Argentina & my month as a Porteña

Argentina was an amazing end to my journey with all its modern comforts such as drinkable tap water and luxury buses. Even with all its Western similarities, Argentina manages to retain an amazing cultural identity all its own, making it an interesting yet relatively easy place to travel in.

The first part of my visit began with couch surfing in the Northern city of Salta. I arrived here by bus from the Bolivian border- a short boat ride across a small river brought me to the border crossing station that separates the two countries. Next, I boarded a night bus, which was considerably more comfortable than the buses I'd traveled on in Bolivia. After 8 hours I arrived in the Northern Argentina city of Salta.

It was late evening, and I took a taxi to a local hostel recommended in the Lonely Planet. The next day I moved to a spare room of a local Argentinian guy for my first Couch Surfing experience.

It is a great way to experience local cultures while staying in people's homes for free! So, on my first evening I tagged along to a local tango class in the auditorium of a school where my host & some pretty experienced dancers were practicing. Though I was invited to join in, I sat quietly on the side observing since I'd never tried Tango before. Also, glancing down at my scuffed tennis shoes was enough of a reminder that a beginner lesson might be in order first since my improvised shuffle step would leave me feeling a little self-conscious otherwise! So at this stage, I preferred to instead sit back and enjoy watching all the graceful moves of elegant high heels and black shiny dress shoes as they glided across the shiny wooden floorboards.

My host was an Engineer and worked during the day while I explored the city sights including its Contemporary Art Gallery with paintings, sculptures and peculiar short films such as the one of the lady attempting to bail all the water out of a lake for 7 minutes or so:).

In the evening, my host Fernando and I went out for dinner and I got to try local specialty food for the first time such as the dark purple and rich blood sausage. I also got to experience my first Argentinian steak at a local restaurant, which lived up to all praise I'd heard from other travelers thus far. The restaurant we visited is located on the outskirts of town in a residential area and as you approach the front door, it appears to be a large, old style character home from the outside. It's a favourite of the locals and well known for having local musicians share their various talents for singing and playing instruments throughout the numerous variously coloured rooms. The atmosphere was awesome with high ceilings to carry the sound nicely and beautiful local art on the walls. Not to mention the food was delicious and the live music created a warm atmosphere and the merry feeling of eating with family even though we were amongst strangers. My couch surfing host was really nice if not a bit shy and with prompting from me, related interesting details about the history of the area and his experience growing up in Buenos Aires and then relocating to Salta after finishing university.

Salta is one of my favourite cities in Argentina as well as the nearby Cafayate region known for its beautiful wines and colourful Las Conchas gorge. I liked everything about these areas from the warm weather to the friendly, smiling faces everywhere and the marathon race I saw taking place downtown. In case I needed more convincing, there are also great cafes in this seemingly prosperous area and a strong Nationalism in the local pubs as people cheered their hearts out during the World Cup of football playoffs.

Cafayate is also a quaint town located in the Calchaquí Valley wine valley with a population of around 10,000 people. It is located several hours drive South of Salta by bus. On my way there, I met a girl from Holland on the bus and then a guy from the USA at our hostel. The three of us went out in the evening with other travelers from the hostel and locals they'd met, who took us to a dry riverbed area near the town. Here we lit a bonfire, visited and enjoyed the local wine this region is famous for. We ended the evening at a local bar dancing the night away and enjoying more already opened wine and spirits, which they let us bring inside the bar with us!

Next, I traveled by bus onwards to Ituzaingo and Iguazu Falls to visit Alejandro who I met in Peru where he was also on vacation during a day tour we were both on of the Floating Islands on Lake Titicaca. I arrived to his hometown of Ituzaingo, where I spent a few days exploring the village and spending time with him and his family. From here, we boarded a bus to the village of Iguazu Falls where we shared a sad moment in a cafe while watching Argentina lose its chance of winning the World Cup in a playoff game to Germany. After the game, the tension could be felt in the air as we were surrounded by drooping little Argentinian flags and banners framing all the sad blue and white striped faces around the pub, which were proudly displaying the Argentinian flag. The streets were quiet in the little town of Iguazu on this day and I had to quietly let poor Ale come to terms with the realisation that his beloved team wouldn't advance any further- until the next world cup at least.

In the afternoon, we took the hour or so bus ride to the amazing cascade of 275 waterfalls making up the famous Iguazu Falls. They are also featured in the animated movie 'Up' in which the main character realises him and his late wife's dream of visiting the Falls after he ties 1000's of helium balloons to the top of his home in order to successfully fly to the top of the falls in his house!

They border on 3 countries Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. With spectacular views it's easy to see why they have been nominated in the contest for one of the New 7 Wonders of the Natural World!

Actually, we became somewhat mesmerized watching this massive curtain of water fall all around us as the river above suddenly dropped off, forcing the water to dive a full 82 meters down at the Devil's Throat, which is Iguazu's highest waterfall. What set these waterfalls apart for me was not the amazing amount of water dropping down, as I've seen similarly long waterfalls in the past. It was more the combination of this great mass falling down combined with such a massive expanse stretching lengthwise in a procession along the horizon for a full 700 meters! I was in awe whilst standing at the edge of this water breathing dragon and as I stared fixedly at the thundering falls, I almost felt the urge to swirl into it myself as the mist rose up on all sides luring me forward.... whooooa, back away from the edge!

Spending a couple more days in Ituzaingo after our road trip was also fun as I got the chance to try Yerba Mate, which is the national drink of Argentina- a caffeinated tea that is drunk hot or cold depending on the season and sipped through a metal straw out of a wooden gourd shaped, round wooden cup. Argentinians drink it religiously and can be seen walking down a busy street with their thermos of Yerba Mate underarm, on a beach, in the workplace, out with friends.... and almost all of them seem to be drinking it most of the time. So, my curiosity was peaked and I had to see what the fuss was about- to me it tasted like bitter black tea but apparently, it grows on you and possibly the caffeine makes it slightly addictive similarly to coffee. Apparently, more often the women in Argentina will also sweeten it or add flavouring to improve the taste!

I enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with Ale and his family while experiencing the local culture in his beautifully quaint little home town. We had a lot of fun together as we are both quite carefree and naturally happy people. We spent the days bicycle riding, having picnics, swimming in the river (even though it was their winter!), visiting local cafes where we could talk for hours. I savoured all the details of stories he shared with me about his amazing culture, Catholic upbringing including pilgrimages to sacred temples and experiences growing up in rural Argentina with a few years he'd also spent living in Buenos Aires.

With the help of the great Argentine bus system complete with stewardesses, reclining seats, movies, red wine and dinner (sometimes even delicious steak!), I next made my way to the pretty city of Rosario followed by couch surfing in Cordoba. An Australian couple also stayed at the apartment of a nice Mexican architecture student who hosted us for a few days. We did a road trip to Villa General Belgrano, a little German village where we watched Germany win a world cup playoff game and ate German sausages that looked and tasted suspiciously like hot dogs!

My next destination was La Cumbre, which is an adorable little story-book village a few hours North of Cordoba. I stayed at a hostel in a big, old historic mansion style house and hiked to the famous large white statue of Jesus Christ located on a hilltop in the area. I got caught in some thorn bushes along the river on my way back that were as sharp as thickly pointed thumb tacks and tangled so deeply into my clothes that I was afraid at one point I may not be able to untangle myself! After a long time slowly and carefully maneuvering amongst the thorns with more than a few scratches and puncture wounds to show for it, I did manage to finally escape and as I walked past big old Jesus again scratched and bleeding, I couldn't help but wonder if the universe was trying to tell me something!

