Payment is Due

I paid for the awesomeness of the 2 dives the next day.

I should have just stayed in bed and given my sick body time to recover from the dives and my cold - but I didn´t. I organised a tour of Isabella island instead. I should have known that when not even the Sinutab worked that it was a bad idea.

The 2 hour boat ride was uncomfortable and the tour itself was slapdash. We got to the island and had to take a water taxi to the dock..."ok this one...no, this one...oh, he´s not coming - we´ll wait for the next guy". When we finally got there we had to wait for the bus...waiting, waiting, waiting. "Ok quickly, quickly everyone on the bus, we´re going to see flamingos." We drove to a tiny salar - looked more like a pit that someone had dug out with a bulldozer - where there were 3 flamingos. "Usually there are more. Has everyone taken a picture? Ok back on the bus, we´re going to the beach." They drove us to the beach where we had 30 min to enjoy- I spread out my rain poncho, that I had brought just in case, and had a nap. Anyway, the tour continued in this fashion and I was just so congested, sore and tired that there was no way I could enjoy.

When I got back to my hostal at around 5 I just crashed and burned. I slept til 9, found a restaurant that had chicken soup and went back to sleep. I had planned to go on a tour of Floreana island the next day, but it didn´t look good.
Oddly enough, the next day I felt much better and decided to give Floreana a go.

Floreana

The tour to Floreana was much better and quite informative. Its a small island south of Santa Cruz - there are only 5 families living there - it has a sad and tragic past. Pirates used the Galapagos as a hiding spot in the 1600 and it was actually a pirate that first mapped the area. Floreana is the only island with a fresh water source, so you can well imagine how important this tiny speck of land was. Pirate wars were fought here over this little spring. Later, early settlers went mad at the isolation of the place and died lonely deaths.

 

The giant tortoises, unique only to Floreana, were a handy meat source for pirates and later explorers on their long sea voyages since they don´t have to be fed or watered for long periods of time. There are now no longer any of these tortoises left. Conservationists are using this is island now to house hybrid tortoises that had been interbred many years ago. They are now all quarantined on this island so that they don´t interfere with the "pure" DNA of the tortoises from the other islands. These lovely creatures live over 150 years - they look like a link to the prehistoric past.

We also went snorkeling at Floreana - I could have gone on Isabella as well, but I was scared that I was going to fall asleep and drown! The water was quite chilly, but again I got to see some wonderful sea turtles and some great colourful fishes...and at one point a penguin dove in right in front of me! He and his buddy hung around me for a few minutes and then they were gone - Holy crap they are fast swimmers!

Galapagos - Diving day 2

The next day my ear had finally unblocked and I bought some sinutab for the day in order to clear any sinus issued that might arise. This day I would have Pablo, the instructor/guide, all to myself. I was going on a deep dive to 30m.

White tipped reef shark

I had trouble equalizing  - popping your ears so they don´t hurt - due no doubt to my sinus issues, but slowly, slowly we went down. On the way we saw white tipped reef sharks, sea lions, and some beautiful coloured fishes.

One of the worries about going down deeper and deeper is nitrogen narcosis (wikipedia says: At these depths divers may feel euphoria, anxiety, loss of coordination and lack of concentration.) Pablo had to check to make sure that I wasn´t being affected, so he gave me a math test.  Uh-oh, I suck at math at the best of times. I´m happy to say that I passed though - didn´t go mad. Now that the test was over we could enjoy the environs.

That´s me in the back

Pablo pointed to a dark shadow that was quickly approaching us. A giant school of silvery barracuda! I waited in awe as they circled around me...then I remembered all those nature shows where they show a big school of fish getting chomped on my an even bigger predator. I turned around in paranoid fear...but there was nothing there. When I turned back around a sea turtle was gliding past...could things get any cooler?? Yes.



A short while later Pablo grabbed my hand and lead me forward and down with some urgency. A group of spotted eagle rays were flying through the depths!  And shortly after that a giant manta ray sailed over-head, his "wing span" the size of my entire body. Magnificent!

