La salida

This is a sad day, loyal followers. It is my last non-bonus day of blogging. Please refrain from crying all over whatever device you're reading this on, as that would probably be bad for it. I know it is a sad departure, but at least there will likely be another bonus blog post. It's been a great journey with you... and with Dad, my guest blogger.

Today was a nice, relaxing finish to the Ecuadorian saga. We wandered around town for the better part of our day, and relaxed and went to the hotel pool during the other portion. Of course, we had to drag Mom away from a couple of churches. She has this thing for churches and cathedrals, and I've seen enough to last me a lifetime.

Our main adventure was a museum of the city of Quito, with a built-in church. Before it was a museum, it was a hospital, the first one in South America. There was some history of Quito, Ecuador, but I can't explain any of it to you because it was in Spanish. Just when we were about to leave, a man announced that a tour of the belfry, or bell tower, was starting in about five minutes. When we reached the belfry, we found that it was a small square with mostly open walls and a great view.

However, the "best" (I should probably say "most interesting") part of the belfry tour was the stairs leading up to it. There were only about 60 of them, but they were terrifying. There were three small sets, only about one of which would pass code almost anywhere else. Oh, and only the last one had a handrail. The first was a set of narrow stone steps so steep that, almost without even bending over, you could grasp the step two steps up from you to help you climb. The second set was comprised of fairly standard stone steps, except that there was a small pit next to them and no handrails. Finally, there was a set of narrow, sharply spiraling wooden steps that were slippery from rain. Sound fun?

After we were done peeking into several other churches, we walked over to a park that I now call "The Park of Really Cute Dogs". Many people came out to walk their dogs in the park, hence my name for it.

This is the end of this post, not counting bonus features, but don't worry! One more post, and perhaps even two, are coming. And there's always the next vacation! Until then, hasta luego!

Bonus photo: Fruit Boy!

Bonus feature: Wandering Survey!

This is a survey, so I can see how I can be better! You don't have to take it, nor do you have to answer all the questions if you do. Please respond in a comment. There should be an option for commenting beneath each post, and you can even comment as an anonymous user.

1: Humor content

a.) More, please!

b.) Keep it as is!

c.) Less, please!

2: Pictures

a.) More, please!

b.) Keep it as is!

c.) Less, please!

3: Guest blogging

a.) More, please!

b.) Keep it as is!

c.) Less, please!

4: Other opinions

This one's a write-in.

By the way, I'd like to give a special shout-out to my mom, who proofread every blog entry. Thanks!

Spanish contest standings:

Aidan- 55

Mom- 6

Dad- 34

Una día mas

Greetings, everyone! I'll get right down to business. Today was a three-stop trip for us. Our first location was the valley of Puluha... Puluhoga.. Pulu... Um, this place.

It is a volcanic crater, and has a beautiful view. It is also a geobotanical reserve, whatever that means. It was formed when a volcano actually collapsed. You wouldn't know from the lush green land.

Yes, beautiful views. And then there's Mom.

Our second stop was an outdoor museum dedicated to the equator and the peoples of Ecuador. We got to stand on the equator and try our hand at several activities.

Activity #1: water swirling

This one wasn't interactive. There was a bucket of water that emptied into a smaller one underneath. When the bucket was directly on the equator, the water emptied straight down, with no whirlpool generated. When it was moved a bit into the southern hemisphere, a left-to-right whirlpool was created, and in the northern hemisphere, the whirlpool was right-to-left. It was a startling difference for a few feet.

Activity #2: egg balance

It's far easier to balance things at the equator, because the gravity is not swayed at all. My dad and I both managed to balance an egg on a nail. We got certificates... that were actually half- advertisement. "I balanced an egg on a nail, and come and spend money at the museum" pretty much sums it up.

Smug Aidan is smug.

Activity #3: Aidan balance

In this activity, we walked along the equator, feet close together, with our eyes closed. I don't know why, but it was harder to balance. Maybe we just weren't used to the two gravitational forces.

Oh, right: There was also a whole lot of our guide explaining stuff in a thick accent.

Within the museum, there was also a traditional house. Does anyone in the audience (that's you, loyal followers) know about the Incas? What about how they ate guinea pigs? Well, Quito was influenced by the Incas. Unfortunately, I think the cute, fluffy little guys below are being raised for food.

On a lighter note, our final stop was the "other" equator. This monument was established by the French, and is a homage to... actually, not the equator. Some theorized that the French got it wrong, but they didn't. The monument actually was on the equator when it was built! But thanks to continental drift, the site of the equator is now 200 meters away, at the museum that we went to first.

Bonus photo: photobomb returns!

Spanish contest standings:

Aidan- 53

Mom- 6

Dad- 34 1/4

Dos días en uno

Air conditioning! Seat belts! WiFi that goes faster than a giant tortoise! Posh hotel!

Yes, all this could be yours! Just fly to Quito, Ecuador to enter, and this could be YOU!

