Hola,
So much activity to squeeze into this entry, where to start? Okay! Mel and I caught 4 local buses to the Otavalo Markets on the 17th and then she flew to Brazil that evening. The next day Dave and I missioned out to Papallacta to stay in the mountains and bathe in the steamy hot springs and breathe in some fresh icy mountain air. After arriving back to Quito in the evening I managed to snag an inexpensive last minute deal to the Galapagos Islands, leaving at 6.30am the next morning on a first class boat 'The Estrella Del Mar'. On two hours sleep I boarded a plane, bus, ferry, another bus and then finally 'The Estrella', Ahhhh.
The past 4 days in the Galapagos have been intoxicating as we went from Island to Island exploring the exotic wildlife and eating delicious food on the boat in between outings. To write about everything would take too long so I will leave you to gush over the highlights. On day 2 I snorkelled with playful penguins, darting through the water only a few centimetres away from my face. I swam in between 3 of them for 10 minutes.... Wait gotta go see some photo exhibition will finish later...
Okay I'm back. I went to the World Photo exhibition in Quito and then on my way back into the hostel I was told I was going to a live football match between Quito and Liga. We supported Liga and all bought shirts and they won 4 to 0. The atmosphere was insane. There was an army tank parked out the front and armed blockade police everywhere. It was like a mosh pit in the stadium and there were people lighting fires and letting off fireworks amongst the crowd... total madness and crazy fun.... wait... gotta go, apparently we are all heading out... will finish this tomorrow... i promise this time!!!
Tomorrow is here, and for some reason after very little sleep I am awake bright and early so I will finish this now... okay where was I, oh yeah, the penguins... We slowly paddled away from the beach together. After dinner, and a few vodkas, with some new friends on board I was invited by the third captain to navigate the boat. I drove the boat onwards in the darkness under a milky way of stars whilst the sea lions slapped around in the water surrounding making gurgling noises. It was for the best that all the other guests on board were sleeping as I think they would have had a heart attack if they had known there were 3 drunk girls in the drivers cabin dancing salsa whilst navigating our way to tomorrows island. After about 15 minutes of zig zagging I really got the hang of it and later was on the captains case when he slacked off and we wandered off course. ' A la derecha' (to the right) I yelled. 'Soy Capitana'.
On day 3 we head to South Plaza Island. At the nose of the boat 5 dolphins led the way. We also stopped a while to interact with a pod of whales before arriving at a seal colony where frisky cubs posed for the cameras. Snorkelling by far was my favourite activity. The fish were out of this world. The sharks meandered along below our legs, stingrays scuttled away from the commotion, curious sealions slunk past whilst their cubs challenged one another playfully amongst the rocks. A tortoise gradually floated past. Amazing, amazing! Well, at risk of sounding too much like David Attenborough I will leave it there. xo
