IT'S A SMALL WORLD

If you go back to October and November of last year on my blog there are few posts that involve some adventures in southeast Asia with this guy named Jesse. Nick and Charlie and I first bumped into him at a waterfall outside of Pai, Thailand and he ended up joining us on a little motorbike tour of northeastern Thailand. A month later we crossed paths again in Vang Vieng, Laos where we ended up hanging out for a few days. And now, in Cuenca, Ecuador, the adventures continue. Grace and Heidi and I were snacking on some empanadas in a little cafe on our street when Jesse came walking by. Totally unplanned and unexpected. It's a small world...

CUENCA

Heidi and Grace and I left the Galapagos Islands about a week ago, flew back to mainland Ecuador, and caught a bus up into the mountains to the old Spanish colonial town of Cuenca. Our journey to Cuenca made me realize how geographically diverse Ecuador is, we started our day on tropical islands and ended it in the cool and temperate Andes mountains. The old part of Cuenca is really charming, the three of us found a guesthouse with a little second floor balcony that looked down onto an old cobblestone street. During our few days there we explored the city, went to a museum or two, and hiked up into the surrounding hills where we found sweeping views of the city.

THE PUERTO AYORA FISH MARKET

Here's a little video I made about the fish market in Puerto Ayora.

ISLA ISABELA

Isla Isabela is the largest island in the Galapagos. I decided to go there for a few days and hang out in the little town of Puerto Villamil. Puerto Villamil is the largest town on the island, and maybe the third largest in the Galapagos, but that doesn't say much. The streets are made of hard-packed sand and many of the buildings are only half finished or abandoned. Heavy surf crashes the beach that lines the town and a light mist often rolls off of the ocean and into the village. I checked out the town when I arrived, which didn't take long, and then explored the coast and some nearby lagoons, where I came across some pink flamingos! In the afternoon I found some hammocks by the beach and enjoyed my book with a few cold beers. Island life is good...

MARINE IGUANAS

One of my favorite creatures on the Galapagos Islands are the Marine Iguanas. One day I came across this little beach that had the biggest marine iguanas I had ever seen. There were a bunch them, some big ol' lazy guys hanging out on the sand. The spikes on their backs were tall and they zigzagged down their backs all the way to their tails. They were like little fat dragons. On the next beach over as I was making my way towards a flock of blue-footed boobies, I noticed a sign stuck in the ground that was warning people to stay off of the sand because it was a marine iguana egg hatching area. And when I walked down to the rocks close by I noticed that there were tons of little baby marine iguanas perched on the rocks. They were tiny compared to the ones I had seen on the previous beach. The spikes on their backs were only tiny little bumps. The two little guys in the picture on the right, could've fit on the front leg of the guy on the bottom left. Cool.

TORTOISE STYLE

There are tons of tortoises on the Galapagos Islands. Well, not as many as there used to be due to the introduction of goats, cats, rats and other creatures that either eat their food or eat the tortoise babies. But with the help of breeding centers, efforts are being made to help the tortoise population grow and remain stable. However, you don't have to go to a breeding center to see the tortoises, you know, like, doing it. Here's a little video I put together. The first part is of some wild tortoises that we came across in the forest. There was this big guy rummaging around snacking on passion fruits, they were really tasty, I had a few myself. Well the passion fruits must have ignited some passion in him because when a little female came scurrying by he decided to take action...

TRAVEL BUDDIES

Here are a few photos we took at Tortuga Bay. Me, Grace, and Heidi - this one goes out to Dana Cheit!

TORTUGA BAY

Some say this beach is one of the best in South America. It's beautiful. After a piping hot forty minute walk from town we arrived to find it mostly deserted. There's a main beach that's full of heavy surf, but if you walk down the beach, past some mangroves, and around a little peninsula full of marine iguanas and cacti, there's a quiet bay with calm water and little trees that provide shade from the sun. It was an ideal beach day...

LAS GRIETAS

Heidi and Grace and I took a little hike one day to a swimming hole called Las Grietas about forty minutes outside of Puerto Ayora, here's a short video that I made about our little adventure...

