Friday, November 23rd

Stayed at Palosanto Hostel

Dear Obiwan,

Today was the second day of my Open Water diving course. Today was the first day out to sea Obi! We left at 6:30, and actually right on time (which did not happen in the Galapagos). We were going to dive first at ‘the rig’ which is an oil rig right by the dock where all the boats are.

First off, there are Green Sea Turtles here Obi! And there were people swimming with them and you could pay to swim with them! But it was SO different than the Galapagos, here the people were letting you touch them and they lured the turtles with fish…they said green sea turtles eat fish? But someone told me they actually don’t? I don’t know…it was interesting but also a little upsetting to see people just grabbing these turtles, I don’t think they like it.

But here are the green sea turtles!:

Oh and then on the other side of the dock was just the land of birds and pelicans!

After this we loaded the boat and were off. It was me, July, Grace, a Spanish couple, and three American women. The Americans actually had our boat turn around because they did not know we were diving at the same sight as they dived yesterday. They were very upset and quite rude at first, but they were nice once we dropped them off.

After this we went back to the rig and the Spanish girl was on her last day of her Open Water tests and her boyfriend was on his first day of his advanced course, along with Grace.

The first thing that happened Obi was the Spanish girl was supposed to do her last tests with Juan while I awaited holding onto the rig under them. It seemed like something went wrong because Juan and this woman kept going back up to the surface and eventually just Juan returned, no girl. It was under water so I could not ask him what happened. But I was a little worried.

Next it was my turn to do some of the tests I needed to pass. The 3 tests I had to do today was:

1) Take my regulator out, continuously blow bubbles, put it back in my mouth, clear it out, and continue breathing.

2) Halfway fill my goggles with water and empty my goggles of water by tilting my head up and pushing hard onto the goggles in between my eyes, then blow with my nose.

3) Fully fill my goggles and empty them by tilting my head back and lifting the goggles from the bottom and blowing hard with my nose

I did the first two tests easily, but the third was one of the ones that scared me in the pool. So I centered myself, took some deep breaths, and then went for it, and did it on the first try!

Then Juan gestured that I did it and we did a celebratory water dance and then I could freely swim without having to have my hand held (which you have to do when doing Discovery Dives which I did in the Galapagos)

After this we went to a natural reef for more tests. While on the boat to the next place I was informed by Grace that the Spanish girl became very scared doing her last tests, the full mask removal, with the strong current and she ended up going back to the boat, and I guess then cried :(.

Soon we were at the natural reef and I had to do the two other tests:

1) Buoyancy test

2) Full mask removal test where you have to take you mask fully off, look at Juan, then put it back on and clear it whichever way you prefer

I did the buoyancy test easily and it is so fun because you literally feel like you’re in space, just floating and weightless. Then I did the second test without inhaling water! I was so proud Obi!

After this we swam around but the sea was very rough and murky so Juan grabbed onto me to help me.

Also, July struggled as a well and did not do her discovery dive. It was a rough day!

However back at the dock the Spanish girl passed her tests!

Here are some photos from the day, me and July then me, July, and Grace eating burgers at Smoking Brother’s!:

After returning to the hostel Margaux was feeling a lot better! We went out with some of the hostel workers and had a great night!

Alright tu Madre needs rest for my last day of the diving course Obi!

Goodnight lamb,

Carly

Days 50 and 51:
November 20th and 21st
Máncora, Peru
Stayed at Palosanto Hostel

Dear Obiwan,
Well the next two days your Mama was very sick and in bed. The only photos I took were of these cute hostel pets!

On Wednesday (November 21st) I started to feel better…but now Margaux started to feel sick. I really hope I didn’t give what I had to her. We concluded we contracted our illness from our 15 bus ride to Cuenca, especially since the windows were up and there was no air for many hours.

On Wednesday I finally was able to get out of bed! I walked across the street to the only dive center in Máncora, Spondylous, and got information about the certification! The diver at reception was from Venezuela and was so nice and helpful. I then paid and planned to start my 3 day course tomorrow!

After this I grabbed some take out pizza for me and Margaux. We ate and went to bed early.

Day 52: Thursday, November 22nd
Stayed at Palosanto Hostel

Obi the day has finally come, my first day of my diving course! I was feeling about 90% which felt like a super hero compared to how I felt 2 days ago. Margaux on the other hand was feeling worse and worse. She planned to go to a clinic today and assured me she could do it on her own.

I headed to Spondylous and had to watch hours of videos. After a few hours of pretttty boring videos (but important!) I was off for my first day in the pool!

Here was some of my lunch today, fried cheese and a Coke while looking out at the street, very pleased!:

After lunch I met my dive instructor, his name was Juan. He seemed around my age, maybe younger? He had longish blonde hair and was from Chile. He was friendly and very excited!

I also met another woman, July, who was at first just going to do her first Discovery Dive tomorrow, but in addition decided to get her Open Water certificate with me!

However, I think it is because I have already dived TWICE now, but she had a lot of trouble in the pool. She would come out of the water and kept saying she couldn’t do it (the few tests we had to do). Eventually with Juan and all of us cheering her on, she did the tests!

The pool tests are: 1st you need to be able to handle your goggles filling up with water. And there are 3 ways you need to do it.

