The Very Best Vacation

You know that amazing feeling when you do something you’ve always dreamed of, and it exceeds all your expectations?  My recent trip to the Galapagos Islands was just that.  I have fantasized about traveling to las Galapagos since middle school when my teacher, Joe, took a trip there and brought back tantalizing pictures and stories.  College biology classes with focuses on the Galapagos wildlife deepened both my desire to visit the islands and my understanding of their significance.  So, when our plane touched down on Isla Baltra on Saturday, I was almost as excited as my friend Savannah, who let out a loud “WHOOP!” the moment the tires hit the ground and scared everyone on the plane.

We stepped onto the tarmac into amazingly pure air (especially compared to that of exhaust-filled Quito), and I surveyed my surroundings.  I was surprised by how desert-like the land was – an expanse of barren lava rock with small shrubs and tall cactuses.  As we traveled through the islands, we encountered areas of very lush foliage more like the scenes I had imagined, very similar to coastal Ecuador; the type of ecosystem depends on the soil and the direction of the winds that bring moisture to the area.

We spent one night in Puerto Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz, which is one of the more human developed and tourist filled islands.  I went cliff jumping, which startled me the first time I jumped because it was the first time in my life I have been in free fall long enough for it to register before I landed.  I almost forgot to hold my breath!  We also visited a tortoise refuge and made lots of tortoise friends.  These huge land tortoises are called 'Galapagos' in Spanish, hence the name Galapagos Islands! 

View from the top of the cliffs

One of the galapagos

The shell was VERY heavy!

The 2.5-hour boat ride to our next stop, Isla Isabela, was sunny and blue: blue sky, blue water, and blue life jackets.  Isabela is beautiful, and has a much smaller human population than Santa Cruz.  Our program director, Daniel, surprised us with a beautiful beachfront hostel, and we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the beach.  The breezy temperatures in the high 70s, deserted white-sand beaches, and subtle humidity reminded me irresistibly of summer in Northern Michigan.  I know it's not every day that you hear Lake Michigan compared to a Pacific island, but Isabela was that pleasant!  ;)

Colleen and Me

Our "private" beach

We spent the next three days on Isabela checking off items from our bucket lists and learning quite a bit about geology and ecology along the way.  There is so much I could say about everything we did!  However, I will stick to highlights: I hiked to the top of the second largest crater volcano in the world, Volcán Sierra Negra, which is 10km across and last erupted in 2005.  While snorkeling I saw so many fish that I felt like I was in the middle of Finding Nemo.  I swam within inches of sea turtles and sea lions, and stayed a little farther away from the stingrays and reef sharks.  I saw animals and plants that exist nowhere else on earth, including marine iguanas, Darwin's finches, and the only penguins native to a tropical habitat.  Possibly most unbelievable of all, I ate swordfish and lobster and genuinely liked them!

The crater of Volcán Sierra Negra

Savannah has an underwater camera!

Thanks again, Savannah!

One of the more unique aspects of the trip was the abundance of wildlife.  The stories about the animals’ lack of fear are true; I was continually impressed with their indifference towards humans.  Living in a place like Galapagos, the animals have neither innate fear, as there are very few predators on the islands, or learned fear because the national park status ensures that the animals are well respected by visitors.  I liked the sea lions and Blue Footed Boobies the best, the sea lions for their playfulness in the water, and the Boobies for their beautiful blue feet and their graceful synchronized dives for fish.  I saw more iguanas than I knew what to do with.

All in all, trip was very refreshing on many levels.  First, it was a wonderfully relaxing break from school and bustling, noisy Quito.  However, more than that, I found Galapagos to be in much better shape than I expected.  Having read about the devastating effects of tourism, I arrived on the Islands ready to see an ecosystem ravaged by humans, but the reality was a pleasant surprise.  I found a place extremely well preserved and, on islands like Isabela, minimally impacted by human intrusion.  In fact, rather than doing damage, many human programs, like turtle hatcheries, are helping!  This is not to say that the Galapagos are prefect by any means.  Humans undoubtedly have negatively impacted the islands in the past, and even ecologically conscious tourism takes its toll.  For example, our boat driver told me that he used to see dolphins frequently, but he now rarely sees them due to an increase in boat traffic.  Daniel told me he gets a little more disillusioned with every visit.  However, in a semester where we have seen so many examples of irreversible environmental damage by the hands of humans and I have felt powerless to help, it lifted my heart to experience a place where conservation and care are standard and the hope for positive change is tangible.