Half Way Through and We Begin

This is a bit lame... we get that. We've been here 6 days and we are just now writing in the blog. Mostly because we have been going 100 miles an hour and by the time we get back to the Mimosa (our vacation rental) we are so tuckered out we've been going to bed at 8:30.

Okay I lied; we haven't blogged because I forgot the password and finally took the time to figure it out... I only have like two.

 

The "we" in this adventure is as follows:

Diane, Don, Michael, Shawna, Sonja, Suzi, Tammy, Terri. I should have put Don by Sonja because they are married but I did it in alphabetical order so no one would think I was playing favorites. (Such big cry babies).

First note of interest when considering a trip to the Galapagos, it takes a while to get here. We went by car, plane, bus and boat. (The only thing missing was a train and that is because there is no word for Choo Choo in Galapagos and to bring a train in would confuse the children.) The other significant note is to make sure all your travel companions believe in deodorant. You laugh but I actually know people who have a religious aversion to it, so just check before traveling. (Yesterday Don actually told me I needed to wash my shirt... Don is dumb and I am not a deodorant atheist.)

 

FRIDAY

 

So... the Galapagos. Friday after landing in Baltra after taking our bags through customs, we put our bags on a bus, with about everyone from Galapagos... No kidding there were like 100 people on a bus made to take like 7 people and a volcano of luggage. This tragically overloaded bus took our bags and us to the edge of the island. We loaded our bags on to the roof of a ferry which ferried us, that's what ferries do, about 500 yards to another island call Santa Cruz.

 

While ferrying across, we saw a swarm... maybe it was a flock... of Blue Footed Boobies totally dive bomb the water for fish. Tammy got afraid and asked if she could go home. Suzi said "no" and Diane punched her. We are trying out a Darwinian experiment of survival of the fittest and we decided to test the theory on Tammy first 'cause she is the smallest.

 

We then loaded our bags into a small truck and we got on a van (with a reasonable number of occupants if you don't count Tammy) where we drove about 45 minutes across the island. Michael said he saw a tortoise when we were driving but Michael sees stuff all the time that no one else does so I am not really sure.

The island looks like weird desert island. The island part you would probably figure, being an island and all but the weird desert thing is unexpected. It sort'a looks like something from a Dr. Seuss book.

They have these "cactus trees" that can survived without water for like ever so that some are over 200 years old. They have trunks that look like a regular old USA tree and then cactus on their limbs like leaves. Sometimes the trunks have needles and sometimes they don't. It's probably related to low blood sugar for the male trees and hormones for the female trees as to whether they are needly or not.

After leaving the desert part we drove into the Highlands which is thick with vegetation. A lot of the plants Michael had never seen before which is weird because he so often sees things no one else does. We arrived in Puerto Ayora and then loaded our bags on to a water taxi... two of them to cross over to the peninsula where our vacation home the Mimosa is located.

Sonja thinks it is a scam so the boat taxis can get more money. She swears she gonna find the short cut where you don't have to use a water taxi and then set up a toll booth.

 

SATURDAY

 

The next day at the butt-crack of dawn we got up to meet a boat the Queen Karen, Queen Elizabeth's illegitimate sister, for a tour of the island Bartolome which is about 2.5 hours from Santa Cruz. The sea was not angry my friends and we had a nice trip across the channel. On the way we saw a Manta Ray do a barrel roll off the right of the boat. Michael didn't see it which is weird because he so often sees things no one else does.

On Bartolome the guide talked about the volcanic formation of the different islands. He explained that the darker and starker the island, the newer, the greener and lush, the older. That holds true until the island gets really old and starts to die again becoming bare again.

He had Suzi lift a larger lava rock to demonstrate it is not nearly as heavy as you would think it is. Suzi threw it at Tammy as part of or Darwinian experiment and Terri noted her quick reflexes. It is all very scientifical and will probably be published in a magazine that is so uppity-up it only comes out 4 times a year... smart people are so lazy.

So Bartolome is a fairly new island, as islands go, being formed from a volcano and all. They have this little plant with white and yellow flowers and the indigenous (had to use spell check for that one) lizards are wild about yellow and white so they eat the leaves and pollinate the plant. Turns out Bartolome pretty much only has that lizard and that plant.

What we discovered, and it amazes us that all the other smart and lazy people haven't reasoned it out, is the reason there are only the lizards is because it is hot with tons of stairs, like 365 stairs, that are unevenly placed up to the top of the island. We believe there would be a lot more life on the island if they built an escalator. Sonja says they will never do it, first because she is as crazy for climbing stairs as the lizard is for white and yellow (which really sort of negates her opinion, in my opinion, and second because lizards are bad with escalators and would get mooshed. (I'll give her that one.)

