Monday, August 31, 2009

Home Again

Well it's been a while since I blogged and I will go through a brief description of the rest of my trip:
From Banos it was on to Montinita which is a great surf spot on the coast of Ecuador.  You get great diving up at the Isla de Plata which is off of Puerto Lopez an hour north.  I went one day and saw two manta rays, which was amazing.  I'd never seen a manta ray before and they are truly breath taking.

From Montinita it was time to say good-bye to Ecuador and onto Peru.  I went straight to mancora for about 6 days where I spent most of the day laying out on the beach and taking surf lessons.  Private lessons are about $13 for an hour, so I highly recommend them.  I went early in the morning (around 8ish) to get easier waves and avoid the crowd.

From Mancora it was straight down to Lima to meet up with Jenny!  Jenny and I used to live together in SF, so it was great to see a familiar face.  Unfornately, I caught some sort of bug on the bus on the way down to Lima, so I wasn't much fun for a few days.  We did check out the waterfountain park at night, which I definitely recommend.

From Lima we flew to Cusco for two days of acclimation and then a 5 day trek on the Salkantay trail to Manchu Pichu.  Do not listen to anyone who tells you otherwise, trekking Salkantay is really really hard.  I highly recommend taking the mule up the mountain on the second day.  It is worth every soles.

Manchu Picchu was spectacular and we got their early enough to get tickets to climb Wayna Picchu which is also really hard, but totally worth it.  If you have the time, I'd also recommend spending a day in Aguas Calientes.  We didn't have much time there but it seemed super cute and I would have like to look around more.

From Manchu Picchu is was back to Cusco for a couple of days.  I would recommend checking out the Temple of the Sun museum and eating at Fire Angel.  Be sure to bundle up at night, it gets very chilly in Cusco!

From Cusco it was on to Arequipa, which was my favorite in all of Peru.  Jenny and I loved Bothy hostel, which had dinners most nights of the week and happy hour specials at the bar.  White water rafting is a must!  The water is freezing (I fell in - yikes!), but so thrilling.  We did the afternoon which was nice because at least it was sunny.  And even though I had just sworn off trekking for life, Jenny talked me into a three day trek of the Colca Canyon which was worth it.  We went through Land Adventures who are supposed to do more sustainable trekking and give back to the community.

In Arequipa Jenny and I parted ways - she was headed up the coast to get in some surf before going back to the states.  I had a bit more time and wanted to see some of the north of Bolivia.

I went straight from Arequipa to La Paz in Bolivia.  Bolivia has two capitals - Sucre which is the political capital and La Paz which is the more commercial capital.  La Paz is also the highest capital in the world.  I tried to go from La Paz to Rurre to do a pampas tour, but due to inclimate weather the plane didn't take off and I was too close to the end of trip to have extra time.

From La Paz I headed over to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca which was just lovely.  It was a few days before Bolivia's Independence day, which is a big deal there.  I watched many parades of school children dressed up and many bands go through the town.  I also took the ferry over and spent a night on Isla del Sol and did some hiking around there.

From Copacabana it was back to Peru.  I stopped in Puno which is the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca.  Puno gets a bad rep in all of the guide books but I don't understand why as I found it adorable.  There is a really nice pedestrian walkway and plenty of restaurants and bars.  I would recommend not signing up for a tour and just walking down to the pier and buying a ticket for a tour of the floating islands.  Your tour will be in Spanish, but you still get the jist and to see the islands.

From Puno I headed over to Nazca to meet up with my friend Sali, whom I had met in Banos.  She was feeling a bit iffy the first day, so we decided to do the flight to see the Nazca lines the next morning.  We got pretty lucky and our van came at 8 and we only waited about 45 minutes at the airport before we took off.  It takes a few of the pictures before it's easy to see the lines, but it's pretty incredible once you can see them.

From Nazca it was a short trip to Huacachina where I spent the next day Pisco tasting and sandboarding.  It was a beautiful second to last night in South America.

Then it was a sad but true moment and I was back in Lima for one final night before heading home.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

A Note On The Guayaquil Bus Terminal

I had heard that it was quite a schlep from Banos to Montinita. It was supposed to be at least 7 hours from Banos to Guayaquil and then supposedly another 4 or so to Montanita. Since it was going to take so long, I was interested in going overnight, but I knew I would need to switch buses in Guayaquil. All of the bus stations I had been in in Ecuador were really shaddy, so I was a bit nervous to show up at 3 am in Guayaquil and have to spend time there waiting for a bus.