1) You need to fill your goggles up half way so you can still kinda see. Then you need to empty your goggles by tilting your head back, then firmly push the mask where it lays in between your eyes, and strongly blowing with your nose until all the water empties out from the bottom

2) You need to fill your goggles up ALL THE WAY with water, then open your eyes under water and empty your goggles by lifting up the bottom of the mask and strongly blowing all the water out with your nose

3) You need to REMOVE YOUR MASK COMPLETELY, open your eyes, put it back on, and clear the water out whichever of the 2 ways you just learned

Obiwan Kenobi, the first two tests I could do after a few tries. But the third test was SO HARD for me at first. It is completely counterintuitive at first because you are breathing the whole time underwater with your regulator. This is one of the hardest things I found to get used to. I realized through the pool training that I still breathe through my nose while under water, but with the mask on, you’re just sniffing the rubber and tightening the mask or doing nothing.

BUT with the test I quickly discovered that I needed to train myself to ONLY breathe with my mouth. And it took me are least 15-20 minutes to do this! I would be under water, looking at Juan and he motions me to move my mask. I then remove the mask and the moment I would breathe I would inhale through my NOSE AND INHALE TONS OF POOL WATER. Then it would go back to my throat and therefore be in my regulator now and then I would FREAK OUT and jump up and rip my regulator out and breathe air and cough out the water.

Juan was so patient! He also was direct and explained how important this was to master and he really emphasizsd that I had to STOP getting out of the water. That I needed to figure it out UNDER WATER because in reality the surface won’t be that close AND YOU CAN’T just swim up quickly, you need to decompress before going to the surface!

After lots of water in my nose and throat, I did it Obi! I finally trained my self to stop breathing through my nose but MORE IMPORTANTLY to STAY CALM and NOT freak out!

The last 2 tests in the pool were:
1) Bouyancy test, where you play with your BPD vest, which is your vest full of air. You go under water and have to make it so you are perfectly floating right above the bottom of the pool- IT’S INCREDIBLE

2) You need to practice taking your regulator out, and you must always have bubbles coming out (exhaling), then put it back in and clear the water from the regulator. It wasn’t hard!

After this I went back to the hostel to see Margaux, who was doing a little better! She said she went to the clinic and they were gonna charge her a bunch of money so she left. But after the day she was doing better!

Here is a photo of our awesome hostel workers (yes, one is a dog, he owned that chair!):

We then went out and had Italian food for dinner, it was delicious!

What a great day Obi!

Well off to bed,
Goodnight my lamb,

Love tu Madre,
Carly

Monday, November 19th

Stayed on night bus to Mancora!

Dear Obiwan,

My dear Jedi, today was the worst travel days yet of my trip yet! The day started off great with eggs for breakfast! (Yesterday was only bread and some weird stuff on top). After this Margaux and I headed to our bus to Cuenca. With plans to then take a 9pm night bus to Máncora. The bus got in at 5pm, 4 hours to spare right? WRONG.

This bus was supposed to take 8 hours. I asked before if there was a toilet, they said there was, but in reality they lock the toilet due to it being broken and the door is broken too. So if you have to use the restroom someone needs to unlock it, then lock you in…It was lovely.

About 30 minutes into our 8 hour bus ride we stopped. And never moved again, for 5 hours!!! There was a MILK PROTEST OBI. No car moved! It was legit stopped. People were walking past us! People were also just sitting in the road. I think, from what I understand, the protest was to raise the price of milk to help the farmers. I’m all for that but I’m just confused why they didn’t do it in the center of town? But instead on the high way, in front of I think… nothing?

Oh also, the bus driver kept turning off the air. And the windows on the bus we’re the size of my hands. And everyone just seemed content, dying and looking so uncomfortable, but no one said anything, except Margaux did! She got the air back on! And then every now and then this other guy with ask the bus driver to put it back on.

We eventually arrived in Cuenca at 2:30 am (7.5 hours late). We asked 3 different people who seemed to work there when is the next bus to Máncora…it wasn’t until the next day BUT there was a bus to the border at 3:40 am (which was a 2 hour ride from Mancora)! We then sat down for 40 minutes and came back to go on the bus…

TO ONLY FIND OUT- the bus left at 3:00am. We were told the wrong information! We were there but didn’t know!!! It was so frustrating and upsetting. The next bus wasn’t until 9am. I went and asked a cab and he said it was $120 to go to Máncora, Margaux and I haggled him down to $100. We thought it was very worth $50 a piece.

We told the guy we need to get to ‘Huaquillas’, for the border. He said yes yes the border yes! (All in Spanish)…Also, around this time I started to feel sick. And as the cab drove us, my stomach starting feeling like something was inside of my stomach stabbing me and destroying me about every 3-5 minutes.

About an hour later, our cab driver told us that we arrived. We both knew it was supposed to take 2 hours.

We asked ‘where our we?’

He said “Pasaje!”

Us ‘Where?!’

Him “PASAJE”

WE NEVER HEARD OF PASAJE HOW WOULD WE HAVE SAID a town we never heard before?!

Us ‘No we said Huaquillas! The border! You repeated it back!’

Him “NO YOU SAID PASAJE!!!”

Us ‘WE NEVER HEARD OF PASAJE, HOW AND WHY WOULD WE SAY IT?! TAKE US TO Huaquillas!’

Him “$50 more dollars!”

Us ‘no! It’s your mistake!’

