During the last two days in Santa Cruz, Jen and I went to a water hole where you can jump from a cliff into the water. Unfortunately, it was packed full of people and I nearly sprained my ankle on the rocks. This resulted in a hot limp for a day and a half. But we went out for fancy drinks with umbrellas to help me forget about my ankle. The last night there was a performance in town and what looked like high school students were dancing traditionally on the street. We ended up having dinner on a balcony across the street looking over the water and the show. So that was a nice way to end our time in Santa Cruz.
We left early in the morning, and got to the port to wait for our boat to San Cristobal. When the boat arrived, we took a water taxi with the 14 other people and piled into the boat with our bags. The boat took off and Jen and I (the only Gringos on the boat) realized we were in for one hell of a rocky ride. I closed my eyes and tried to block it out and hoped for sleep which of course was impossible. Then the queeziness set in and I tried to stare at the horizon and focus on a stable point, but being cramped in a boat with no fresh air didn´t help my situation. As the waves of nausea become more intense I knew I needed to start making my way to the bathroom. The guy working the boat looked at me as I got up and asked if I was going to be sick. When I told him I was he handed me a little plastic bag and instructed me to throw up in the bag and throw it in the garbage, which I proceeded to do. It was not an easy task as the boat was rocking so much that I had to keep one hand on the wall to keep from falling whilst yacking into a bag. Miraculously though I managed to yack into the bag though and not all over myself. Now that´s some talent! This happened a few times over the next two hours, going through the same ordeal each time. A little boy and another woman on the boat were also sick but they didn´t go to the bathroom, probably because it´s not easy to stay standing! But that that only made it worse for the rest of the people who were already feeling queezy being subjected to watching and hearing them yack. We eventually arrived in San Cristobal and got off the puke boat, and I have never been happier to see land. Walking off the dock I was overwhelmed by the smell of sea lion, which if you know the smell you know how foul it can be and it did not help with my upchuck reflexes. Apparently Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, the port town, has been taken over by sea lions. They are everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE! You can´t even sit on the benches by the water because they are occupying all of them! So the smell was an adjustment, but I managed to stomach some breakfast and we found a room in a nice couple´s house with air conditioning and cable TV. So we spent most of the day recovering from the crazy morning, getting cool and...watching TV. Yes I know I´m terrible...I´m in the Galapagos and watching TV...but I didn´t feel well most of the day so that´s how I justified it.
We went to bed early to get up refreshed and actually do something the next day. But as it turns out, the universe had other plans for us. At around 3AM I woke up to the waves of nausea hitting me once again and almost didn´t make it to the bathroom in time. Jen woke up sick as well and we took turns going to the bathroom for the next 3 hours. This became the second to worst food poisoning experience of my life. The next day I was bedridden since I was so weak and still feeling sickly. Fortunately, Jen was feeling better than me and she went out to get me crackers and gatorade which is all I could stomach for the day. I managed to drink almost 5L of water without realizing it until the next day when we discovered our newly bought 5L jug of water was almost empty, and two bottles of gatorade, so at least I stayed hydrated!
The next day I managed to get out of bed and eat some real food. Jen and I walked to a beach not far from the center of town and went to the interpretive center. Then I needed to go back and lay down because I was starting to feel dizzy. But we booked a snorkel tour for the next day, hoping for the best and went to bed early once again.
We got up early and I took a pill for motion sickness since I didn´t want anymore bad experiences! Then we headed over to the tour office to get our gear and get on the boat. We stopped twice to snorkel, first at Isla Lobos where we saw fish, a ray, marine iguanas eating, and sea lions flirting with us once again! The next stop was at Kicker Rock, a massive rock jutting out of the ocean and split in two. There, you can go snorkeling through the rock or diving, and if you´re lucky you´ll see hammerhead sharks. The currents were so strong around the rock that when some people on the boat who apparently couldn´t swim well jumped in and almost drowned, the guys on the boat had to throw in buoys to rescue them. It ended up being only 6 of us, and one girl freaked out and started screaming for us to wait for her in the currents. When the guide finally showed up after saving people, she started crying and told him he shouldn´t have left her all alone. Basically, it was chaos! I should really be concerned when things like this happen but after almost 6 months of traveling and some traumas along the way, I´m not really phased by it anymore. Maybe that´s what is more concerning than anything else. Anyway, we got to the other side of the rock and went on a little further. We couldn´t see much because the water was so wavey but I did catch a glimpse of some Galapagos sharks and turtles. No hammerhead sharks though. Maybe that´s a good thing. We were thoroughly exhausted after all of that and got back on the boat for lunch.
The boat anchored by Puerto Grande, a beach that we could swim to and hang out on for a bit. As Jen and I were reapplying our sun block we realized we were quite red. We soon discovered that the sunblock, which stated it was water resistent, apparently wasn´t. When we got back to our room after the tour and took showers, we saw the full extent of our burns and let me tell you, it was bad. Really bad. One of the worst burns of my life. Thankfully, I was wearing a sun shirt the whole day so my shoulders and arms were fine but the rest of me...not so much. So we spent the next day inside most of the day, yet again, to avoid the sun. But we booked a tour to the highlands for our last day and bought some new sunblock by a brand that I know and trust.
We got up early and applied loads of sunblock and set out to the tour office. We waited for about 20 minutes for our taxi that never showed up. We were informed that our driver had probably forgotten about us and was probably drunk. It was 9am. So the woman in the office hailed down a cab in the street, explained the situation and we were off on our tour at last. We stopped at El Junco, the largest freshwater lake in the Galapagos, the tortoise breeding center to see more of the awesome tortoises - the older ones just roaming freely around the grounds, Puerto Chino beach, La Casa del Ciebo, a treehouse in a giant 300 year old ceiba tree, and ended at Playa Baquerizo, where we found the only square of shade on the entire beach to sit under for lunch and chill for 2 hours. When we got back we went out for our last dinner, and dessert, and thanked the Galapagos for all the good times, minus the food poisoning and sunburn.
The next day we got up early once again, this time to fly back to cold Quito. It was hard to part with so much beauty. I was fortunate to spend 8 days on a boat touring some of the uninhabited parts of the Galapagos Islands with all of it´s incredible wildlife and landscapes, and then another week and a half in Santa Cruz and San Cristobal, breathing in more of the ocen air. It was by far the most fabulous part of the trip yet. Island life is good. Really good. But after flying back to Quito and spending my last night with Jen, I departed at 3AM, once again, and flew to Peru.
