Adventures in the Galapagos, the Amazon and Beyond…

Only in South America – Monday and Tuesday happen to be national holidays for Carnival, so naturally we have them off of work, or so I thought. Turns out we have to make up one of the days. So essentially, I’m not working Tuesday, but I have to work from 10-2 on Saturday. Please someone tell me, what’s the point of giving us off the day in the first place if we have to make it up eventually anyway? Anyone?

My first week of work, something similarly confusing happened. Our company divided into two different companies, and 2 weeks ago was the official moving date. So as of 2:00 pm, we stopped working. You would think in a company that does luxury tours, and has over 60 employees, they would hire movers. Think again. All of the staff was in charge of moving their own stuff. Luckily, since I had just started all I had to bring was my computer so I was done by about 2:10. Naturally, you would think that since everyone was going to be moving for the rest of the day, you could leave when you finished moving your stuff. Not the case. We essentially sat around on the terrace, chatting and looking at the beautiful views of the volcano from our new pent house office for 3 hours until they ordered food and brought in the wine and we had a party to celebrate the new beginning. This stuff just doesn’t happen in America.

Then there’s the bus. Until this past week, I was dscared to take the bus, because you hear stories about robberies, not to mention the fact I didn’t know what bus to take or where to catch it. I finally asked someone which bus to take and Monday was my first day riding the bus. Didn’t matter I didn’t know where the stop was because obviously all you have to do is flag it down and it will stop for you. Unless of course the police are nearby, then the bus driver waits for the bus stop. The payment method always confused me too. You don’t necessarily have to pay when you get on the bus because someone inevitably comes around to collect. How on earth do they keep track of who’s paid and who hasn’t? Then again they would only be missing out on $0.25 a pop and the people are packed in like sardines so I guess in the grand scheme of things, they have things relatively under control. Oh South America.

Exactly a month before I am scheduled to come home, I climbed a 5,200 meter(17,000 feet) volcano.

It was exhilarating and gorgeous, and must be because I had been living at 2800 meters for two weeks (nearly 10,000 feet), but the altitude didn’t really affect me as I expected.

As I climbed to the top, my hands and feet almost froze it was so cold, and I had to free form rock climb for about an hour to the summit, but every minute of it was worth it. Arriving at the summit after 5 or 6 hours of climbing and hiking, I felt proud because many people don’t make it to the top. I started to understand these people a little better who do extreme sports, I could get addicted to that feeling as well.

I don’t think I would have made it without Umberto cheering me on along the way. Having climbed the volcano probably close to fifty times, he was a great guide to have with me.

On our way down, as I walked amongst the fields of straw, I realized I am living my dream. Maybe it was the altitude getting to my head but I felt truly blissful.

Nestled 2800 meters high in the Andes lays San Clemente, a community of Quichua-speaking indigenous people who conserve their typical dress, customs and way of life, and even manage to do so despite having invited tourism in 10 years ago.

The eco-tourism project started by picking up trash every weekend in the community, and has since morphed into a way of providing some economic stability for the primarily agricultural-based community. Now almost the whole community of people are involved in the project, 16 of which provide housing for the tourists, and the others showing traditional dance, music, homemade crafts and how they harvest and make foods typical of the Sierras.

It’s really a small-scale project, which allows tourists to fully appreciate the traditional way of life of these Andean people and at the same time is sustainable int terms of the earth and way of life. This place is really a gem.

When I decided to stay longer in Ecuador, volunteering in San Clemente seemed like the perfect opportunity because I had already lived with native Amazonian people, but what could be more different than living with native Andean people?

The warmth of the family who so kindly took me in was astounding. Rosa, the lady of the house who had an adorable giggle, treated me like a queen, fixing me a gigantic breakfast of juice, coffee with fresh milk, fruit salad, empanadas or corn tortillas and eggs every morning.