GALAPAGOS WILDLIFE

I discovered early on here in Ecuador that you don't have to look very hard to find interesting wildlife, and it's even easier in the Galapagos Islands. Here are a few pictures of some of the creatures I've stumbled across. The orange and yellow land iguana in the bottom left was in a little wildlife reserve, but bright red crabs like the one in the middle picture are all over the rocks along the water, and the marine iguanas are everywhere too. The marine iguanas are cool. They totally blend in with the volcanic rocks that they hang out on, but you can also see them on the beach, and even lying sprawled out on the docks in town. They like to hang out in big groups, all lying on each other, facing the same direction, and pointing their little faces up towards the sky.

OLD AND HUNGRY

Here's a little video I took while hanging out with some tortoises...

TORTOISES

After a few days on Isla San Cristobal we hopped on a boat to Isla Santa Cruz and the town of Puerto Ayora. On our first day we went to the Charles Darwin Research Station and hung out with some tortoises. I just turned thirty a few days ago, but hanging out with these ancient creatures made me feel like a baby. In tortoise years I'm still in diapers...

PUERTO CHINO

A nice drive across Isla San Cristobal took us to Puerto Chino, a beautiful beach with white sand and turquoise blue water. By the time we got there some dark clouds had rolled in to shield us from the equatorial sun, and after a refreshing swim in the ocean we fled the scene after being attacked by a barrage of vicious horseflies. Some of the nature in the Galapagos isn't that cool...

TREE HOUSE

Heidi and Grace and I took off one day to explore Isla San Cristobal, and outside of a little town in the highlands we came across a tree house built up in the branches of a ceibo tree. The tree was huge, and the shack could sleep two people, had a mini kitchen, and a tiny bathroom. We could have stayed there for fifteen bucks a night each, but it would have been a tight squeeze for the three of us. The picture in the middle is of Grace scaling the trunk of the tree! And the picture on the right is of a fireman's pole that must have been around thirty feet tall. Yikes!

SEA LIONS

Puerto Baquerizo Moreno has more sea lions than people hanging out around the boardwalk along the harbor. I'm not exaggerating. They're everywhere, sprawled out on the sidewalks, napping on the park benches, barking and playing with each other on the little beach, and splashing about in the water below the docks. They're pretty cute animals, but man alive do they smell...

PUERTO BAQUERIZO MORENO

Grace and Heidi and I left the mainland last Tuesday and flew out to the Galapagos Islands. Our first stop was the town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on Isla San Cristobal. It's the second largest town in the Galapagos Islands, but that doesn't really say much. It's pretty small. We stayed right on the harbor in a cheap little hotel and spent a few days exploring the island and checking out the wildlife...

MONTAÑITA

Grace and Heidi and I decided to head out to the small coastal town of Montañita for a day or two before our trip to the Galapagos. Grace spent some time in Ecuador about eight years ago, and was excited to return to the small beach town that she had once visited. But how things had changed! The town wasn't as small as it used to be. In the large city of Guayaquil there was barely a gringo in sight, but this was not the case in Montañita. Don't get me wrong. The place was awesome, but it was almost one of those spots that I would categorize as a "generic world beach." There were many qualities that were unique to Ecuador, like the guys selling ceviche on the beach, but there were times when I felt like I could have been back on Phuket in Thailand, with a mishmash of young international travelers looking for a good beach party. We stayed for a night, enjoyed the beach, and then took off for the Galapagos Islands...

SOMETHING SPECIAL

Grace and Heidi arrived last Friday night, and on Saturday we set out to find a local travel agency to figure out a trip to the Galapagos Islands. The first place we stopped was a place called Centro Viajero, a small travel agency run by a man named Douglas Chang and his trusty sidekick Fernando. Fernando was quick to offer us some cold beers as we discussed possible itineraries, and we ended up hanging out, laughing a lot, and making a new friend. After talking about travel plans for an hour or two we headed back to Douglas's apartment around the corner for some more beers and a light dinner. Fernando's wife arrived soon after and they announced that they were planning on heading back to Fernando's hometown for the night, a small village called Pedro Carbo about an hour or so outside of Guayaquil. And then he invited us to all come along. And before we knew it we were in a minivan heading out of the city, picking up friends along the way, and Douglas Chang and I were in the back seat sharing a bottle of scotch called Something Special. What an appropriate name. Whatever was blended into that Something Special ended up helping me acquire the nickname "Gringo Loco" that night...

