Galapagos...Are you freaking serious??

Ok...so from the title of this blog, I think it's pretty clear that I had an unbelievable time. I mean unbelievable in the literal term...like I actually could not believe what I was seeing about 98% of the time of my 8 days.

So since I am officially an obsessed blogger, I now experience things and immediately think, "how am I going to capture this in the blog?" I came up with three conclusions on this one:

1. I can't. Plain and simple. Will NOT be able to capture this experience. I mean, I consider myself to be a pretty good writer and pretty darn verbal but seriously...this is impossible.
2. On the same note as number 1...pictures are my only hope here so there are a LOT on this blog...more pictures, less words. And remember, I'm traveling with a little digital camera. This is without a powerful zoom and no crazy tricks...I was actually this close to these animals.
3. Trying to do this day-by-day would probably take about 8 days to read and even longer to write. So I've decided to split it up into categories: The Boat, The People, The Animals, The Land and The Injuries
   

Here goes...

The Boat:
After much consideration, I decided to treat myself on the boat choice. After all, I've paid my dues in musky hostels, right? What have I got to prove. Plus, I figure it's one thing to take a chance on dry land...it's definitely another level of insanity to go on a "budget" boat.

So the Archipel II was my home for the last 8 days...
It was really nice but don't get me wrong...this was no Royal Carribbean. This boat held max 16 people (although I had a hard time imagining that) but we had 10 the first 4 days and only 5 of us the last 5 days (no...5 people did not fall overboard...you could choose how long of a cruise to take).

So despite the "luxury" class of this boat, I was still told that I would be sharing a cabin with a stranger. Now as many of you know, I have "People in my Room Induced Insomnia" so I was a bit nervous about this. But...I was blessed by the Galapagos Gods and I got my own room since the boat wasn't full.

Lucky for me because from this picture, I clearly needed one bed to sleep in and one to put my luggage on...
Next question coming from all the mothers out there...how was the food? Again, no Royal Caribbean but not too bad either. The problem? We were usually eating in the midst of some cross-ocean sail that was, to say the VERY least...ROCKY!

I managed to keep everything down but I think all of us looked very green at one point or another around this table...
And what review of the boat would be complete without a picutre of me driving the boat?The People:
Well, when you are on a boat for 8 days with only a few other passengers, you actually get to know people pretty well! During our first 4 days, there was a family on board of an older guy (who happened to be Israeli), his younger wife (who happened to be Ecuadorian) and their 10-year-old niece (who was from Spain).

Now I know I've metioned before that I grew up with a dad who took a LOT of pictures. But dad...I have met your match and beyond. This family must have walked off of this boat with more than 2000 pictures of this 10-year-old chick in front of everything. I mean not just animals..I mean like every single rock, cloud and raindrop. God help their family who has to live through that slideshow.
On board was also a great couple from Spain, a young couple from London and a fun couple from Australia joined us for the last 5 days. I was the only passenger who spoke both English and Spanish so I spent a good amount of time translating...and it was great!
The last person to mention here is our guide...Mauricio. As they say in Spanish, Mauricio had a large stick up his ass. I apologize to you younger readers but seriously, this guy smiled ONE time in 8 days and it was for this picture.
No joke...I asked him a question once and he literally was like "I already told you that Iguanas regulate their temperatures through their heads 3 days ago! You need to listen Debra." Needless to say, I was pretty scared of Mauricio and this wasn't the only time I was yelled at by him. One time, after snorkeling off the sandy beach, I had a bit of sand on my flip-flop when I boarded the boat. Let's just say it wasn't pretty.

The Animals:
So for any of you out there who haven't really heard much about the Galapagos before (kind of like my 9.5 days ago), the main attraction is deifnitely the animals. Honestly, this is the part that is aboslutely unbelievable and completly impossible to describe.

The animals let you walk right up to them and look at you just as annoying paparazzi. We saw iguanas, larger than life turtles, weirdest birds ever...I seriously have no idea how to describe it. Just look at some pictures, ok? Then multiply the coolness of these by about a million and you are somewhere close to getting it...

Crabs...these guys were EVERYWHERE:
Iguanas: Again...everywhere...and there are several types although I don't know the difference between them and trust me, I was not about to ask Mauricio twice...

Turtles:
These turtles are huge, super old (sme more than 150 years!) and freaking awesome...
This sign is from a turtle breeding center and I had to take a picture...in case you can't read it, it says: "It is not easy for giant tortoises to mate!" And then proceeds to show an animated depiction of the event...
This is a RIVOTTING video of a giant turtle...watch out Spielberg...

And yes...this is my IN an actual turtle shell:

Sea Lions:
I've decided that I need a pet Sea Lion. Here is one trying to steal some fish from a local fisherman...


Takin' a snooze with some sea lions...And here is a video of a Seal Lion learning how to waddle!
Birds: I'm not a fan of birds. But some of these were great. The most notable? The Blue-Footed Boobie (still funny at 27-years-old...a bird called Boobie...)
And yes, oddly enough, there are penguins on the Galapagos:
And flamingos...
Underwater: So I took 3 rolls of pictures with my underwater camera but those have to get developed the old fashioned way. But I did manage to snorkle a total of 9 times in 8 days and see everything from sting rays and sharks (yes mom...I swam with sharks...) to huge sea turtles and sea lions. Oh...and don't worry...I found Nemo too...
Here is a shark I got from land but seriously, I am counting on my $15 Kodak disposable camera...it really was an amazing and terrifying experience!

The land:
So I guess because I had been on other island cruises and because I've seen Gilligan's Island a few times, I had visions of lush tropical greenery and coconut trees. Wrong.

The Galapagos is some weird combination of landing on the moon and Mars...with a gorgeous beach...again...I'm going to rely on the photos here...
And another pretty cool thing on the Galapagos...Post Office Bay!

This crazy mailbox (seriously...off an episode of Gilligan's...) is a place where people can drop their postcards. BUT...they must get delievered by hand!
So basically, you drop postcards in and then look for postcards to people near to where you live and have to deliver them to their door. I mananged to find 3 Minnesota post cards and will deliever them when I get home!
And I sent a postcard to my parents (and you guys say I never write...) so we'll see how many years it takes to get there!

The Injuries:
Yep...what blog would be complete without a quick review of the injuries??

So I spent the last 8 days diving with sharks and climbing sharp rocks but none of those things took me down. What did you ask? A deck chair.

Yep. I was dragging a deck chair in an effort to find some shade and managed to drag it directly over my big toe. Let's just say that the Galapagos has captured my right big-toe nail. Ouch!

And one other injury...

Now I told this story to my friend Rachel this morning and her first words "Do NOT tell your parents this story." So parents...if you are reading this, this may be a good time to stop.

For the rest of you...

So I was on a snorkel and a strong current came along and shoved me into a pretty sharp rock. I felt a little scrape but was so mesmorized by the marine life that I didn't take too much notice. About 3 minutes later, I spotted my first of several sharks....WOW!

So when I boarded the dingy and looked down and say my leg was bleeding quite a bit, I realized that snorkling with sharks while bleeding...maybe not the smartest thing this girl has ever done, huh? Here's a picture of the leg after it was all cleaned up for the visualists...quite a few scratches though!
Ok...well that sums up the Galapagos. Actually, no it doesn't. But it is the best I can do.

And I definitely can't leave you with a picture of my scraped leg as a final impression of the Galapagos. So how is this...a rainbow on our final night...
Simply magical.

xoxo,
Debra

P.S...Next post from Peru!