Another End of the Road

 It is 3:30am in Guayaquil. We fly home this morning. (Amended: we were supposed to leave the hotel at 5am but just got a call that the flight is delayed until 1pm.  Michael was lucky as I was just going to wake him up. I on the other hand am already dressed 😢)

That is travel for you.  But what a joy to have been able to take this journey after almost 2.5 years of planning and waiting. Everyone on the ship tested negative to board. Everyone tested negative to return home. What a relief that is.

Finally, what a blessing to have been able to take yet another ‘trip of a lifetime’ in a long list of such trips.

Here is hoping that (1) the world gets fully back to normal again soon and (B) it stays that way.

Meanwhile, remember that the race is not always to the swift. Happy trails.

Who Looks Like a Goonie (Bird) Now?

Catching up…the poor internet finally got the best of me…but we are back on the mainland now …

Thursday afternoon was the ‘challenging’ hike on Punta Suarez which started off more challenging before we even touched land.

The seas were higher than we had yet experienced and our “dry” landing turned out to not be so.  We came around a breakwater and were supposed to get off the zodiac onto a little concrete walkway on the breakwater.  Unfortunately, the breakwater was doing it’s water breaking job as the waves were crashing over the break. The first guy off the zodiac was one of the Silversea employees with all of his expensive camera gear and a wave immediately came across almost up to his hips. He managed to keep his balance but the rest of us we not so keen on getting off.

The zodiac backed off of the landing and waited for a lull in the waves as we were all very vocally pleading our case for a beach landing. Our pleas went unanswered (something about having to follow orders) and disembark, we did.  Scurrying like crabs to get safely past the waves and to that beach before the next onslaught. yikes. Michael was coming on a later boat for a shorter walk and I was sure/I hoped he would not get off the zodiac. (As it turned out his group was advised/warned ahead of time that conditions had deteriorated and that there was no longer any hope of a dry landing and that an alternate disembarkation site would be used so Michael never even got onto the zodiac.)

After we were on safe, dry land, the real fun started. The 2+hr hike was almost entirely over a terrain of massive rocks, sometimes unstable and only interrupted by a diversion down a small cliff, across a rocky beach and back up the other side. The group wobbled and dipped but trudged along past marine iguanas with red markings, lava lizards with their bright red necks indicative of breeding readiness, boobies and sea lions and more… all in search of the returning tropical Albatross.

These big seabirds spend months at sea never touching land until they return to their breeding grounds on this island. Their size and the fact that they haven’t really used their feet in so long can make their landings awkward, tumbling, crash landings. I was hoping to witness that. But the area of this island that they use as an airport landing strip is still surrounded by shrubs so you can’t actually see them hit the ground. We could get close enough to see one bird circle and consider and test the air currents and circle again and again until he finally landed (or so we assume since he never emerged again).

We did see one take off again. Walking awkwardly a few step towards the cliff edge. Stop. Wait.  Walk a few steps again. Stop. Wait. Ok, his time, our guide would say.  Walk, stop wait. Over and over until finally with surprisingly little drama, he stepped off the edge, dropped down out of site and them came soaring back up.

We were also lucky enough to see aome paired up birds engaging in their courting ritual - with the last pair consummating. (But video won’t upload so you have to take my word on that.)

After that we stumbled and tumbled like goonie birds back down the hill as the sun was setting for a much less exciting return onto the zodiac and back to the ship.

Here is a picture of a baby boobie being fed and another of an albatross conversing with a lava lizard. And since I am back in civilization now (a picture uploads in 5 SECONDS rather than 35 MINUTES) it looks like I may be even be able to upload the albatross mating ritual I can’t be sure until I click on publish but let’s see…and if so, my apologies for not focusing properly through the bush)

Anguilla? Or Galapagos?

 This morning was a beach day.

Santa Fe Island

Yesterday afternoon Michael opted for a massage and I went on the nature hike on Santa Fe to see scads of sea lions (big and small) and one of the “only-on-this-island” Santa Cruz Iguanas.

