Ecuador Day 11: Breakfast, Parque de las Iguanas, Shopping, Geocaching, a Tour of Guayaquil and an Early Flight

We got up around 7-8 a.m. and Maritza suggested we go across the street to a hotel to eat at Cafeteria La Canoa because she was hungry and assumed we all were too.  We gathered up everyone who wanted to go and took the two minute walk down the street.  The place was busy but we got a table right away for about eight people.  We were handed menus and of course they were in Spanish.  Maritza and Myrna translated for us.  Dr. Smith told us about this great app on your phones called Google Translate.  You put it in picture mode and hover over the text it will translate it into whatever language you want it to say.

I ordered French toast, eggs and bacon and mom ordered the same.  We both got orange juice as well.  It was sad to say that even though it was restaurant food it sure hit the spot after being away from the food I was used to.  I ate it so fast I didn't realize I was done with it until I looked down at my plate.  We visited and discussed what was on the schedule for the day.  The rest of the group should be getting back to the city soon.

When we were done eating, we paid our bill and Maritza told us about the iguana park across the street.  Since the city had free WiFi, I used it to pull up the geocaching app to see if there were any close by to walk to.  Turns out there was one inside the iguana park.  Score!

We walked across the street and into the Parque de las Iguanas and they were not kidding.  There were iguana's everywhere!  We spend a good hour or so wandering around the park.  I found the spot the cache, The Iguana Park (GC2N944) was suppose to be but the container was missing so I made a replacement cache until the cache owner could fix it.  That was a blue pop cap and a receipt I found on the ground.  I made it work.

We moved on to the Catholic Church that was nearby and I can tell you I've never been inside one and this one was pretty epic.  You could tell it was old with the amount of erosion done to the outside of the building.  When we went inside I was in awe of how big this place was and since it was Sunday they were having service.  Anyone and everyone could come if they wanted to.  The priest was giving his sermon in Spanish as we walked through.  The windows were made out of stained glass and everything had some sort of decorative cloth over it as well as lit candles.  It was definitely the church of churches that I've ever been to.  I was overwhelmed.

We found out that everyone else had arrived from Santa Elena a few minutes ago.  They all went to the same place to eat.  Afterwards, Amy, Beth, mom, Kaitlin and I went to the small store across the street from the apartment.  I needed more gum, some fingernail clippers and some more water.  Like I said about the razors, I thought they would take away my fingernail clippers if I brought them onto the plane.  I really needed to trim my nails because they were getting scary.

We went into the iguana park again with Amy and Kaitlin because Beth didn't want to go because she is afraid of the iguanas.  She thought they were going to come after her.  We showed up just in time to watch all the iguanas eat their lunch:  lettuce!

We all gathered in front of the park and Myrna told us that once everyone is done we were going to get into some taxis and head to the market.  I was actually excited about the market because I hadn't gotten any souvenirs since the few I got on Galapagos.  The taxi ride there mom and I made sure to go with Dr. Harris because she spoke Spanish.  Again, we made a rule, meet up where we entered the market in about an hour so we don't get lost.  I heard when we got there Myrna got left behind and had to take her own taxi.  She really wasn't mad because she knew her way around and she was glad it was her rather than one of the non Spanish speaking volunteers.

Mom and I walked in together and started looking at all the stuff.  It reminded me of a flea market or an art bizarre.  A lot of it you could tell was homemade.  I wasn't sure what I was looking for exactly but I wanted a good deal.  I knew I wanted a fridge magnet but I had to find the right one.  Also, I've been noticing all the hometown soccer team, Barcelona S.C.,  jerseys people were wearing and wondered if I could get one for Ben. I found a vendor that was willing to sell me one for $6.  I knew it wasn't a real one but it was still fun to find something to bring home for Ben.  I also saw all the alpaca blankets and wanted to get one.  I found out that they are made near Quito in the highlands.  I found one for $18 and I knew this would come in handy for the plane ride back to the US.  I didn't want to have another blanket fiasco.  An hour passed and we met back up at the entrance and got back into the taxis to be taken to the apartment.

From there, we just waited around for a while.  Dr. Smith and Thomas wanted to go to a Marathon store and didn't let us know when they were going to be back.  I wanted to get on the city tour bus so we could see it in the day light.  Remember, on the equator, it starts getting dark around 6ish.  It was past 3 already and I was getting impatient.  Apparently Kaitlin got sick from too much sun so Amy and Beth weren't going to go with us.  When they finally got back from shopping, which was near 4ish, we hustled over to the park and hopped on the bus for $2.50...probably the cheapest tour I've ever been on.  The tour was suppose to last about an hour.