Spot the penguins - there are 3

In between dives we went to Bartolome to see some blue-footed boobies and hopefully see some Galapagos penguins. The boobies are fantastic fishermen and look like kamikazes as then dive bomb into the ocean for their meal. We were lucky too, to find 4 little penguins sunning themselves on the volcanic rocks. Again, we were lucky to have guides with us to show us these well camouflaged animals!





As we were making our way back from our last dive - in order to make a spectacular day even more spectacular, a dolphin started playing in our wake. Oh, and then to put the cherry on top a manta ray jumped out of the water to bid us adieu. No, I´m not exaggerating. What a day!

Diving - Day 1

Land iguanas

At 7am I was back at the dive centre. We would take taxis to the other side of the island to the canal Itabaca - from there we would grab their boat to Seymour North for our first dive.










I was a little apprehensive. I´m a novice when it comes to diving, this was only my 5th dive in open water (ie: not in a pool) and I was going diving with people who had between 70 and 350 dives under their weight belts - Gads!  ...AND we were going boat diving, which I had not done before, you know, that´s the one where you go over the edge of the boat backwards??!!

A sea lion at Itabaca canal

 We went down for our first dive after a quick "refresher", they want to make sure you remember two important basics: recovering your regulator (the breathing thingo) and clearing your mask...I hate clearing the mask.  We were then ready for our first dive. The length of your dive depends on how much air not just you, but your buddy or group has. Everyone breathes at different rates, has different lung capacity etc, etc, so even though you all start out with the same amount of air, someone may run out before you do and you don´t let people go off on their own. All this to say, we were aiming for an hour dive.

An hour underwater is like being in another dimension (well, what I imagine another dimension to be like). All you can hear is the sound of your breathing - the sssshhhhhhhh as you inhale and the blub, blub as you exhale - and a strange, watery, clicking. You move more slowly - pushing against a denser matter than you´re used to. Your field of vision is limited by your mask and quality of the water; and you have to look not only forwards and side to side, but up, down and behind as well. Colours change as the spectrum is absorbed, stripped one colour at a time the deeper you go....and the marine life...beautiful, elegant, sometimes odd and peculiar, but always graceful in their smooth, slow movements.

Our first day´s diving had good visibility and we did spot some amazing things - admittedly the others in my dive group (we were 4) saw more than I did because I was struggling to maintain my buoyancy - it´s kinda like getting on a bike after a VERY long time...you get the wobbles until it comes back to you. At the end of our 2 dives we went back to the dive shop to check out the video and pictures that the guide had taken - that was when I really realised how much I had missed! Everyone had a good chuckle at my antics - Nora´s underwater yoga they called it - I really need to work on the whole arm flailing thing.

Frigate bird - beautiful silhouette

That night I went out to dinner with a couple that had been on my dive that day. I felt completely awful. I was so tired, even after a nap, and my sinuses and left ear were completely blocked. I wasn´t sure if I could make it the next day.

Bahía Tortuga

I had to be at the dive shop sometime after 3 to get fitted for my gear for the next day´s diving. What to do til then? I checked my map of the town and saw that there was a Baia Tortuga (Turtle Bay) not too far from where I was staying. It was a nice 2.5k walk so why not. I set off with just my hat, my purse and a 500ml bottle of water...it was 9:30 and the sun was already beating down.


The path to the bay is paved with volcanic pavers and you are not allowed to stray from the path - not that you would want to...the surrounds are not very hospitable. It is not yet the wet season so the vegetation is looking quite dry and well, dead.  There are some impressive cacti here though, they grow like a normal tree; they have a trunk and their flat, round, spiky "leaves" grow from the top...its quite peculiar and only found in the Galapagos.  Darwin´s finches are all over the place, and I probably could have taken one in my hand. They were that close to me, and completely unafraid.








As I crested a hill I could see the ocean was near and when I finally reached the beach proper all I could see was the beautiful turquoise water and white sand. There was also some outcroppings of black volcanic rocks - I walked towards those...there are always interesting things on  rocks. 