La Cumbre is adorable and I enjoyed spending a couple days here chatting with the shop owners and buying their local produce and sauces for preparing my meals. I even walked by one shop during the middle of the day when everything was closed for their midday siesta and noticed the door was unlocked with no one inside! This town is so small and adorable, the shop owner could clearly get away with leaving the door unlocked without worrying about anyone robbing them. Since there were hardly any other tourists in this town, I figured it also added to the general well being and security of the locals who likely all knew one another. It was rather touching as there seem to be very few places left in the world where such a thing is possible!

On my third day here, I took an 8 hour or so overnight bus ride to Mendoza which is the wine region famous for producing the amazingly delicious and full-bodied Malbecs. I woke up early in the morning as the bus pulled into the terminal where it had been snowing throughout the night and the temperature was below freezing. In the busy unloading area, I was lured to a hostel by a local guy working on commission. He promised me a cheap rate for a crowded dorm room and also a free taxi ride if I agreed to stay there. The hostel owners did try to get out of both the free taxi and the highly reduced rate he'd promised me but I stood my ground and they did end up honouring it in the end although I had the strong sense I wasn't the most popular guest afterwards! Once settled into my room, I noticed a bad flu coming on and spent most of the day in bed aside from a short walk around town. It is a very pretty city and seeing snow for the first time in a long while, was a really 'cool' novelty.

The next day I still had the flu but moved to a home of more couch surfers as I thought it would be a nicer place to recover than a dorm room full of strangers. I felt a little guilty since I had a cold but I explained the situation to my two hosts over the phone and they said they had a separate downstairs area where I could lay low and recover in peace. They were great and even brought me hot tea whilst occasionally chatting with me but mostly just letting me watch movies or sleep and recover from my terrible cough in peace.

The second night, I was feeling a little better and succumbing to a bit of pressure from my hosts decided to join them at a local house party in celebration of the recent legalisation of gay marriage in Argentina. It was a fun night of dancing and making silly group orchestrated faces at various cameras floating around the garage type space where the party was being held. It was a fun night although I was a little worse for wear in the morning! One of my mottos on this trip has been 'when will you ever have the chance to do this again' after some Panamanians said this to me in order to convince me to go out with them one evening (a terrible idea but a great story in the end- for another time!). So that is how, I've often chosen the full experiences instead of 'laying low' on this trip even to the detriment of my own health at times- I'm not saying this is necessarily a good thing!

The next day after the party, I bundled up in all the warm clothes I had and went with one of my hosts for a drive to the mountains in order to see more snow. Luckily, he had a 4x4 truck as the condition of the roads was terrible and when we got to the main viewing area, it was absolute chaos being a Sunday and everyone evidently having the same idea to go for a drive to the snow! Cars were sliding off the road and cutting each other off as the parking lot was full and it was nearly impossible to maneuver through everyone once you entered the busy area. Eventually, we did get through and as I admired the mountains, my host informed me these were only the foothills and the actual mountains couldn't be seen from here but were to dangerous to visit due to the state of the roads. One of these mountains is Aconcagua the highest mountain in South America at 6,962 meters (22, 841 feet) above sea level! Wow, I was sorry to have missed it.

After one more night in Mendoza where I'd switched to another couch surfing venue so as not to overstay my welcome, I went to a local BBQ or Asado as they call it in celebration of the birthday of my host's friend. I'm really warming up to the people in Argentina as I find them to be very open and friendly. My only regret is not understanding more Spanish so I am able to communicate with the people more easily.

In the morning, I decided all these events I was taking part in with my couch surfing hosts weren't giving me the rest I needed to recover fully from my cold. For this reason and also in order to escape the cold winter weather that had arrived to this high altitude, I decided to recover further on on a quiet full day bus journey to Vallparaiso, Chile via Santiago. I had a good impression of Chile from the start when the border guard gently confiscated my mandarin oranges but not without telling me in a soft voice how beautiful he thought I was. Aww:).

Vallparaiso itself is an amazing little city. The impressions it left me with are of artistic and colourful graffiti, beautifully tall and old fashioned homes, and warm portly people. Many of the colourfully painted houses had been ravaged by the earthquake that tore through here a few years ago and were now in the stages of being rebuilt. It seemed to have taken a toll on tourism as they area is still under threat of subsequent earthquakes, a few of which it has already experienced, and so the locals were possibly even more welcoming of me as there was a kind of sad cloud of poverty and loss looming over the city, which the locals seemed to be warm heartedly trying to recover from.

My hostel was recommended to me by a lady working at a local tourism stand at the bus station who actually called the hostel to let them know I'd be arriving asking them to walk a block down to the main street where my bus would be stopping in order to meet me. She then walked me out to the bus and sweetly told the driver in Spanish where to let me off! As the bus pulled away she shouted 'buen viaje chica' or good travels to me and blew warm kisses in my direction... it almost made me cry!

As promised, the hostel worker was waiting for me at the bus stop and led me to the cool haunted house style 2 story old but brightly painted wooden hostel where I stayed for the next few days. The weather was much warmer here being at sea level and I enjoyed having a room to myself in the hostel for the first night at least until several European girls moved in.

Another highlight of Vallparaiso was sitting at a fancy restaurant in the marina and having a deliciously fresh, mixed seafood salad for around $5 while watching the sailboats and larger ships move about in the harbour from the back patio. Walking along the water afterward, I saw the most magnificently huge and unique looking sea lions with big rounded snouts having a rest on a big buoy several meters from shore.

After Vallparaiso, I spent a couple nights in Santiago and wasn't largely that impressed with the city although at least it wasn't too busy or overcrowded. There was also kind of an interesting Bohemian feel to the shopping areas with quite cool shops selling very cool clothing and accessories at a good price.

Traveling back to Argentina, I spent my final month in South America in the city of Buenos Aires. It is truly the city that never sleeps with a population of around 13 million people! After literally living out of a backpack for 9 months and wandering from place to place with no more than a few days in between it was awesome (to put it mildly) to finally settle into an apartment that I'd rented for an entire month. Not only could I leave my stuff lying around for the day but I could simply lock the door behind me and not have random strangers from the hostels I was used to staying in milling about with very little privacy or security. It was such a luxury!

In this month, I also had the time to explore this breathing dragon of a city with it's fiery character and culture! I'd largely avoided the big cities up until now and so this opportunity added a whole new depth to my travels.

I was admittedly, a little sad for my nomadic journey of roaming from place to place, coming and going when I felt like it to be ending, yet I also felt a sense of relief as I was beginning to grow tired of being on the road constantly! My feelings were very mixed at this point. Despite the aliveness I'd felt and the incredible and truly unforgettable journey I'd experienced, sleeping in different places almost every night does grow tiring as does sight seeing even though they had been mostly beautiful ones! Another long term traveler had related her experience to me well when she said you can only see so many waterfalls before they all start to look the same.

Choosing to stay in Buenos Aires for the last month of my journey instead of continuing down to Patagonia was therefore a tough decision, which I made partly due to it being winter so very cold down South and partly due to what I understood the cost to be up to 10x's more traveling in this remote area, which would have been difficult on my already stretched budget. I had already resolved to return to Argentina some day and so I was feeling OK about saving this region for another time, hopefully in a warmer season.

Also there was Alejandro. After meeting on the Floating Islands in Peru and then visiting his hometown of Ituzaingo where we had a lot of fun on our road trip to Iguazu Falls, during which time we formed a strong connection through shared interests and humour. Despite our differing backgrounds, culture and language barriers- him being from rural Argentina and me from Canada, we still managed to relate to one another better than many people I'd met in Canada or Australia over the years. As he once reminded me, we are from different countries and not different planets! In any case, these reasons all added up to how I found myself renting an apartment in the trendy barrio (suburb) of San Telmo near the centre of Buenos Aires during my last month in South America.

