Conclusion

Today was yet another travel day. We wake up to a delicious breakfast at our wonderful hostal and head out on an hour and a half bus ride. We then hop on a boat which takes us to a unpopulated island where we drive to the airport. The plane ride was a smooth one and we arrived safely into the wonderful Quito. We take about two hours to set up our on assignment which was one of our final exams where we have to surround about 10 photos around a central theme. We all gather in the room, and I am the very first person to present my work, and all the leaders commented on how solid and great my pictures were! It made me feel like quite the accomplished photographer. The best part of the day was about to come up. We go to the last restaurant of the trip and I get a delicious cheese empanada  as an appetizer. Then, before our very eyes, a huge plate of fried guinea pig is placed in front of us. We are all forced to take a bite and I actually thought it was so good! However one bite did it for me, for the thought of simply eating guinea pig was too much. After this nice dinner we grab an ice cream, i personally got a cookie, and head back to the hostal and pack up for our early morning flight! The early morning flight was a rough one, as we all had to force ourselves out of bed. Actually well all woke up to the sound of a woman being mugged and scared us all half to death! We were afraid to go outside and walk to our bus right after this occurrence. The long flight ride finally ended and we reunited with our parents.

Day 18- Final Real Day

The next day was our final real day. We started off the day by visiting the Darwin Center and touring the national park. We saw some wild iguanas sun bathing on the beach and got to take many good pictures. We then traveled along the park and visited the tortoise center where they are bred by the leaders of the organization. We saw baby tortoises and and young tortoises ready for the wild! However, some of them were kept in captivity. We saw many colorful iguanas in some of the exhibits as well. Later that day we walked far and wide, a mile and a half to the destination,  and visited one of the prettiest beaches on the island. We all hung out, took pretty pictures of each other and the landscape, and enjoyed the fun in the sun. It was a pretty relaxing cool down and wrap up to the trip as a whole. Let me just take a moment to break this happiness however, and exclaim a very important piece of news. The last of its kind in that species, lonesome George the tortoise, died today. It was very sad for all of us and impossible to bear. We got to see him earlier that day but we weren’t sure if that was he dead or alive. We felt very privileged to see him on his last hours. This pretty much concludes the trip! Tomorrow and the next day are purely travel days first back to Quito then back home to Houston! It’ll be so great to see everyone again!

Day 17- Santa Cruz, Tortoises

Today is our first day in Santa Cruz! We started off the morning with a choppy boat ride which led us to this new island. We started off with a little town walk and shopping, and then went out to the highlands where we saw many wild tortoises. The tortoises can live up to 200 years and grow bigger by the year!

Day 16- Snorkeling, birds

The first full day of the Galapagos was sure jam-packed and busy! We started off by instantly boating out to a rock called kicker rock where the true snorkeling began. On the way, we captured the many sights of what it means to be in the Galapagos. We took many pictures of the one and only, blue-footed booby. We saw special endemic birds, which means they are only found in the Galapagos. Finally we arrived to the snorkeling sight and were ready to snorkel. We were soon let in to the wonders of the sea world. We saw many sea turtles casually swimming around, many exotic fish, a couple sharks, starfish, and sea lions! Later that day, we continued our snorkeling after a nice lunch break with a stop to the spot where the birds dived and fed on the many fish. We got to see many pelicans and boobies and others dive down in the water, which was great for underwater pictures. We wrapped up the day with a nice little town walk later in that afternoon, shopping on the many local good Galapagos has to offer! 

Day 15- Galapagos, Sealions, Snorkeling

So our first day in the Galapagos was wonderful. We arrived and dropped our bags off at the hostal after a nice lunch, and went to try on our wetsuits and flippers. I was already a step ahead since I already had my own snorkeling gear! We snorkeled that day away for our first time and saw a sea turtle and thousands of sea lions. They were to die for. None of us could get over how cute they were. We planned on smuggling some home, we were joking of course. The excitement ended shortly after that as the day neared to an end. We were sure ready for a full day of fun the next day!

Day 14- Stressful, Rainy travel back to Quito

This next day brought a lot rain, grogginess, and cold. Today was a travel day and we were bound for a 5-hour boat ride back to Coca. Our boat got drenched, or at least the side of my row and we were left cold and shivering! Our boat shut down twice which delayed our day and canceled our plans to visit a local community of the culture. The day started to pick up and we arrived to Quito safely, read for the Galapagos!

Day 13- Piranha Fishing, Sunset of the Amazon

As our final day in the Amazon finally came around, we were all ready for our last and final adventure in the famed jungle. The best part of the whole Amazon was about to come. First up, was piranha fishing. This was like music to our ears and we were ecstatic!  We caught so many fish, probably because Sam, who does fishing for a living, was on our boat. I caught a pretty sparkly white and orange fish and felt so accomplished and proud of myself! Like you’d think that this was the first of many to come, but fishing for piranhas is a lot harder than it sounds. As the day neared toward the late afternoon, things started to slow down and get a little freer. For the rest of the day we were basically left to do whatever we wanted, that was within the rules obviously. Some people went back out to fish, but me and some other friends decided to have a little cool down and go for a risky swim in the Amazon! Clearly I survived that since I am writing this right now, and it was certainly worth it! This was a great wrap up to our Amazon stay and we were sure ready to head out!