Funny Guys

This morning (yes I am actually going to try to post on the same day that we went on an excursion) we went ashore on the south side of Santa Cruz Island to visit some Giant Tortoises.

They aren’t yet migrating from mountain to sea but we did see seven of them at the reserve and a few more on the side of the road coming and going. It is a reserve but the tortoises are not confined to the property.  They come and go at will. The guide was explaining the criteria for true ecotourism in that the relationship should not only benefit the tourists and the industry but also the animals, the flora and fauna. In this case, the property contains guest houses and a coffee farm and also supports the free passage of the tortoises across the land.

I will not bore you with lots of pictures that all look pretty much the same. (Maybe to other tortoises they are glaringly unique but to me they all look the same wrinkly, old guys.) But a couple of them follow.

But before that, the guide was also discussing what makes for a good or bad species of something that is introduced into an ecosystem. For instance farmers brought plantains and bananas and papayas etc for food to survive and now all of those fruits have to be sourced locally for the tourists. They cannot be imported. They are controlled and not invasive and provide income for the human population of the island.  Contrast that to blackberry bushes which are very invasive and appear to be impossible to contain or remove.  He suggested that he has the solution to getting rid of the Blackberries but that no one wanted to hear his idea.  He said that he would simply introduce iPhones.  Bad dump bump. (Tap tap tap. Is this thing still working? Be sure to tip your waitresses.)

Busy, busy, busy

 Three excursions today but not as strenuous.

First up, a zodiac tour of the coast of Punta Mangle, Fernandina on a lovely day. Completely calm seas. Saw some smaller/younger marine iguanas. The usual suspects as far as birds go but with an Oyster Catcher thrown in. Plus the flightless cormorants with their little useless wings. Some nesting and some doing their little mating circle swimming.   And our first tiny Galápagos penguin!

Then I braved the freezing waters to snorkel. Bunches of sea lions darting and spinning and swirling around with us. Three turtles. Some star fish. And a couple penguins swimming but not diving.  Unfortunately the water proof case for the iPhone worked great ABOVE water when I was kayaking but wouldn’t work 10” below….I wonder if the cold makes the touch aspect of the process malfunction. But I was forced to simply enjoy the experience without focusing on photographing it (pun intended).

Finally another zodiac tour of the coast of Punta Moreno, Isabela.  This time hundreds of massive marine iguanas.  More and more penguins. Schools of eagle rays and cow-nosed rays and even two flamingos that flew overhead. Really nice.

Photos follow…the last little cutie is pointing the way to the Giant Galapagos Tortoises we visit next!

Ten Thousand Steps

I can’t imagine when the last time was that I walked over 10,000 steps in a day. But yesterday was one of those days.  I don’t wear any kind of fitness tracker or pedometer, but I went on two adventure hikes yesterday for a total of about 3.5 hours over boulders and lava fields and sand. A woman was with me in both groups who reported at the end of the second hike that she had logged just under 10,000 steps. So by association, I had too.

So the good news is that I didn’t die from over-exertion, that my back barely bothered me at all, and that there were lots of very cool things to see:

More boobies - these were the blue footed ones doing their mating dances which I will NEVER be able to upload from here - but trust me they were freaking adorable!

More frigates with babies.

A galapagos hawk 

Iguanas all over.

Lava lizards

And even one teeny snake maybe 7 or 8 inches long that is apparently a constrictor but I was not afraid as I am sure I could take him in a fight.

And lava, lava, lava and more lava in crazy ropes and bubbles and other patterns over an amazing barren but beautiful landscape. (Sorry for the weird spacing but it took 1 hr and 20 min to upload these and I am afraid to mess with even this level of success)

Sunday in Galapagos

 It is very possible that I get to the end of the entry and cannot upload any photos but I will trudge on with the same can-do and hopeful approach that we take on a nature walk here in the Galapagos.

