Papallacta

Tuesday, November 29th, 2005

Adventure. In the core, that must be the main reason people drop their lives and set off to lands unknown looking for new experiences. After all, that’s why we went.

I have to say, Galapagos was great, we went on beautiful excursions and saw amazing wild life. On the boat there where no restrictions, there was nobody telling us not to go up on the deck during the night when the wind and the waves can throw you right out and no one will know until breakfast. There was only one rule- don’t touch and harm any sea, land or plant life. Other then that there where only suggestions like shuffle your feet when you walk in shallow water where rays might be hiding in the sand, or don’t turn your back on a male sea lion, it might think you challenging his territory any you’d end up with four puncture wounds deep enough to insert antibiotics into. But still, is seemed too arranged, too calculated and not spontaneous enough.

So, we decided to change our strategy, actually, more like flip it around. Instead of doing the obvious route with a guide, we would do a little known one by ourselves. The starting point was once again Quito. The plan was to go east to Coca, and from there down the Rio Napo for twelve hours in a dugout canoe leaving from Coca at 7am every Monday and Thursday to the Peruvian border in Nuevo Rocafuerte. Next came the really exiting part. After crossing the Peruvian border we thought we’d hop a cargo boat, sleeping in hammocks along with two hundred locals. Sounds exiting? Well we thought so, and with these intentions we headed out of Quito.
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Quito, Ecuador

Monday, November 28th, 2005

Don’t really know what to tell you about this city. Two weeks ago, after getting off the flight from Florida, we’ve spent a rather miserable and wet day here running from travel agents to internet cafes, slept in quite an uninviting hostel (Hostel Viena – Tamayo 879 y Foch – $18 for a “Matrimonial” room), with a very hard mattress, and flew to Galapagos without really seeing anything in town.

Now the second time around was better. We met some cool people, spent a day walking around the old town, and went to see the Gayasamin collection. Guyasamin is considered to be the greatest Ecuadorian artist. We saw his paintings and jewelry designs, as well as his collection of colonial and indigenous art.
Also, it turned out that we just needed a better hostel to have a good time! El Centro Del Mundo (The Center of the World, L Garcia 569, $10 for a “Matrimonial” room) was the place we wanted to stay at our first time in Quito, but didn’t because it didn’t answer when we called from the airport. Now, we know why it was listed first in our guide book and was recommended to us by our dive guide in the Galapagos. The place is very alive and inviting, even though you have to be buzzed in through two doors, security first after all… The first thing you see is a common room “half attached” to a dining room about the same size. People hang-out everywhere they feel like, drinking $1.30 cervezas (beers in really big bottles). The walls and the halls of all the common areas are literally plastered with helpful info on Quito and the surrounding area. Anything you want and need to know is here, and if you have more questions, the owner of the place Pierre (yes, yet another Pierre) will give you any extra info you’d need. You would have no problem finding Pierre for information, he will be right there, in front of you, as soon as you stick your nose out of your room asking “So do you know what you are doing today?” Our room is not much to talk about; it doesn’t even have an attached bathroom. Actually, it is right across the common room so going to sleep, even if it’s at 3AM requires some ear plugs. Showers, as we discovered one early morning, are pretty much outside, but do have hot water. There are two stalls, each divided inside to a dry and wet section by a curtain. Personally, this is exactly how I imagined hostels to be like. Lots of people from all over the world, in the same situation as us, trying to figure out what to do and where to go next. Oh yeah, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday is a rum and coke night, served to all who desire from a large bucket in the middle of the room. Life is good.

Walking around Quito’s new and old towns didn’t make a very big impression on us. The only thing I found to be interesting is that so many people were still wearing traditional clothes and have traditional hair styles. Quito’s streets are mostly filled with exhaust fumes and catholic school children in many differently colored uniforms. Mostly we did a lot of people watching and I walked around with my tiny PowerShot camera aiming on-the-go at passing locals. I have to say though, I found out I am somewhat of a coward. At first I even thought I’d get somebody to write down for me how to say “May I take your picture?” but chickened out. Therefore, many of my photos are from peoples backs, or “blind shots” where I held the camera hip-high and clicked hoping to catch a good moment.