The days passed cooking together, playing chess, watching movies, going to Tango shows (and taking lessons!), exploring night markets and live local bands while also enjoying a variety of amazing Malbec wines that at only a few dollars a bottle but were some of the best wines I'd ever tasted!

During the days we explored the many faces of Buenos Aires including the famous Recoletta Cemetary where the Argentinian visionary Evita was laid to rest and a traditional Gaucho (cowboy) show in the Buenos Aires showgrounds.

I did not take for granted this opportunity for the first time in almost 9 months of traveling to get a bit complacent as I let Ale communicate easily with the locals, navigate the bus and subway systems to go sight seeing or visit underground markets in back alley suburbs where we could buy pirated DVD's for $1 each. We were able to taste some of the freshest and most delicious local foods and I was able to buy cool locally made gifts at authentic shops & markets for my family and friends. Often we'd just lie on the grass and stare up at the tall trees or blue sky and talk about life, music, movies, ideas, the future or random silliness!

I felt lucky to have this chance to get to know Ale who is my kind, funny, generous and smart kindred spirit. On my last day in Argentina he saw me off at the airport and we stood at the top of the escalator just outside international departures blinking at each other in shock and then hugging sadly, neither of us wanting to face that we had to say goodbye. It was an emotional and very strong end to my amazing journey.

Me encanta América del Sur y Alejandro... estan en mi corazón para siempre!

Huayna Potosi Summit Climb - elevation 6,088m

My adventure began at the Huayna Potasi Tour Agency´s office in downtown La Paz. This is where I met two guys who made up our group of three for the trek. Tony is from Switzerland and Matt, a fellow Canadian from Ontario. Both in their mid-late 20´s, they appeared to be quite fit and up for the climb.

At the tour agency, we picked out the extra equipment we needed with the help of an eccentric but friendly 50-something-year old Bolivian doctor named Hugo, who also owns the company. In his casual and friendly manner, Hugo related his life story to us with details of how his father and role model, who was also a doctor, got him into climbing from an early age.

Next, the 3 of us embarking on the climb rode a private school bus with just our driver for the hour or so to base camp. It turned out to be a nice, cozy lodge situated on the edge of a turquoise blue artificial lake. It is on the edge of a hydro electric dam, which dropped off into a steep ravine just to the right of the lodge. We were informed this dam provides all the electricity for the city of La Paz.

After a nice lunch the day we arrived, we walked for a half hour or so up to the first glacier on the base of the mountain. Here, we practiced ice climbing for several hours with Mario who was to be our guide for the next three days. The weather was surprisingly warm and it was a beautifully sunny day. Nonetheless, we were bundled up in warm clothes, wearing ice climbing boots with spiked metal crampons strapped onto them and ice picks in hand. Mario also attached us to one another several meters apart with a heavy rope.

Most of the training was pretty basic, including how to walk in crampons so that each spike digs into the snow, decreasing the chance of our feet sliding out of their holds. We also learned how to properly use our ice pick so that we would have maximum grip as the blade dug into the ice, without dulling it while we pulled it out.

The most exciting part was at the end when we actually got to climb a 15 meter or so, almost vertical ice wall. Mario had secured us to the top so that if we fell (and I did twice!) we would simply hang by our rope as he belayed us, instead of falling to the ground.

That evening, we had a hearty pasta dinner with soup and bread to prepare for more intense climbing the following day. Afterwards, I visited with Matt and Tony for a little while by the fireplace and then we all had an early night, going to sleep at around 8pm.In addition to the ice climbing training, we spent a night here in order to acclimatize to the higher altitude. La Paz is located at an elevation of 3,660 meters and we were now at approximately 4,700 meters above sea level.

The next morning at 8:30am, we had breakfast with nothing else scheduled until lunch time except for packing our gear. At 12:30pm we began our ascent from the lodge to the 2nd base camp. It involved steep rocky sections but didn´t require the use of our ice climbing gear. While there were glaciers on both sides of us, the section we climbed was relatively free of snow and ice. The terrain was relatively clear, although the consistent increase in altitude still made for a difficult climb that necessitated breaks in order to get my breathing under control. I began to develop a lingering fear of our day to come, which involved our final ascent to the summit as I was already finding the climb quite difficult.

We made it to our camp at 5,360 meters elevation by sunset. Here we took pictures of the spectacular view of surrounding mountains, Lake Titicaca and La Paz stretching out far in the distance before entering our sleeping hut for a soup and pasta dinner, which Mario prepared for us. He also gave us hot mate de coca herbal tea.

Mate de coca tea is made from the coca plant and contains a number of alkaloids including cocaine. The amount of cocaine in each leaf is only around 0.4%. As a result, the amount is too small to feel the effects of cocaine but a cup of tea provides a stimulant similar to coffee. Coca tea is traditionally said to be a cure-all for illnesses and is used to help with acclimatization to high elevation. It originates in the Andes mountain ranges of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.

After dinner, Tony, Matt and I played cards and then went to bed at around 6pm. None of us was able to sleep well in this altitude, which I had heard from other climbers would be the case. Simply from rolling over on my thin sleeping mat placed on a long, wooden top bunk, made me short of breath! In total I only slept maybe one hour on and off all night. Not that it was a very full night since Mario woke us up at 12:30am to have a hot drink and breakfast of fruit and trail mix before beginning our trek to the summit!

Luckily, the company provided us with enough warm clothes. I bundled up into several layers including thermal underwear, a fleece jacket, a down feather coat over top, two pairs of gloves and balaclava uner a woolen Alpaca hair hat and headlamp. Now it was time to brave the freezing cold night air. With boots and crampons securely fastened, I began what was to be the most challenging day of our trek and in retrospect possibly of my entire life.

Mario walked in front of me attached by a rope approximately three meters long. Tony and Matt had another guide between the two of them who had hiked up with us the day before since the company wisely provides one guide per two people for this trek. They and their guide were already ahead of me and out of sight on the trail within the first hour so I was grateful for being separated from them.

From 1:50am-7:10am, I climbed and crawled at times with my ice pick dug into the snow to prevent me from falling. I rested frequently, despite Mario´s death threats- not threats to kill me personally per se but rather warnings that people die from taking breaks in places such as the ones I was stopping in. The problem was, after just a few minutes of walking, struggled to continue because I could hardly breathe. It´s not that I had altitude sickness as I had been taking pills prescribed by a doctor for the past couple days in order to give myself the best chance possible to reach the summit. They seemed to have helped although they gave me the strange side effect of one or both randomly tingling hands, feet and tongue! Still, it was better I felt, than the common symptom of a splitting headache as the result of high altitudes.

At certain points early on in the morning, I would get quite depressed feeling that if it was this hard so early on in the climb, I probably wouldn´t make it to the top. I imagined myself back at the hut waiting as Tony and Matt arrived, eyes glowing from their sense of great accomplishment, describing the magnificent journey and incredible views from the top.

At one point, while kneeling dejectedly on the snow and hyperventilating as I struggled to breathe, I even told Mario quietly that I thought I should turn around. I´m not sure if he didn´t understand my less than perfect Spanish, getting worse by the moment as my fatigue grew stronger or if he decided to ignore me but he continued to wait without responding. After catching my breath, I decided to keep going just a little bit further, hopefully to the other side of the nearby pass so that at least I could see the views from the back side of Potosi, even if it would only be in darkness with the limited light of my headlamp and billions of stars in the moonless sky.