It was a double-decker bus and of course we sat on the top of it.  I always thought my first double-decker would be in England and never thought it would be in Ecuador.

Life is totally unpredictable and you never know what opportunities are just around the corner.  Mom and I combined must have taken hundreds of pictures with our phones and her camera.  Our little group of nine enjoyed every minute of it.

Because we were on top of the bus there were several times we had to duck our heads from low hanging trees and power lines.  We saw many buildings with amazing architect, neighborhoods, art, churches, parks and even a vista point of a 360 degree view of Guayaquil.

At the viewpoint, we stopped for a half hour and I checked my phone app to see if there was a geocache at this view point and sure enough there was.  Lawrence and Ivette both have geocached before so they knew what I was doing.  Ivette helped me look for it.  It took us about five minutes to locate the nano, Vista - Guayaquil (GC22PC5). 

Now I am up to three caches in Ecuador.  We spent some time enjoying the view before we walked back down to the bus to head back to the park where we started from.

I would recommend this bus tour for anyone who visits Ecuador in the future it was a fun one.  When they dropped us off at the park, Myrna said we could wander around the general vicinity and to let us know the apartment will have someone inside to let you in.  It was roughly 5ish and we knew the sun would be going down soon.

Thomas wanted to go find some food.  Preferably American food.  I agreed.  I was yearning for some Americanized food and I didn't care what it was or if it was bad for me.  Thomas ended up deciding on McDonald's.  I haven't had McDonald's in years.  We asked Lawrence where it was since he's been there a few times since he's been here.  End of the street along the river.  Easy enough.  I have never had McDonald's in another country before it makes you wonder if it tastes the same as it does at home.  I figured it did because it's a franchise and most of the stuff is probably shipped from the US to the international locations.  The menu was a little different because I was looking for the two cheeseburger meal, sadly they didn't have it.  Mom and I went with the McDouble meal.  Shamefully it hit the spot.  We ate next to the windows with the river beside us.  Halfway through our meal we saw fireworks about a quarter of a mile upstream.  It was kinda cool to see the last night we were there.

We walked back to the apartment.  It's been a long 11 days and I was so ready to get back to the states.  Beth, Amy and Kaitlin decided we wanted to be taken to a hotel because Kaitlin didn't feel good and we all felt bad making someone get up and take us to the airport around 3:00 a.m.  They went in the first wave of hotel goers.  Mom and I paid Myrna for the hotel we stayed at for the week and the gas for transportation.  Then their relative Lopez took us to the Holiday Inn, yep, same hotel from when we arrived in Ecuador.

When we arrived, Beth and Amy had just finished dinner at the restaurant inside the hotel.  She helped us check into our hotel and we were to take our stuff up to the third floor.  Amy told us that there would be a taxi waiting for us around 3 to take us to the airport, which was literally right down the road, and to meet in the lobby around 2:50.  Ugh, I was not looking forward to waking up that early.

I immediately took a shower and it was more than glorious.  It was hot, I started smelling better and the shower head they had on there just felt nice on your back and head.  I had to have been in there for at least a half hour.  I dried off, put my bed time clothes on and brushed my teeth.  I was so ready for a real bed.  I booted up my computer while mom showered and got ready for bed.  I talked to Ben, Erika and dad to let them know our next journey and when we would be home.  I verified that Ben would come get us from the Lacey Walmart when we got into town.  Mom got out and she said hi and chatted for a bit before it was time to go to bed.  2:30 a.m. was going to come really quickly.

I got my bed ready, arranged my four pillows accordingly and passed out hard.  I actually don't even remember when I fell asleep I just know it was fast.

Next Adventure:  Ecuador Day 12: Early Morning Flight back to the States via El Salvador, Los Angeles and Finally Home

Ecuador Day 8: Our Second Day in Cerro Alto

We got up early again, but mom got up an hour earlier so she could go with Kaitlin and Beth to the beach to watch the fishermen.  Afterwards when she got back she said it wasn't as exciting as she thought it would be but she was glad she went anyway.

I made myself get out of my bed and prepared myself for another long day in the humidity and headed downstairs for breakfast by Richardo.  We put on stiff clothes that had been drying on the railing all night. This time he made pancakes as the main dish, he had made to order omelets, fruit, breads and assorted juices.

