Only in Textbooks

I remember learning about it in Biology class, reading excerps from “The Origin of Species”, and nervously giggling in the 7th grade when we found out there was a bird named “Blue-Footed Booby”. It was a place that I had only read about in textbooks, someplace far away that I only studied so that I could get an A on a test.

The Galapagos Islands. A place that can never be adequately described by a book or experienced through pictures. Because how can you ever really explain how it feels to swim alongside a sea turtle, to observe a shark feed on a school of fish, to watch the sunset with a marine iguana on the rock next to you. It’s simply indescribable.

But…I will try to explain as best as I can.

This past week I got to experience the magic of the Galapagos on a five day trip with all the rotary exchange students. Let the adventure begin!

Day 1: The day began at four in the morning with a three hour car ride to Quito. Once in Quito we met up with the other exchange students in the airport and soon enough we were flying over the Pacific Ocean headed to the Galapagos Islands. An intense sun and a stuffy airport were there to greet us. We quickly took off our jackets and rolled up our pant legs, ready for an amazing week!

We checked into our hotel room, met our guide, and then began the walk to the Charles Darwin Research Station. Time to see giant land turtles! It was really incredible to see these animals…they just looked so out of place in that environment! We would find them grouped together under the shade and one by one they would hobble out into the sun to eat. After taking pictures with the turtles we walked to another area where the famous Lonely George lives. Lonely George is the last turtle of kind and has refused to mate with any other turtles. He’s quite stubborn.

After we were done with the turtles we walked back to the hotel and had a nice “Welcome to Galapagos” dinner. Time for bed.

Day 2: On this day we got to experience the beauty of the Galapagos beaches. After a three kilometer walk we arrived at the most pristine beach I have ever seen in my life. White sand, turquoise water, and marine iguanas that would swim in the water with us. Jealous, much? We swam in the ocean for a couple hours and then hiked back through the cactus forest to our hotel.

After lunch we all boarded the bus and headed to a cave named The Tunnel of Love. The best part of this cave was that it had natural airconditioning meaning we were saved from the heat and burning sun for at least half an hour. We walked through the cave, listening to our guide ramble on about how it was formed, and cursing everytime we got scraped on a rock. It was kind of cool though…

That evening we were pretty much free to explore the city. We went out for ice cream, walked down to the dock to see the sea lions, and watched as the fisherman cleaned the fish they had caught. And so ended day two.

Day 3: Finally we got to go snorkeling! The boat dropped us off at what is called “Sea Lion Island,” which gets its name from the many sea lions that swim in that area. After a couple of minutes of figuring out how to put on our snorkeling masks, we all jumped into the water! I love snorkeling. I am always amazed at this whole other world that can be found underneath the surface. We saw hundreds of colorful fish, coral, and sea lions. A group of three sea lions were swimming and doing flips in the water…while always keeping a safe distance from us. After about an hour of snorkeling we all climbed back on the boat and sat down for lunch. Oh, and another exciting piece of information…LEONARDO DICAPRIO AND BILL GATES HAD BEEN ON THAT EXACT SAME BOAT!! The week before we were in Galapagos they had been visiting and the captain of the boat even had pictures to show us!

 Anyways…back to the story.

So once we were done with lunch we hiked a kilometer to a place called “Las Peñas.” They are huge cliffs filled with fresh water…an ideal place to swim and cool off.  The water was really cold at first but after a while I couldn’t feel my hands and feet anymore so it was fine. These cliffs were filled with small little tunnels that you had to pass through…not too much fun for a claustrophobic person…but I loved it! The locals also come to this place to go cliff diving. Once we saw them jumping we began to climb up the slippery rock, wanting to try it also. As soon as our guide saw us, however, he yelled at us to get down saying it wasn’t safe. Not fair. He may have been right, though…I did end up with a couple bruises.

At 3 p.m we arrived back in the hotel, lined up to take a shower, and then crashed onto our beds. I was so exhausted! After dinner we had free time once again…which just meant that everyone went to the supermarket to buy ice cream and sit in the air conditioning. End of day three.

Day 4: My favorite day of the trip. It was just a whole day of snorkeling! This time the boat dropped us off in a small bay known for its abundant wildlife. And sure enough, we weren’t dissapointed. The first cool discovery was a school of about a hundred thousand fish being circled by two white-tipped reef sharks. At first I thought this big black blob was rocks or coral but when I dived down I saw movement and the outline of thousands of fish. So cool! Some other great animal sightings were manta rays, trumpet fish, and once again sea lions. After a while the tide got pretty strong and one especially big wave swept me out into the ocean. I was still able to see the boat but it was pretty far away and when I looked into the water all I could see was blue. I was pretty much panicking considering the Galapagos is also famous for an abundance of hammerhead sharks…not something I would want to see all alone and far away from our boat. Which was why I just about had a heart attack when I saw a small black figure swimming torwards me. I quickly began to swim in the other direction but then decided to look back just to see what it was. I am so glad I did because it was a sea turtle! It looked just like the one from Finding Nemo! I was so excited and dived down so that I could see it up close. Wow. This was probably the most amazing part of the trip. The turtle didn’t even look at me, it just kept on swimming to some unknown destination. Once it was out of sight I concentrated on getting back to the boat so that I could brag about the sighting. So amazing.

In the evening we went to a private ranch for a barbeque, horse back riding, and a night of dancing and karaoke. I love karaoke so me and a friend eagerly grabbed the mike and sang our pitchy version of Beat It. Then it was back to the hotel to pack our bags so we could be ready to go the next morning.

Day 5: At 8 a.m we were outside the hotel with our bags packed and ready to board the bus. First we made a quick stop at a place named “Los Gemelos.” These were pretty much two hug holes in the earth formed when an enormous lava bubble popped. After ten minutes of picture taking we were back on the bus heading torwards the airport. At 11 a.m our flight took off torwards Quito and then it was three hours back to Riobamba (after a stop at McDonalds, of course). Bye Galapagos…

So pretty much, I am writing so much about this trip because I want to convince you to go to Galapagos! By far, these were the best five days of my exchange and the most beautiful place I have ever visited. So book your plane ticket!

Alex