Him “$50 dollars!”

We then just said okay, I mean, what were we going to do?! We then drove to Huaquillas, took another hour and the entire time EVERY FEW MINUTES or so he would SIGH ANGRILY and loudly, it was so rude I wanted to yell at him so badly but just kept quiet.

Finally we arrive at Huaquillas, and we gave him $40 ($10 less) and he rolled his eyes and took it.

After this the worst border experience of my life ensued. We arrive at the border and there was only 1 person in front of us. We were hopeful and excited to get to Peru!…Oh how naive I was!

I walked over to the border patrol woman and handed her my passport to be stamped for Peru. She looked through my passport then looked up at me and stated something in Spanish about ‘where is your stamp for entering Ecuador?’ I then took the passport and also searched through it…and only saw my stamps for entering Colombia and exiting Colombia. The next stamp was the Galapagos.

NO STAMP FOR ENTERING ECUADOR.

Sheer horror and panic filled my entire body. All I could think was, “no, the border person in Colombia could NOT have just…forgotten? OR did I miss something?” I searched my memories and NO I didn’t miss something, the border from Colombia to Ecuador had 3 lanes, 1 was for Colombian citizens and two were for everyone else, I remember distinctly thinking ‘they need more lanes for all the foreigners.’ NO I didn’t mess up. They did. They some how only stamped that I was leaving Colombia AND NEVER STAMPED THAT I ENTERED ECUADOR. How?! I was at the Ecuador border HOW?!

Back to the present- I’m standing there and the woman had no sympathy in her face and just kept stating, “I can’t let you in without a stamp from Ecuador, you can only leave Ecuador if you have a stamp for ENTERING Ecuador.” I asked, ‘how do I get one?’

And- ready for this- she said, “you have to go back to the border of Ecuador and Colombia.” At this moment Margaux had gotten her passport stamped and she was by my side ready to help and save the day. She spoke her fluent Spanish and her and his woman began to speak very quickly. Margaux geniusly pointed at my Galapagos stamp and asked “how can she have a stamp for the Galapagos?! OBVIOUSLY SHE WAS IN ECUADOR! This isn’t her fault!” But the woman said she couldn’t do anything.

And then I couldn’t hold it in anymore Obiwan. I was standing there with panic flowing through my veins and the thought going through my mind ‘I am NOT GOING BACK to Colombia for a stamp!’ ‘What am I going to do?!’…and I just bursted into tears. I was trying not to cry, but I couldn’t hold it back and I thought it was going to be the lady-like crying where you have tears falling down your cheeks and you make small whimper sounds…but nope, I did not know my cry was going to be a loud bursting sound of SOBS and a waterfall of tears which resulted in me not being able to breathe pretty quickly. Also, the border control had high ceilings so my sobs echoed through this whole room and I ran behind a pillar and gathered myself. I then returned to the desk and it looked like somehow either me crying or Margaux or I think a combination of everything, but now our lady was trying to help! She said, “go to Tomas, he’s my boss, he might be able to help.”

Margaux then explained that the woman felt so bad and wanted to help but that she physically can NOT stamp a passport, that she doesn’t have the ability, but her boss might be able to. Margaux was so amazing and comforting and told me to cry again if I can with Tomas, which I knew I could.

Then we met Tomas, and immediately I was hopeful. Tomas looked so kind. He has his own office and he looked at my puffy crying face and immediately looked at me with kindness. I told him what happened and he took my passport, looked at it inquisitively and agreed that it made NO SENSE. He then with NO HESITATION told me to sit in front of the camera, and then relief just flowed over me and I looked over at Margaux and she had the biggest smile and was nodding saying non-verbally ‘WE DID IT! IT’S OKAY! EVERYTHING IS OKAY!’ He then took my finger prints and stamped my passport for entering Peru!

So, now if you go into my passport, I have Colombia then the Galapagos, and now Peru stamps…and nothing for Ecuador! But all is well. And I learned my lesson from now on to always check my passport at the borders to make sure they stamped it correctly! (Which seems absurd, but I WILL DO THIS ALWAYS)

Oh also, during all of this I am getting sicker by the moment and having more intense stomach cramps from hell every 3-5 minutes.

Finally, we thought everything was over. But we had one more cab scam. We were going to take the 2 hour bus from the border to Mancora and then we saw a sign that read “$50 USD to Mancora” and we looked at each other and thought $25 each for a cab over a bus sounds amazing right now. We asked the cab, he said “yes $50” we then drove there but when we arrived the guy turns around and tells us “$100,” he explained that it was $50 PER PERSON. And I lost my sh*t Obiwan, I was in pain, exhausted, and I just told him in Spanish, “NO YOU ARE A LIAR…WHAT IF IT WAS A FAMILY OF 4 THEY WOULD PAY $200? NO.” And gave him $60 and left.

Then finally, some million hours of hell later, we were in Mancora! We found our hostel and I climbed into bed holding my tummy and went to bed.

Goodnight lamb, hopefully tomorrow will be better…but no matter what it will be better than today!

Love tu Madre,

Carly

Saturday, November 17th
Last day at the Galapagos! (Day 15)
Stayed at Masaya Hostel
Quito, Ecuador

Dear Obiwan,
Today we had to leave the Galapagos. I never in my life thought I would end up spending 2 weeks here but with the help of Itay bargaining and getting us the best deals for all the trips from the islands and cooking, it ended up costing SO MUCH less than usual or as much as a 4-7 day cruise!