I asked mom if we had everything that we needed for the day in her back pack including some snacks because you never knew when we would break for lunch or what lunch was going to be that day.  We all piled into the vehicles and headed back to the community of Cerro Alto.

Again, there were a lot of people waiting to be seen even before we got there.  It was overwhelming because the building was not big enough for everyone so we started sending patients to be examined first by Dr. Harris and an assistant and they triaged their conditions and wrote their name and what they needed on a piece of paper.  It seemed to go better than what we were doing the past few days.

I got my sterilization area ready and got slammed after the first set of patients.  Luckily, I had Thomas bringing me buckets of instruments that needed sterilized.  You could tell after a few days of not properly drying some of the hinges started to get a little rust on them and I don't think we had any oil or lubrication with us.  

Around early afternoon I was getting hungry so I ate some of my snacks I brought and found out mom took a small break earlier with some of the other volunteers to the small convenience store down the street.  She brought back some wafer cookies and some chips.  It was fun to see the wrappers in Spanish.  She told me I could have some of her wafer cookies.

Near mid afternoon, around 2-3 p.m. everyone started taking shifts walking over to our hosts/community organizer's house.  He and his family made a homemade Ecuadorian meal for us.  This one also involved chicken or pork, with rice, veggies and plantains.  I ate my rice and chicken but I just didn't really like the plantains.  They were too chalky for me.  I'd rather eat a banana.  I understood that this community also didn't have very much money and I ate as much as I could and then gave Maritza my plantains and veggies so I didn't waste them.  This family had indoor rabbits, some chickens and dogs in the back yard.  I was pretty sure the chicken we were eating were some of the chickens that used to be in the back yard that morning.  I used their restroom, which most bathrooms in Ecuador have been horrifying, and this one wasn't pretty either.

On the way back to the community center, I reflected on how great we have it at home in the US....well some of us in the US, not everyone lives the same there either and I am thankful I came from a place where we had opportunities and resources to make our lives better.  I am very grateful I have a job, a retirement, benefits and earned days off.  Mom, Maritza and I watched dogs, pigs and a goat, who yelled at us to pay attention to him.  We laughed because these farm animals were really friendly.

When we returned it had thinned out a bit but there were still people waiting patiently for their turn.  I do have to give everyone so far who has received care from us props, some of these people have been waiting all day, ALL DAY, to see us.

It got pretty crazy after 4 because we wanted to make sure everyone got the care they needed.  I was constantly sterilizing and sending clean instruments out with Thomas to the various rooms that needed them. I either had something that didn't agree with me, too many snacks or all of it was catching up to me due to travel but I desperately NEEDED to use the restroom.  I wasn't too keen on the idea of the bathroom situation.  The bathroom was gross.  I brought my own toilet paper and some sanitizer wipes.  I wiped down the toilet as best and I could and did my business.  Basically that toilet could not hold what I had stored since I left the US on Thursday.  Since this country didn't have good enough plumbing, I had to throw away my toilet paper into the waste basket.  I panicked because it was definitely too much for the toilet to handle.  I am not going to go into detail on what I did but I eventually left the bathroom better than I found it and felt a lot better afterwards.

As the crowd of people thinned I got excited that it was almost time to go back to the hotel, take a shower and go to bed.  We worked on our last set of people while we cleaned up and put our supplies away in the bins.  I rinsed out all of our buckets, wiped down the tables and chairs and made sure we had everything put in the back of the truck to be transported back to the hotel.

When we got back to the hotel, I was still feeling blah after my bathroom episode I was afraid to eat anything.  While everyone else ate food, that Richardo prepared (seafood, pasta and salad) I sat in the lobby and ate a Cliff bar and drank water.  I used the really slow WiFi to talk to Ben for a while.  Everyone got their clothes to the laundry room and they were washed.  Myrna brought them back up and asked if she could have help hanging them over the railing.  I hoped they dried in time for our last community in the morning.

Mom was tired so she went up to our room and relaxed a bit.  I went up shortly after to get cleaned up because I had going to bed sweaty and dirty.  I am not sure what the rest of the volunteers were doing but I didn't have any energy after today especially since my cough wouldn't go away.  My bed rolled so I had to make sure it didn't move a lot while I was sleeping or I could have been stepped on if mom or Stephanie got up to use the restroom.  I used my shoes to keep the bed from rolling too much.