Luckily, the Guayaquil bus station is amazing. It´s actually a mall and quite new and swanky. It´s very safe and you can feel fine showing up at any time of the night. Miraculously the security guards are extremely helpful as well. You can ask any of them which bus counter to use for where you´re going and they will happily tell you and even walk you in the right direction.

Once you get your ticket, you have to take the elevator up to the second floor where all of the buses leave. The security guards up there are also super helpful and will gladly point you to the correct door to exit.

I would also suggest that if you´re heading to Peru, that you book your ticket there through C.I.F.A (pronounced see-fa). They helped me get off and on in all of the right spots to get my passport stamped our and back in.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Banos

Ever since I first heard of Banos I always laugh when I saw it. I find it kind of astonishing and ever so delightful that there is a major tourist destination in the middle of Ecuador that is literally called the toilet.

I believe Banos actually gets it´s name as it is known for it´s thermal springs. Based on what I´ve read in the guide books and talked with others, the hot springs water gets changed daily at best. This means the best time to go is at like 5 am when they open. While highly recommended by others, it gets the big thanks but no thanks for me. Luckily Banos is also known for white water rafting, hiking, biking, and a wide variety of other activities.

The day I got into Quito from the Galapagos I went straight to the bus station and caught a bus to Banos. I´ve found the buses in Ecuador to be a bit more challenging than the rest of Latin America as you really have to pay attention for your stop. Banos was no exception and I almost missed my stop but then quickly hustled off and headed for the Blancos y Plantas hostel recommended to me.

Banos is an adorable little town. The main area is not too large and it feels very safe and comfortable to walk around at night. I found a lovely little Mexican restaurant and promptly went to sleep after dinner.

The next day I had planned to do some hiking but it was pouring. A few of the locals thought that it might clear up later in the day, but there was no way to know. After 8 days without internet, I had a lot of email to catch up on, so I spent some qt in the Internet cafe and then tried to walk around some more. The umbrella I bought in Quito came in handy today!
I had met a women at breakfast who worked at one of the spa´s down the road, Chakra. Based on her recommendation I had a lovely one hour hot stone massage for a mere $20. Yes, I was liking Banos quite a bit.

I spent the rest of the afternoon talking with one of the guys in my room and then reading in the cafe upstairs. There was no rest for the weary with the rain, so rather reluctantly I headed to dinner and then sleep to dream of warmer days tomorrow.

The next day my wish was granted. The sky wasn´t exactly clear, but it would do. I headed over to la officina de turismo and got a free map of the area. The agent recommended a walk up to the virgin mary (the latin american´s sure do love to put the virgin mary up a really big hill) and then from there a walk to the farming town of Rutun.

The walk up to the virgin was mostly paved stairs - but over 650 of them! From there it was up, up, up for about another hour and a half of single track rather muddy path. There was a slightly disarming moment when the path let out into a huge cow pasture and several cows stared straight at me. I somewhat timidly continued on, trying to also plan some strategy should a cow try and come close. It was a long way up with many false hopes of being there, but the view of banos was totally worth it. From there it was more single muddy track to Rutun, when it eventually opened onto a road. I took the road down and back towards banos. After about another 30 minutes a farmer stopped to chat with me. We exchanged a few sentences and then he offered to show me his house. He explained that he had cows and chickens His house was a little two room adobe house. One room had the kitchen and a fire. The other served as his bedroom and living room. He had some herb that he just picked and made tea with. We sat and chatted for about 20 minutes. We covered a wide range of topics from our mutual love of Obama, me describing my life in San Francisco, and both of us talking about our travels. It was really very special and so nice of him to share his home and stories with me.

From there it was down, down, down to Banos. I decided to take the paved road over slipping and sliding my way down the huge hill. It took another couple of hours before my very weary self showed back up in the hostel, but it had been an amazing day.

My last day in Banos was spent white water rafting. I was a bit intimidated when I signed up and was told that the trip included the cost of a wet suit. I had never been white water rafting before where it was so cold you needed to wear a wet suit. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the water wasn´t too bad and the trip itself was a blast. There were 6 of us in our raft total including the guide and we flew through the water. I would definitely recommend booking with Geotours if you find yourself in Banos. After lunch with the group, I came back to the hostel, took a quick shower and checked out. I was off to Montinita!