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Diving Galapagos

Sunday, November 27th, 2005

Congratulate us! We are officially certified. After our trip through the Galapagos Islands on the “Sulidae” it seemed sort of a shame that we didn’t see much of the deep sea life that the scuba divers did. When snorkeling, we saw many fish and Sea Lions of course, but we had a craving for something more spectacular like Hammerheads and Giant Manta Rays. But why waste time just diving? Let’s get certified, we said. However, a week before, when we just found our boat, we went to what is universally regarded as the best dive shop in Galapagos, Scuba Iguana, to try on some gear. There, I got completely exhausted trying on 7(!) different 7mm wetsuits, but they were so inflexible that none of them even the XL would go further then my knee. So we went to the 2nd place recommended in our guidebook — Sub Aqua. There, the first wetsuit I tried fit like a glove. Our Advanced Open Water course cost $325 (with bargaining). We had a great guide – Gerard from South Africa and went to some cool dive sites like north Seymore and Gordon Rocks. Seeing White Tip Sharks, Galapagos Sharks, Hammer Heads, Eagle Rays, Marble Rays, Scorpion Fish, and a huge array of other smaller fish was just half the fun. I did get sick (sea sick) right after our very last dive, but by the time we were on dry land again I was ready to go eat dinner.

Sorry, no pictures this time. Friendly Sub Aqua owner Fernando rented us his personal underwater digital camera, but the battery was faulty and died 10 minutes into the dive.

Tags: underwater
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Tortoise Day

Friday, November 25th, 2005

It might depend on my mood or the company I’m in, but some days are just better then others. On November 22 we ended our seven day long boat trip through many of the Galapagos Islands and once again ended up in Puerto Ayora. Seriously, I have to say, I could not have been happier. Don’t get me wrong, the boat trip was awesome and I truly loved every minute of it, it’s just that I liked the minutes with Dramamine (motion sickness drug) in my system, a bit more than others. I never actually got sick, but I sure was glad to step on terra firma again knowing that tonight I will be taking my hot shower in a non-rocking bathroom and sleeping on a full-size non-rocking bed.

The first day back on land ended up being a tortoise day. It is pretty much the only animal we say the whole day. First we went to the Darwin Station which was a great place to see many tortoises from different islands in the archipelago. As part of the preservation project, tortoises are bred there and then repopulated back to their island of origin. It was a nice place, but we had almost the whole afternoon left with not much to do. So, we went back to the person who so far has been most helpful to us in Port Ayora – Ginny, the owner of Moonrise Travel. In no time, we had a day tour booked with a level 3 naturalist who was no other then Ginny’s husband Steven! You might think that there were some family favors played, but I think we got the best deal. Steven was great to talk to and the whole 5 hours we spent together we didn’t have a dull moment. His parents are American and they were some the first settlers on the Santa Cruz island, but he was born and raised here and knows everybody [interesting] and anything on the islands. Steven took us to several interesting places where we could see magnificent 500 pound tortoises “run” free.

More Pictures

Tags: food
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Our Boat: Sulidae

Friday, November 25th, 2005

This sail boat was built 104 years ago in Norway and modified over the years to serve as a tour boat in the Galapagos Island National Park. It looks like a small pirate ship right out of the Treasure Island, and its previous Captain looked just like the pirate “Black Beard”, according to our expedition head Pierre. Sadly, a few years ago, in a drunken feud over a woman, the Blackbeard fell off a cliff and died shortly after from the injuries. His ex-wife then sold the vessel to a German fellow who also owns a hotel in the area.

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I love boobies!

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005

… and other animals.

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Lehaim!

Friday, November 18th, 2005

We might not be drinking champagne, but whatever it is, it’s pretty damn good. The same day we got to the Island we have managed to grab ourselves the two last spaces on a boat leaving that very same evening! I have to admit it was not very cheap, ($1000 for 7 days) but it’s a great boat with one hundred years worth of history, a very interesting expedition head named Pierre Constant — the adventurer extraordinaire and the author of “Marine Life of the Galapagos” — and a great on-board naturalist Duncan (level 2) who speaks English. Our cabin is very small but I love it. We sleep on bunk-beds and the top bunk has three windows, two along side the bed and one in the head. Actually, I am sitting there right now watching Devil Rays jump out of the water, flip several times in the air, and dive back down.

Speaking of wild life, it has been only a few days, but we already seen Sea Lions, Land and Marine Iguanas, Lava Lizards, Giant Turtles, Pelicans, Blue Foot Boobies, Frigates, Finches, Tropic Birds, Hawks, Lava and Crowned Herons, Mocking Birds, Vermillion Fly ketches, Owls, Albatrosses, Penguins, Pink Flamingos and brilliantly red Crabs. And when I say “saw”, I mean stood right next to a frigate nest and looked right into a baby frigate’s beak while his mother sat calmly by, or have a curios baby sea lion waddle right up to us and tickled our feet with its whiskers, sniffing our sandals. On occasion, though, we got chased away by an angry sea lioness, barking at us to get away from her new born leaving him to yelp for her awkwardly rolling around with the umbilical cord still attached.

