My camera broke somewhere along the way, so pictures will be sparse.
Isla Isabela
I’ve fallen in love. Her name is Isabela. This island is absolutely incredible. Arriving there set the whole tone of the week for me. As our extremely bouncy and splash-tastic 4+ hour boat ride (no seasickness for the win!) puttered to a pause in the bay, we looked around and saw islets of black lava rocks that hosted mangroves, cacti, and penguins in the exact same location. Three organisms that usually make you think “Florida, deserts, and Antarctica” live on the same salty rock. Did I mention we were escorted into the bay by sea lions, small rays, marine iguanas, and blue footed boobies? Just another day in the archipelago. I distinctly remember having a VERY clear moment of “where the hell am I and how in the world have I found myself here?!” In the good way, of course.
Since our trip was organized for us, we spent every day on guided tours. Our group consisted of 16 of the 40+ international students in the program, so we got a fairly private experience. Nearly every day consisted of snorkeling and/or hiking. We explored lava formations in the water and a huge caldera (Sierra Negra, whos most recent eruption happened in 2005) in the highlands. We saw baby boobies, including one less than a week old curled up under its mother. We swam with white tipped reef sharks. One of the most awesome experiences I had was holding my head under the ledge of a crevice in a shallow reef and coming face to face with not one, not two, but seven mouths of jagged teeth. Another favorite moment was finding my first seahorse in the wild.
Our afternoons were fairly free to do with as we wished. A friend of mine and I decided to explore the road out of town, and ended up taking a 12K run. It was worth it – we climbed a lookout that let us see over the south end of the island and realize just how diverse a single small land formation can be. Lush mangroves and forested areas were intermixed with cacti and broken up by both brackish pools home to flamingos and by empty, jagged plains of rocky lava barrens. We finished our run with an ocean swim and lounging on the beach. And how did we spend the evenings? A beachside bar hosted a bonfire, a little live music, and even a costume party for Halloween. We mostly hung out there, making new friends and drinking “coco loco” – a fresh coconut with some caña mixed in to the water inside, which you drink with a straw from the fruit. Can you say paradise?
The best moment of my time on Isabela was, by far, a Sunday night spent playing a pick-up game of soccer with a bunch of locals (photo credit to miss Amy Schubert). After a particularly negative interaction over dinner, I was pretty shaken up. But instead of being upset about it, my friends and I joked and laughed it off, and then went to investigate the legitimacy of a soccer invitation I’d received the day before. We got to the field and the guys who invited me weren't there, but some other local friends we made that day were, so we went looking for a ball and ended up playing our hearts out until almost midnight. It was the most fun night I can think of out of my whole trip. It solidified friendships and built new ones and seemed to me to be a reward confirming my decision to personally work on my own positive mindset rather than getting dragged down by the negativity of others.
Santa Cruz was also an incredible amount of fun, though the island itself didn’t compare to Isabella for me. The town, Puerto Ayora, is HUGE in comparison. It is absolutely tourist central. Now, I’m not talking high-rises or backed up traffic or anything, but still. Nothing about it felt like an isolated island of the Galápagos. The whole place seems to be solid concrete, and there are enough large streets that there’s the potential to get lost. I was uncomfortable.
Guess I’m in for a little shock when I get back to the states.
Our guided activities here also consisted of snorkeling and exploring the highlands. Santa Cruz has multiple large sinkholes, caves, and underground tunnels to explore. The geography created by volcanic activity is a fascinating thing. We also wandered through the tortoise reserve, where the creatures are even larger than on San Cristobal. (Photos courtesy of miss Haley Saxe. I promise I’m not actually touching the tortoise). The highlight was a day trip to the beautiful island of Bartolomé. It’s really just a small ashy hill almost devoid of life. It’s just off the coast of the larger and more productive island of Santiago. The views between the two are incredible, and the snorkeling was as clear as a swimming pool.
The program-organized section of the trip ended on a Thursday. Of course, my friends and I made the very easy choice to spend our weekend on the island we were already visiting. Days were spent surfing, beach lounging, jogging, and shopping in town. Nights were spent venturing out to Bongo bar and the discoteca. I’d never been on any form of board before, so surfing was a huge adventure for me. Everything about it should stress me out: balancing, cold and rough water, getting tossed around by waves, letting go of control to zoom across whitewater, crashing….and yet it was another absolutely incredible experience. The sunburn was totally worth it. This mountain kid has absolutely fallen in love with surfing!
Now that I’ve started really focusing on creating my own happiness and entering situations with positive energy, the number of new friends and good experiences I’ve been having has skyrocketed. Even in the last few days, I’ve met more people on San Cristobal just by being more open. I’ve been invited to spend time in a dive shop to help staff practice English and take photos during dives in exchange for free dive trips. The last week really helped make me feel comfortable on these islands. My new favorite compliment to receive is that I have positive energy and good vibes, something valued highly by a lot of the locals we met. We made friends surfing on Santa Cruz who want to come visit us next weekend. We are planning on returning to Isabela to visit new friends there. My Spanish got WAY better just by gaining confidence through meeting people. We met back up with our guides for cake, beer, and pool and we’re planning weekly soccer matches. I learned to surf. I swam with sharks. I got sunburned. And I am happy. I learned. Honestly, the scheduled events were fun, but the best memories I made last week were during unplanned moments shared with good friends. There are always open and loving individuals willing to have fun and make an experience as positive as possible. It’s all about the mindset you travel with, the energy you present yourself with, and with whom you chose to surround yourself.
Que te vaya bien, amigo.