8 Amazing Days in the Galapagos.

I had been somewhat on the fence about whether I was going to go to the Galapagos, but one look at the brochures and I was sold!

I decided to do a land tour, as it was less pricey, but it still encompassed some island hopping so I´d still be able to see quite a bit.

Day 1
Day one was spent flying to Baltra (originally a US military base but now an Ecuadorian military base), a quick ferry ride to Santa Cruz and then a 3.5 hour speed boat ride over to Isabella. I arrived at Isabella and was greeted by Pablo, who would be my guide for the next day and a half. He took me to drop my stuff off at the hotel and then we went to the Tortoise breeding center. He walked me through the center and in very good English explained all about the Tortoises. He showed me the beach and then walked me around town, which was all of about 4 blocks. Back at the hotel he explained that he would pick me up tomorrow for a day of horseback riding, a tour of the volcano, and then snorkeling.
Day 2
The next day Pablo came as promised and we, along with a family consisting of a mom and dad, their three adult children, one of the girl´s husband and her 2 year old son set off. The family was super friendly. They were all Ecuadorian but the mother, father, son, and one daughter had recently moved to New Jeresy.

When we arrived to the start of our trek, we were all placed on horses (I made sure to ask for a ¨muy tranquilo¨one). From there it was about 3 hours on horses up to the volcano. You start out in the rain forest and it was quite muddy, so I was a bit concerned about my horse, Valle. But Valle was a champ and took everything very slowly, so while we slide a bit at times, he always kept his balance.

It was a very hot hour and a half walk around the volcanoes, but it was fascinating. We saw the second biggest crater in the world and learned all about the forming of the Galapagos. It was then another 3 hours down the mountain on the horses.

As soon as we were back at the hotel, I changed into my bathing suit and Pablo took me snorkeling. We went to the dock and got a boat just for the two of us. We went on a tour of the small island right around the pier. To avoid a large group of snorkelers, we opted to walk around the white tip shark island first. It was iguana convention with iguanas EVERYWHERE stacked on top of each other. Pablo laughed at my hesitance to walk around them, but they would usually scatter once you came close. We were lucky enough to see one shark, although he speed by pretty fast.

From there we went to a different snorkeling sight where it was just the two of us. There were some great fish to see, including a couple of large parrot fish. I got in the water before Pablo and about two minutes later I saw this large swoosh of gray go by me. At first I thought it was Pablo - but then I realized it was a sea lion! Later two more came over to play around us and then a fourth came by to check us out. It was the first time I had ever been in the water with sea lions and it was thrilling. They are really curious and they like to get very close next to you. It was some of the most incredible snorkeling I´d ever done.

Day 3
The next morning I was out the door by 5:30 am to catch a speed boat over to Santa Cruz. Antonio met me and took me to my room. Antonio explained that he would be shuttling me around between meals and activities, however the one thing was that Antonio spoke no English.

That morning Julio and his friend took me around the Tortoise breeding center there. Their English was not as good as Pablo´s so I tried to read all of the signs they had posted. They seem to tag team the trip where one would go spotting for tortoises and then when they found some, the other one would bring me over to check them out and then vice versa. I saw a lot of formal tours go by in groups of 20 plus and while I knew they were getting a far better education, I really enjoyed my more personal service.

I took a quick nap and then it was time for a lunch followed by a boat tour. The boat tour was to Bahia.

Even though I had been promised English speaking guides, our captain spoke only Spanish. Luckily there was a mother with her teenage daughter who were originally Ecuadorian but now lived in New Hampshire and they could translate for me. We took a tour around a few islands and then stopped for some snorkeling. There were sea lions galore as well as many fish, and then right before it was time to go in a turtle passed under me!

From there we went to another island where there was a short hike to more swimming and then it was back on the boat and back to the hotel.

Our last stop was the Tunnel of Love. Legend has it that two went in but three came out. We were 9 when we went in and we came out 9. Very disappointing. After asking ¨Donde esta los chicos caliente?¨ and getting some crazy looks from the others on the ship, the American/Ecuadorian woman realized that what i was trying to say was ¨Donde esta los hombres guapos?¨ Apparently chicos caliente translates literally and she had a good laugh the rest of the way back wondering where the hot men were.