We arrived in Pedro Carbo and went to Fernando's home, a humble concrete block house on a dirt road. We were greeted by a mob of little kids, nephews and nieces, and Fernando's two year old son Benjamin. The kids all piled into the minivan and we drove into the little town for a delicious chicken and rice dinner. After the meal we dropped the kids off and went out to the discotec. On the way we stopped at a little carnival that had been set up in the street, ate some candy apples, and went for a ride on a sketchy make-shift ferris wheel. The discotec was fun, and apparently the DJ called me out for being the gringo with the crazy dance moves. (How embarrassing.) We didn't end up making it back to our guesthouse in Guayaquil until the wee hours of the morning. What a night...

There was a point earlier on in the evening when Grace and Heidi and I wondered whether we should go along with our new friends, hop into a van, and head out to an unknown village on the outskirts of Guayaquil. We had only been in the country for a short time, and we didn't really know too much about our surroundings, but we decided to trust these people, and it ended up being a night that I will never forget. Fernando and Douglas shared with us a little slice of life in Ecuador that we would have otherwise never experienced, it was something special...

PARQUE BOLIVAR

Right in downtown Guayaquil there's a little city park the size of one city block called Parque Bolivar. It's a nice little park with some gardens, a statue or two, a handful of old banyan trees, and a bunch of huge green iguanas. There are tons of them, lying on the sidewalks and hanging out in trees. I'm not sure how they got there, but I'm guessing it would be pretty hard for them to leave being that the park is surrounded on all four sides by a bustling city. They seem content, though, and don't seem to mind sharing the park with people. The locals don't seem to pay much attention to them either, casually stepping over them as they walk on the sidewalks. One man saw me snapping photos and in what seemed to be an attempt to impress me, grabbed one of them and picked it up by its tail. The guy was holding his arm straight out and the iguana`s front legs were still touching the ground. He looked at me and chuckled, and then let go after he was scolded by a nearby policeman. This was the first time that I discovered that you don't have to go into the wild to find wildlife in Ecuador...

LAS PEÑAS

I've been in Ecuador for over a week now, and it's been awesome so far. I arrived in Guayaquil last Thursday and had a day to explore before my friends Heidi and Grace arrived. Heidi and Grace are friends of mine from San Francisco and have just set out to spend six months exploring South America.
Guayaquil is the largest city in Ecuador, and it may not be the most popular destination for tourists and travelers, but I actually found it to be a pretty cool place. It sits along the massive Rio Guayas, and in the last ten years the city has invested a lot of time and money in rebuilding the riverfront, now called Malecon 2000. The promenade is full of shops and restaurants, gardens and playgrounds, and it collects a nice breeze off of the river. It's a wonderful place to hang out for people of all ages.

Heading north along the waterfront I ended up in Las Peñas, an old historic slum that wraps around a hill with a lighthouse perched on top. Like the Malecon 2000, Las Peñas has undergone a major renovation in the last ten years. However, only the buildings along the the steep, stair-filled path leading up to the lighthouse have gotten the makeover. The walkway is quite charming. It`s full of brightly colored cafes, bars, gift shops, and homes, but as soon as you wander off the main path the transition is drastic and in the blink of an eye the alleyway reverts back to the old dark and dirty shantytown. The picture on the left was taken from the Malecon 2000 looking up at Las Peñas, and from that perspective you can kind of see how the buildings on the right side of the hill have a bright candy-coating, and how the buildings on the left are still grey and untouched.

Once I got up to the top of the hill I climbed up to the top of the lighthouse where I was met with sweeping views of city and a much needed breeze. I always enjoy finding a good vantage point in a new city to help me gain an understanding of where I am.

ECUADOR

Last time I updated this blog it was in December of last year and I was in Bangkok. I left Southeast Asia and returned home for the holidays thinking I would hunker down in the new year and find me a job back in San Francisco. However, it didn't take me long to realize that I still needed to get out and see a little more of the world... well, that and the fact that the job market right now is just a little bit intimidating. I figured that I'm not going to be able to do this kind of stuff forever, so for now I guess I'll just have to put off making any big life decisions until the fall. So after a few wonderful months full of family and friends, I jumped on a plane to South America. And here I am. Ecuador!