As you can tell, I'm excited about our new lodging. Sorry for not blogging yesterday, by the way. I'll catch you up, loyal followers. Don't think I've forgotten you! Yesterday, we went to a new hotel via taxi, one still on the same island of Santa Cruz. We made a stop along the way to hike through an underground tunnel left by lava. The cool air was a relief. Pictured below is the entrance to the tunnels.

After that brief activity, we were off. One taxi ride and one boat ride (complete with poor grammar) later, we were at our hotel.

By the way, I'm 12, and I can translate the Spanish better than that.

                                     

The next part was a kayaking adventure that was breathtaking in more than one way. We went kayaking immediately because our room was not yet ready. We kayaked over to an offshoot of our island, hiked quickly up to a view of an inclosed inlet, and kayaked back again. There was just one problem...

We had to climb in to the dock along the side because of the napping pile of sea lions.

Other wildlife:

Incredible elusive turtle

(This is the best photo.)

More blue-footed boobies (see above)

Giant marine iguana (inlet area)

Blue heron (at hotel pool!)

Shark (inlet area)

Manta rays, swimming right next to us!

So, in summary, that was amazing.

But wait! There's more! We also went to town to see the fish market. The fish cleaners threw scraps to the pelicans. Needless to say, there were a lot of pelicans. Combine that with the Galapagos "unafraid of humans" gene, and you get quite a spectacle.

If you look at the bottom of the man's left leg, you might be able to find the sea lion here.

The sea lion pictured above is a perfect example of the sea lions that we encountered throughout our journey. First off, it wasn't afraid of anyone there. Second, after it had participated in the scrabble, it decided that it was tired and took a nap. In fact, it was napping for the first part of the battle as well.

Now for today's actividades (activities). Well, here's the embarrassing part. There aren't any. All we managed to do was travel and rest. I suppose this isn't really two days in one post!

Thanks for reading. Stick with me, we're almost done. Happy and sad at the same time...

Bonus photos: artsy pics!

Spanish contest standings:

Aidan- 49

Mom- 4

Dad- 27

Una dia larga

.....what?  Seriously?  No, I'm not writing that.  No.  You can't make me.  I am the guest blogger, and thus have complete editorial control of..... OW!  stop it!  That hurts.  I'm not....ow...... fine.  Fine.

Ahem.

Greetings loyal followers of the great and powerful Aidan.  I am Brian and I am your guest blogger, even though I am greatly inferior and you all deserve better.  (Just between you and me, I think I'm awesome.)

Today was busy.  Again.  I am going to need a vacation to recover from this vacation, both mentally and physically.  Our guide for the day was Andre, a Belgian gentleman who was also our guide on day one.  Andre really, really, REALLY likes to talk about the Galapagos.  My brain became full of new knowledge and I had to threaten to start to teach Andre about The Cloud if he did not take a break.  That shut him down pretty good.

We started with a long hike through an arid national park where we learned about every kind of bird that exists, ever existed, or likely will exist in the area.  It was actually very interesting.  I can see why Darwin laid the groundwork for his later theories here in the Galapagos.  The environment is unique and it's easier to understand and visualize the evolutionary process particularly "Arrival" and "Establishment" (look it up, I'm not writing all that.)

The hike ended at a long crescent shaped beach where we encountered nests of sea turtle eggs and eventually a cove containing many baby sharks, marine iguanas, hunting pelican, and a variety of fish.  Also a few humans that don't bear describing.  

We then ate a nice lunch in the "big" town, after which we drove to the top of a mountain and mountain biked down to the beach below, about 1,000 vertical feet below.  Riding down the mountain is much nicer then laboring up it, which I did a few days ago in 1,000% humidity.

All in all a very satisfying and wildlife full day.

A typical Galapagooglian traffic jam.  Is that how you say that?  Galapagooglian?  Let's just say that it is, because that sounds awesome.

The tracks of a sea turtle ending at a fresh nest of eggs.  Very cool to come across this, because those eggs are DELICIOUS.  Just kidding,  They're actually kind of bitter.*

* Note:  No endangered sea turtle eggs were harmed in the making of this blog. 

Baby shark at Tortuga ("turtle" in Spanish) Beach.  Even at only about 1.5 feet long, these little suckers are still scary when they swim right toward you.  The water became noticeably warmer when this little guy approached me....

Marine Iguanas lounge on the Galapagooglian Riviera.  These guys look like they have had a hard day at the factory.

 Godzilla 2014 - Coming Soon to a theatre near you.

A marine Iguana exits the water in disgust after observing my terrified interaction with the shark.

A pelican diving for it's lunch.  They circle above and then plunge in dramatically to capture their prey.  It's awesome to watch.  Maybe not so awesome for the fish.  It's actually probably pretty terrifying from that perspective.

 This bird is called a lava gull, so named for it's coloring, resembling volcanic rock.  This little guy is one of only 900 in the world - but don't worry, this is not because they are endangered.  This is simply the approximate quantity of this unique bird that the ecosystem supports.  Nice meeting you dude.

Busy urban intersection for Marine Iguana traffic

Giant Tortoise moving at mach 3...