Our last day I went to Playa Punta Carola, where it was just me and dozens of sea lions! There were baby sea lions and sea lions of all sizes!!! Margaux joined me for a little as well!

Obi, please for your pleasure watch these videos of this sea lion beach! They’re so cute and funny!:

Eventually we left for the airport, and had the SAME PROBLEM of me buying a reservation online but not actually a plane ticket?! But don’t worry Obi, I stayed calm and they got us on the plane!

We arrived back in Quito, Ecuador and it actually felt feel good to be on land-land again. Tonight we stayed at a hostel Margaux recommended and it was beautiful!!!

Day 48: Sunday, November 18th
Quito, Ecuador
Stayed at Masaya Hostel

The next day began so well because I had an amazing night sleep. This hostel has this big bunk beds with CURTAINS and your own charging station and shelves INSIDE! AH LOVED IT.

I went to my old hostel and got the stuff I left and also got my long awaited package from my parents- my fancy REI winter jacket that I oh-so-intelligently left at home…and had to pay $86 on top of what my parents had to pay to send it…for some random fees in Ecuador?

After breakfast me and Margaux had to say bye to Itay 😭, but hopefully he will meet up with us in Peru or Bolivia!

Oh also Obi, me and Margaux are going to do our next 3 weeks of our trip together! And I couldn’t be happier! We’re so similar and she’s so funny and we vibe so well!

We had a nice dinner at the hostel and met some nice people who were staying at the hostel. And we also talked a lot with one of the hostel workers who was working the bar, Brian, who challenges any American (who wants to) to name all 50 states. Of course I thought I could do it…he said NO ONE has ever done it, the record was 47!

And Obi…I only could name 46!!! It was infuriating…I won’t tell you which ones I forgot because I challenge you and anyone else to write down all 50 states in under 15 minutes!

After that it was bedtime.

I hope you’re happy Obiwan back in America with your grandparents, I know they love you and take good care of you.

Can’t wait till we’re together again!

Love tu Madre,

Carly

Tuesday, November 13th
Galapagos, Island San Cristobal
Stayed at La Casa De Lewis
(Day 11 at the Galapagos)

Dear Obiwan,
The next 4 days were on Island San Cristobal in the Galapagos. In the beginning of our trip, both Itay and I thought to save the best for last, and Obi…this island was so gorgeous I still can’t believe I was there! San Cristobal is famous for its beautiful white sand beaches and HAVING MORE SEA LIONS THAN PEOPLE!

But, before getting here, we took a boat from Isabela to Santa Cruz (this is how you have to do it) and The trip began by the three of us, Tamara, Itay, and me were all sitting at the front of the boat listening to ‘Break Free’ by Queen and as we were singing along to the song…I saw in the distance a dolphin fin. And I every day on the boat trips I am SEARCHING FOR DOLPHINS AND WHALES. And today I thought I saw a dolphin and turned to Tamara and stated, “I keep thinking I am seeing dolphin fins but it is just the waves,” but as I say that, we see more and more and Tamara goes, “no those ARE DOLPHINS!” We yelled to Itay and then to the captain and he turned the boat to dolphins. And Obiwan Kenobi, IT WAS A SCHOOL OF DOLPHINS. THERE WERE SO MANY. Just all around us! And they love boats (according to the captain)! Once we were with them they were jumping all around us! And they were HUGE! Look!:

We also met these really nice guys from Barcelona on the boat and chatted with them.
When we got back to Santa Cruz Margaux went with the two Spaniards to Tortuga Reserve and she took Itay and my advice to NOT bike there, so they took a truck there and planned to bike back.

Itay and I wanted to see the Darwin Institute so we walked there and found the most beautiful street in Santa Cruz! We were there for a week and never knew about this street! It was right along the beach and had a bunch of small shops and restaurants. We then went to the museum and were surprised about how outside it was. The museum has the last of a species of Tortugas and has his frozen body, his name was George. We also saw some yellow iguanas and a ton of baby and different aged tortugas!

Last of his kind!

After this, we met up with Margaux and the Spaniards, Margaux was very upset about how difficult the bike ride back was and Itay and I could relate to painfully difficult bike rides!

Later we left for San Cristobal. At first the boat STOPPED WORKING…

But eventually we were there! for the first time of my life I got nauseous on the boat! I didn’t throw up but, I usually love the bumps and all that stuff but I don’t know what happened, it might have been that this boat was all covered and just very hot and sweaty inside? I don’t know.

Margaux had a friend whom told her to go to Casa de Louis for a hostel in San Cristobal. We told the cab and he took us to LA CASA DE LEWIS. Which we later found out…but, were SO PLEASANTLY surprised! We loved La Casa de Lewis! It was our own little apartment! With a kitchen and a little balcony and the beds were comfortable and the shower was hot and great!!!

Itay then cooked dinner for us and also taught me some things and I helped! Then
we headed to bed.

Margaux and Itay making dinner

Day 44: Wednesday, November 14th
Galapagos, Island San Cristobal
Stayed at. La Casa De Lewis
(Day 12 at the Galapagos)

Today we all took a need REST DAY. And went to Playa Chino, supposed to be the most beautiful beach of San Cristobal. Sadly there was a lot of seaweed but it still was wonderful. We rented 2 snorkels and I snorkeled and swam a bunch.