Day 4
Day four was an all day tour of Floreana. Antonio and I had breakfast together and then he took me over to the pier for our boat. There was some sort of confusion with the boat, that I´m sure if I spoke better Spanish I would have understood - but the bottom line was I ended up waiting an hour and a half at the pier. The pier is quite a fascinating place to spend some time as there is constant comings and goings from it. It seems most of the tour boats have their own zodiacs, so I saw a variety of tours coming and going. While I, at times, was dealing with language barriers, I was also really glad that all of my tours were in really small groups - which was not always the case with boat tours.

Finally our boat arrived and we were off to Floreana. It´s pretty far from Santa Cruz and the 2.5 hours on the speed boat was rough for most of the people. Luckily it didn´t effect me and I spent most of the time chatting with the husband of a couple from Texas. Finally we were at Floreana and after seeing a bit of the island it was snorkeling time! More sea lions (woot!), another turtle and some great fish. After snorkeling we went onto the island where about 140 people live. It was originally settled by pirates and then settled by a German family escaping from Germany in the 1930s. We heard all about the history and it was really interesting to see the small town.

It was a long day when I got back, and after dinner I went straight to bed.

Day 5

Day five was another early one. I was sitting outside my hotel at 5 am ready to go. The bus picked us up and drove us across the island to a rather swanky looking boat which was going to take us to Bartolome. There were lounge chairs and lots of space to stretch out on top of the boat. I met a girl from Germany who was also traveling on her own and we spent much of the 3 hour tranquil trip out to Bartolome talking.

Once we arrived at Bartolome it was a hike up an inactive volcano with frequent stops for pictures and to learn more about the history of the flora and fauna of the island. After hiking it was in the water we went, and poof, more sea lions! For some of the others on our trip it was there first time seeing sea lions, so it was fun to watch how excited they were. While I was watching one sea lion, I saw a large swoosh go by - it was pelican diving for a fish. Later we saw 4 penguins, which was my first time seeing penguins in the water. They were adorable!

After snorkeling it was lunch on the boat and then a very relaxing 3 hours back. I took advantage of the sun and the lounge chairs and got in a snooze before we arrived back to Santa Cruz.

Soinya, who I had met on the boat, had dinner and some drinks together, which was a lovely way to end my last day on Santa Cruz.

Day 6
Day 6 I spent the morning with Julio and Andreas. Andreas was another tourist from Austria. We went to check out the volcanic tubes which you can crawl through. Then it was up to the highlands to go walking with some Tortoises.
In the afternoon it was another long speedboat ride over to San Cristobol. I was met by Manilo, a son of the owner of the hotel I was staying at. He took me to my room and then I quickly changed so we could get in some snorkeling before sunset. He took me to lobos beach, which true to it´s name was packed with sea lions. Luckily we had the beach to ourselves (other than our many furry friends) and we hopped into the water. As soon as we were in, sea lions were swimming all around us trying to figure out what on earth we were doing. The current was quite strong, so we swam hard to make it out to some deeper water. We were snorkeling around when I heard Manilo call my name. I swam over to him to find an enormous turtle swimming around under him. We swam with the turtle for a while, every so often being interrupted by jealous sea lions who wanted our attention. As it started to get dark, we swam back to shore and headed home. His friend hadn´t come to pick us up so we decided to walk home. The walk home took about 25 minutes and I managed to spend the whole time chatting with Manilo in Spanish. I was very impressed with myself.

That evening I went down to the pier, which was also filled with sea lions. There was a wooden fence that was supposed to keep people from walking out onto the sand with sea lions. Unfortunately the sea lions didn´t realize this and many hand crawled under the fence and draped themselves over the benches that were supposed to be for the humans to sit and watch the sea lions.

Day 7
My last full day in the Galapagos - que lastimo! There were 30 school children on their winter break staying at the hotel, so I joined them and with two guides we split up into two boats for a day of snorkeling. We went about 2 hours out in the speed boat and toured around three different islands, snorkeling at each island. It was great to spend most of my last day in the water seeing more sea lions (of course), turtles, and many, many fish! The kids were all around 12 and it was funny to see them get so excited over the sea lions and to watch the basic pandemonium that is 30 school children in the water.