... which was still much faster than Aidan was moving after a long day.

Spanish contest standings:

Aidan- 37

Mom- 4

Dad- 25

Dos también

Today we went to two islands, just like yesterday. One thing about the Galapagos: the animals are NOT afraid. Just check out this picture of me and a sea lion:

Like I said, not afraid. Anyway, the two islands we went to were once again again a snorkeling island (that we actually didn't set foot on this time) and a hiking/ animal island. I'll start with the first one- the snorkeling expedition.

The wildlife started out with small fish. During this period, we saw a huge swarm of "Dory" fish swimming past. The school was so long that it took about 10 seconds for them all to swim past. Count in your head for the full effect.

Then, suddenly, the guide called out to us. Swimming over to where he was, we discovered two Galapagos white-tipped sharks! They were elusive, swimming fast away from us at times, but we persevered- or just floated there for a bit, depending on your perspective- and received great views of the shark. We would later witness another one sleeping in a small crack in a rock.

Not long afterwards, the guide pointed out another large animal. It was a grand, big animal, even for its species. It was a playful ball of cuteness- a sea lion! It enjoyed itself and swam in twirls and loops around and under us. It even seemed to befriend my dad, swimming downwards when my dad swam down. 

Our second island was the home of the colony of sea lions, with one of the members pictured above. I will present it to you as it was presented to us- in factoids.

- Each cactus has its own iguana waiting under it. It gets its food by waiting for the fruit of the cactus to fall off. As we observed by the "speed-up" of our kind guide, there is a scramble for the piece when it falls, with the fastest iguana and/or the closest one winning.

-Many animals have no predators here in the Galapagos. This is unfortunately illustrated by carcasses lying untouched. One animal even appeared to be petrified. It seemed to have been petrified at the moment of its death, because when we found it, its tail was raised!

-Baby sea lions nurse until they are about one year old. They start training for hunting at about six months, and play a lot to get more practice and toughness. We were lucky enough to see one nursing. When the mom wanted to be finished, she rolled over, but the baby crawled over her. The mother even waddled away, but the baby chased her and forced her to give up. It was an amazing spectacle.

Wildlife report:

Big. Crabs.

Baby marine iguana

Marine iguana

Baby seagull (Yes, it's that dead-looking lump of wet fur.)  It is possible that it was just born today.

More iguanas

Incredibly rare Galapagos pygmy seagull

Note: hoax.

Bonus photos!

Sea lion contrast. Some sea lions are very different from one another.

Sea lion that wants a hug. Cuteness Alert!

More Bonus! Because everybody loves bonus!

We saw two amazing and rare things over the course of our journey. One of them was mating manta rays. They splashed in and out of the water as part of the ritual. We saw one out on the boat that leapt about four times its own length.

We also saw an even rarer sight: a hammerhead shark. It was easily recognizable because of its hammer-shaped head, and our guide estimated that it was about 20 feet long. If you've ever met me, that means it was about four times my height! That thing could probably eat me; it was a good thing we saw it from high up on a cliff.

Spanish contest standings:

Aidan- 33

Mom- 4

Dad- 18

Dos

Hello, loyal followers! You are going to love today's wildlife report. Have patience, and you will be able to witness many things, not least incredible cuteness!

Today's theme was "Island Tour". We visited two different islands, each with their own unique land and water wildlife. That is, if you can call biting sand flies "wildlife".

Before we get started, here are some photos. Gaze upon them in wonder, for they took a really long time to upload.

This is me in our tent.

This is the Klingbeil-dubbed "Lump Island", noticed for its unique and slightly blocky shape. We never got to visit it.

The first island we visited was North Seymour. This was where we found all of the non-fly land animals. We hiked across flat, rocky land, that was sprinkled with red-tinted stones. The terrain changed abruptly when we arrived at the beach, to grainy sand and patches of black rocks that housed sea lions and crabs and curved out into the sea. The rest of this island can pretty much be summed up by the wildlife report.

Redundant title wildlife report:

Giant Lizards

(They eat cacti!)

Blue-footed booby

Hermit Crab

A Rare Red Footed Booby

Frigate Bird

Frigate Bird with pouch inflated

Frigate bird sleeping on pouch

Baby frigate bird

Baby frigate bird

Galapagos snake

Sea lions hugging

Sea lion up close

Red crab

We have little in the way of pictures for our second island, because nearly all of the interesting life was underwater. We saw an extremely colorful, coral-eating parrotfish, which, as you may know, is very large. We also saw a fish that looked almost exactly like the parrotfish, but was a bright orange and blue. Again, not much on land, but there was a surprise for us at the nearby lake...

Wildlife report part II

us

A flamingo at the lake!

Marine iguana

The marine iguanas were incredible swimmers. They could use their powerful tails to thrash through the water, even against the waves. They could even, as we observed, bodysurf and ride the tide.

We returned to the hotel (if you can call it that) by boat. That's all for now!

Spanish contest standings:

Aidan- 31

Mom- 4

Dad- 16