A Very Canoa Christmas

For this year`s Christmas festivities, Elisabeth and I happily abstained from last minute shopping runs, various mall expeditions, egg nog lattes, and loops of the same 20 Christmas carols.  Instead we spent Christmas in Canoa, Ecuador, 20 feet from the Pacific Ocean.  When we arrived, around the 10th of December, the Christmas spirit still hadn´t hit us.  No late night car trips looking at lights, no carols, no plastic lawn ornaments with red noses, nada. We were staying at hostel Coco Loco, a family run hostel with no fewer then 1 animal per every guest. In fact, the exact count was 5 dogs (2 puppies), 5 cats, and 17 horses (to be fair, the horses didn´t stay at the hostal)!  The owners, an American (Elizabeth) and Mexican (Maurico), along with their son (Mao), took us in and all of it sudden it began to feel like Christmas.  We spent our days making Christmas cookies, decorating sand dollars with Christmas designs, and buying cheap toys for the local kids (as well as boggy boarding, reading, and lounging on the beach!).

Carlito by the tree with the 2 pups!

Feisty the puppy and me!

The Coco Loco hostal.

The great part about spending Christmas in Canoa was that we were able to get a home cooked meal for both Christmas eve and Christmas day.  On the eve we went to a local restaurant and had a delicious meal of turkey, giant prawns, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and other delicious thanksgiving-esq foods.  Since we had completely missed thanksgiving (spent on a remote island in the Galapagos), the meal hit the spot and was long overdue.

Christmas meal 1.

The gang for meal 1.

The next evening we spent at our hostal where Elizabeth, cooked us another feast.  This time we had a beautifully cooked piece of pork, caramelized onions on toast, a beautiful salad (a VERY rare feet down here!), potato pie, various other sides, and a Christmas dish I had personally never experienced.   Yams with crispy marshmallows on top.  I was skeptical heading in, but they turned out to be delicious!  Not overpoweringly sweet like I thought they would be.  It was really great to be able to have two home cooked, delicious meals for Christmas.  It helped take away any pangs of guilt for not being home and also helped stifle any dreams of tamales and pot roasts!

Christmas meal 2.

A few nights before these wonderful meals, we spread the Christmas cheer throughout Canoa by wrapping presents and helping Papa Noel deliver them to some of the poorer areas of town.  Throughout the evening of the 23rd, we wrapped presents and marked them as niño or niña (boy or girl).  After wrapping 60 some odd presents we quickly learned 3 Christmas carols and met up with the local man who was acting his part as Santa.  It took about 45 minutes to parade through the town (1 Papa Noel, 10 gringos, a few dogs, and an entourage of kids) and was quite a scene.  As our voices grew horse from repeating Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells and Let it Snow we trampled through mud that was ankle deep and were accompanied by a dog trotting beside us with reindeer antlers.  Quite the scene.  I honestly didn`t know that many kids lived in Canoa!  At times Papa Noel had a circle of kids 5 or 6 deep around him.  This was no orderly sit on Santa`s lap and get a present routine, but it was great fun to watch all the kids get their presents.

Carolers and Papa Noel.

A smelly dog with reindeer antlers!

A fellow gringo leaving a little to be desired
on the wrapping front.

We also were lucky to see one of the cats, who we named Preggers, give birth 2 days after Christmas.  She had 4 ratlike kittens that seemed healthy and happy!  We will post some pictures of the kittens ASAP.

Fun times with Carla and Lauren

We returned to Quito after the Galapagos to meet up with friends from SF, Carla and Lauren whom Matt has known since grade school. Carla arrived two days before Lauren so we went to the Equator or "Mitad del Mundo" which was a monument set up displaying the equator and the four directions, North and South being most exciting because you can stand with one foot in each hemisphere. I know that doesn´t sound that exciting-I guess you have to be there. We had a lot of fun with that all lining up with our bodies divided by the equator as seen here:

Unfortunately, the monument and themepark were built before GPS so its technically not on the equator. Its 00"00"07" south of the actual equator. After our fun in the park taking pictures and eating awesome ice cream sundaes, we headed to the real equator that runs through the highway and then onto a wall in an empty lot. Its a lot less glamorous than the monument close by but we took pictures with it anyway.

The actual middle of the world!

The next day we took a three hour bus trip (one way) to the Termas de Papallacta, which seemed like a rediculous day trip but ended being an excellent. We began our trip on the trolley in the wrong direction because we got the names of the terminals mixed up. Once we realized our mistake we found the trolley going the right direction. It was a forty-five minute ride with about 30 giggling school girls and a blind man who caressed Jason's head as he was looking for a place to hold on. The two hour-bus ride after was reasonably uneventful except for the overturned gas tanker in the middle of the road that required the bus to turn around and navigate the tiny dirt roads along the main highway. When we arrived in Papallacta a camioneta picked us up and took us the rest of the way (another 5 minutes).