This morning we headed out for our first such walk on the beach of the island of Genovesa. An easy walk except that Michael must have wrenched his knee during the wet landing. We saw lots and lots of frigates and boobies. We saw plenty of frigates in Anguilla, of course, but never the mating/breeding colonies to observe the really impressive red pouches on the males or the ululating calls they make to attract their mates. There were red footed boobies (the only ones to be able to perch and nest in trees) and nocturnal gulls.  Darwin finches. Doves. Night cranes. And the occasional tropic bird. Photos at the end if at all possible….

Unfortunately, Michaels knee got worse and worse as the walk went along to the point that I couldn’t support him anymore and he had to be assisted back to the ship and into the medical clinic for some very nice pain meds and rest. 

As a result I skipped the snorkeling excursion which was reportedly freezing cold, poor visibility and not much was seen. (Or at least my friends all collectively told me that same gracious lie.)

In the afternoon I did go for a kayak paddle…very calm seas and easy going. We saw some fur seals and marine iguanas in the rocks of the cliff along with some crabs and a brief appearance of a turtles head. But a nice end to the day’s excursions. 

Hey that only took an hour.

Keep the faith…

5 o’clock In The Morning

 Not too much to say here.

Yesterday was bus to plane to little boat to bigger boat.  

Then lunch. And muster drill. And exhibition briefing. Then snorkeling briefing. Then late dinner at 9p.

But slept well in the lightly rocking boat…enough to make you a bit unsteady but not enough to make me nauseous.

The internet is not the best so I don’t know about uploading photos but I will try after we take some and when I have an unscheduled moment (which from the looks of it could be after I get back home 😳).

At first blush, though, the Galapagos looks a lot like Anguilla with sea lions.

Age Is Just A Number

 Or so they would have you believe.

After a very hearty breakfast at the Hacienda, we headed back to Quito with a few stops along the way. The first was to visit Jose Carlos, a widowed, 84 year old weaver of wool scarves, ponchos, blankets etc. His wife died 15 years ago, and his daughter cannot get him to stop weaving though he has cut down to only 8 hour days. He is outgoing and clearly proud of his work -demonstrating every step of the process and encouraging photographs. He has boasted to Vivian in the past that his picture is all over the world. I think you can see why…

I have watched many, many weavers all over the world. The process is always mesmerizing in that is it simultaneously so simple to do and yet so difficult to do well. This time he showed us how he softens the final product by brushing the fibers with a thistle. Look closely. The weave at the top has not been brushed so you can still see every little thread. The area at the bottom has been brushed and is all fluffy and soft. 

I never buy anything, but I bought one of his scarves.

But for as impressive as his work was, we were all most impressed and envious of the fact that at 84 he could get up and down off of the ground all damn day. And I never heard him grunt or groan even once.

The rest of the day was a few other stops at wood carvers, embroiderers, lunch, and even to taste a locally made blue agave tequila (which Michael bought for his collection). Then back to the Marriott.

We were supposed to go out on a city tour of old Quito today. But we passed. These kinds of trips are not our usual choice. We like to move at our own pace. Take breaks etc. Even the altitude has affected me in spite of having started the appropriate drugs in advance of arrival. I have been headache-y and my fingers occasionally vibrate. And this at “just” 9,350 ft. Yet when I first moved to California we drove out to Yosemite once, slept at White Wolf Lodge (8,000ft) and the next day hiked (we were not hikers) on up to Vogelsang (10,150ft).  Had a nice steak dinner and a good sleep and headed back down and home the next day.  No altitude sickness drugs. No mention of them, as I recall. Just did it and that was that. 

So, I may like to still think I am young but clearly my body no longer agrees.

And since we have never cruised before, we thought it best to take a day to regroup, reorganize and to steel ourselves for the physical and social rigors to come. 

Roses are red….

 And many other colors, of course.

