Galapagos es muy chevere

My Galapagos experience can be condensed to boats, snorkeling, sun burns, beach time, hikes, ah-ah and pahoehoe, Jehovah's witnesses, and ice cream. Here is an excerpt from my journal from this week:

Yesterday we saw 40 penguins hanging out on a rock and 10 more swimming in the water. This was just a few hours after seeing 8 sea turtles resting on the ocean floor. Absolutely incredible. These islands are full of good surprises.

At dinner, my host family tried to convert me to Jehovah's witnesses. After a question/answer session on moral issues relating to religion as well as life in general (where do people go after they die? do you believe that money buys happiness? how do you try to live more simply? do they speak Spanish in India? etc.), my host dad pulled out his Bible and started reading verses to me; all of these verses had something to do with the previously covered questions and my answers to them. Besides this being an important part of their faith (talking about religious issues with people who may not have their minds completely made up or cannot properly express their beliefs in another language) I think he was making a sort of concluding statement for me and my short time spent with the family.

Then they started showering me with gifts. The dad gave me a conch shell necklace in which he had carved the shape of Isabela Island on one side and a caballito del mar on the other side. The older of the two brothers still living in the house then decided to quickly craft me a keychain girl wearing a purple hat. Receiving these gifts was nice but a little awkward since I had nothing to give to them. And saying goodbye was a bit awkward as well - I had to bid farewell the night before I left and wasn't exactly sure if hugs were appropriate or not.

4:30am this morning I was sweating in my room and cutting my fingernails...? The bus arrived shortly thereafter to take all of us and our stuff to the dock to catch a boat. By 5:30am we were cruising from Isabela to Santa Cruz to catch another bus and then another boat and then another bus and then an airplane. Dawn on the top of the boat provided us with a magnificent sunrise over the Pacific Ocean and the silhouette of a few volcanic islands breaching the horizon. I was lucky to get a seat on top this time instead of inside the oxygen-free, sea-sick chamber. En route, I saw sting rays leaping out of the water, sea lions swimming by, and flying fish fleeing from the sound of the boat.

Travel today has been quick, probably because of the fog in my brain left over from an incredible week and last night's short slumber. Now we are on our 3rd and final leg of the trip back to Quito, my home for only the next 4 days.



(pictures will be uploaded little by little)