Fortunately, I did reach a turning point after a particularly steep 45 degree section of the climb, when I rounded a corner and in the near dawn could not only see the views from the other side of the pass but also the summit of Huayna Potosi. It didn´t appear to be 4-6 hours away as Mario (who at this point had little faith in me) had warned but more like 2-3 hours at the most! While taking in this view of the peak, with its steep sections of black, jagged rocks blended into the deep layers of ice and snow, I knew that no matter what I had to get there.

I could now relate to the stories I´d heard of climbers attempting challenging summits, such as the 28 year old British man who recently climbed Everest as part of his goal to reach the highest summit on all seven continents. He was a motivational speaker who decided to climb the hard side of Everest and while he did make it to the summit, he was unable to descend safely due to total exhaustion. Since he was on such a difficult section of the mountain just below the summit and at such a high altitude, other climbers he encountered were unable to safely carry him down and as a result he froze to death! I also read they may not even be able to recover his body since it is so high up and on such a dangerous stretch, which makes it unsafe to carry him down! Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, after all at 8848m or 29029ft- that´s 5.5 miles above sea level!

According to Sir Edmund Hillary, a New Zealander who is thought to be the first person to summit Everest back in 1953, approximately 4,000 people have attempted to climb Everest. Of that number only 660 have been successful and 142 have died during their attempt! Yet, here I was climbing Huayna Potosi, more than 2/3 as high as the summit of Everest and I was now one of these people who didn´t fully realize my limitations in my obsession with making it to the top of the mountain.

Not that I was on a mountain even close to as hard as Everest but what I could relate to was the irrational feeling of needing to make it to the top oblivious of the potential consequences. I knew it was dangerous and that I was already struggling even though I was still hours away, without even considering that I would have to climb all the way back down the mountain again that same day.

This was the situation I struggled with in my heightened emotional state, surrounded by some of the highest mountains I´d ever seen let alone climbed. At close to 6,000 meters altitude in the thin atmosphere, my judgement may have also been impaired, not to mention it was possibly the closest I´d ever come to reaching my physical and mental limitations. I felt deeply and irrationally from within that reaching the summit or not would define my character and stupidly that was all that seemed to matter. I realise now that my determination, to put it nicely, was not at all far off from craziness!

To top it off Mario, who was definitely the most anti-break taking of all guides, as judged by the several other one and two person groups near us who all seemed to stop at regular intervals without any complaints from their guides. After one particularly steep section of trail, I flopped down next to two other groups who were sheltered from the wind next to a steep rock face. I then proceeded to grasp onto a boulder shaped chunk of ice for safety and comfort, while catching my breath yet again. As I did so, Mario continued to walk forward tugging me by the rope, to little avail since I was securely bound to the ice block. He then paused and turned with his head down in silent disapproval as another older and better English speaking guide began yelling at me in front of the other climbers. They all consisted of fit, young men I might add and even they need breaks!

He lectured me that I should not take breaks without my guide´s permission, who is the better person to decide when I should stop. This logic did not agree with me at all. First off, not only does Mario do this trek frequently keeping himself acclimatised and in immaculate shape so as to apparently not need any breaks at all but second, he is in front of me the entire time and so unable to see me. As a result, he is completely oblivious to my needs at any point during the trek except when I decide to stop and he can feel the extra weight on his rope. Due to my heightened emotions, his harsh words stung even deeper causing me to burst loudly into tears resulting in an awkward silence all around. No one whatsoever comforted me- how could they all be such heartless, cruel bastards I thought to myself quite reasonably.

Unfortunately, as a result of the trauma the tears seemed to have frozen onto my left eye, which caused it to be blurry for the rest of the day making me unable to see out of it clearly. It was as though someone had poured olive oil into my eye. The blurriness may have also resulted from a hematoma, which I´d read can occur when blood vessels in the eye break at high altitudes- I was doubtful of this however since my eye wasn´t red or sore.

In any case, his harsh words caused me to rise defiantly and continue walking just as I noticed a half meter wide and possibly fifteen meter deep crevasse, a mere several inches from where I had been sitting. This deep crack in the ice ran the entire length of the rock wall. Feeling this to be possibly my closest call thus far, I realised that maybe my guide was better suited to pick the rest spots after all, if only he did so once in awhile.

As I struggled forward, a tall and robust British trekker passed me with a several inch long, thin icicle hanging from each nostril. He advised me kindly to simply go slower so that I would need fewer breaks.

I decided to take his advice and so ignoring Mario´s persistent tugging, I continued at a much slower pace, possibly no faster than if I had been crawling on all fours. Just before this change of strategy, Mario had threatened that if I took one more break we would need to turn around. His logic was that if I was already this exhausted, it wouldn´t be safe to try and descend from further up the mountain. He also warned me that near the summit there would be a much more technical and dangerous section I would have to climb when I was even more tired. I heard him but refused to accept that after making it this far, I would have to turn back.

Several strategies I used to will myself forward included tricking myself by imagining lucidly all the best things in the world I could possibly have including material possessions, freedom from work, eternal love... I created a perfect world and then told myself convincingly that it would be mine if only I could just reach the summit. Another strategy was using my Reiki training and previous meditation practice at a particularly dangerous vertical stretch near the summit to focus my energy and avoid careless mistakes. This also helped to lessen my fear. I reasonably imagined how much easier it would be to climb back down the steep terrain after the sun had risen and I could see where I was going while taking breaks without getting cold with the reassuring sunlight to keep me warm.

Possibly the strongest motivation of all was the simple image I had of myself on top of the mountain, arms spread wide in the air and the happiest I had ever been as I took in the breathtaking views. Tony and Matt would be by my side, sharing in the experience and we would all feel amazing. As I continued forward, I willed myself to be numb to the pain, feeding off this vision while closing myself to any possibility that I might not make it.

As I inched forward, the mean guide who yelled at me earlier passed by on the trail, squaring off as he towered over me and asked expectantly where I was from. Canada I answered proudly, if not defiantly to which he was silent at first. I imagined he was expecting me to list a country such as England or Holland with few if any mountains. I hoped that like the guide I had while trekking in Guatemala, he knew that generally Canadians were used to the rugged outdoor terrain and steep mountains (although nowhere close to this altitude). He simply went on to say that if I was already out of energy, I had to consider that I would still have to climb back down the mountain, which also promised to be challenging and potentially quite dangerous. It was a valid point but despite my possibly reckless determination, the rational side of me also knew that I could do this if only I had enough of a chance to regulate my breathing. The physical side of me was tired but not exhausted and all my layers were still keeping me warm.

Continuing forward, I counted softly to myself... 1,2... 1,2... just 2 more steps, just 2 more. I inched forward with the crunch of each crampon as it dug into the snow and a blunt thud, each time the head of my ice pick now serving as a walking stick, dented the surface of the snow.

As we progressed no more than a hundred meters from the summit, the terrain took a drastic turn towards steepness. I truly needed my ice pick and crampons now for more than just balance, as I climbed the near vertical wall of ice and snow. For security, Mario was perched above me on a ledge and attached to the other end of my rope for added safety. I couldn´t look at him though for fear he somehow didn´t have me securely connected to the approximately thirty meter ice wall that stretched out above and below me.

Throughout the morning, he had been reminding me how ´Muy lejo´ or very far we still had to go, which didn´t exactly encourage me. Finally, after the sun had already risen and after climbing this last section of cliff, he told me from just above (finally!) that we were very close to the summit. As I looked up through my one good eye, I could see the conical shape of the snow capped peak, as I´d seen it in pictures at the tour agency. While you would think I´d have been excited after such a challenging journey, I was on the brink of total exhaustion and as a result the last fifteen meters never felt so far away.