The thermal baths were amazing! We had our choice of about 25 pools varying in degrees for $7 a person. The pools were spotlessly clean and set in a lush green valley with views of snow-capped peaks. There was a river that we would jump into when the pools were too hot. Matt, Carla and I made a bet on who could would get out of the cold river first with the loser buying the two winners a beverage. Matt and I enjoyed our well-deserved Fantas. This is where Carla received her awesome new nickname. There was an older gentlemen who was also soaking in the baths who out of nowhere told Carla and I that we were "Leche and Café." He went on and on and Matt tried to get in on the action by saying he also was café but the man corrected him and said that he was more of a cafe con leche.


Lauren arrived that evening so the following day we headed to Otavalo (again for Matt and I) for some shopping. We all bought great souvenirs and Christmas presents and ate at the best pie shop in Ecuador. We entered the pie shop during the final minutes of a football game. Two Ecuadorian teams were playing each other to advance in the Copa de la Americas. The older woman in charge of the pie shop was really into the game and told us to wait 5 minutes until the game was over and then she would take our orders. We couldn´t even ask her question about the game -- when we tried she waved us back. When we finally did order, she nodded approvingly at all of our orders except Carla, who said she didn´t want ice cream with her pie. Obviously the wrong choice, Carla then said she would take ice cream. It was amazing blackberry pie!

A Christmas Tree in Otavalo!

Mindo was our next stop. We arrived during a good rain and all piled into the back of a camioneta down the road to the little town in the cloud forest. Our first mission was to check out the coffee plantation. It was a small plot of land but nobody was there to give us a tour so we did it ourselves and then had a nice cup of coffee for the road. Carlito arrived that day so the fun could really begin.
Our next morning we wasted no time getting into the trees. I had never been ziplinning before but I would definitely do it again after this experience. Our guides were awesome and entertaining and gave me the nickname of "girl who screams a lot." We did a total of 10 lines varying in height and length. We did many of them the "normal" way and had a choice of various other options to make our way down the line such as the "superman," "butterfly," and upside-down. I, of course, could never get it right and swung backwards half the time. They also played a mean trick on me for one of the lines-I was connected to the guide and he was pointing at where I was going to see a waterfall. The other guide than pushed me off the platform and of course I screamed then grabbed onto the guide´s leg I was so scared. Oh yeah and Lauren recieved a proposal!


Later in the day we went on a tour of a chocolate "factory" where we were told the history of cacao and how chocolate is made. The information was interesting but the samples were even better. We each got to try 100% cacao and my favorite, a brownie with chocolate ice cream.
The next morning we woke at 3am to catch the 4am bus. We must have woken up everyone in town because all of the dogs started howling and barking. One of the dogs who was really sweet during the day started nipping at our heals while we tried to board the bus. Thankfully Matt saved me by scaring him away.

This is our hostel in Canoa, the Coco Loco!

We arrived in Canoa about 8 hours later to begin our 2 week stay on our vacation from traveling. We are currently nearing the end of week 2 in Canoa, and our next post will be all about our Christmas by the beach.

Galapagos Part II: The Land!

We saw so many amazing animals, I've decided just to put a brief description, and a lot of photos, of each! For further pictures check out the full album on Picasa (click here for my album and here for Elisabeth´s album).

The Galapagos Hawk
This beautiful hawk is on top of the food chain on the Galapagos. We saw him on a beach on island Espinola, where he was patrolling for baby sea lions, sea lion placentas, baby blue-footed boobies, and other mid sized, tasty animals! It was pretty amazing walking the beach with him/her, as it would swoop down inches from our head as it was cruising for lunch.

Giant Land Tortoises 
There were14 species of giant land Tortoises on the Galapagos, but 2 are extinct and one more is on the verge. Lonesome George, the last remaining tortoise of his particular species, is over 70 years old and when he dies his species will be extinct. The Tortoise has no natural predators, and when humans showed up in the Galapagos they used the Tortoises as pets and as a source of fresh meat. Tortoise population is down to 30k, from 120k 200 years ago, but they are still all over some of the islands! When you drive the main road (over the middle of Santa Cruz island) you can look out your window and see giant Tortoises all over, just munching on shrubbery! It is the equivalent of seeing a Deer in Marin County or a Raccoon in San Francisco. 

A Tortoise close up



Elisabeth and a new friend!

 



Lonesome George, all by himself...

Elisabeth as a turtle!