Umberto, the father, would come home after 12 hours of working and was as chipper as could be, rarely a complaint even escaped his mouth. Then there was the little six year old, Kelin, who wears the typical dress and gold beads, playing soccer and doing things kids do, yet elegantly dressed.

William is a round thirteen year old who is as responsible as they get, waking up at 4:30 in the morning to fix his lunch for an excursion and sometimes preparing dinner. When he would come home from school he would go immediately to check his animals, and at 4pm religiously he would go to bring the cows from grazing in the pasture.

It really was a treat to be welcomed into their home and experience daily life. Seeing how the kids toggle between Quichua and Spanish so seamlessly reminds me of second generation Mexican American families, where the parents want their kids so badly to maintain their Spanish, but the kids slip into English. There’s a similar conflict in San Clemente where the elders strive to maintain their traditional ways of language the the kids border modernity more closely.

Being in San Clemente and considering the wide range of experiences I’ve had over the course of the year make me realize why I always wanted to be a journalist –I love to uncover new worlds and experience different cultures and ask questions to discover the world of differences out there. It’s just fascinating.

In America we “save” ourselves for New Year’s Eve. Most people don’t go out a couple days prior to ramp up for the big night. In Ecuador, it couldn’t be any different. It’s non-stop partying prior to New Year’s, you celebrate the end of the year and ring in the New Year by partying.

I went to Santa Cruz, the most populated island in the Galapagos, the Wednesday before New Year’s Eve where my friend’s family lives and had tons of fun. Some friends had a boat so we went on excursions around the island, seeing all types of different animals- white-tipped sharks, blue footed boobies, iguanas, manta rays, sea turtles-all kinds of cool stuff!

Another fun adventure was going to these lava tunnels called the grietas, that somehow filled with water and have all kinds of giant fish living in them, so there was great snorkeling.

New Year’s Eve I went on a motorcycle ride to see all the manigotes (giant paper mache dolls that they traditionally make and then burn to burn away all the negative things that happened in the previous year).

Then we had dinner with my friend’s family, and went to the main drag where there were live concerts, fireworks, burning of the manigotes and tons of people. From there we went to the disco and danced until 7 in the morning. It was truly one of the best New Year’s I’ve had, so cultural, so lively.

Sunday was as Christmassy as it gets in the Galapagos. After spending time at the beach snorkeling, I came inside to make Christmas decorations that are going to be hung on the town’s boardwalk as part of a competition for the local schools to get supplies. The competition will be judged on Thursday at the town’s Christmas party, where there will be a parade and music, and our English students will be singing a Christmas carol in Spanglish.

I sat with the international students in my bathing suit as the sun poured in, listening to Christmas carols and painting stockings and candy canes, an event that seemed like quite the oxymoron. That night in the Christmas spirit, we watched Love Actually.

It’s gonna be an awfully strange Christmas this year, my first Christmas truly away from my family (in past years when I was living in Spain Rachael and I went to London to celebrate with our family friends). Apparently in Ecuador, Christmas is primarily celebrated on Christmas Eve with a giant dinner of turkey filled with stuffing and seafood for the first course. Christmas day they don’t really do much, mostly just spend time with the family on the beach and then everyone heads to the disco in the night. It’s already off to an interesting start.

As we all know the seas have finite resources, so in that regard, the Galapagos National Park is trying to come up with alternative sources of income for the fisherman. One such solution is artisan fishing trips where tourists go out with the fisherman for a couple of hours and learn about fishing. Then whatever is caught they cook up at a local restaurant. The international students went on such a trip and I was invited to tag along.

We sailed around for three hours in circles, and nothing. I was starting to think this may have been the worst excursion I had ever taken because in addition to almost vomiting (forgot the seasickness medicine at home), we didn’t catch anything and literally just sat for three hours doing circles with the boat. Then all of a sudden out of nowhere there are a ton of dolphins and sea lions, there must have been about 40 dolphins swimming around us (I’m assuming it was a fish hotspot), and our fishing line gets a tug. After a bit of a fight, the fisherman reels in a 15 kilo albacore tuna. It was then that I realized the importance of “dolphin-free tuna.”