At 7:10am, I was the first girl of the day to reach the summit by just a few minutes but none the less, I wasn´t so slow after all. The views were truly spectacular with entirely unobstructed layers of snow and glacier covered mountain peaks as far as the eye could see on all sides- all of them lower than us save for Bolivia´s highest mountain Sajama, which at 6,520 meters (21,391 feet) was a dramatic, white warrior towering over us albeit off in the far distance. While I didn´t get to share the moment with Matt and Tony who had long since descended, Icicle Man was there next to me. As I noticed him, a wave of gratitude swept over me and I thanked him for the advise he had given me earlier to slow down. He nodded and smiled in response, apparently also overcome with the moment.

Along with these mountains, I could see Lake Titicaca far away although still huge as it stretched over the dry landscape past the city of La Paz. The sky was deep indigo and totally clear save for a layer of low lying, white billowy clouds the shape of cotton puffs that nestled far below us in the valley. It felt surreal to have finally made it after what felt like days- a lifetime even, instead of just 6 hours. It didn´t matter that I could only see out of one eye now, not even knowing if the damage was irreversible or that I was too tired to stand right away and as a result had to let Mario take pictures of the view for me. All that mattered, was that I´d made it and I felt this accomplishment deeply.

Always in a hurry like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, Mario was already encouraging me to begin the descent. Still too tired to argue, we did so after just 5-10 minutes rest. Fortunately, I had regained enough strength in this time to make it down the steepest section safely. Before reaching the summit our average break time was just 2 minutes.

On our way down the first ridge, I had tears running down my cheeks to Mario´s dismay as he stared at me through quiet eyes and shook his head sadly. I smiled and even laughed a little to let him know that I was OK or possibly just nuts but hopefully at least communicating they were tears of happiness.

Despite Mario´s continued heavy sighs at each break, I was more empowered on the way down since I could stop as needed without the threat of having to turn around since we were already headed that way. So I stopped when I felt like it for drinks of water or to take photos of the now sparkling snow under the indigo blue sky. Mario did manage to convince me to continue at certain points though, such as under the steep rock cliffs where it would have been all too easy for a loose rock or boulder to tumble down directly on top of us.

The hike down was incredible as I wasn´t as tired as on the way up and the visibility was perfect. The atmosphere couldn´t have been better except for Mario´s portable radio, which was securely fastened under his left armpit and blaring some kind of auction or horse racing in fast, obnoxious Spanish. This and my inevitable fatigue combined with my sore, blistered feet. They were a result of the now uncomfortably hard plastic, downhill ski-style boots that rammed into my toes with each steep downward step. The resulting pain in my feet kept me at a slower pace although I also wanted to take my time and enjoy the scenery along with the overall experience, which I knew I would likely have only this one time.

Once again, despite Mario´s attempts at speeding me up, I continued on slowly, gazing from side to side at the views as though in a dream.

His prodding included a tactful ´Why is the girl in front of you faster?´. Thanks Mario. Probably because she didn´t make it to the summit! His urgency was increased since for some reason he had the only key to the hut we stayed in the previous night and this was where we were meeting Tony, Matt and their guide. I reassured him I would tell them all it was my fault and how they seemed like patient guys who wouldn´t mind if we arrived a little late- not that I really knew them but they did seem fairly easy going.

Another of Mario´s speed-me-up strategies was to tell me that my ´boyfriends´ (who I had just met 2 days before) would already be there and think that I was really slow and weak unless we hurried. ´Mujeres fuerte´ or strong women he added as a final attempt to improve my self image and insuing tempo. He reasoned that since we were now going down, it was easier and so I could go faster, even though we happened to be on a narrow section of ice approx two hand lengths wide, with a steep downward cliff on one side! I defended myself with what I thought to be a very reasonable response, which was to simply tell him that I didn´t want to die. After all, I was very tired and from past experience knew this to be the most likely instance for careless mistakes to occur.

I also added that he should be patient with me if he wanted a big tip, after which he did ease up a little, as noted when he switched channels on his radio to some chilled out, instrumental Boliviana music. I also insisted I would tell the others that he tried to make me go faster unsuccessfully.

When we finally arrived at the hut, the others were stretched out patiently in the sunshine just outside the front door to the hut. They had been waiting for an extra one and a half hours or so and possibly even enjoyed the break, as they said they also found it to be a very challenging climb. Tony had actually lost one of the crampons off his boots at one point and in his exhaustion didn´t even notice until he had reached the summit! Surprisingly, he even managed to find it on the way back down.

Despite all my criticism of Mario, I really did appreciate his help in the end. There were positive moments also, such as when I was lying on a ridgeline on the way down, wriggling around in the snow helplessly as I tried to pull my snow pants up. Along with my other layers, they had fallen part way down due to one of my suspenders coming unfastened. Maybe the other layers had also fallen due to what must have been the thousands of calories I´d already burned over the past few days. Another effect of altitude is loss of appetite, so I hadn´t been eating much either. In any case, Mario had respectfully helped me pull my layers up and fastened them to prevent further incident.

In the end, while he and I did have some challenging communication, in part due to the language barrier and our differing abilities, I was really greatful to him for getting me all the way up and down the mountain safely. It is not every day that you realise just one small step in the wrong direction, or in my case an exhausted stagger sideways, could have been the end.

As we got close to the base of the mountain, he even carried my heavy pack for me, which was now full of all my climbing gear since we were past the ice and snowy sections. This helped me to stumble more successfully over the many loose rocks all competing to twist my ankle as they teetered dangerously underfoot.

Besides, I couldn´t resist his semi-toothless grin while sporting a black beanie with the NY logo.

So, during our last break as he wished me a ´Buen viaje´ meaning good trip and I tipped him generously. He told me his next trek would begin the following day once a new group had arrived! In any case, after the range of intense emotions I´d experienced that day, I felt close to him and he did help me reach the summit, possibly even saving my life at certain points in a way that another more careless or less experienced guide may not have done.

Galapagos

The Galapagos Islands - Galapagos is the Spanish name for tortoises, which the islands are famous for. They are located 700 miles off the coast of Ecuador and comprised of 13 large islands, 6 smaller ones and over 40 tiny ones- only 5 of which are inhabited by humans.




Darwin is said to have thought all plant and animal species would be the same on each island. He then noticed that various animals differ subtly, including the iguanas and finches. These animals adapted over time because of food and climate variations between islands. This marked the beginning of Darwin´s Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection.

My Journal
3 April- Today, I flew from the city of Guayaquil in South Western Ecuador to San Cristobal Island, the oldest in the Galapagos. The first wildlife I saw was a bay FULL of sea lions!

They were on top of each other, surrounding one another in interesting group poses, swimming and playing together in the water- even sleeping on park benches and on nearby boats!

They are extra cute, especially the babies but have a terribly loud and harsh bark, possibly to scare off predators. It would work to scare me off if I had a taste for sea lions! I found a cheap and clean hotel near the ocean called the San Fransisco for just US $8.50 per night.

4 April- I rented a bicycle for a full day for $10 and rode across the top of San Cristobal from the village of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, the capital of the Galapagos. My ride finished at Agua Dulce Bay meaning Sweet Water Bay. Apparently San Cristobal is also the first island in the Galapagos Archipelago that Charles Darwin visited during his voyage on the Beagle.

It was a hot uphill ride and then a fun, reckless downhill one. First I stopped at a tortoise breeding area, which I could explore for free without any supervision. Excellent! The centre's staff seemed to be used to people showing up primarily with guides as part of an organised tour and so didn´t have a plan in place for solo travelers stopping by. It was great, as I could get really close to them on the ten or so acres of land that is designed to be hospitable to tortoises without any predators and provides plenty of shade, food and fresh drinking water. As I walked up to my first pair of giant tortoises, while still giving them plenty of personal space, I noticed they were at least the size of medium size pigs (sorry, a similarly round, tortoise shaped comparison escapes me at the moment!).

