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Published: October 6th 2009
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Eh, my stomach is no bueno. But I guess this is not the way to start a blog. So let´s see...I haven´t written in ages. Soo sooo sorry, mom and dad.
Where was I, the last time I wrote something I think I was in Bolivia writing about Brazil. Now im in Ecuador writting about Ecuador. The first two weeks I spent looking at the marvels of the galapagos islands and let me tell you they are freaking amazing. With Endemic birds fluttering around, landing on you if you have food and giant tortoises lounging lazily taking in the hot ecuadorian sun. We tried visiting the islands, the ¨cheap way¨...which meant a lot of island hopping on water taxis that took 2 to 3 hrs each way...in not soo calm waters. The fee was a mere 30 bucks...sometimes the boats provided water, crackers, while others just provided high blasting music and for sure all of them guaranteed some sea adventure. driving at fast speeds, these boats went jetting up and down, undulating in the chaotic waves, leaving many on board sick to their stomachs, luckily I was spared of the projecticle spews.
About doing it on the cheap. For the most part, you can feed yourself for cheap..just find the local hangout spots and youll land yourself 2 dollar meals, which often times, you dont feel like eating and you can easily split the meal with another person. Also, you can do day excursions from each island....and you can easily find cheap hostal stays...from 10 dollars each person...just look and you will find what you want : P
We visited most islands....Isabella, Santa Cruz, San Cristobal, Bartolome, and N. Seymore.
The most memorable things for me were seeing The Mackingbird finch, which takes a lil stick in its mouth to probe for insects, swimming with baby sea lions, seeing a water iguana feed in the algae, and snorkling through LION DORMIDO (Kicker Rock...where i got to see loads of purple and red sea sponges, puffer fish, shark and loads of colorful fish!)....I seriuosly should get scuba certified...I love the underwater world! It´s magical.
I had a few scarry moments in the water. One time a papa sea lion decided to take fun of this snorkler....I was minding my own business, snorkling, when all of sudden I felt something HUGE behind me..it was a papa sealion, i screamed, if at all possible with snorkle mask and tube...I screamed and swam away as fast as I could...jaja, that thing was GIANt, I know they are harmless nut what if I looked like a nice snack for it? I was not going to find out.
Another time was when we were snorkling in Bartolome...we had already seen the penguins up close, so we decided to sswim around the FIN.....here a shark came out of nowhere and swam peacefully and gracefully right under us....this time i didnt scream but i think I may have pèed my pants...
Over all, the galapgos island experience was like no ther...really, there are no words to describe this place...you just have to visit for yourself : P
After, galapagos, we went back to Guayaquil, which is a gross ecuadorian city, if you can avoid going there, you should! Here we met up with my friends friend. Another hardcore birder...great...my birding adventure was about to start and it did.
The next morning we were off telling the bus driver to drop us off the side of the road, PANAMERICAN HIIGHWAY..which is loaded with fast moving cars and buses. But we wanted to see the HORNED SCREAMERS...no where else can you see these crazy birds and they were off to the side of the road on some bushes. Reluctantly, the bus driver dropped us off. With fast and furious cars flying past us, we saw the damn birds! Many cars honked at us, I think bc they thought we were stupid kids with binoculars. We were (are) but it didn´t matter. We saw our bird. Next we were off to see the more special bird, the JOCOTOCO antipitta, which was only discovered 30 years ago. For this, we had to go to a reserve. We arrived at 5:30am...lil did we know that the bird got fed at 8:30am...the bird got fed? We couldn´t believe it. So we waited for the magical moment..sure enough the guide fed PANCHO and VIVI at their usual time...with 5 worms each in their mouths they hurried off quickly to go feed their baby chick. The specatcle went on for about 30 min...Usually, these birds are hard to see but since, people from all over the world wanted to see this famed specimen, the reserve guide decided to start feeding these jocotocos about 2 years ago. This offers bird fanatics great glimpses of these maravalous creatures.
Hoping from place to place here in Ecuador...My two birders have taken me to off the beaten paths...That´s why i have dissapeared off this map for a while...There arent that many internet places and if there are, i´m too tired to go online. We wake up usually at 4:30am to start the day...and end 6 hrs later...well, I do, they go off birding until late.
Most recently the craziest bird we went looking for was the prehistoric HOATZIN....the baby chicks have claws they use to climb trees...google HOATZIN, don´t they look crazy! They are even crazier in real life!
But it´s not all about birding, so let me think...Just the other day we went white water rafting a few hours away from TENA (edge of the Amazon basin) and let me tell you...WHEW!!! It was spectacular...class 3 and 4 rapids left us with wet pants! I got thrown off the raft once...I had no time to think, I couldn´t see bc my contacts were wet, and waves came crashing over my head...but i stayed calm, suprisingly, I didn´t even scream, I guess, there iusnt time to react when you are jollted off the raft...I then suddenly saw a yellow paddle in my face, the guide was telling me to grab it, then to grab the chicken line around the boat and before i knew it, I was thrown into the back of the raft by my guide! Apparently S.L. was yelling at me, reminding me to lay on my back and to pick up my feet..I heard nothing while i was in the water! But I was fine, I was not even freaked out but it surely was an adrenaline rush, that´s for sure.
Earlier, that day...our guide had pulled our raft off to the side on a river bank, so we could clamber up onto a half alive bridge..it was 15 feet hight and he wanted to jump off...not wanting to be the only one to stay behind, I held my nose, closed my eyes and jumped off....falling, and felt like never ending and all of a sudden, SPLASH...I was in the water....whew...it was great! I felt, well, you know, ALIVE!!!!
It´s been fun...here in Ecuador....the only thing is my health...it wavers off and on, with many bouts of the runs..apperntly i have been eating all the wrong stuff...salads, batidos...but what else am I going to eat? The sickest I felt was in Cuenca....I stomach spasms from hell, my stomach contorted in ways unimaginable...the hostal owner gave me a Te de Mano de Dios, felt sick to my stomach and slept off the pain...I have taken antivçbiotics but it hasnt seemed to stop my runs...I dont want to go to the dr.
What I cant believe is taht after traveling so long, my stomach has not gotten strong enough to withstand all foods! I just want a normal stomach back...I want to run away from the RUNS!
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Natalia
non-member comment
Ur back!!
I am glad your back updating us!! Miss you :)