Blue Footed Boobies
These Boobies are one of the Galapago´s most famous animals. They look sort of like a seagull, except they have bright blue (or red, or grey) feet. They are completely un-intimidated by humans and you can literally get as close as you want to them (but don´t touch! Against the Galapagos rules!). We saw a number of couples (they are monogamous) with babies or eggs. Very cute! They are also really good fisherman, and as opposed to the Pelicans (who belly flop into the water), the boobies make spectacular dives into the water with no trace of a splash. 

Blue Footed Boobie with 2 eggs.



Parent with baby bird.



Adorable baby Boobie.

 

2 baby Boobies.



Where is its head?

Vampire Finch 
The Galapagos is covered with birds, but this one takes the cake for most disgusting. All he eats is blood and we saw him eating a sea lion placenta. He was super aggressive and was chasing away birds 3 or 4 times as big as him!

Vampire Finch enjoying a placenta.

Sea Lions!!! 
These stinky creatures are all over every beach and rock covered coastal area on the Galapagos. The babies are absolutely adorable (we literally took hundreds of photos of JUST the babies!), the females are pretty but don´t care about humans, and the alpha males are big and make sure to chase you out of their territory. Every day we saw tons of them!

2 babies who are very interested in me.

Elisabeth giving an air hug to a pup!

A pup nursing

Mom and pup.

The Waved Albatross 
Theses guys were HUGE and not the most attractive of birds. The adults have a 7.5 foot wingspan! On the Galapagos you can see them pairing off and raising their young, the babies hanging in the nests, and the adults trying to take flight (pretty hilarious). To take flight these giant birds need a long runway where they run and try and flap their wings to create some lift. Unfortunately for them, they usually can´t do it this way, and instead have to waddle up to 1km to a cliff edge where they jump off (and fly away).

Adolescent, talk about a gawky bird!

2 adults doing a mating dance.

Iguanas (Marine Iguana, Christams Iguana, Land Iguana) 
The various types of Iguanas give the Galapagos a some what prehistoric feel. They all have a fairly similar body structure, with a few slight variations.  One of the variations is the Christmas Iguana.  It munches on red and green algae in the ocean and when it does so turns red and green -- like a Christmas tree!  There is also a Land Iguana, which, as the name indicates lives on land not in the sea. Finally, there is a Marine Iguana which swims in the ocean to cool off and get its food!  Jason and I swam with this type of Iguana on our first day, incredible experience. We also where there during mating season when the biggest, baddest male herds as many females as he can into an area and mates with them.

Marine Iguana

Land Iguana

Marine Iguana

A harem of females for some lucky male.

A Marine Iguana contemplating going into the ocean.

Christmas Iguana!

Magnificent Frigate
We had been looking forward to seeing the Magnificent Frigate for most of our cruise.  He is a beautiful black bird that has a giant pouch under his beak that is a beautiful red color.  When the male of the species is trying to get a mate, he puffs it up and shows the lady birds his wonderful red pouch.  Really amazing.

A male Frigate trying to impress some ladies.

Other Land Animals
Here are some other photos of various land animals we saw.

Crab.  These guys were all over the place!

Flamingo!

Night Gull

Vermillion Fly Catcher, male.  Endangered.

The Islands
One amazing part of the cruise we did was seeing the various islands.  They ranged from land that was only 126 years old to islands that were tens of millions of years old. We hiked craters, lava flows, caves that went for kilometers into the sea, various nesting areas for birds, and everything from desert landscape to more tropical settings.  One really interesting thing we saw was a species of cactus that had a trunk like base.  This cactus grew really slowly, 1 centimeter per year, and once they are a few meters tall the bottom part shed its needles and became more or less a tree trunk.

Elisabeth with the oldest cactus in the
Galapagos, over 1,000 years old!!!

A giant blow hole!

A crater from a recent (last 200 years) volcanic eruption.

Nerd alert!

A nice morning swim in a cave!

Bahia Post Office
The Bahia Post Office is one of the oldest traditions on the Galapagos.  Sailors sailing one direction would stop here and leave letters and packages for back home with the hope that some sailor going the other way would pick it up and deliver it for them.  The tradition is still alive today as tourists leave postcards that they hope other tourists will pick up and deliver for them.  I know one lucky dog back in San Francisco that has a postcard coming her way!

The post office.

The post office in Elisabeth´s cool Sepia mode.

The Beaches
One of the coolest parts of the Galapagos was all the beaches we were able to visit.  We saw beaches with red sand, white sand, yellow sand, gravel beaches, rock beaches, beaches that had sand as fine as talcum powder...

Red sand beach.

White sand beach, that had talcum powder esq sand, and an Iguana!