Day 8
I spent the morning with a guided tour of the Galapagos information center. We learned all about how the different animals have evolved as well as how each of the islands was settled. It was a quick morning and then off to the airport for Quito.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Back to BA

After a rather comfortable overnight bus, I was back in BA. I checked back into the Hostel Inn Tango City in San Telmo to find that Michael had arrived the day before and was there as well. After a quick nap and shower, we set off to find some breakfast.

We were then off to do some shopping on Florida avenue (rather unsuccessful) and then to the cemetery. After wandering around picking out people we would come and read to if we lived in Buenos Aires, we said a quick hello to Evita and then moved on with our day. It was a long walk back to the hostel, and I needed a nap before heading out to meet up with my Irish friends who were back in BA as well.

After an amazing steak dinner, Michael, my Irish friends, and I headed out to the bar for drinks and some good music. I was shocked to find it was 7 am when we were finally going to bed, but I guess that´s how it´s done in BA.

Friday I was on a mission to buy a winter coat. I had been surprised about how cold it got in South America (even though it was the middle of winter) and I knew that BA could be my last chance at getting a real winter coat. It was back to Florida avenue and after a while BINGO! I had found a winter coat. I wore it out of the store and spent the rest of the day ecstatic about my purchase.

The next day we went down to La Boca, an area I hadn´t seen on my first trip to BA. The guide books tell you not to stray off the tourists path as it can get rather dodgy, however the tourist area is lovely and I would highly recommend a trip.

As we were walking there we walked by a futbol field that had a game going and went round to have a peak in. It turned out just to be a middle school game and we were rather disappointed that nobody yelled ¨GGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLLL¨when we saw a kid score.

From there it was the tourist street with more souvenirs. Michael was uninterested in the shopping and more taken with the architecture of the area. I insisted on schmoozing through just to have a look, as you just never know what you need while Michael took pictures of the brightly painted tin houses. We found a lovely restaurant/patio and sat down for some Torrontes and Chorizo. We were the first ones there, but after a couple more people showed up, a man in his late 60s brought his guitar down, plugged it into an amp and played to us for the rest of the afternoon. I was too in love with this man to leave, so we ended up closing the place down around sunset.

I had been looking forward to Sunday ever since I had decided to head back to BA. Sunday was the Feria de Matadores which is pretty much the best thing EVER and a total must if you find yourself in BA. Michael and I took the bus out for the 50 minute ride outside the city and once we arrived, I was stoked! Jess had bought some picture frames that I had been envious of and regretted not buying the first time around, so my first stop was to check them out. After wandering around the stalls for a while, we decided to get some lunch and got a delicious carne tamale, some locro, and an empanada as well as dos cops de vino tinto. There were a bunch of tables set up that you could stand and eat at and we shared space with a dad and his 4 kids. I tried to talk to the little girl, but she was too shy (or maybe it was just my very terrible spanish). I´m sure she went off and asked her dad what was wrong with the crazy lady trying to talk to her.

Once my picture frames were purchased and some more vino tinto was had along with a lomo sandwich, we were starting to walk home. We made a quick banos stop only to discover a meringue place which was awesome and so we stayed. It took a few glasses of vino tinto to get our feet warmed up, but we did our best to meringue with the locals. We danced for a bit and sat back down, but when the twist came on, I insisted we get back out there. Most of the other couples sat down, and the few that remained tried their best to meringue to it - but Michael and I were there to show them how it was done! We mashed potatoes and did the twist, much to the glee of everyone watching. Afterwards one guy was so enthralled he came over and hugged Michael. We ended up spending the evening there doing our best to hang with the locals.

Monday we walked through Puerto Madero (the swanky part of BA) and then had a lovely nature walk through the ecological park. Michael made fun of me as I insisted to check out what goods the vendors had on display - as if between all of our other shopping I had not seen everything already. The ecological park itself has a nice 1 hour walking loop that you can do. It´s an interesting mix of protected park with huge skyscrappers in the background, but still a nice change of scenery and it was nice to see some water.

Monday evening we met up with my Irish friends and at Guido´s, which is an amazing Italian restaurant. The boys decided to go off in search of a pool table while Finn and I tried to find a bar. It was a national holiday which for some reason caused all of the bars to be closed, so we ended up back at their house. Finn and I were hanging out for a while before the boys finally returned and we started our own dance party. Before I knew it, we were getting in a cab and it was 7 am again.

