Day 2 in Cuenca

As was foreseen, we went back to the artisan market to finish our shopping. We went on a tour of an old cathedral and then a Panama hat museum.

Fact: the Panama hat is actually from Ecuador and is just know as the Panama hat becuase that was where it was popularized when Roosevelt was building the Panama Canal. Here we call it sombrero de paja toquilla (the type of straw).





All of the family got hats EXCEPT for Julie; she just got a little coin purse of paja toquilla.

We went to have lunch near El Cajas, the national park with the lakes and mountains, and we had trout, the speciality there. Since it was pouring down buckets of rain didn't get to go through the park. Bummer. We went right on to Pasaje. During the trip we watched Avatar and because the road is so bumpy and rocky, it felt like we were in the movie during all the action and flying scenes. We all were pretty much sick of driving and tired, but when we got to the Morocho's house in Pasaje, they had friends over waiting to greet us with a little party, where we also celebrated Johnny's birthday.

Brunners in Cuenca

So Tuesday we took a little walk downtown and had a typical breakfast: mote pillo (a corn and egg mix). We saw the main cathedral and the central park. We went on to the main artisan market of Cuenca and basically went crazy seeing all the things.





I'm pretty sure we cleaned out a fourth of the vendors' products. We were quite the bargaining bunch with Johnny and myself as the guides.

We then left Cuenca to get to Ingapirca (or as Julie likes to call it, Inca Pinca) which is like an hour and a half drive. We jumped around the Incan ruins and saw the museum. Andy had his Ecuador guidebook and was reading it aloud to us(I'm not sure if anyone was listening though)









We went back to Cuenca and met up with an exchange friend, Lauren, from the US who is living in Cuenca. We all went out for dinner to celebrate Johnny's twenty-first birthday! We secretly asked the waiter to buy us a cake for Johnny, and at the end of the meal I told him that we were ready for it. He hadn't bought it yet, so he calmly went down the stairs, and then he started sprinting past the front window of the restaurant. What devotion.

From Galápagos to Cuenca

Our van driver picked us up at the airport in Guayaquil, and we got ready to go to Cuenca. The car ride to Cuenca was the scariest car ride that I have ever been in. And I'm even used to the roads! It was crazy for my family too. My mom almost had a heart attack. We were driving at night in the mountains and there was a super thick fog through which we could not see three feet in front of the car. Fortunately, we got to Cuenca safely after that nerve-wracking ride. Then we hit the town in the fresh air of Cuenca!

Galápagos Trip - Day 5

Got up early and packed up. We had breakfast of ceviche, bolones, and patacones, then we took a taxi across the island. Johnny and I rode in the back, singing Spanish songs the whole way.



We had a boat ride to the other island then took a bus to the airport. We passed through the artisan shops and then waited for our flight, playing cards. We had to wait in the airport for like two hours because of a huge delay.


Scouts

Killing time:






Then we flew to Guayaquil to finish the trip.


Chao Galápagos

Galápagos Trip - Day 4

We met the group again at the pier bright and early in the morning. Johnny and I sat on the top talking with the captain for most of the ride. From up there, we saw these fish that would fly and skim across the water! We were on the lookout for dolphins and whales but didn't see any. This day we traveled to Floreana.




Come on!

Once on Floreana, we headed up to a trail-head. There, Victor told us some really long, confusing story about legends of people getting lost on Floreana. We hiked up to this fresh water source where there was a little waterfall and drank this "water of life." Further along the trail, we got to this part where pirates used to live. We saw holes in the rocks where they would put their beds and also places for a kitchen. There was also this giant rock head (I didn't hear what it was for).






Johnny running away from the pirates




Kids in the kitchen




Turtle area we hiked past

We went back to the boat after eating lunch and sailed to the Devil's Crown - this neat circular rock formation that juts out of the water.







We snorkeled, yet again, and saw more sharks: tintorera and Galapagos sharks. The snorkeling continued in Champion Bay where we sighted starfish and played with sea lions.


Mad Johnny with the girls

We boated around the island to look at frigatebirds. They were in mating season so there were a ton flying around and many had their big red pouches inflated. On the hillside, it just looked like a bunch of red balloons.





That ended the tour, after which we went back to the pier. On the way to the house we passed again at our ice cream stop.

At the house we bought a guanábana from an old man who was walking the streets selling this fruit. He told us the story how when he was young he planted this tree and now it's keeping him alive in his old age because he sells them.



We had dinner and then ice cream, on the way back to the house, yet again.




Johnny with milk of magnesia on his back for the snorkeling sunburn (he claims it works)

Galápagos Trip - Day 3

We had a light breakfast on Saturday with the awareness that we might throw up what we eat. We loaded up on Dramamine and loaded the boat again with David, Victor, Guille, and Armando. We rode on the boat to Santa Fé (Julie and Rachel kept singing the Santa Fé song from the Newsies).


Our boat: The Northstar



We sailed around the island looking at the wildlife: masked boobies, blue-footed boobies, and the red-tailed sparrow.





We then went to this amazingly turquoise cove where we did more snorkeling, but this time sans wet suits because it was a hot day (at the end of our swim it was getting cold because of the tide from the ocean). We hung around more sea lions, manta rays, and huge schools of fish. While we were watching a big school, we saw a shark emerge from the middle of them! That was really incredible.



With us on our trip was this Danish boy who had his own fin. It was one big one (as opposed to two separate ones that we had) and he could dive down so deep. He would dive down into the schools of fish and disappear!


So long Santa Fé

We boated to another spot, wet-suited up, and snorkeled. This place had really deep rock walls and cool fish. We continued on to Garrapatero Bay (a beach back on Santa Cruz) where we anchored the boat and had lunch. This water was a brilliant turquoise but not very clear. Armando sang to us while we ate, dedicating one of the songs to Mom!




Happy Armando and David

There was a little place where we got to see flamingos just beyond the beach. While we were swimming, two of them flew over us!



We went back to our house and crashed with some cookies, crackers, and bread. That night we walked around - everyone there was getting ready for Earth Hour where they encourage the people to turn off their lights and power for an hour. We ate some typical Ecuadorian food: grilled chicken with rice, menestra (the soupy bean mixture), and patacones (plantains fried and smashed). We stopped by the Earth Hour presentation for a little bit and watched the video. It was pretty discouraging about the whole existence of man. On the way home we got some ice cream from the little restaurant, as usual.

Galápagos Trip - Day 2

Bright and early I went with Johnny and Dad to buy some fresh bread. We met our great guide, Victor, at the pier. We had a little sailor helper, David, and the driver, Guille. We hiked around a little bit and Victor showed us (very enthusiastically) little lizards, cacti, coves with turquoise water, sea lions, and birds.







We then went snorkeling! That was so much fun. It was incredible because the water was so clear and there were so many fish. At the beginning, I couldn't use the goggles and snorkel very well, but by the end of our trip, I was pretty much a professional.





We then went to see a shipwreck that had happened ten days prior. We were rocking on the water just looking at it because Victor was really interested in it and taking pictures. We were all pretty much getting seasick. I won't mention any names, but a lot of the family threw up. That was pretty funny.



We snorkeled some more and swam with sea lions! They would dart around us and get so close. Andy got some good photos of the underwater life. Victor kept taking us all over the place in search of a sea turtle swimming, but we didn't find any.

We went back to the house and ate bread and crackers, then crashed. Later we went to these volcanic tunnels on the island.