It was amazing to see them so close. Walking through the area, I saw another 3 giant ones eating and drinking water. They are so amazing to study at first, as there is nothing quite like them- with their giant shells moving in slow motion and their thick, rubbery tire tube, greenish-grey arms and legs. They also have large scaly necks with beady eyes and two vertical slits for a nose. Their noses along with their patchy white skin, makes them appear not all dissimilar to the late Michael Jackson (may he rest in peace).

Tortoises are thought to have arrived to the Galapagos on rafts made from broken off pieces of wood. They are amazingly able to metabolise their own fat into water when it is required. Since they are reptiles, they also don´t have the same strict body temperature regulations that mammals do, making them a highly low maintenance animal.

As a result, during the 1700´s some species almost went extinct, providing a nutritious and tasty treat for explorers and other voyagers. As such, they provided an otherwise nearly impossible source of fresh meat for journeymen who spent long periods of time out to sea without any refrigeration.

These voyagers killed over 100,000 tortoises and as a result several subspecies went extinct. Subspecies adapt to the climates of different islands while adapting differing features such as the shape of their shells and length of their legs.

I must admit, after the initial novelty of their unique and strange appearance wore off, they are not that interesting to watch, as they generally aren´t break dancing and spinning on their shells but simply walking, eating and drinking all in slow motion. Had they been mating, I admit, it would have been fascinating but I suppose they understandably prefer to sneak under a large, sheltered tree for privacy.

I stopped at the caged in baby tortoise section where living tortoises at varying stages of growth were on display. They ranged from baby grapefruits to toddler sized hard hats and adolescent bowling balls (or watermelons rather). After leaving the centre, I continued on my bike down to the beach. It was a really hot day so after the 1/2 km or so walk along a boardwalk from the parking lot to the beach, I was finally refreshed after swimming in a bay with a fairly strong current and large waves. I didn´t make it out very far but still it felt heavenly after my sweaty bike ride.

A lot of people on the beach I noticed were covered up, not so much for cultural reasons it seemed but rather due to the intensity of the sun. I on the other hand, felt acclimatised to the intensity of the sun albeit never because I have spent time close to the Equator as I was now but rather due to living in Australia for the past 4.5 years. Since there is virtually no Ozone layer there, I felt secure in slathering on sunblock here in the Galapagos and enjoying the sunshine in my bikini- in between refreshing dips in the ocean. Not that I am saying it´s a good idea or that I won´t be swearing at a mirror in a few years time, wishing to erase my premature wrinkles or dealing with even more serious consequences! In any case, after I de-robed, I noticed a few others on the beach doing the same.

Itay, the Israeli guy who I was traveling with for a little while at this point, was similar to most others on the beach and preferred to cover up, although he wouldn´t sit in the small patch of shade available under a large tree due to the many biting flies who also seemed to prefer the shade. Instead, he curled up on a rock in the Thinker pose swathed under his fish print sarong. He wrapped it all the way around him save his head, which sported a fisherman style navy blue hat emblazoned with ´Nicaragua´. Somehow, even despite this extensive coverage and the sunblock, he still ended up getting burnt, while I finished the day with a nice golden tan! I told him, as the Aussies like to say, that he must toughen up but this didn´t go over well. Ahh, the joys of traveling and spending virtually 24-7 with another person when you aren´t even a couple. I think it would be a good premarital test to travel with your beloved for at least a month before the big day. It would likely turn into a pre- wedding honeymoon test drive for some and a you-drive-me-to-the-moon goodbye for others!

Luckily, some friendly locals gave us a ride back most of the way to our hostel in the back of their pick-up truck. We drove past a local soccer game made up of two women teams. It was nice to see, as so far I´ve noticed in Central America and now in South America, lots of volleyball and soccer games all of them played by men. I sometimes am tempted to jump in and do a quick little 1-2 hop from side to side- getting into position and saying ´vamos chicos´ or let´s go boys just to see what would happen. Would they stop playing or let me join them? I may never know since so far, I haven´t had the courage to find out!

5 April- We boarded the Sun Fish ferry to Santa Cruz Island. It´s a small boat that takes passengers back and forth between these two main islands for $25 each way (or $30 if you are a non-bargainer). The highlight was seeing a school of bottle neck dolphins jumping right next to our boat!

They also gave us complimentary apricot juice (yummy!) and hamburger flavoured soda crackers (not-so-yummy!).

On the ride over, we passed Santa Fe island, which looked pretty barren and un-interesting aside from a large sail boat that was capsized at one end. I found out later, it was a recent occurrence after some unusually big swells! Later, I also learned that Santa Fe has the most beautiful caves in all of the Galapagos and quite a bit of interesting marine life including the Galapagos Hawk, Galapagos Snake, rice rats, a variety of finch along with the Galapagos Mockingbird. Note that any time I mention an animal with ´Galapagos´ preceding it, they are endemic to the Galapagos rather than an introduced species. However, snakes and rice rats... I guess I´m OK with missing certain aspects of this island!

Santa Cruz island where the boat arrived is more bustling and touristy than San Cristobal but there are also more locals and I like the energy of having such diversity in terms of people, restaurants and activities.

This afternoon, I walked to the Charles Darwin Research Centre where I saw lots more unsupervised tortoises, which I could have tried riding, especially if I were a small, delinquent child with inattentive parents.. hmm, I wonder if this has been done?! The sign simply says to stay off the feeding platforms, on the path and generally out of their way since they are often on the footpath.

This evening, I also looked for boat tours leaving in the next few days and was a little overwhelmed by all the ´great deals´ available only for the next 10 minutes. I escaped the frantic agents for a stroll out on the pier where I watched sea lions and pelicans simultaneously fishing next to one another. The sea lions with shallow surface dives and the pelicans with 10 meter dive bombs straight down while never missing an opportunity to chomp fish after fish.

6 April- Today, we took a water taxi for five minutes or so across a little channel and hiked through a Mangrove swamp to Las Grietas, which literally means ´The Cracks´. These are geographic formations unique to volcanic areas. It occurs when a deep canal forms between steep lava rock cliffs on either side. In this case, there was a layer of fresh water entering from a stream over the salt water  from the ocean. It was a refreshing place for a swim or snorkel and there were a few interesting fish and rock formations.

Apparently, the water is also quite deep as there was a group of American teenagers taking turns jumping from one side of the ledge. The height was anywhere from 5-15 meters and judging from the smack of numerous belly flops, followed by the screams of their encouraging peers, they were not expert divers! This was making me a little nervous swimming let alone snorkeling directly underneath them so I kept it to a short swim across the channel and back as I dodged the bullets of screaming wedgies all around me!

This afternoon I also walked to Tortuga Bay, which is a 3-4 km walk from the main village of Puerto Ayora. The walk itself was nice with a boardwalk separating visitors from the beautiful, green surrounding rain forest. A number of different kinds of finches were playing in the trees and I had another soundtrack thanks to a great big local guy, also a speed walker, who was behind me and singing joyfully along with his walkman. At first I was scared but when he passed me, something about his totally oblivion whilst rocking out to the tunes, set my mind at ease.

The beach itself is a long, stunning stretch of fine powdery white sand. There were almost no other people and just a few surfers enjoying the easy beach break. A number of big, black marine iguanas were stretched out and sunning themselves on the beach. A baby sea lion was also paddling around playfully a little ways down the beach from the surfers. The second stretch of beach housed a protected cove, safer for swimming due to there being less current. There were more people here and I joined them for a little sun bathing after a dip and a chance to read my book in the late afternoon sun. Ahh, heaven.