I wasn´t wrong. There were brilliant red crabs all over the place. They scuttled over the volcanic past of the islands to avoid the surf. They were also sharing the rocks with some dark land iguanas who were lazing about catching some rays. They didn´t seem to mind that they were the rock stars du jour - let the plebs take their pictures of us; we know we´re hot!

I kept walking along the beach with a great big grin on my face. After all I was wandering a beautiful beach on one of the world´s most unique places! And I had seen iguanas...and red crabs! How cool is that??!
Well, about 20m further I caught sight of my first water iguana...GADZOOKS! What a monster! They´re massive compared to their land brothers. The land iguana is about the size of my forearm, the water iguana is the size of my entire arm.



Water iguanas

The sun continued to beat down - I had told myself that just because I was feeling much better, it was best that I not go swimming - the sun continued to beat down...the water was warm on my feet...the crystal clear waters beckoned...You can understand why I caved in. The grin just got bigger and bigger as I played in the warm waves.

After playing for a little while I continued walking down the beach towards another bunch of rocks near some mangrove trees. There was a heron there - I waded in up to my knees and waited for him to finish preening before I took my picture.  A man near me, who I thought was also taking pictures of the heron said, "Oh, he`s coming right for you!" I looked down and there was a big water iguana  swimming straight towards me. They are very elegant swimmers - he swam within one metre of me.

I continued past the mangrove trees, and there was the actual bay of turtles. There was a guy there renting kayaks so I took one out for a paddle. It was so quiet and peaceful on the water. Every once in a while a small head would bob out of the water and inhale - its called turtle bay for a reason. I managed to follow one for a few for short periods - they are really magnificent creatures - flying through the water.





I had spent the better part of the day out in the sun and I was begining to burn - I ran out of sunscreen earlier in the day. The walk back, with the sun at my back...searing the already burned backs of my knees was not pleasant...neither was dragging the wetsuit over them when I finally got to the dive centre!

Arriving in the Galapagos

Before you even check you bags to fly to the Galapagos, you have to go through a whole other process. You line up, they check your flights - especially the return flight, they record all this information and you get to pay $10 for their trouble. Then they x-ray your bags to look for organic matter...THEN you can line up (again) to check your stuff, get your boarding pass and go through security. I can understand the precautions.

Everyone knows that this is the place where Darwin´s theory of evolution came together for him. These islands have species of plants and animals that are unique to the Galapagos...and in many cases only to certain islands in the archipelago. There are no natural predators on these islands so the animals here show no fear. It is a place unique in the world. Visitors to this place are privileged - and the park entrance fee of $100 proves it!

When we got off the plane you could easily tell the locals from the tourists - the tourists were rubber-necking all around and the locals carried KFC.

I had felt the nagging tickle in my throat that morning and by the time I was on the bus on the way to Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz, I knew a cold was imminent...NOOOOOO!!!!
I was supposed to go diving in 2 days!! I couldn´t be sick! That`s the first rule..no, second...ok, the third rule in diving - no diving when you`re congested! DAMN DAMN DAMN!

When I got to my hostal it was around 3pm. I had two choices; go explore or go to sleep.
In hopes of recovery, I went to sleep. I woke up at 9 that night and went out in hopes of getting a bite to eat. Like in many Spanish cultures, life in the Galapagos was just getting started. There´s a street in Puerto Ayora that closes at night to allow the restaurants on either side a place to seat their clients. It´s a very popular place...and it was in full swing.

After a quick bite, and a stop at the local pharmacy for some vitamin C, I went back to bed. I hoped that the next day would bring good health.

Air Turbulence

I got to the airport at 6:30am. There were 4 people there - none of them worked for the airline. At 6:45 there was no change, and by 7 I started to get antsy...my flight was at 7:30 and the staff had only just started to trickle in. We 4, who had been there since the crack of dawn, stood in line as others started to come in...waiting, waiting...no word from the airline. Porters were bringing in heaps of luggage too - and making a column parallel to our queue.