Around 11 p.m. I gave up and went to bed.  I wore my ear plugs and my sweatshirt again because Stephanie wanted the AC on while we slept.  I was excited that we were almost done with our volunteering so we had some time to check out some of Ecuador before we left on Monday.

Next Adventure:  Ecuador Day 9:  Volunteering in Comuna El Azucar,  the Night Life in Montanita and Beach House

Ecuador Day 3: Ecuador to the Galapagos Islands, Tortuga Bay and Downtown Port Ayora

Our wake up call was at 7, when that time came, it was a weird ring.  I answered it and they said good morning this is your 7 a.m. wake up call and I told them thank you.  I really did not want to be up.

We got ready for the day, ate our cereal and bananas, found out our milk was really yogurt (which was a bummer we didn't know Spanish) and also found out instead of the 7:45 shuttle we were now leaving at 8:30 because our flight left at 10:45 instead of 10 plus no one was ready in the other room.  They tried texting us through the WhatsApp but we didn't have it downloaded.  Since we weren't responding they should have called us through the room phone to at least let us know the change.  Mom found out by walking to their room to find out if they were ready to go.  So we both sat in the room for 45 minutes watching Chinese soccer in Spanish and I was on my computer for a little bit.

Once 8:15 hit, we all walked downstairs and tried to get on a tour bus instead of the airport shuttle, ha!  We got on the right bus and was dropped off at the TAME airline check in.  We got  in line and found out we were in the wrong line.  When it was our turn to check in, she said we had to go check our bags in and do customs procedure to travel to the Galapagos Islands.  We were basically declaring why were were traveling there and if we had any evasive species on or with us (fruit, veggies, dirt, seeds, etc.)  The line took forever and I was worried that we came too late to get all of this done.

Finally we got there, paid the $20 for our visa to enter the providence, checked our bags (they sprayed them with a pesticide) and then got in line for our boarding passes.  Since it was getting down to the wire when we got to our gate and they had already started to board, so mom and I just boarded instead of waiting for the rest of our party, it really didn't matter anyway since we were all in different seats all over the plane.  I found my seat and put my bag into the overhead storage.  For some reason we had to wait a bit to leave.  I think they were trying to fill all the seats.  Once we did get to leave, the plane had a lot of turbulence...the whole way there.

I sat next to a woman from Massachusetts who was on her way to meet up with some other teachers for a week to teach children.  I wrote in the travel journal for most of the trip over.  It was going to be about a 2 hour flight.  About halfway through they served us ham and cheese subs and drinks.

About 30 minutes later all the flight attendants opened all the overhead compartments and sprayed insecticide on our bags because of the evasive species threat.

20 minutes later we were in our descent to the airport on Baltra Island.  They literally have an island just for the airport.  It was a small airport and we exited off the plane on to the tarmac and walked to the airport entrance.  It was really windy and about 84 degrees. 

We stopped as a group to take a picture of us with the welcome to the Galapagos Island sign. 

We then went inside and went through customs (I got my second stamp in my passport) and security bag scanning.  We used the restroom and then got onto a free bus to take us to the water taxi.  We had to wait until the bus filled up before we got to go.

It was about a 15 minute drive to the canal.  We had to stop twice for iguanas along the way.  We got out, gave the water taxi guys our bags to stick on the top of the boat, got on and rode across the Itabaca Channel for a dollar.  The boat ride was calming for some reason.  I think it had a lot to do with the really blue water.

We got off on the other side, waited for our bags and got on another bus that would take us to Port Ayora, which was about 20 miles south of where we currently were.  It would only cost us $2 each.  Since we were also last on the bus we got to stand, lean or sit on the steps by the door.  We watched the gorgeous 80+ degree weather turn into 50+ with the elevation that we gained in the highlands near Santa Rosa.  In another 10 miles we would be at our destination and I was getting uncomfortable where I was sitting and I was hoping the weather would get better when we got closer to the port.

