ecuador | days 4-6: galapagos islands: santa cruz

so i believe we left off from where i said we got food poisoning. the night before flying out to the galapagos, dilz thought it would be nice to go to this korean restaurant he had his eye on for a while. being korean, i of course said jyeesss. we went, it was a really nice restaurant and was definitely the most expensive meal we had during my 2 weeks in ecuador. needless to say we went to bed happy...

until i woke up at 3 in the morning. i will not go into detail.

our flight was at 9 am. by the time we arrived at the quito airport, the sickness kicked in dilz's system as well. half conscious, we took turns going to the restroom while the other watched our bags.

flights to the galapagos islands from quito usually stop in guayaquil, making it about a 3 hour plane ride. luckily, our flight was going directly to the galapagos, making it only two. THANK GOD. we were feeling a little bit better on the plane, so we took pictures of ourselves so we could look back and laugh at ourselves.

LOLZ

what we did not know was that on this short flight, tame airlines[one of the two airlines that fly exclusively to the galapagos] served food. not just any kind of airline food, they had fresh fruit that smelled SOOO GOOOD. at this point our bodies were rejecting even water. but fatties like us just can't fight the desire for food....

so i bagged it for later. how are you supposed to deny fresh cut pineapple?!

it's the galapagos! seymour island i believe..

once we landed and got through security [which felt like forever] i saw my first [of many] galapagos lizard doing pushups and started feeling a lot better. from the airport, located on baltra island, we took a bus to a ferry to the north end of santa cruz, and from there we had to take a taxi all the way to the south end, to the town of puerto ayora.

it took us a minute to figure out that all the taxis were white pickup trucks, and by that time another couple from the ferry had taken the only cab left. the driver offered to give us a ride in the back. we accepted and it was the best idea ever.

we arrived in puerto ayora, lugged our crap around until we found a hostel, which didn't take too long since the town is super small. we did not make any reservations ahead of time but got lucky; this is highly NOT recommended. it did kick us in the ass in isabela, but i will save that for next time... dilz went out and bought some water ate our stowaway fruit and we passed out.

almost fully recovered the next morning, it was finally ADVENTURE TIME! first, we went to the darwin research center, or as i like to call it, turtletown.

i was impressed with their trails.

cool cacti trees.

lizard mid pushup! hilarious.

there was a little beach off the trail where pelicans, crabs and iguanas were hanging out. of course we had to take a picture break.

taking a little nappy nap while sunbathing. skillz!

baby turtles at the research center.

me and my turtle!

the man, the myth, the legend: lonesome george. perhaps he is gay?

the pimp himself on the right. rejected female on the left.

they mad because they get no love.

the center was predominantly for turtles but they had these guys too. we call this one forbidden love.

passed out!

later that day we ventured out to tortuga bay. we had no idea the it was going to be such a long walk/hike, and didn't get to spend a whole lot of time there. also dilz dropped my sunglasses in the ocean. thanks dilz...mehhhh! at the end of tortuga bay was a quiet little beach called playa de mensa.

beautiful tortuga bay.

my friend the iguana.

iguana pile up in the mangroves!

playa de mensa

dilz made his t-shirt into a muscle tee. the sleeves were used as head bands for the remainder of the trip!

that night we had our first real meal since the korean food incident. 24 hours without food, crazy i know. daredevil dilz wanted to celebrate by getting a taco.

i played it safe with some good ol' chicken, rice and beans. delish. not bad at all for 4 dolla!

the next day we squeezed in some snorkeling before our boat ride to isabela island. this was my very first time snorkeling, so i was super excited. also terrified. i can't swim, so...yeah.

from my bits and pieces of research we had a couple places to hit up: punta estrada beach and las grietas. we took a water taxi, then took a checked out punta estrada beach, which was pretty, but the tide was low. i think we were there when it was about as low as it could get, aka a bad time for snorkeling. womp womp womp. we continued on the trail to las grietas, which was another looooong trek. be prepared to walk a lot in the galapagos, people. with bugs. that will bite you. to death. *shudder* but it is always always worth the walk!

sleepy sea lion.

me being awk and dilz being a tool on punta estrada beach.

a lagoon on the way to las grietas. bug party!!!

las grietas.

i DID eit!!!

after a slight panic attack(i also have an irrational fear of deep/dark waters LAME i know!) i started my first snorkeling experience. i think it's actually kind of awkward, just sticking your face in the water with a tube in your mouth, fun fun fun nonetheless. unfortunately the fish were all taking a nap or something, so we had an underwater photoshoot by ourselves. DORK ALERT!

tyra would call this one "dreckitude."

i love how dramatic this photo came out. the only fish in las grietas.

just kidding!

the cool fish club, obvi.

on the walk back to our hostel we saw a fresh coconut stand. soooooooo goooooooood.

check back for more updates on our adventures on isabela island! flickr will continue to be updated with new pictures as well. thanks for reading, i feel like these posts are getting long and rambly. oh well.

toodles,

ronald.