On the walk back to town, I met a local surfer who told me about how he likes what sounded an awful lot like a part of a woman´s anatomy, which instantly tweaked my creepy guy radar as I planned my escape route. I told him I didn´t understand and quickened my pace but instead of taking the hint, he matched it and went on to explain there are a lot of them in Canada where I am from as well as making the motions of suckling a breast. I was really beginning to think this guy was a perve since I didn´t understand the Spanish word for this great love of his that sounded an awful lot like, umm.. vagina. His English attempt at the word wasn´t much better as he repeated 'willy, willy, willy' over and over again. Was this to be my first very bad experience traveling in Central and South America so far? It seemed so unlikely in this island paradise where all the locals seemed genuinely happy, nonthreatening and worry free- until now. And why shouldn´t they be at ease in this temperate island paradise resembling the average frazzled and ´successful´ office worker's dreams?

Somehow despite my tried patience, through all his gesturing including the suckling meant to represent a mammal and his repetition of words, I figured out that he was trying to say whale, which is ´ballena´ in Spanish. The B is pronounced similarly to a V and the double L in Spanish is pronounced as a Y,  so it really did sound like vagina! Right, so there are lots of whales here as well as near Vancouver and he is a fan. Thankfully, this guy is an appreciator of marine mammals and not a murdering rapist- whew!

Further along the trail, I met a few Americans who had been out surfing, who also had sailboats in the harbour. We had dinner later in the evening and it was really interesting to hear about one couple named Gregg and Kerry´s adventures sailing from the USA to the Galapagos and another guy named Lee´s experiences sailing around the world by himself! Apparently, it is quite difficult to stop at more than one port in the Galapagos if you have your own boat as it costs a small fortune to get a permit to visit the other islands as well as requiring a local guide with you on board the entire time!

This is how we got into the interesting discussion about the very tempting and risky endevour of becoming a pirate in order to take the chance of visiting them on one´s own anyway. After a couple glasses of red wine, this led to discussion about how people at the table (no names mentioned) may have been doing this anyway or at least considering it! I was feeling the presence of an invitation on the table but didn't pursue it as the last thing I wanted was a many thousand dollar fine or to end up in South American prison (as lovely as Ecuador seemed otherwise)!

7 April- Today I took a day cruise to Floreanas Island, which is a couple hours by motor boat South of Santa Cruz. Again, we had the surreal experience of having numerous dolphins accompany us, this time jumping on all sides of the boat. Looking over the edge of the boat at one point I also saw giant sea turtles swimming below us!

Other highlights were swimming with sea lions. I thought they would be like dolphins who I experienced swimming with in New Zealand once. They have this amazing ability to swim right next to you or in circles around you but when you reach out to them, they swim away sideways just out of your reach. So expecting the same, I reached out to poke a sea lion, which it turns out didn´t have the same radar! As my pointer finger sunk into his spongy side, he jumped several inches in the water and then swung its head around to glare at me before paddling out of my reach. These animals are so clumsy and cute! Today I broke my first Galapagos law, which is that you are not allowed to touch the animals unless they approach you and make the first move!

Throughout the day our boat idled next to some blue footed boobies on the rocks. They are such cute birds with a mono brow jutting over their eyes and of course the bright blue feet. Darwin apparently named them ´boobies´ because of their apparent ineptitude when it came to defending themselves. Apparently, they had few predators to worry about though so weren´t necessarily dumn but just a little too trusting.

We also cruised past a few small penguins sunning themselves on the rocks. These penguins have adapted to the hot environment in the Galapagos by keeping their feet shaded with their tilted forward bodies to avoid taking in the extra heat!

There are also a lot of brown pelicans throughout the Galapagos. A story our guide told us is that one of these pelicans watched a group of people escape from a swamped boat. The bird was trembling and the people thought it may have been afraid of them but was perhaps injured and unable to fly away. When all the people were safely to shore the bird became calm, stopped shivering and calmly flew away. How sweet:).

8 April- I caved and signed up for one of the last minute, 3 day tour that was available to leave today. We toured a farm on land with more tortoises, where I got to try on a shell to see what it probably feels like being a 100 year old, big scaly lizard. Not my thing!

Interestingly though, giant tortoises arrived on the Galapagos on what are thought to be rafts made from pieces of wood that broke off from the land. They can survive for up to 1 whole year without food or water. As well, they can actually convert their own body fat into soluble water for consumption in this time and don´t need to worry about body temperature regulation like mammals do since they are reptiles! This is in part why they almost went extinct. That is, the seamen would keep them on board their ships as a fresh source of tasty meat, which they didn´t need to feed or otherwise care for while they were still alive.

After visiting the tortoises, we got to pick passionfruit and guava out of trees and eat them, which was delicious. We stopped at some lava tunnels formed when the volcano erupted and finished the day by boarding our boat the Yolita 2 and having a nice shrimp dinner. We sailed through the night to our next destination, which was Rabida Island. I slept surprisingly well considering I was definitely on the boat that rocked.

9 April- We went snorkeling with a white tipped shark, fortunately not that big! I also spotted some trumpet fish and other ones I couldn´t identify. We went for a little walk on the island courtesy of our ships panga (the Galapagos word for dingy.. each time I hear it I can´t help but picture riding on the back of a cute little panda as he swims us to shore). Walking on the island we saw fur seals and prickly pear cacti, which look like trees with prickly cactus arms.

Today we also saw Frigate birds which are black and roughly the size of a crow.

They are interesting, as the male has a red flap of skin on his neck, which he inflates once a year to attract a lady. He is able to puff it out into a balloon similar in size to an airbag of a car. Then in case he needs to stand out even more, he ruffles his neck and head feathers while flapping his wings. Holy red flag! The female, unable to resist this sexy beast, then comes down and coyly flutters her eyelids at him, looking away often before gradually moving on over. After a little hoochy coochy, she then rests her tired little feathered head on his chest. How adorable! After the courtship period however, he never inflates again, remaining a cold and oblivious male until after the babies come. To his credit they both sit on the egg until it hatches (at different times) and then raise the chick together, both feeding it for the first 6 months until a year or so later when he wanders out again for some fresh inflating. Sigh*

Another interesting side note on Frigates is they are known as the robbers of the sea. When hunting, they are not the most adept at dive bombing their pray but happen to be amazing acrobats. Instead of finding their own fish then, the Frigates spot other birds such as a pelican flying with a fish in its beak and start pulling on its tail feathers until it drops the fish. At this point, the Frigate is able to maneuver itself to catch the fish as it falls in mid air and have it for him/her self!

10 April- Today we swam with penguins and I poked one, breaking Galapagos law number 2- maybe it doesn´t count though since it was the same law I broke the first time, just with a different animal. I don´t even think he noticed, as he didn´t acknowledge my poke at all but just kept swimming around in a little frenzy with lots of circles. It´s skin was quite tough so, maybe it couldn´t feel it.

They are very playful creatures in the water with one another and in their curiosity swimming around us, the big dorky humans with a purple tube hanging out of their mouths (aka snorkel).

11 April- Today we sailed to North Seymour Island and saw gigantic lobsters while snorkeling but unfortunately won´t get to eat any since the locals get special licenses that only allow for hunting certain sea creatures at certain times of the year. While shrimp are plentiful now, lobsters are not allowed to be caught or eaten. I am unsure then why I saw them on the menu at certain restaurants on Santa Cruz, even though granted they were very expensive! On North Seymour, there are a lot of birds including the Frigates with many of the males puffing their red chests to attract a mate. We also saw the Blue Footed Boobies as well as lots of fur seals. The babies are so adorable with their big, vulnerable eyes, long whiskers and skinny little bodies. It made me want to put one in my backpack and take it on the boat to feed it!