When we got to the port, we got off, grabbed our bags and Kaitlin started trying to figure out where we needed to go to get to our Air BnB, Gecko House (and the weather never improved).  We had the address but the addresses are so different here.  We tried asking some of the locals and none of them seemed to know where it was...which was pretty weird since it was a small town.  We walked down a street to see if we chose correctly, we didn't.  We asked an older lady who owned a bed and breakfast if she has heard of Gecko House and she didn't either.  We asked if we could use her WiFi to see where this place was and she wouldn't even do that for us.  The address didn't show up on my geocaching map.  We stood there while some of us took turned running around the area trying to find this address.  Katlin and Beth went to go find out where it was.  In the meantime, we had several people walk by, taxi trucks drive by and mom took a turn walking up and down the road.  Next door two ladies cam out and luckily one of them spoke English.  We asked them if they knew where the address was.  One took out their phone and called the Air BnB for us.  She took it a step further and verified it with the taxi drive that was going to take us there.  Just then Katilin and Beth showed up telling us that they found the address at a slow internet café.  We told them we had some ladies call for us,  We hopped into the truck and we were finally on our way to the Gecko House.

When we got there, we were greeted by Alex, the owner of the house.  He spent time going over a map with us, things to see, places to eat and do.  We thanked him.  I got on the internet immediately to let people know we got here safely.  We chose beds, got settled in, put swim suits on and freshened up a bit before heading to Tortuga Bay (Turtle Bay) before it closed at 5:00 p.m. local time.  Alex had told us there was a trail to get to the path.

It was very rocky and when we got to the end it was really steep for Amy, who had broken her ankle last year in Hawaii.  We saw the entrance to the beach, checked in our group and continued on the mile-long paved path.

We talked about various things along the way.  Katlin and Beth were about 100 yards ahead of us and mom and I walked with Amy because she was struggling with her ankle.

When we finally got there, it was awesome. 

The sand was white and the water was blue...it was a great transition to see.  Mom was disappointed we didn't get to see turtles.  But there was a reason we didn't get to. The beach after 5 was closed to the public so they would not disturb the turtles laying eggs.  It makes sense.

We walked the beach, took pictures of the birds, crabs and at one point we saw a seal.  I thought it was someone's dog but pets are not allowed at the beach.  Beth, Kaitlin and Amy went swimming.  The water looked inviting but it was as cold as it was at home.  I expected it to be warm because of where we were located but then I found out later that this area was coming out of their winter.  I just dipped my feet in.  We wrote things in the sand and watched Kaitlin throw jelly fish at Beth and Amy.

Around 5, we started walking back after everyone gathered at the exit.  We walked the mile plus back catting and wishing that we didn't wear flip flops on our walk.  When we left the park/area, Beth had a kid sing to her (an American song the Spanish kids knew) and we watched some water/ice deliverers fun up the stairs to replenish their supplies at the check in.  We didn't go back down the rocky trail on the way back to our Air BnB because it was really hard on Amy's ankle.  We went the long way around.

When we finally got back, some people took showers, got ready then walked down main street to find some dinner.  We picked a place on the corner called, La Esquina Del Sabor (The Taste Corner).  We were pretty much the only ones there.  Most of the restaurants and store fronts were open to the outdoor elements where birds could fly in and watch you eat.  Very few places had windows and doors.

We ordered our food, most of us ordered chicken, potatoes, beans and rice, Kaitlin ordered fish and I didn't get rice or beans.  We had colas, juice and bottled water.  I took a couple of group GoPro pictures as we waited for our food to be cooked in front of us.  They made everything from scratch in their little kitchen.  When the food and drinks were ready they brought them out and we ate.  This was the first real meal I've had since lunch time before I left for SeaTac.

When we were done, we paid ($8) and walked down to the port where we arrived a few hours earlier.  It looks very different at night.  I noticed my throat started hurting...definitely a sign of getting a cold.  Bummer.  There, we looked at the various shopping opportunities. souvenir and photo ops when we came back down tomorrow.  There were a lot of kids running around playing.  We took a picture of the Galapagos sign and decided to come back down here the next day in the daylight.

Beth, Amy and Kaitlin got ice cream on the way back to Gecko House.  The way was longer than I thought it was.  When we did get back, I was so excited to take my socks and shoes off.  I told a cold-ish shower and got ready for bed.  I was exhausted.  I tried talking to Ben via Facebook messenger but our WiFi connection was pretty poor.  I wrote in my travel journal for a while, downloaded pictures from mom's camera onto my computer and then laid down.

I had a hard time getting comfortable because I was not used to sleeping with just a sheet and just one pillow.  Then I heard Amy snoring and then it started raining hard and loud because the roof was tin.  I got our my ear plugs (so thankful I brought them) and went to sleep.

Next Adventure:  Day 4:  Los Gemelos Craters, Giant Turtles, Darwin Museum, Boat Ride, Geocaching