Shortly after the fisherman gets another tug, and being as it was super heavy he wondered what it was. Turns out he was battling for a fish with a shark and they were both caught on the line. Sadly, the weight was too much for the line and after 15 minutes of trying to battle the shark and fish, the line broke. Oh well, I suppose that’s what fishing is all about  — you win some you lose some.

That night the tuna was cooked up with rice, French fries (Ecuadorians are really into their double starches) and salad, and man was it fresh!

When I went to Galapagos in April, my sister wouldn’t stop giving me shit because had I asked my friend’s parents sooner, she would have been able to go (minor details that she was in Bali at the time), but still she was sad to have missed out. As fate would have it, I ended up back in the Galapagos, and when I decided to go, Rachael pledged to come in November. So after two and half months, the long awaited visit came.  We spent two and half glorious weeks together between my island, Santa Cruz, and she visited Isabella with a friend who came later into the trip.

We hiked, saw the giant Galapagos tortoises, explored the wildlife, went to a giant tree house that has been made into a hotel, went to different beaches, snorkeled and saw tons of sea turtles, went camping on the beach, and being the foodies we are, indulged in some delicious Ecuadorian dishes.

I promised to have her try all my favorite food. Neither Rachael nor I particularly like lobster, but for some reason it is delicious in the Galapagos. For two straight days we ate lobster ceviche for lunch and grilled lobster for dinner.

I had her try fish and prawns in coconut sauce; a giant platter of grilled prawns, fried plantains and fish; corbiche, a dish made of plantain dough with peanuts, fried and filled with fish; shrimp ceviche; bolones (green plantains mixed with cheese and then fried); weird tropical fruits such as guanábana and guava. I think Rachael was in food heaven, especially on my island.

When you’re abroad and there’s a special holiday you take what you can get. Thanks to a few imported ingredients from Rachael (cranberries and dried mushrooms) we managed to pull together a rather delicious Thanksgiving dinner, without an oven and without a turkey.

The menu consisted of stuffing made of white bread on the stove top; mushroom gravy; sautéed pumpkin with caramelized onions, cranberries, and toasted walnuts; salad; mashed potatoes; purple sweet potatoes called camote tossed with orange juice, candied walnuts and cranberries; and mango for dessert.

On a perfect sunny day, we sat on a fellow English teacher’s terrace overlooking the ocean, sharing Thanksgiving with some Ecuadorian friends and a German traveler we had met. We explained the story of Thanksgiving and all enjoyed our vegetarian Thanksgiving.

Only in Latin America would an airline put on a concert to inaugurate a new flight route. Sunday was LAN’s first flight to San Cristobal, and they put on a concert on the boardwalk with a popular Ecuadorian band called Daniel-something-or-other.

In true Ecuadorian fashion, the concert started an hour late, but it was rather enjoyable — a great way to end my weekend consisting of partying with some of my students, a lobster BBQ (who knew lobster could be so tasty?) and kicking it on the beach.

I hope to take these feelings of tranquility here on San Cristobal with me on whatever my next adventure may be. I swear this year in South America may add years to my life thanks to lack of stress, lots of exercise, and delicious fresh veggies, fruits and juices!

I look at the date and ask myself, “where has the time gone?” I’ve been in Ecuador for nearly a year now and with a little more than a month left, I’m still not ready to leave.

Ecuador has taught me, challenged me and embraced me to the point where I honestly don’t think I’ll ever actually be ready to go. Maybe Ecuador’s geographical location has shaped its people because they are indeed some of the warmest, some of the most even-keeled, and some of the most well-mannered people I’ve come across in my travels. Many people dont have much but they’ll give you what they do have.

With one month to go in the Galapagos, I’m going to try to do what I can  to truly take advantage of every opportunity every day- to “aprovechar” to the fullest. Couldn’t be more perfect timing for my sister to come!