I had made plans with my Irish friends to go see a flea market with them, but by the time we got up and going and over to Palermo, the market had ended. We ended up wandering around Palermo some, stopped and had a nosh, and then it was time for a nap.

Michael and I went back up to Palermo that evening for every tourist´s must do - La Cabrera. After enjoying a couple of glasses while waiting for a table, we finally got seated. La Cabrera is one of the most famous steak houses in Buenos Aires and definitely amazing. We split the Bife de Chorizo and the lomo, as well as some proveleta to start. I insisted we end it with the chocolate volcano - which was - AMAZING!

Wednesday Michael went off to book bus tickets to leave, and I went to hang out with my Irish friends and to finally see the flea market. It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed walking around in the sunshine looking at everything on offer. I went back to the hostel to say good bye to Michael, who was off to meet up with some friends in Rosario. I had a final dinner with my Irish friends and then we found an excellent jazz club with live music.

The next day was my final on Florida avenue to pick up a few extra things I needed (somehow my pajama pants went missing in Santiago and I was also looking for some new flip flops). After a quick lunch it was off to the airport and to Ecuador. I was sad to be leaving Argentina, but happy to have so many fond memories.

Ecuador

After much hemming and hawing in Buenos Aires, I finally left to go up to Quito to begin my slow desent down through Ecuador Peru and hopefully over to Bolivia.


I didn´t get to my hostel until 1:30 in the morning which felt more like 3:30 am to my still Buenos Aires oriented body. I collapsed into bed and enjoyed being able to lie in until 10 am the next day without a worry. I am staying in the New City side of Quito, otherwise known as gringo city - and for good reasons. I´m staying right in the center at Crossroads hostel, located at Foch and Juan Leon Mera. There are restaurants as far as the eye can see as well as travel agency after travel agency.


After a quick breakfast, I began my quest for a reasonably priced trip to the Galapagos as well as some ideas on trips out to the Amazon. Well after about the 8th travel brochure prominently featuring anacondas, I begin to realize that perhaps the Amazon was not for me. ¨Do you have any trips to the Amazon that don´t include snakes?¨I innocently asked one of the travel agents. The look on his face was priceless and spoke volumes more than his ¨Well, it is the Amazon . . . but don´t worry, the snakes won´t hurt you.¨


With dreams of the Amazon dashed, I was able to focus on trips to the Galapagos. Unfortunately, this is high season so most trips were booked, but I was able to find a somewhat reasonably priced land trip that left in a few days. With my trip booked, I went and had a relaxing lunch and spent more time exploring around the new city.


The next day it was shopping, shopping, shopping! After calling my parents to wish my father a Happy Father´s Day, I was on the bus to Otavalo. A rather long 2.5 hours later and I was finally there. I headed first to the vegetable market to be consumed by produce. Amazing looking eggplant, tomatoes, and corn were everywhere for sale. From there I headed over to the artisians market which contained more alpaca products than any one city should ever have. There were also the typical silver crafts as well as some great paintings and pottery. I lunched nearby and then hit the market again. Silly me, I had forgotten to bring a sweater and I knew as the sun start to set it would get cold. I looked around at sweaters, ponchos and scarfs and finally decided on a soft green poncho. It was unlike any other sweater I had bought, and I thought it would be nice to have an extra layer for when I head into Peru.


Before it got dark, I went over to the bus stop and somehow scored the seat next to the driver. I was a little concerned that it would be a horrifying ride, but actually it wasn´t scarry at all. It was also very interesting to watch the interaction between the driver and the guy who hangs out the bus getting people on and off of it. it was quite a symbiosis they had going with each of them communicating with each other through very little talking. 2.5 hours later I was back in Quito and not too long after that, back at the hostel.

My last full day in Quito was spent in the old city. One of my friend´s had given me the name of a family friend who was living in Quito, so I met up with Linda for lunch and then she gave me a lovely walking tour of the old city. We walked around for a while until it started to pour. There is a huge cathedral that we only got to see from a distance, but she explained that it had all the different animals from the galapagos sculted around it.

The next morning I was off early for a trip to the galapagos!