That's a Wrap on the South American Leg

Galapagos Giant Tortoise

While sitting on a plane out of Quito, I considered writing about our time aboard a ship through the Galapagos Islands.

It was wondrous and jaw dropping. There were giant tortoises, magnificent birds and a few penguins.

I uttered, “Don’t step on that sea lion,” so many times that I lost count. And swimming with the playful critters continuously filled my mask with water because I simply could not help but laugh each time they buzzed by me.

The eight days left me nearly speechless, at least enough to admit that I simply cannot capture it in words. Instead I’ll sprinkle a few photos throughout this post.

Now we are heading back to Denver, and I’m thinking about a question that Fran asked me last night: What was your favorite part?

My favorite part of a month that started with a five-day trek to Machu Picchu, continued with a deliberately slow two-week trip from the southern tip of Ecuador through the delightful town of Baños, detoured to the bright blue and green Quilotoa Lake, stretched up to Quito, and finally ended in (with apologies to Mr. Disney) the most magical place on earth in the Galapagos?

If you’ve read my writing in the past, you probably have realized that I love the random quirky things in life.

Blue-footed boobies

I loved the fact that I woke up every morning to a glass of juice and almost never had a clue what type of fruit was in it. We drank everything from fresh pineapple to tree tomato to five or six fruits that I couldn’t pick out of a lineup and of which I still don’t know the English names, if there are any.

I loved the random stuff people were selling on the street. There was the ice cream that didn’t melt (it was made of egg whites, and I was smart enough to realize that trying it after it sat in the sun all afternoon was probably not a wise move). There was the wood board covered with remote controls that a woman was peddling while walking down a street in Cuenca. And there was the man standing in the middle of a town square offering his Burmese mountain dog to any tourist wishing to include said dog in his photos of the surrounding churches (for a fee, of course).

I loved that buses in Ecuador play terrible movies that almost certainly never saw the inside of an American theater before ending up on DVDs that are sold for a dollar throughout this South American country.

I loved that almost all hotels and hostels advertised free breakfast, followed by either HOT SHOWERS or FLUSH TOILET PAPER DOWN THE TOILET, almost inevitably in all caps and almost never offered together at the same hotel.

Magnificent Frigatebird

I sort of loved the fact that bed sheets in Ecuador are five feet long. Every night at bedtime felt like the old practical joke of short-sheeting someone’s bed. And it was always mine. Seriously, my feet and shoulders could not possibly be covered at the same time unless perhaps I slept diagonally or in a tightly-compacted fetal position.

I even loved that bathroom doors were usually about 5-foot-7. I nearly knocked myself unconscious during the Salkantay Trek, when I rushed into a bathroom and nearly split the top of the doorframe in two. Somehow I caught myself before falling to the floor (the thought of lying on that or most other bathroom floor kind of terrifies me) and continued in to take care of business. When I returned, the one girl who witnessed it looked me in the eyes, seemingly checking my pupils, and asked how I possibly survived that smack.

However, above all else, I loved the people we met along the way. There were just so many people who entertained us with their stories, amazed us with their generosity, and nearly always busted us into laughter.

I could not possibly describe everyone who made this leg of our journey so memorable, but here is a short list of a few of them (in chronological order).

-- Ruben: Our trek leader for the Salkantay Trail. A former accountant, Ruben quit his desk job and started leading tours to Machu Picchu. I think I can speak for our entire group (and likely every other group he has led) when I say that we are extremely grateful that he changed careers. He told our group of nine that we were a familia, and by the end of five days we were convinced of it. He kept us together on the trail with his, “Baby break, buddies?” And he kept us trucking along with, “OK, buddies, everybody good good?” I’ve had some outstanding group leaders in my life, but Ruben may have been the best. And I will forever recommend Wayki Trek to anyone who is even considering a hike to Machu Picchu. I cannot imagine any company could possibly do it better.