Wait first look at this amazing photo I took of Itay, it sums him up pretty well as he sits reading Dostoevsky:

Here are some of the many sea lions on the beach! Including one getting angry at Itay:

OH, tonight Itay taught me how to make Schniztel and had ME DO IT. Like, I HAD TO WRIP CHICKEN A PART OBI and then SMUSH IT. And then put it in egg and drop it in OIL! I learned some cooking!

Day 45: Thursday, November 15th
Galapagos, Island San Cristobal
Stayed at La Casa De Lewis
(Day 13 at the Galapagos)

Today was the famous Kicker Rock! Another place to see Hammer heads if your a diver. The tour agency said I can’t do a discovery dive here so instead I snorkeled while both Itay and Margaux saw hammer heads! My snorkeling was fun too! Saw many sea lions and sea turtles and fish!

OH tonight Itay taught me how to make…some well known Yemen dish that he had be wanting to cook for us since the beginning but needed an oven! I can’t remember the name!

Day 46: Friday, November 16th
Galapagos, Island San Cristobal
Stayed at La Casa De Lewis
(Day 14 at the Galapagos)

WOW, today marks 2 weeks at the Galapagos! That’s insane! Today we went on the ‘360 Tour’ of San Cristobal. You stop at Kicker Rock and 3 other places where you hike and snorkel and lay on the beach!
Before this…to my horror I discovered I left the snorkels front the beach the other day on a taxi…searched and searched and later that day found the taxi and he never saw the snorkels.

The guy at the tour agency was HORRIBLY rude, one of the worst people I’ve dealt with (besides CARLOS), it was as if I stoles them or burned his snorkels in front of him. Because of him I missed the breakfast they provided and felt awful about losing the stupid snorkels and had to pay $70 for them later tonight.

Anywho, the tour did not start off good. The first place they dropped us off the guy treated us like children and we asked him to respect us and…well…it was just awkward.

But, it got better later! And we snorkeled around some BEAUTIFUL rock formations. It was wonderful.

Then we spent our last night in San Cristobal…Itay met a lady on the boat who he went out to dinner with and Margaux and I had a nice last night in the Galapagos together!

Love you my Jedi, hope you’re getting your snuggles with your grandparents, I know I sure miss those snuggles!

Love tu Madre,

Carly

Days 41 and 42: Isabela
Sunday, November 11th
Galapagos, Island Isabela
Stayed at Hostel Insular
(Day 9 at the Galapagos)

Dear Obiwan,
The next two days we spent on Isabela, this is the biggest of the 3 islands in the Galapagos that have airports and where people live. ISABELA IS KNOWN FOR PENGUINS. However…this just breaks my heart to even write about this Obi…one of the (I think 7?!) volcanoes erupted in July this year…and killed a ton of the penguins that live here. 😦

But I was hopeful I’d see some and I hope they are thriving and will be back to normal population numbers one day soon.

We said our goodbyes to Tamara who as heading back home today and were sad to part. Now it was just me, Margaux, and Itay.

Our day began by a 7am boat to Isabela. The boat was SO BUMPY and so much fun. On the boat I met a mother from USA who was with her husband and they were visiting their daughter who LIVES ON ISABELA. She had a job opportunity there for school or something…and fell in love….and never left! We were talking about how amazing the Galapagos was and I mentioned how much I love diving….and the woman told me that she has dived probably over 150 times! She also shared how dangerous the Galapagos diving is, and told me that 5 years ago her son in law’s friend DIED diving by the most dangerous places to dive in the Galapagos! But I guess it was for work and they didn’t do the proper research and have the right rescue boats or something…but still, that’s so horrible!

Anywho, once we got there…it takes about an hour and a half, we were blown away by how beautiful it was! There were more sea lions and iguanas than people!

Welcome to Isabela:

Isabela is a lot smaller than Santa Cruz, population wise and town wise. Compared to Santa Cruz…you can walk around Santa Cruz finding stores and beaches and things to do for probably an hour. Here…it takes about 10 minutes. It was calmer and quieter and we were all grateful. We walked around and found a hostel (as always…first question by Itay is ‘do you have an oven?!) for only $15 USD a person for 2 nights!

We asked what to do and took the advice to rent bikes to go for free to Concha…something. This place you can supposedly snorkel and see lots of fish and sea turtles and sea lions. We paid 15$ for bikes and 2$ for snorkels…to find out the bike ride was 2 minutes…and we could have walked for free.

When we got there it was high tide, which supposedly means the best visibility…but we couldn’t see ANYTHING. Itay got out after a few minutes but me and Margaux wanted to look all over. As we were swimming a local offered to show me and Margaux and this older man who he was with around the Concha. He said he will show us all the animals! We followed him…and still saw nothing. And we almost got SUCKED OUT TO SEA! There was an incredibly strong current as we were all swimming that ended up having the tour guide hold onto the old man and me and Margaux just start getting pulled back soooo intensely and we were quickly about to be under the rope marking ‘don’t swim past here.’ We were swimming so hard and laughing at points at how little distance we were making…but finally, don’t worry Obi, we got past the current.

