So when I quickly wrote my last little post I was literally running out the door to the airport. I did not have classes last week for a sort of Spring Break. My program took this opportunity for a wonderful 5 day trip to the Galapagos Islands. It is one of those things that I will never have an opportunity to do again and I am very glad I got to take this chance.
The islands themselves are crazy. In such a small ecosystem there is so much biodiversity. We saw so many different kinds of plants and animal it was ridiculous. We did so many different things I can't even keep it all straight. I am not gonna go into too much detail cuz I am very tired but there are definitely some things you should hear about.
Obviously, we saw turtles. And then we saw more of them, and then even more. Over the 5 days we spent time on 4 different islands. Apparently, the turtles on each island are different. Don't tell our guides, but I couldn't really tell the difference. I was just amazed (the first time...) by the sheer size and weight of them. We got the chance to climb into a shell and it was ridiculous.
We spent one morning hiking around a really cool volcano. Its claim to fame is that it has the second larger crater of any volcano in the world. It was still active and its last eruption was only a few years ago, but it wasn't a huge eruption like you think of in science textbooks. Still, you could see a difference in the color of the rock on the top of the crater where it was more fresh. We also got to climb around on the base of it where there were tons of volcanic rocks and other little spouts. Don't tell the national park, but I snook a little rock out with me.
Probably the coolest thing we did, though was snorkeling. We got to go in a few different places which brought tons of different kinds of marine life. First of all, there are sea lions everywhere. On our first adventure I was swimming by myself and one swam up behind me (scared me quite a bit) and just stopped, looked at me, swam a few circles around me and then was gone. Once I realized what had happened, I was floored. When will that ever happen to me again?! Some of my friends and I spent some time following a huge sea turtle as it headed back out into the open water. It did move a lot like the one in Finding Nemo. Probably the coolest thing that happened though I barely got to enjoy. We were swimming off the island Floreanna and I was just following this little group of silvery fish (like the ones in Nemo that give Dory directions to the EAC) and all of a sudden they started to scatter. Before I know what was going on, a pair of penguins zoomed by me, about 6 feet from my face! Thankfully they came back a few minutes later and I was able to get a better look. That was by far one of the coolest natural things I have ever seen.
So, overall, it was a wonderful trip. One of my friends put a quote up from Darwin about how words can't truly describe the beauty of the islands. It is pretty true. Just flying in you get this amazing sense of peace like you know you are entering one of nature's true treasures. While I don't know if it is anything that I will get the chance to return to, it definitely was a wonderful experience. I got some pretty sweet pictures and I will try to put a few of them at the end of this post.
Upon our return from the islands, my friend Katy and I decided that we were gonna switch things up and trade in our swimsuits and towels for hats and gloves. The wonderful thing about this country is that one day you can be relaxing on a beach and the next you can be heading toward the refuge of a 17,000 foot mountain. There were a few mountains close by that we wanted to play around on so after a day of prepping, buying food and picking up some more cold weather gear we headed off for what was to be a four day adventure.
Unfortunately things did not go as planned. When we arrived in the small town at the base of Iliniza Norte, the refuge office where we were planning to inquire about maps and guides was unfortunately closed. We figured however that we should easily be able to make it to the refuge where there were some workers pretty easily. We were regretably mistaken. The first three hours of the hike were fine. We safely arrived at the parking lot described in Lonely Planet and after a short lunch break set off for what the posted sign said was a 3.5 hour trek to the refuge. Somewhere along the way we missed a sign for the refuge and started following the cairns (rock piles used to mark trails) that would eventually have led us accidently to the summit that we weren't planning on getting to til the next morning. About 4 hours after leaving the parking lot we decided that something was definitely wrong and with darkness and steadily strengthening snow storm setting in, the safest plan was to just head down. I cannot lie to you all and say that I wasn't scared. To those of you who heard me joking about how if I die on this trip it will probably be while doing something amazing and that I will have no problem going out that way: the thought definitely crossed my mind that afternoon that my jokes might have become a reality. Somewhere around the time that I could no longer move my fingers after 3 hours of rain and snow and all I wanted to do was keel over and puke (either from altitude or shock) I thought there was a definite chance I was not going to ever get off that mountain. I do not recount these details in any way to garner your sympathies just to explain how I was reawoken to the awesome power of nature and how I was reinstilled with a healthy fear for the environment. (Blake or Jeanne, if you are reading this, I promise Brandon and I will not be climbing any mountains this summer and we will be totally safe. Well I can't promise that we will be totally safe but that will be all on B.) Miraculously, we had cell service up at about 16000 feet and were able to call our program office that arranged for a truck to pick us up at the parking lot and to bring us back to Quito. I will hold for a long time that Katy saved me from a very unpleasant experience that night (we would not have died but it would have been very very uncomfortable). Neither my brain nor my body was functioning in a proper state to arrange anything in English, let along Spanish. Heck, I couldn't even zip my coat back up after taking it off to try to put on some more layers.
All this to say that sometimes things don't quite turn out the way we plan them to. But I can imagine that this experience will probably be one of the most beneficial from this entire trip as I continue to live an adventurous life.
After surviving what I have taken to calling a near-near-death experience, it may be cliche but life sort of has taken on a slightly different appearance. I may make jokes about it now just as that is my way of dealing with stuff like this, but the reality is that at some point I thought I might never get to see any of you again. And you can't have a soul and not have something like that affect you. I am so very much looking forward to that first sight, those first words, that first hug. And the best thing is that I know that I get to have those firsts so many times from the so many of you who have each had an integral part in shaping my life and molding me into who I am.
10 more weeks. Man the time is flying.