Yesterday, we packed overnight bags and headed East with our first stop at a rose farm.  Apparently Ecuador has been in the top three countries supplying roses to the world and just recently clawed its way back up to first place. The roses they grow here have crazy long stems, typically three feet or so, and last for 4 to 5 weeks after they are cut. This farm was exporting about 70% of their roses to Russia (oligarchs must buy bunches and bunches and bunches of them).  But global economies being what they are, the sanctions took all of that away. I don’t actually know what such long stem roses cost in the States ( no fault of Michael’s necessarily - we just haven’t been in the States) but at the source here they are $0.30 each and the ‘irregulars’ are cheaper still.

There were some other stops at a local market, for a local lunch (four courses and fresh juice for $8), and in a town that focuses on leather items (who makes purses without that little hook on a strap inside that makes it easy for you to fish out your keys?). But mostly we were really lucky with the weather as the forecast called for 98% chance of thundershowers all afternoon and we had barely a misting here or there.

Late afternoon we arrived at the Hacienda Pinsaqui. It was rebuilt after the 1868 earthquake and turned into a hotel about 30 years ago.  It is big and timbered and stately with horses roaming the grounds. The rooms are massive two room suites - ours with a high claw footed tub that I was sure would result in an injury. But no central heat and it was cold inside.  There was a little space heater that we turned on when we went out for welcome drinks and dinner. Then we returned to find a fire in the fireplace. Nice.  And then when we crawled into the comfy bed we found, to our delight,…..hot water bottles in little fabric cases that were clearly sent from heaven. We slept like babies. (The babies that sleep well not the colicky crying kind). So, note to self: buy hot water bottles before the next brutal Florida cold snap.

Walking The Line

 Tuesday Quito to Mindo and back.

We are touring for a few days with a very enthusiastic Tours By Locals guide, Vivian.  I marvel at how one can show people the same sights day after day for thirty years and still exude this level of appreciation. But she certainly does.

We stopped to see birds.  So so many pretty birds.  Tens of kinds of tanagers. Tens of kinds of hummingbirds. And a couple kinds of toucans.

We stopped at a butterfly farm and saw tens of kinds of butterflies. 

We stopped to try local coffee.

We stopped to try local coffee ice cream.

We rode a chair lift down overtop of the cloud forest canopy. (Cloud forests exist at higher elevations than rain forests).

We tasted local chocolate…tens of kinds of local chocolate.

And we crossed the equator eight times in the process. Seven times driving. Once on foot.

The on-foot time was not at the first little monument to the French scientists who mapped out this section of the equator. That monument isn’t actually on the line.  Not at the bigger replica monument that the government erected later coz that is not on the line. But in a tiny little town on a simple little street verified by the compass on our iPhones and commemorated with a good luck kiss across the line. 

Tap. Tap. Tap. Hello? Is there anybody out there?

Does this thing work?

Testing. Testing. 123. Testing.

I am dusting off the old travel blog as we start out this morning for our first holiday trip in almost exactly three years.

After an adult lifetime where we marked the passage of time with memories of past trips, American Airlines listings of our upcoming flights, and dreaming and planning for the next trip this has been an unsettled and unsettling three years. Sure, we had plenty to focus on. The fear of Covid. The hiding from Covid. The living with Covid. And the moving back to the United States after 20 years away. But a significant piece of our life puzzle has been sadly missing.

So I will take this moment to be grateful. We booked this trip originally in mid-Feb 2020 expecting to travel in May of 2021 ( with another European experience in between). Then some new virus emerged in the world and we cancelled it a week later.  I remember saying that if we survived Covid, if the world survived Covid and the cruise line didn't go bankrupt that we would rebook it once we all came out the other side.

Sadly nearly a million Americans weren't that lucky. 

But we were.

So here we are.

Heading to Ecuador and the Galapagos.

So very thankful that we can.

Carpe diem.

Everyone, carpe diem.