After making a loop and seeing nothing we got out. We returned our bikes, ate dinner, and went to bed.

Day 42: Monday, November 12th
Galapagos, Island Isabela
Stayed at Hostel Insular
(Day 10 at the Galapagos)

Today Obi we had to cut our days at Isabela short due to not having enough cash. NO ONE TOLD US THERE WERE NO ATMS ON ISABELA. There were SO MANY on Santa Cruz. So instead of 3 nights and 4 days, we had to leave today. BUT we also were told that San Cristobal is the most beautiful so we did not mind at all getting there sooner!

But not before going to one of the main attractions on Isabela- Los Tuneles!

They are these BEAUTIFUL tunnels that were formed by lava many years ago. And as we were boating around…we saw PENGUINS!

Here are pictures from our amazing tour of Los Tuneles!

h! Also, Obi watch these 2 videos, the first is a sea lion making his lovely sounds to come say hi and snuggle with these other two sea lions. BUT the second video is heart breaking, saddest rejection of ALL TIME:

We then had dinner and spent a lovely last night in Isabela.

Here is possibly my favorite video of the trip, look at our amazingly comfy beds, as shown by Itay:

Love you lamb,
Tu Madre, Carly

Saturday, November 10th
Galapagos, Island Santa Cruz

Stayed at Hostel Darwin
(Day 8 at the Galapagos)

Dear Obiwan,
Oy vey I did not sleep to well last night. The whole Carlos drama and awaiting to find out if he pulls through, which I have ZERO confidence that he will, had me restless all night.

And what was your guess Obi about Carlos pulling through? Well my gut was right…Carlos was a NO SHOW. So after this the company paid Rene and 3 hours later, around 10:30 we were off to Gordon’s Rocks! Margaux, Itay, Tamara, and Ben dived twice and I had my SECOND DISCOVERY DIVE with Rene.

The big draw to Gordon’s Rocks for divers is that there are supposed to be HAMMERHEAD SHARKS. And the group all saw them! Itay said one got so close it made him jump…hammer heads look SO BIG. I saw one from the boat the other day heading to Bartolome! But, I did not see any on my dive.

Here is a video from the group dive with hammer heads!

The other thing about Gordon’s Rocks is that you have to have at least…10 dives I think? To dive because the current is VERY STRONG. As a result, my dive was a 5 minute boat ride away from the rocks by a reef! This time I was not as scared to get in and I could NOT WAIT!

The water today was colder than the last few days and the first part of the dive the visibility was poor and I only saw a few fish. After about 20 minutes trying to find anything…we suddenly saw a few sea lions…and then after we saw a few, more and more began to jump in the water…and eventually there were 7 SEA LIONS Obi! Just swimming with me! The sea lions are very smart and curious creatures so eventually they were swimming RIGHT IN MY FACE studying me and then playing with each other all around me! It was so surreal, I still can’t believe I swam with 7 sea lions!

Look! Here are pictures and videos from my second dive, as always, diving is very flattering:

After this amazing day we had our last night in Santa Cruz. I finally got the waffle with bananas and Nutella and chose chocolate gelato for the ice cream on top! I had this for dinner, it was phenomenal.

Then we headed to bed and were exciting to leave Santa Cruz tomorrow for the Island Isabela!

Love you my lamb,

Tu Madre, Carly

Friday, November 9th
Galapagos, Island Santa Cruz

Stayed at Darwin Hostel
(Day 7 at the Galapagos)

Dear Obiwan,
Today was such a whirlwind of emotions Jedi cat. The day ended with one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my trip yet.

But it started off with one of my favorite places I explored in the Galapagos- Bartolome Island. It was me, Tamara, Itay, and Ben. The guy who we made our deal with, Carlos, messed up the time AGAIN, and we were there at 6am as he told us…but the agency did not leave until 715. Also, he never got us our wet suits and we had to run around trying to find somewhere that was open and ended up having to pay out of pocket for our wet suits, but Carlos told us he would pay us back later today…

After this we were off to Bartolome!

After this we reached the island, it’s about an hour and 15 minutes away. Our tour guide was this extremely nice and excitable woman who showed us lava lizards and crickets and lava cacti on our way to the Mirador (view point). The big attraction at Bartolome is a penis shaped rock (they call it this, not my idea!). Look at the pictures!:

After this we all went snorkeling at two different spots by the penis rock.

OBI GUESS WHAT I SAW…PENGUINS!!! THERE WERE 2 PENGUINS HERE! I could not HANDLE myself. It was so exciting! They were Galapagos Penguins, which are one of the smallest penguins of the WORLD. They were so cute, one was chilling in his home, our tour guide told us he usually is here just basking in the sun, and he WAS! I got super close and he just let me stare at him. And then we saw another one as we were leaving.

When we were snorkeling we saw SEA TURTLES, sharks, and sea lions! The water was the clearest I’ve seen yet and it wasn’t too cold!

---

The next thing that happened Obi was completely ridiculous. Remember Carlos? Our agency guy got us the best deals? Well, we kept checking for him at the agency and his shop was CLOSED. We needed our information for our last day at Gordon’s rocks tomorrow and he hadn’t told us, which was shady and abnormal.

In summary: Carlos was fired today for taking $3000 from a German couple (whom I met in Cocoa Valley in Colombia) for them to go on a cruise for $1500 each…but then never them seats! They also said this wasn’t the first time this happened.