As for the sea life, we saw Devil Rays, a huge assortment of colorful fish and even White Tip Sharks. First time we saw those we where just a little above the knee deep in the ocean, on the shore, and the sharks swam as close as a foot away from me. At the same time there where giant turtles mating not two feet away. The second time we saw a white tip shark was when snorkeling. It was just laying there, resting beneath us on a rocky platform, having the current send water through its gills for oxygen. Duncan, our naturalist, dove down and spooked it so we’ll see it swimming. I have to say though that it was not very scary. Much more frightening was the time we snorkeled at another beach that had sea lions on it. By the time we did our hike and came back to a different spot on the same beach to snorkel, I have forgotten all about them. We swam along the reef when two huge rocket shaped creatures zoomed right underneath us. Let’s just say that if my pants were not already wet, they would be.
So far the trip is great, and our only regret is that we didn’t have more time to rent dive gear so we could dive with the rest of the group (6 out 11 people had gear). On the other hand, the people who dove did not see the shark we did when snorkeling. Not a big deal though, we plan to stay in the Galapagos a few more days anyway to do some diving and maybe even get our advanced, 130FT, certificates wile we here. The official Dive Master on the boat, (between the passengers and the crew we have fore), might be able to be our instructor.

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Chasing Galapagos.

Monday, November 14th, 2005

News Flash! It’s cold on the equator! Or maybe it’s just Boston following us? In any case I am now wearing my fleece, seating in our hostel room, trying to figure out what to do next. When we got off the plane in Quito, we decided not to waste any time and buy our tickets to the Galapagos right there. We then checked into hotel and spent the rest of the day going between travel agencies and internet cafes looking for a boat tour to take us through the Galapagos Islands. Travel agents here, in Quito, say it’s the high season already and we need to book something with them, but they have tours only starting in four days. Web forums on the other hand say the high season is not in for another few weeks, and that even in high season you can find a boat on the islands themselves. There are though conflicting posts from people in Puerto Ayora who had trouble finding a boat leaving in a next few days. Now we have an early morning plane, but no boat waiting for us… In the spirit of the trip we decided to take our chances. After all, those who don’t take risks, don’t drink champagne!

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GOODBYE AMERICA Ooooh

Monday, November 14th, 2005

As was expected, it was a dreadful last weekend. Being faithful members of the Procrastinators’R’Us society, we of course left everything for the last minute. Even though we found time to spend with family and friends, most of the weekend was spent battling various Customer Service Reps.

Right after I successfully completed my Diving Certification, Shurik realized that the very same morning he left our Debit Card in a Bank’s ATM. Brilliant. And what’s worse, it was Veteran’s Day and a Friday! The Bank was closed for the weekend, and there was no way of retrieving our card. Have I mentioned that our plane was leaving at 7AM on Monday? Then, we also realized that in another stroke of brilliance, your’s truly has left her Debit Card, to the same account, in Boston. All efforts to get an emergency replacement from our bank overnighted to us proved futile. We even considered opening a Bank Account in Florida, but no bank would give us a card right away. Luckily, we do have another card from an old account with an Internet Bank, but now we are left without a backup.

Another interesting battle that we had, has to be the Verizon fiasco. We still had more then half a year to our Family Plan. Two phones, each would incur an early termination fee of $175 if we will fail to prove that we are indeed leaving the country for an extended period of time. Our key point was that Verizon does not provide service in South America, our first stop on the trip. But Verizon had its own excuses… we will spare you the details but after two faxes, a trip to a Verizon store, and many hour long phone conversations, we got what we wanted. Needless to say I personally did a big victory dance to the occasion. So now, in case anyone asks, we are Travel Writers researching our next book, self employed and with no permanent residence. Bedouins have nothing on us.

Tags: pretrip
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INVENTORY

Sunday, November 13th, 2005

This is “The Inventory”. Unless you are really bored, you would not find it very interesting.
It is mainly intended for us, and for fellow travelers who might want to get some tips on what to take on their trip. After all we did a ton of research and have hiked many recreational sports stores, so at least some this should prove useful to others. Be advised however, although this list is of our final cut of all the stuff we are taking, there is a very good chance that many of these items will prove to be useless and will be discarded. Couple of months into the trip, we hope to have a more accurate list of necessities.

However! For the rest of you, I have made links in the list to some cool little items that we stumbled upon in our search for the greatest Travel gadgets. Find out what can cure penis envy or will zap you to get rid of a bug bite.
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Tags: pretrip
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