At 7:30 the security guy who checks your papers and carry on for liquids before you check your bags set up his little station....and the American tourists belonging to the column of luggage came in too. People at the head of my queue went OFF. I can´t say for sure what they were saying, but I´m pretty sure it was along the lines of, "I don´t fucking think so!" The official started taking the Americans first and then things REALLY got heated. The Americans kept saying, "No problema, lots of time...relax!" not realising that the airline had cancelled our flight and that we had now been waiting, with no notice or information for the past hour and a half.

By the time my turn came I was ropable...very little sleep, cancelled flight (and missed connecting flight as a result), loud queue jumping Americans...I was not a happy camper. I stepped up to the counter and rudely asked the guy what the hell happened to my 7:30 flight?! Poor guy...welcome to 2012! I waited at that counter for 20 minutes while he tried to sort out my flights.

In the end, instead of Iquitos - Lima - Guayaquil, landing at 3:30pm, I got Iquitos - Lima - Quito - Guayaquil, arriving at 6:45pm. I was going to spend my day in airports and airplanes. Sigh. By the time boarding time came round I was a lot calmer and I was glad that I had the chance to apologise to the fella from the counter - it wasn´t his fault his company cancelled my flight.

The flights were boring and uneventful...the only cool thing of notice was the videos that they showed on the flights. They were from Just for Laughs -Gags. My Canadian friends will know what I´m talking about. At first you could hear the odd giggle here and there, slowly, as others tuned into what was playing, you could hear full on LOLs. Ahhhh, Canadians making the world laugh with their gags - its our gift.

Farewell to the Jungle

On our last day we went out to the Amazon River. Again we were amazed at it's size and this was just the beginning of the wet season; Raul informed us that it would get a whole lot bigger. We were there to see if we could catch sight of some pink dolphins. Tribes of the Amazon believe that the dolphins were once people and so they hold the dolphin in high regard. There is also a legend that says that the dolphin knows what is in your heart, so if you have malice there for the dolphin, it will inflict you with a painful stomach ailment that will get worse and worse. Only a Shaman can get rid of such inflictions.

We were lucky enough to see two dolphins - they are quite shy - but like most dolphins, most marine creatures for that matter, they popped up and then disappeared. Near impossible to catch on camera. So we enjoyed playing, "get a picture of the dolphin" for a little while, but the sun was beating down on us so we moved up river a little more to a protected place in the middle. Raul explained that under water was a sand bank that his village uses in the dry season to plant rice. There was still the roof of a building sticking resolutely out of the water. Because of the sand bank there was very little current there, and Raul said we could go for a swim if we wanted. I didn't really feel like it so I declined.
...yeah, right.
The water was brown. Visibility was less than zero - less because the silt would make you close your eyes even harder. I don't know what else swims in the Amazon and I didn't ask, I jumped in. Ahhhh the water was beautiful on such a hot day. Its a little disconcerting to swim around in such an opaque liquid, but after a little while you just kinda go with it. Raul and our boat captain suspiciously stayed on board. When we asked why they didn't want to come in they laughed. It was "way too cold" for them! Everything is relative I guess.

We went back to the lodge for our last lunch and then we headed back to Iquitos. It was New Years Eve and I had a flight the next morning at 7:30 in the morning. I'd like to be able to tell you that I partied like it was 1999, but no, I didn't. Quite frankly, the very prospect of that scared the living bejezuz out of me. Iquitos never inspired security in me, I was always very wary and a little on edge there, so being out at night with the majority of the population of this place...while they were getting completely smashed....well...no. I stayed in my little square of a room (literally a square) and watched movies.

The alarm on my $10 watch was broken and I was paranoid about not waking up on time and subsequently missing my flight, so I tried to stay up all night. That didn't work. And of course you don't kinda drop off at 11 and get a reasonably decent night's sleep, nooooo, at times like these you eventually start dropping off at around 4:30.

The fear of missing my flight kept me just at the edge of sleep...the continuous firecrackers didn't hurt either, so I did make it to the airport on time - no thanks to the mototaxi which broke down on the way.

It just really sucks that they decided to cancel my flight to Lima.