ones that are so small you need a magnifying lens to see them.
For dinner that night, we went to El Jardin, our favorite restaurant and we invited Matt and Casey to come along as well. It was Casey´s 25th birthday so we were celebrating with her. Everyone loved their meals and we even had El Jardin bring out a cake for Casey and sing Happy Birthday in English. It was a lot of fun.
Tuesday, we began our journey back to Quito. We left Puyo around 10:30 and went to Baños so that Sue and Kay could….do more shopping. We had lunch and then got on a bus to Quito. Once in Quito we checked into the hotel and then Sue and I went to the PC office to pick up the rest of the stuff we had stored there. We went back to the hotel and then organized stuff with Kay and John before heading to Sports Planet for dinner. We could have gone somewhere else for dinner, however, Sports Planet
is close, convenient, and has a menu that suits John´s dietary needs. We had a good final dinner and then went back to the hotel and went to bed.
The next morning we took John and Kay to the airport at 7:45 and then said our goodbyes. It was so wonderful being able to share our Ecuador experience with Sue´s family. I think they were overwhelmed by what they saw. So much of Ecuador is so different from anything in the States that it can be shocking at times. It will be interesting to see how they choose to explain their Ecuador trip to their friends back home.
Well that ends the second installment of our big trip. Susan and I will now return to our work and spend the next three months finishing projects and preparing for our return to the States. We are still planning on leaving in late March and then traveling for a little while in South America before coming home in April.
Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!!! Feliz Navidad y Feliz Año Nuevo!!!
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Quentin
non-member comment
Euchre Spokesman
I think you should become the international spokesman for the game of Euchre. I had never heard of it before reading your blogs. Hope all is well. It has been great following your PC adventures.