We all realized that we were not getting our money back…$140 each! As we were all upset and huffing and puffing one of our new friends from Santa Cruz that works with Carlos, Jose, heroically jumped up and suggested we go knock on his door.

So Margaux, Itay, and I headed to his house! While Tamara stayed at the agency to help us there for back up. The first house his girlfriend told us they had a fight and she kicked him out. We then went to his second home and he was there!

In short- it was ugly, he was drunk, angry, stubborn, and horribly sexist, he wouldn’t even look at Margaux and I in the eyes most of the time, but, he seemed to like Itay. There was almost a fight between Carlos and Jose! And Margaux was so tough and amazing she just stood her ground and told the guy to give us our money back.

He kept trying to tell us that everything was worked out and demanding us to leave and telling us to just show up at the dive shop at 7am and it was all organized. BUT we asked Rene at the dive shop who told us Carlos hasn’t spoken to him.

It ended with me telling Tamara to get the cops…once the fight almost started. And the cops came with half of the agency workers. The cops we’re on our side 100% and so nice!

Everyone was trying to speak some sense into Carlos but there he was, yelling at all of us, saying that me and Margaux have to pay $100 more for our trip tomorrow for coming to his house (all B.S.).

The night ended with the cops saying he has 24 hours to pay us back and the agency saying they will give us our money back if we don’t get to Gordon’s Rocks tomorrow.

What a day Obi!

Time for bed,

Love you lamb,
Carly

Day 38: My First Dive Thursday, November 8th Galapagos, Island Santa Cruz Stayed at Darwin Hostel (Day 6 in the Galapagos) Dear Obiwan, Obiwan Kenobi I went diving today for the first time and it was SO INCREDIBLE. I honestly still feel a little speechless. Today’s trip was to Seymor Island, one of the diving spots around Santa Cruz. The plan was for me to dive with the owner of the dive place, Rene, and everyone else to dive with Rene’s son. Tamara is a rescue diver and worked I’m Thailand for 3 months and currently has 71 fricken dives in her life! Itay just learned in Colombia so he has like…7?

---

We arrived at 7 like Carlos told us but we were told to return at 1030 due to the condition of the ocean.

---

On the boat we met Margaux, another solo traveler from France! She was also going to dive with the experienced divers.

---

After about 30 minutes riding around the islands we were at Seymore Island, one of the dive sites in Santa Cruz. My dive instructor Rene helped me get my gear on and as I was standing there with all my gear on about to jump into the ocean, I stared to get nervous. Obi, the water is SO ROUGH in the Galapagos, it calms down during ‘high season’ which is when it is warmer and the visibility in the water is better (also means it is much more expensive here!). So as I’m sitting there waiting to go in the water, the waves are splashing violently against the boat and bringing the boat up so high and then down so low.

Here’s a look of confidence from your Mama Obi, also, diving is a good look, everyone looks VERY ATTRACTIVE!

---

Finally, it was time Obi. Rene helped me get on the side of the boat, which was difficult with all the weight of the tank and the gear, and then he told me to jump in and hold onto the rope on the side of the boat. So…I jumped! And then I was IN the rough waters going up and down…and the water was so cold Obi! But I was wearing a wetsuit so you quickly warm up. Moments later Rene jumped in and made sure all my gear was ready, then he told me we were going to go under and he squeezed a button on my vest to let out all the air and then you just SINK under water! And after a few feet the water is calmer and so much easier to manage than on top of the water. He kept checking all my gear and kept asking if I am okay, which in diving world you have to give the OKAY symbol by putting your thumb and pointer finger together and then spreading your other three fingers apart, like this-.

And then Obiwan, I was diving! With ‘Discovery Dives’ the dive master has to hold your hand the whole time, which makes you feel very safe and watched after. He led me to some coral under the water and it honestly is just so magical. You see SO MANY FISH that are all so beautiful and most of them swim in schools so you are swimming right next to hundreds of fish all moving together as one. And also- YOU FEEL WEIGHTLESS you are practically floating and I just swam all around like a mermaid sometimes when Rene would let go of my hand. Rene was also just the best to dive with because he was so much fun and encourages you to dance under water and knows where to find all the fish and beautiful rocks. While under water he swam directly to A BUNCH OF BLACK TIP REEF SHARKS. Obi, he had me go SO CLOSE to them, so close if I moved my arm I would have been touching them. At one point he had me get very close to take a picture with his GOPro and one shark moved (most of them were sleeping) and I freaked out and jumped back and he immediately hugged me and told me to breathe and made sure I was okay, he also motioned to show me that they are not dangerous. It just is so counterintuitive to GO UP TO SHARKS, but I did! And you realize they literally could care less about you!

---

I had given up on the idea of learning to dive once I left Colombia Obi, but after this experience I was hooked. I wanted to do it again and again AND I want to get the certification so I don’t’ need someone holding my hand! And the certification allows you to dive ALL OVER THE WORLD! Here are the rest of the pictures and videos from the dive!

---

Also on the boat with us were 2 nice guys getting their PADI open water certification! Here are some photos:

During dives I had some waiting on the boat and it was beautiful!:

Here is all of us after our dives!!!:

And then, of course, look who was all over the docks when we got back!:

After the dive we went back to our new hostel Darwin Hostel and discovered that the shower was so awful, the shower head fell off and almost killed us at one point and then was shooting cold water at us…But it was okay.