Land Iguana

-- Jerome and Stephanie: A couple who delayed their honeymoon until Jerome finished his master’s degree. Stephanie had a quick wit that consistently made me laugh, and the quiet Jerome was quickly nicknamed “The Puma,” because he silently and swiftly climbed up and down every hillside on the Salkantay (up to 15,000+ feet and down to just under 4,000 feet) without seeming to break a sweat. I’m pretty sure these two will return home and somehow take over Philadelphia. Just give them a little time.

-- Erin: The actress on our trek. It’s no wonder she chose her profession because she can easily entertain any room (or any trail). But the most refreshing part is that Erin refuses to take herself too seriously. When she first told us she was an actress, she quickly added that we might recognize her as a dead prostitute on one of those forensic detective shows. And she did the voiceover of animated body parts on a few commercials, a fact that will hopefully make the trivia section of her IMDB.com profile once she really hits the big time.

-- Tony:  A guy who, like us, left his job to travel. He thinks he will be on the road for about a year, most of which will be in South America. But he might hit Southeast Asia. He’s not sure. He went to Colombia and decided he loved it, so he stuck around for a few months. We met him in Baños, then strangely ran into him in the middle of the Galapagos Islands a few weeks later. In my opinion, he’s doing this right. He is letting the trip and his experiences dictate where he goes and how long he stays. I look forward to following the rest of his journey online.

Galapagos Penguins

-- Ruth and Will: Two people cycling from Rio to Buenos Aires to Los Angeles and over to New York. It’s a two-year ride. They are both former travel guide writers from the UK, a job that makes me infinitely envious. Their focus now is on their ride and enjoying the journey. You can follow along at http://www.contoursofacountry.com/.

-- Rene: The owner of MTS Adventures, a company that guides tours in Baños for rafting, canyoning and any number of extreme activities. Rene has long black hair that cascades from his helmet during canyoning trips, which he leads three times per day, seven days a week. He readily admits that he speaks Spanglish, although his English is remarkably good. Except when it came to the German girl whose English was in a British accent. Rene did not understand a word she said. Apparently, he only understands American. That’s probably due to his obvious love of American music, specifically Guns ‘n Roses. He’s got a Slash figurine above his desk, and he named his son Axl.

-- Robin: The woman from Virginia who was moving to Ecuador. Robin wanted to see the world, so she searched the internet for foreign places that were good for Americans. She settled on Ecuador, and we met her on her first trip to figure out where she wanted to move. It’s amazing to see someone make such a bold and life-changing decision, and it appears to be right for her.

-- Church Group from Germantown, Ohio: There were 15 passengers on our cruise in the Galapagos, and 11 of them were part of a church group from a small town in Ohio. They had finished a mission trip elsewhere in Ecuador and were finishing their trip with a few days at sea. Honestly, I was a little apprehensive at first. When you get a single group taking up the bulk of a tour like this one, the others can feel like outsiders and have little control over how things go. This group, though, welcomed us from the beginning. By the end of the first day, we were laughing over meals and sharing the wonders of the islands with each of them. They did not force their faith on us, but they welcomed our thoughts and opinions. We were on the boat for eight days, but the church group left after four. We were truly sorry to see them go.

Sea lions were literally all over the Galapagos

-- Simon: The safari guide from South Africa, who was one of the great people that replaced the church group for the second half of our cruise. One of the biggest joys of traveling is meeting people and talking to them about where they’ve been. It’s also one of the costly parts of traveling, because it often gives you more places to add to your list of future places to visit. Simon was a passenger in the Galapagos, just like us. But his stories about his regular job of leading safaris all over South Africa (and neighboring countries) had almost all of us ready to plan our flights to Johannesburg. It was easy to tell that Simon was a brilliant tour guide. And there was just something about the fact that he hadn’t worn shoes since a wedding at least a year ago. I look forward to Barefoot Simon taking us through Kruger National Park.

There were so many others, too. And all of them make me smile. I hope I showed enough gratitude for their kindness and their stories when I was with them all.

As we finish the South American leg of our odyssey, I’d like to thank all of those people we’ve met. And I can’t wait to meet many more in the U.S. and Europe.

Leg 2 starts later this week.