We saw what the guide said was Leonardo DeCaprio´s boat. It was quite stark and grey, looking like a small navy battleship, with a helicopter on the top deck! After breakfast today, we left the boat and traveled back to Puerto Ayora via Baltras Island where the airport is located.

This is where our 3 day boat cruise ended. Fine by me as while it was informative and we saw a fair bit, it was also expensive and waaaay to organised for my taste. As soon as you get to somewhere you like, you have to leave, which was pretty much the theme of the last 3 days.
This is also where I said goodbye to Itay as I missed my independence. That is until I caught a 2pm ferry to Isabela Island and he was sitting right next to me on the boat! After the boat ride though, it was the last I saw of him. I found a cool beach side place called Beto hostel and bar.

I immediately liked Isabela as I walked into town from the ferry terminal. The main street is made of packed sand and runs parallel to the ocean, with an amazing white sand beach. There are not many tourists here and the town, while not being crowded is made up mostly of locals. There are no high rise resorts but simple cabana or bungalow style hotels along the beach or the nearby lagoon, which apparently often has bright pink flamingos milling around by the shore.

Also, it is a really friendly place with a main outdoor bar called Casa Rosada serving happy hour drinks from 5-7 of Daquiris made from local fruit. The bar is right on the beach, with live music, a sand volleyball court and great atmosphere. Within a few hours on Isabela, I already had local and other backpacker friends. I had dinner in the back yard of a local´s home where she was serving wild boar, which was delicious!

12 April- Today was a totally relaxing one where I sat in local cafes, walked around the town, which is a couple kilometers square and saw my first flamingo on the lagoon. In the evening, I lied in a hammock at Beto Bar writing in my journal and watching the waves roll in. After sunset, I walked past Casa Rosada, which is next door and met a group of people I made plans to hike up a section of Volcano Sierra Negro with the next day.

13 April- Myself and 3 others hiked up the volcano with a guide and approx 15 others. All of them except the 4 of us went part of the way along a ridge line on horseback but we hiked the whole thing as it was less expensive. The scenery into the active volcanoes was pretty amazing. One of them had a large centre crater that appeared similar to a large and solid flat black lake of lava rock. We were unable to see any smoke or liquid lava unfortunately but it was still pretty spectacular. Apparently there was an eruption back around 2000 that many of the locals got to see since the centre was so big, there was no risk of the lava escaping out of the middle of the volcano. So they perched themselves on the top edge and watched the show, with lava shooting up in geysers from all sides through the volcano!

Next, we walked behind the volcano for a view of the Northern part of Isabela and Fernandina Island off the West coast.

14 April- Bright and early this morning, I met Dominic, Matt, Andy, Danielle and Steele, some other backpackers and spent the day snorkeling and fishing off a local boat we had rented for the whole day with a driver for just $23 each. We didn´t catch any fish although we saw several local guys in another boat catch a Wahi (also known as Mahi Mahi), which was around 1 meter long!

The snorkeling was good although I fear I am getting somewhat spoiled by all the amazing reefs I have seen along the way. Still the visibility was pretty good (1-2 meters) and we saw manta rays, angel fish, penguins and sea turtles among other unidentified flying fish.

15 April- I rented a full suspension mountain bike today and rode along the beach during low tide. There were 100´s of little crabs darting in and out of tunnels they had made in the sand. As well, I saw black marine iguanas sunning themselves along the beach. Some were the biggest I have seen so far at around 2/3 of a meter long! Interestingly, the Galapagos is the only place in the world where lizards swim in the water to find food. While they are vegetarians, they dive deep underwater and eat the algae off rocks.

At the end of the beach I crossed over onto a road toward the ´Wall of Tears´, which is a large wall approximately 10 meters high that's made of boulders. It was built by prisoners who used to inhabit Isabela. I walked around to the back of the wall and a wild, baby tortoise was resting in the shade. He differed from the tortoises in captivity I have seen, who don´t notice you as any different than a nearby stump. This little one on the other hand, tucked his head in and displayed his survival instinct by hissing at me with squinted eyes, when I tried to go near him successfully telling me to back off.

On my way back a pedal fell off my bike, which worried me as it was very hot and I had run out of water. Luckily, I stuck it back on and was able to keep going though carefully.

This afternoon, I met Andy and we caught a bus the 45 minute trip to the highlands to explore a 100 meter deep canyon. There was a rope ladder descending down the last 25 meters or so into the depths of the darkness. We decided against this section as there were lots of loose rocks falling and we had no way to contact help if something went wrong. So we walked back to the main road and hitchhiked in the back of a pickup back to town since there are only a couple busses per day in this area.

Tonight, I went to Casa Rosada for fresh fish tacos BBQ´ed on a grill. Andy, Jeannette, Jeff (the owner of Casa Rosada), Danielle, Steele and some other newcomers and locals were also there. Jeannette and Jeff convinced me to stay on Isabela tomorrow instead of returning to Santa Cruz island for my last night in the Galapagos. It is pure peacefulness here and not at all hard to imagine spending one more day in this paradise.

16 April- Several of us swam from Isabela to Tintareas Island and saw small sharks, rays, lots of fish and several penguins along the way. It wasn´t far and since it was low tide we really could have walked most of the way if we had wanted to! The tour boats all around us still tried to get us to stick close to shore either because we were in their way or because you aren´t supposed to access Tintareas without a guide. Either way, we kept going because the snorkeling was good and we wanted to try to somehow get onto the island. 

We waited until most of the boats were gone and then snorkeled our way to the pier where we found a tour guide with just two other people approaching the island. We asked if we could tag along if we gave him $5 and he said OK. Once on the island, we could see it wasn´t that impressive although the black lava rock all around was kind of interesting. The island has a little inlet where sharks are known to hang out but it was the wrong season so we didn´t see any. It was good that we found this guide as the park ranger had followed us onto the island ready to bust us for trespassing. Luckily, the guide confirmed we were with him so we got off the hook. In exchange, we tried to translate some of his Spanish to English for the Swedish couple he was guiding. We weren´t allowed to swim back according to the ranger so got a ride in the boat with our guide and tipped him another $10 for helping us out. 

As we left the marina, we noticed a bunch of little penguins swimming and playing in the water near the shore. Several fisherman were pointing them out to us and gesturing towards the water. So we all jumped in with our masks and snorkels and followed them around for a little while. They are interesting to watch in the water as they glide around like little black and white bullets. 

17th April- I spent my day on Isabela relaxing and enjoying hammock time near the beach. I also walked past one of the few fancy hotels on the island and in exchange for buying a coffee, they let me swim in their ocean side, crystal clear swimming pool. It was actually across the road from the ocean and raised onto a platform to maximise the view. Such a hot day and so refreshing!

Next, I walked to the tortoise breeding centre to get one last look at the big boys.

Aside from the canyon, I spent the rest of my last day on the island relaxing as well as saying good bye to the various hammocks I had discovered along the beach.

This evening I had dinner with several of the locals I had met on Isabela (expats living here) as well as Greg, Kerry and Lee the pirates, who had made it in their boats to Isabela after all. It was a nice farewell to Isabela.

18th April- I rode the ferry back to Santa Cruz and met Debby and Don from the USA on the boat along with their two young daughters who are living in Cuenca, Ecuador. We had a nice breakfast and shared a mini-van taxi to the airport. Good bye beautiful Galapagos. You will be forever embedded in my peaceful, happy place during future escapes from reality as a frazzled office worker or better yet simply during tranquilo moments of peaceful daydreaming!