We snorkeled off Bartolome and saw a shark just as soon as we got in, well at least Michael did but this time Diane said she saw it too, but of course Diane wouldn't know a shark if it bit her in the butt. There were some other more credible sources... so yes there was a shark.

There was also a sea lion who tried dancing with Sonja but once he saw her wedding ring he bowed out. And there was a Lobster that made Diane pee her pants when she saw it, which made Tammy swim away. (She is doing surprisingly well in the experiment.) Diane was also asked to never return to the island because she destroyed the whole ecological balance when she lost it, so to speak.

 

SUNDAY

 

We went to church and go figure it was all in Spanish so when the group asked me what they were saying I just made stuff up. Actually, the whole group thinks I speak and understand Spanish, but the truth is I am exceptional at charades. Anyway it was a very sweet congregation and even though we don't know what they said we know it was all true and right because they have the best Air Conditioning on the whole island and I take that as a sign from God of His approbation.

Then we walked around Puerto Ayora and went up to the Darwin Center where they have these tortoises from the different islands and a nursery for the babies... tortoises, not human babies that would just be silly.

Then we hiked Las Grietas which is like a local swimming hole. Local kids were jumping from the cliffs 15 and 20 feet up into the water. Suzi and Don had to restrain Tammy from trying it which I think completely ruined our Darwinian experiment, but I'm not saying nothing 'cause it's fun to pick on her.

 

MONDAY

 

We went out to Tortuga Bay it is a four mile hike with the first part being pretty steep. The beach is lovely... really pretty but if you are going for the snorkeling, try your tub it would be much better. The clarity was pretty bad. While Michael, Tammy, Suzi and Terri were out snorkeling the whole bay, Don found two baby white tip sharks near the shore.

But that's life isn't it? You search the whole ocean and the sharks are right there at the shore waiting to eat you. So kids reading from home let this be profound allegory. Stay in the deep end. On the way out there is a hill of about half a football field and it is an extremely steep incline followed by a couple of dozen steep/high stair steps. At the top of the stairs is a check in office with a little store where you can buy drinks.

As we were going down there was an Ecuadorian guy coming up the stairs loaded down with boxes and boxes of drinks. Now there is a guys who works hard for his money. If I ever think about complaining I just need to remember him.

Tuesday

We got on an early boat and headed to Santa Fe Island. There we saw endemic (I hope that is not a bad word but the party pants people keep using it.) Iguana from that island. Totally cool dinosaur looking thing and is totally chill around people.

Santa Fe also has a large population of Sea Lions. We were able to sea pups as young as 6 weeks old. For those of you who are confused Sea Lions are neither Lions or puppies. If that didn't help just look at our pictures. Again, they didn't seem to mind us being around at all unless you got closer than about 4 or 5 feet away. Except for Tammy who doesn't understand distance and animals and Don who was doing long division in his head and not paying attention.

Later a short hike around the island we got to snorkel in the bay there and had a few Sea Lions (not really lions) swim around us.

 

WEDNESDAY

Michael and I stayed at the house doing some work stuff and getting ready for our dive trip tomorrow. It turns out we sent our sweet friends on sardine can tour to an island 2 hours away. They literally sat shoulder to shoulder in a small boat the whole time.

We didn’t ask the right questions when we booked it. The right questions to ask are “How big is your boat? How many bathrooms does it have? Is it used to transport criminals as a form of punishment?”
They did however see penguins, sea iguanas, seals and the biggest sea turtle any of them have ever seen.
That’s the short notes and soon we will post some pictures, which is all you really want to see.

One side note, though no small thing... Diane and Suzi received word from home that their dad is doing very badly. He is 91 years old with Stage 4 Colon Cancer. The doctors thought we would have this sweet man with us a little longer... at least a few months, but the family contact the sisters today to let them know their father had passed peacefully late in the morning today. So the girls are going home to be with family, comfort their mother.

Doyle Olsen has the heart and spirit of an adventurer. He and his wife gave that to all their children and together they have seen a great deal of the world. He is headed to a new adventure and in true Doyle Olsen style will scout the best places out and get them ready for his family when they follow.

This little band of adventures tips our hats to the heart of this great explore whose greatest discovery and the greatest claim he ever staked was his fine family. And from a place where the world seeks to declare there is no God; we say "We see Him everywhere here." And we know He is with the Olsens now too.

Now the pictures: