Saturday, November 3rd
Galapagos, Island Santa Cruz
Stayed at Costas del Sol

Dear Obiwan,
Well the day started off with a mini heart attack. Me and the guys- Ben and Itay, left for the airport at 6am. After getting through security the guys went to smoke a ciggerette. I went to the get breakfast and then waited at the gate…and everyone started to board…and I kept waiting and waiting. I thought, “they must be on the plane? I ate breakfast while they boarded?” I finally asked the flight attendant and he checked, nope they are not on. At this point it was just me and waiting, LAST CALL, BOARDING. My panic was at a strong 8.5 when I saw them running and waving their arms with big smiles. They made it! Itay GOT QUESTIONED by security coming back from smoking…jesus. Well it’s all good! And we were off! First was a stop in Guayanquil then the same plane flies to Santa Cruz, Galapagos.

A few hours later we were there! Itay had SO much energy while Ben and I were exhausted. They ran around and found the best deal for a hostel, we found a room wih a priavate bathroom at a hostel called “Costal del Sol” I then napped as Itay ran around searching for snorkleing and diving deals.

In Santa Cruz there is a main street that has restaurants. All the restaurants are outdoor and some are as big as a small living room and some are as large as…a large living room. It was cozy and fun but also awkard because if you chose one restaurant over the other you’re then left just starting at the other restaurant cause they are sitting next to you.

IT was ALL LOBSTERS OBI. I don’t know…how you would feel about lobsters Obi. I mean, you’re a cold killer so you would want to kill them but they are terrifying looking. And these lobsters don’t look like USA lobsters, these literarly look like aliens with long tenticles. And you walk along the street and it is as if you are at an art auction, Ben and Itay would point at the various longostas (lobsters) and finally picked a huge one, IF I DIDN’T EXPLAIN THIS YET OBI, THEY ARE ALIVE, THE LOBSTERS, as you pick which one you will MURDER.

Any who, Ben and Itay with big smiles cracked and crunched these lobsters and loved it…and Obi, I tried it…which is TOTAL CRAZINESS. But yes, Itay is great to get me to try things he truly doesn’t care and just says “try it! you’ll be fine! It’s COVERED IN BUTTER,” and he’s a chef so he could describe the texture to me and I ate it…and I didn’t like the texture but I liked the taste, Itay said, ‘it needed to be about a few minutes or 5 minuts less and it would have been perfect!’ I had pasta Carbanora and it was AMAZING, but I was starving so, I don’t think I can judge food too well when I would eat almost anything.

After this we went to bed!

Day 34: Sunday, November 4th
Galapagos, Santa Cruz
Stayed at Costas Del Sol
(Day 2 at the Galapagos)

They next day Obi we stayed on land and planned to BIKE to “La Tortuga Reserva”- the Tortise Reserve in Santa Cruz. We were told the bike ride would take 30 minuts to an hour and that it is harder on the way there…

Well, Obi your Mama DID NOT LEARN, that the same rule in Colombia stays true in the Galapagos, don’t listen to a local describing something athletic, know that for me just multiply everything by at least 3….in summary I DIED biking, it was ALL UP HILL, just ALL UP HILL. I almost threw up! I’ve never felt that sick from exercising before. Ben is a personal trainer so he so kindly was walking with me tyring to help me bike. But, I just knew it, no way could I do it.

So, I waved down one of the many taxi trucks (they are ALL white?). It was $10 USD. The guy drove me I guess just to the town where the tortises were? So I actually had to bike for like 10 more minutes but it was easy and fun, the last part was this HUGE decline of a hill.

Then I was there! There were SO MANY TORTIESES. and they were GYNORMOUS. Tortites of all sizes. When you arrive it’s $5 USD I think, then you can have tea or cofee and just walk around.

So…I was there and waited for the guys…and an hour goes by…an hour and a half…2 hours…I was asking people who came ‘did you see two guys riding bikes here?’ eveyrone said no, so naturally Obi, I just assumed they died.

Oh also, I met a few people that said it’s IMPOSSIBLE to bike up and also fun but difficult to GO DOWN!

Well about 2 hours and 15 minutes later (and I had met many tortoises and explored the cool lava caves…twice) the guys arrived! They were DEAD though, they both collapsed for 30 minutes, said it was SO DIFFICULT.

As the sun set the guys finally walked aroudn the reserve and I guess at sunset it is sexy time for the tortises? All of a sudden many male tortises were trying to…mount the ladies. And we watched, Ben wanted to see the ending and was filming it. So we watched…and watched…the slowest sex…he kept falling and missing, and the male made a VERY loud sound during half of this. But…40 minutes later, no success and we finally left.

We took a $20 cab back and Itay, the deal maker, had us go to store to store until we got the best and cheapest deal to go diving and snorkelig for the next 4 days here. Both Itay and Ben got their PADI Open Water Certificiate in Taganga, Colombia…so they can just dive, I was allowed to do my first dive ever, which is called “Discovery Dive.”
As we were finalizing our best deal with this guy name Carlos* (JUST REMEMBER THIS NAME) this solo traveler Tamara walked in. We told her what we were doing and she was looking to dive as well and heard our amazing deal and decided joined us! She’s from Switzerland and was nice, funny, and super excited to dive!!!

The four of us then went to eat, and went to the same place we went last night, I had breaded chicken and rice for $10, it was delicous! It was also SO AMAZING to have Tamara there because Itay and Ben had been speaking to each other in Hebrew so much of the time I had began to just talk to myself in my head and feel almost alone at times. I told them a few times that I thought it was rude and to talk to me and they would justify that it’s amazing to have a language no one else could understand…AND I UNDERSTAND GUYS, BUT, JEEZ, it’s not nice for the third person!

So it was incredilbe having Tamara to talk to! Yay I could talk and listen again!

After dinner we went to bed early for our first day our to sea tomorrow!!!

Goodnight Obiwan,

Love,

Carly