---

Later Rene had us come back to watch all the dive videos from the agency’s GoPro. As we were watching my first dive videos Rene turned to me and said “you’re a natural! Look, you’re very graceful in the water! You’re meant for diving!” Obi, you know how clumsy I am on land, you know that when I was half living with Jon and Charlie and Steve that they wanted me to pay ‘Carly Insurance’ for all the stuff I would randomly accidentally knock over and break…I am NOT graceful, and no one has ever called me that. But, he said I was graceful underwater! Maybe it is where I should be? The land might just not be for me Obiwan.

---

After this we had an odd interaction with the guy Carlos who we got all our amazing deals from and then we ended the day with getting ice cream again at our favorite shop…they had pistachio!! Then we were off to get a good night sleep before tomorrow’s adventure!

Love you so much my Jedi,

Tu Madre, Carly

Wednesday, November 7th
Galapagos, Island Santa Cruz
Stayed at Crossman Hostel

(Day 5 in the Galapagos)

Dear Obiwan,
My Jedi! Today was one of the more bizarre days of the Galapagos…

First, the woman at our awesome hostel just non-chalantly told us today that we have to split rooms, two and two, and then we are BEING KICKED OUT THE NEXT DAY. She said this with an expression-less face and didn’t apologize? I’m pretty sure Tamara had paid until MONDAY too. She said a family was coming and they had our whole room. We decided to deal with this later.

We were supposed to go on boat to Santa Fe today, but when we got to the office Carlos told Itay that he thinks we will be disappointed after going to El Pinzon, he said normally El Pinzon is last because it’s the best…so we took his advice and rented kayaks for a lot less money and headed out to Las Grietas de Las Tinoreras.

Andreas from the agency led the tour and he was an incredibly nice guy who made the trip so fun.

We decided to have Itay and Tamara in one kayak and then Ben and I in another kayak…as always, with my whole trip, this was WAY HARDER than we thought it would be. Also, I would paddle a lot and Ben would do nothing, same with Itay, I kept looking and he was just looking around and relaxing. It first was funny…but then Ben kept being a schmuck and saying assanying comments, and I was about to slap him with my paddle Obi until he SHUT UP. But we finally reached the first palce to snorkle. We arrived to sea turtles in the water and sea lions on the dock! Sadly it was very cloudy and the water was very murky and had poor visibility. We went for a walk to see some sharks, but we coudln’t see any. We then went back to our kayaks to go to the second place where we were going to snorkle. Due to our first experience, we switched up kayaks, now I was with Tamara and the boys were together, SO MUCH BETTER.

We kayaked around some beautiful lava rocks and we saw a bunch of IGUANAS and sea turtles as we were swimming!

We arrived to our second destination, there was a dock with two sea lions on it. Andreas told us that if we were VERY QUIET and swam, the sea lions would eventually get in! So in we went, and the water was so murkey you can’t see you own hands, BUT just like Andreas said, one of the sea lions went swimming after a little bit!

Below are some pictures Tamara took on her GoPro:

But as we were swimming with this sea lion who was slowly geting closer to us, and Andreas said she was pregnant, something was bubbling between Itay and Ben. They were swimming further from me and Tamara but they had some sort of disagreement and started SCREAMING at each other, all in hebrew of course. But, it was a long fight. They each both were yelling, Ben seemed way more angry and Itay seemed angry but more angry about Ben’s behaviors (this is what I got from not understanding them). We are all trying to get them to be quiet, especially Andreas, he’s telling them to stop for the animals. They ignored him and us and everyone. They were yelling so loudly…it seemed to me that it was about something more than the water?

Andreas was very upset, he said he felt embarrassed and never had experienced something like this before. We left as they were fighting since the sea lions were now not swimming with us.

They paddled super fast and didn’t wait for us. We get back to the dock and it’s just Itay and the kayak. No Ben. Itay explains Ben got close to the sea lion and tried to touch it, which is NOT ALLOWED. And Itay got nervous for his safety and me and Tamara’s safety and told Ben not to touch it and then Ben yelled at him and then that was the fight. All about touching the sea lion.

Later Ben and Itay talked…then I talked to Ben briefly and he said he was leaving us, switching hostels. Said he won’t go with us tomorrow to dive but will come with us to Bartolome Friday. He said he would still pay for his part of the food. He said he was fine and that all was good. And then left our hostel.

I then announce to Itay and Tamara the news, and me and Tamara are just bewildered and stressed. Itay told us it would be fine. Said they are such good friends that sometimes you just spent too much close time together. He wishes he could have just spent the last 5 days they had together here… together and wished he dealt with it better, but oh well.

We then had lunch with Andreas and all chose the ‘king burger’ which had a friend egg and bacon and cheese on it, it was amazing!

Later that day I went to go find the ATM I found earlier this week to pay for the hostel but it just…didn’t exist! And 45 minutes later, after finding one ATM out of service we gave up and went to get ice cream, and they closed early for some reason 😭😭😭.

We got some normal ice cream bars from a shop and went to bed at a new hostel that seemed amazing!

Goodnight Obi,
Love your Mama,
Carly

P.S.- here is me drinking my favorite cappuccino at ‘The Rock’ after our kayaking!