Galapagone

Wow, time flew by!! Where did we leave off? Ah yes, day 1. Well, basically, we were on a 5 day/4 night cruise, and after day 1 our guide left on vacation and was traded out by a horrible guy named Daniel, who did not speak English. That wouldn´t have been so bad if he actually knew anything, but he was completely useless! He knew nothing, and made up everything else!!! You do get what you pay for though, so we should have expected some problems on our super cheap cruise. Other than that, things were fabulous! Great food, great day trips, and great company! Some of the highlights included panting blue footed boobies standing on eggs, smelly sea lions barking at each other, swimming with sharks, sting rays, turtles, and crazy fish, Oli being nibbled on by a large sea lion, and flying flamingos! Much much more, everything we looked at was amazing. It is impossible to sum it up with words, so enjoy the photos, please! One other highlight was our first trip (and 3 more!) to the local hospital!

On our third day, we were hiking along some volcanic rock and enjoying the scenery. Oli and I began fooling around, cutting each other off on the path, and in a typical Jen move, I tripped and chopped off part of my toe!! It wasn´t quite severed at that point, but it sure did bleed. Later, upon further investigation by Oli and our new friend Carolina (armed with tweezers), it was decided that the top part would need to be amputated at the hospital as it was not just the nail, but a large chunk of flesh encompassing the nail and more! So we wrapped it up, and the following day we were docked in the bay of Port Ayora. Clean hospital, lots of meds and painkillers, and half a toe later, we were ready for some Thanksgiving drinks! We all went to Limon y Cafe and celebrated until the wee hours of the morning, at which point Oli and I decided to head back for our last night on the Merak. We hopped on a water taxi and somehow it found our boat in the big harbor. Oli hopped off, and I followed. Now the following events were not the result of too many celebratory drinks and I feel like it was only a matter of time before it happened. I had one foot on the Merak and one on the water taxi, and suddenly the water taxi bounced back. I tried to leap for Oli´s arms, but I slipped, and after some struggling, there was darkness. And it was surprisingly warm! Somehow I found myself treading water in the pitch black of the harbor, with my bandaged toe becoming undone and my flip flops floating away into the night. Our cook came running up to the deck and tried to help Oli lug me up, and then they gave up and had the taxi do it. I was dead weight and slippery. Seconds later, wrapped in a towel, Oli and I sat on deck of the Merak and laughed to our hearts content.

We spent the following days in the Galapagos at the lovely Hotel España, drinking and dining with our new friends Clair and Cody. We were unable to do much during the day as I was not allowed to go diving or snorkeling or swimming or hiking or ANYTHING, per doctors orders. We relaxed and read and waited to get off that damn island!!

We are now in Quito, doing basically the same thing! We have been told by many many people that the city is incredibly dangerous, so we have not done as much sightseeing as we would have preferred. Yesterday, we hired a cab to take us to the equator, where we spied a shrunken head, large snake skins, and Oli´s new Halloween costume (he can tell you about it later). We then headed off to the Basilica, where we climbed entirely too many stairs and steps, and saw the entire city of Quito from atop one of the spires. Cody and Clair are staying at our hotel, so we have been drinking and dining and sightseeing with them. Last night we wasted away in a British pub, noshing on fish and chips and chilli con carne. Today we have done nothing, and it feels great!! Getting a bit thirsty.... :)