Sick Week (Literally): Galapagos Islands Week 2

I would highly recommend not getting sick in a foreign country.

La Bruja

Day 1

Dave and I woke up quite early to go on an excursion called the 360 Tour. This tour took you around the entire island of San Cristobal with stops several different places for snorkeling and sightseeing. We were on a boat with about eight other people observing the scenery. Our first "stop" was boating right by a rock called La Bruja (translated as "the witch") for the pointy "nose" coming out of the top of the rock. Right after passing La Bruja, we put out fishing gear to try and catch the fish the tour the next day would have. We ate the fish from the day before.

One reason Dave and I picked this tour company over others was the fact that they had fishing permits allowing their people to fish off the boat. Unfortunately, we were not able to help, but we did get to watch as they reeled in two massive tuna fish. Apparently, there are huge schools of them that hang out near La Bruja, so it's a very popular spot to fish. The Galapagos Coast Guard has to keep strict watch to make sure there is no overfishing in the area, as well as policing to make sure the people who are fishing have the right permits necessary to do so.

Two of our guides with the fish they caught

After our fishing experience, we pulled up to a place called Leon Dormido (sleeping lion in Spanish), or Kicker Rock in English. I'm not sure why they don't just use the same terminology to refer to both, but that's not my problem. At Leon Dormido, we were able to jump in and snorkel. Leon Dormido is one of the most famous spots in the world for shark diving and snorkeling as well as free diving. Some days, you can see upwards of 500 hundred sharks at once. We were lucky to see more than 30 hammerheads in addition to several other species of sharks, sea lions, sea turtles, and fish. I loved it!

After our excursion at Leon Dormido, we continued our day at another beach about halfway across the island. There, we were able to hike around, see some blue footied boobies, and go snorkeling with more sharks and sea turtles. I saw a sea turtle that was more than 6 feet long, which was incredible. While swimming back to the boat, I swam through a massive school of pufferfish. I didn't get a video of all of them together, but hopefully you can still enjoy this video of some of the pufferfish near the boat.

Pufferfish Beach for lunch

After our snorkel and swim, we had lunch of fish, rice, and plantains, which was a pretty typical lunch for the Galapagos. The food was delicious. The day started to get a bit stormy, so we headed out shortly thereafter.

On the ride back, it rained ridiculously hard. I love tropical storms and was already wet, so I rode up in the top with the captain Juan as we got soaked. I thought it was so fun. I feel the most free when I'm near water, particularly when I'm on a boat for some reason. I just enjoyed the two hour long ride in the pouring rain and huge waves all the way back to the marina. The passengers below deck did not enjoy it anywhere near as much as I did. To be fair, I just love boats and water and don't mind rain or sea spray in the slightest.

When we made it back, Dave and I headed home to shower and change. At home, a nice girl named Jane was in my room. It turned out that she was a new volunteer, so I decided to take her out with me to go to the panaderia with Analia and Dayana. I introduced her to the passionfruit cheesecake, which she agreed was superb. I knew at that moment that we would be great friends.

After dropping Analia and Dayana off and picking up Dave, we walked into town to meet up with Simen and Artur. It was Simen's last night (*insert sad face*), so we went to a local bar for drinks. I had some soda, and everyone else had beers. Simen and I got into a really deep conversation about religion and politics. I knew I would really miss Simen because of his amazing personality. He would also stay fairly sober with me, so I always talked to him when everyone else was getting out of hand. Jane even said that she wished he was older so she could date him.

At the end of the night, I walked home with Jane and Dave before writing my missionaries. At this point, I was writing my best friend Sala on her mission to Puebla, Mexico, and my cousin Jared Evans in Charlotte, North Carolina. I just updated both of them with my weekly activities and asked questions about their lives in preparation for their P days (preparation days) on Monday, when they could email me back. I also updated my weekly Instagram story, so people could see what I had been up to throughout the week. Then, I headed for bed.

Day 2

I woke up feeling a little gross but went to school anyways because I figured the headache and gross feeling would subside. Unfortunately, the headache did not subside, and I felt bad the entire day. Luckily for me, the kids were doing presentations on the different provinces of Ecuador. This was a huge effort for the parents, and each child had an entire table full of goodies to represent the region they had been given. The parents came and watched the presentations as well. The child got a microphone and was able to present to the entire class through the microphone. Ironically enough, I think the focus was more on the visual aspect and the parents being cooler than the other parents than on the child's actual presentation. However, it gave me a break from entertaining the kids essentially by myself, so I was grateful. At the end of each presentation, the kids got together to have their pictures taken together in front of the huge display.

After school, I headed over to Alpha Scuba to volunteer to work. They didn't need any help, so I was able to go home. I spent the rest of the day laying in the hammock on the roof and napping.

That night, I talked religion with Dave and Jane. Both were atheists, and I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so it was interesting to talk to them as a Christian who definitely believes in God. Dave wanted to debate how God could allow people to kill other people in wars over religion as he was a veteran of the Australian army. I argued that it was humans' mistakes and their own follies. We never reached a conclusion, but both Dave and Jane had been drinking, so finally, I got frustrated and went to bed.

