Ecuador and the Galapagos Island

March 23, 2014  •  Leave a Comment

My last trip began by “learning” Spanish in the Capital of Ecuador, Quito. I lived  with an Ecuadorian family for two weeks. They couldn't speak a word of English and served curry soup and rice every day. As well as meeting this family, I met a lot of new friends at the language school from all over the world. One of the best things about travel and life in general, is the people you meet and the adventures you create with them. I had a lot of fun with all my new friends, we ran every day in the park, went to museums, learned Spanish, danced salsa and tried funny and weird food such as grilled guinea pigs.

Two weeks later, 15 Danish girls and two boys arrived to Quito and we began an unforgettable two month journey through Ecuador, The Galapagos Islands and Peru. The time passed quickly as we ziplined over rainforests, tubed down large rivers, sailed kayak in volcanoes in additions to living with natives in Otovalo. We stayed at Indians in the Amazon jungle, river rafted, went mountain biking, paraglided over the Andes, rappelling down waterfalls, surfing and even more.

Before we went to The Galapagos Islands, we stayed three days at the shore in  Montanita, a town famous for its partying and surfing. Here I ran with a girl every morning, along the beach past big rocls. We would stand on the rocks while the waves hit the rocks and splashed water 10 meters into the air as we became completely soaked. We had an incredible view over the Pacific Ocean and we stood watching the pelicans fly along with the huge waves. Between the rocks there were small puddles where we could find live corals. They looked like little green oblong pasta penne’s, which huddled together and brightened when we gently moved our hands over them! – Just amazing!

 

The tour then proceeded to the Galapagos Islands. These islands are unique, as many species exist only here. There are giant tortoises that are far bigger than humans and can live up until the grand old age of 200. There are also large iguanas and sea lions, which sunbathe all along the coast. The greatest experience I had here was when we went fishing. However, it was not so much a fishing trip, because when we jumped into the water to snorkel for a bit, we discovered that there were no sea lions, but instead it was filled with sharks. With our hearts beating at a rapid pace, we swam around with a shoal of 50 sharks! – it was incredible!! After we caught a big fish we ate lunch on a pristine beach where sea turtles laid their eggs. The following day I decided to go diving. I didn't know if I would ever get the chance to come back to these beautiful islands, so I chose to try the most difficult dives possible! Despite the fact that I have not been diving for nearly five years and only ever done 10 -14 dives before, so it was pretty risky considering the minimum amount for this dive was 40, I made it! – but only just. The place was called Gordon Rocks. The locals called it the washing machine because of the enormous streams in the area. On the dive I saw large whitetip sharks of up to three meters, which were no more than half a meter away from me. I saw one hammerhead shark, a large number of beautiful giant sea turtles, may beautifully coloured fish and manta rays of almost five meters in width. . The stream at Gordon Rocks took me and I was dragged several meters down. In a moment of panic, I clung to a rock 40 meters below, I waited until the tide became weaker and I could again move upwards. Since the stream was so powerful, I didn’t have time to equalize properly and my right eardrum was harmed. The following day we went back to the mainland and I went to the hospital where I received treatment.


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