Me sick and sweaty in the rooftop hammock

Day 3

I woke up ridiculously sick with terrible headaches and diarrhea. I didn't leave my bed all day and barely left a journal entry to remember the day by.

Day 4

I went back to school during the day but went was fairly exhausted at the end of the day. I napped for a bit before heading back out with Jane and Dave to do laundry and go to the panaderia. At the laundry place, you could pay someone else to do all your laundry for you. Laundry is by far my least favorite chore, so I was totally fine with paying someone to do all of it for me.

After the panaderia and laundry, I worked at the dive shop for a few hours and met back up with the Colombian boys from the night snorkel the week prior. We got along so well that they asked me to join them for dinner. I went out with them to get burgers and found them to be amazing men. They were all super flirty but amazingly respectful, which could be very difficult to find at times. They really wanted me to go scuba diving with them at Leon Dormido the next day, but I had to work instead. I definitely considered skipping work for them though.

On my way home from dinner with the Colombians, I met the two missionaries in San Cristobal. One was from Springville, Utah and the other was from Peru. Springville, Utah is only about 30 minutes away from my home in Highland, Utah and only 10 minutes away from my school, so that was pretty fun to see someone from home so far away. They invited me to church whenever I could make it. I went home thinking about how I could make my schedule fit so I could attend church.

Analia and Dayana, my two host sisters

Day 5

I woke up feeling quite tired but still decided to go to school. This turned out to be a terrible decision. The teacher sent me home early because I was so useless to her and the kids. I spent the entire rest of the day sleeping in bed. Do not EVER get food poisoning and then try to push it so soon afterwards. I definitely regretted doing so much the day before, even though I had such a fun time.

Day 6

I had one of my funnest nights on the island after sleeping in until 12:30pm. School was cancelled for some reason, so it was nice to be able to sleep after being sick all week. Dave and Jane had invited me to go to Santa Cruz, the closest island nearby, with them for the weekend, but I checked the weather and decided not to go. I didn't want to go to Santa Cruz if it was going to be rainy all weekend. Instead, I spent my day at the dive shop.

During the days at the dive shop, I typically just sat at the desk and answered people's questions. I helped book tours, cleaned equipment, and basically just managed the shop when no one else was around. Mostly, we just listened to some music. I was typically given the aux cord and told to play "American music" because they wanted to feel up to date with the times, which is pretty hysterical honestly. I really enjoyed working there and have definitely considered working for other scuba shops in the future.

When night finally fell, I went with Will and his customer from South Korea to go night scuba diving, which was incredible. We went along a coral wall going from the bay near Punta Carola to the actual Punta Carola beach. While there, we saw ivory lobsters, various sea creatures, and just had a great night dive with our flashlights. While we were about 30 feet down, Will had us turn our lights out. We were surround by bioluminescence once again! Will and the girl from South Korea were fake salsa dancing underwater, which was beautiful when lit up by bioluminescence. It was an incredible experience!

After the dive, we went back to the shop and decided to watch Overboard. Unfortunately, the movie was completely in Spanish, so the girl from South Korea couldn't understand because she only spoke English. Will got the two of them some wine and bought me fresh mango juice while we watched. After the movie ended, we turned on some music and salsa danced on the floor in the back room of the dive shop. It was quite slippery, but it was so fun! It's definitely a memory I'll cherish forever.

Day 7

I spent the entire day watching the dive shop. I even went back after dinner just to hang out with Will and his friend Josue, who also worked there. The South Korean girl from the day before came in and demanded her video from the day before. Will hadn't had a chance to download it yet, so we went on a wild goose chase to get the video downloaded onto a thumb drive for her. It was so stressful that Will felt like he had to smoke some pot after she left. He put on a movie and went about "relaxing."

Partway through the movie, we heard a knock on the windows and opened it up to find the Colombian boys outside. They invited me to go to la discoteca (aka the club) with them. I only have one terrible quality video of us in a taxi at night driving to the club, even though we spent so much time together. I wish I had more! I've attached it here, despite the poor quality.

We spent the night dancing away. All five of them could make me laugh like nobody's business. Their senses of humor were incredible. They rotated me through them, so I could dance the entire night. They were so patient teaching me how to dance. One in particular named Carlos was incredible. He was the best conversationalist as well as a fabulous dancer. I definitely had a bit of a crush on Carlos. He was the son of a diplomat in Bogota and spent a lot of his life traveling. He was so kind! While all of his friends left, we spent a few extra days hanging out together. Overall, the night was just a great time with my friends from Colombia.

Life Lessons

Try your best not to get food poisoning, or you WILL regret it immensely.

Always make friends with the other tourists who come through.

Swim with sharks whenever possible!

Hammocks on the roof are truly amazing, so you should definitely spend some time there whenever possible.

Always go dancing when invited!