For the last 2 years or so my brother Brian had been raving about some little town in Ecuador called Vilcabamba, the Valley of Longevity. Good Title. Brian would talk all about how the residents in this tiny community had the good (or bad, depending on how you look at things) fortune of living up to the age of 135. I didn't really notice anyone especially ancient, but we did meet a crazy dude from New Zealand who had lived there for 27 years and was clearly as insane as I would imagine someone that old must be. He told us he owned a mountain, ya that one right over there behind those other ones, and that he was the author of a book about the town entitled the Valley of Rare Fruits. Oh the irony. Turns out that is an actual book, but written by someone slightly less delusional (I assume). But he certainly was the rarest of fruits.
We arrived in the charming Valley in the evening and saw a bunch of bleachers and a stage set up outside the main...well, they only square. Turns out we were there the same weekend Vilcabamba was celebrating its Anniversary and they were having a weekend-long celebration. Well timed Vilcy, well timed indeed. The first evening's festivities consisted of a band and man spinning around wearing a suit made entirely of metal from which fireworks were unpredictably launched. Us paranoid Americans watched in horror as he chased the village children sending embers flying into their little faces.
The next day we decided to take a hike up to Mandango, the "sleeping woman" shaped rock above the town. After a good 45 minutes of circling around the outskirts of town aimlessly, we finally found what appeared to be the trailhead, pried open the locked entryway, climbed over some barbed wire and were finally on our way. The hike was straight uphill and along a very ridgey ridge but was a breathtaking landscape and a perfect intro to Andean trekking for us aspiring Inca trailers. Once again I must redirect you to kipptastic.blogspot.com if you'd like to get a cinematic view of the amazing day, but here is a clip of Jesse fucking with us and some visuals of the gorgeous scenery:
After our slightly tearful goodbye with the Angeltio group and reuniting with Jesse, we flew back to the mainland and hopped on a bus to Cuenca, a charming colonial city up in the Ecuadorian Andes. Cuenca was a nice landlocked refuge to regroup after our 2 weeks of island hopping. Colonial architecture, cobblestone streets, traditional handicrafts and indiginous culture was about all we could ask for. We managed to find an amazing apartment style hostel and happily planted ourselves for about 5 days exploring the city. We be Cuencstas.
On our final day, we were sitting in the little cafe under our balcony enjoying some jugo when suddenly Jesse lept up and yelled "JESSE!?" It seemed like an odd thing to yell one's own name in such a shocked an questioning tone, but then suddenly he was high-fiving some random dude on the street who we soon learned was also named Jesse. Mystery solved. Jesse and Jesse met each other traveling in Thailand a year ago and now just happened to run into each other on the other side of the world on the same street here in Cuenca. Disney didn't lie, it really is a small world after all.
Turned out the other Jesse had been traveling for a few months with his 2 cousins Cassie and Mary and they, like us, were headed south to the Peruvian border in a few days. After a night of hookah, poorly played pool and beer bonding, we persuaded them to take a quick detour with us to the town of Vilcabamba before heading to Peru. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship...
Call me Ishmael. I totally lied about that last entry...I actually do want to share one story from the Angelito week cuz it's just too good not to.
Before we met up with our tour group at the airport in Baltra, Grace and I had some mild anxiety at being stuck on a boat with 12 other people for 8 days. I mean, there arent many escape routes on a boat, especially a small one with cabins that only allow for one person to stand at a time. But pretty instantly we learned we had hit the jackpot with our Angelito shipmates. On board we had british couple Jill and Rob Gwilliam, possibly the most adorable couple I have ever encountered, celebrating their 40th anniversary. I want to be them when (if) I grow up. But there was also another contender for most adorable couple ever, Anu and Velu, speech pathologist professor and engineer/pre-med/birdwatcher extraordinaire from Indiana via India. Next there was Dave, the Harvard geneticist/professor, his lovely wife Leah and science brainiac kids Tam and Corrine from Brookline MA, and Robert and Elles from the Netherlands, Ursula from Switzerland and Vittorio from Canada. Add to that roster our amazing Swiss guide Maja and 7 local crew members and there you have it. Over the course of the week we got to know one another quite well, seeing as how there was little choice in the matter, but we really did seem to become one big family in no time, and this was the moment that really solidified it-
On the 5tth evening together, we had a long navigation to make around the tip of Isla Isabela. We had been told to keep an eye out for whales and dolphins on the way, but were pretty sure Maja just was telling us that to keep us out of her hair for the 5 hour ride. Sensing this tone, I decided I would go below and shower. Part of me knew that if I did, I would miss something amazing, but I was salty from our epic snorkel sesh and needed to rinse. Sure enough, as soon as Im covered head to toe in suds I hear an alarm bell go off and feel the boast slow to a halt. I tried to rinse off as much as I can and start throwing what appear to be clothes as the footsteps and voices of everyone on board are thundering above taunting me. As soon as I reach the top deck I see spout in the distance behind everyone on the deck. And then another spout, and then another. We were smack dab in the middle of a POD of whales swimming right next to our boat. I grew up in Southern California, I have seen my fair share of whales, but never so many and never so close. We circled around them running screaming at every spout that spouted for a good 20 minutes. I finally noticed that like me, Jill was only half dressed and better yet, Velu had shaving cream all over his face and was jumping and screaming like a 2 year old about to try ice cream for the first time...or something really exciting. I caught a very crappy video right before my camera died:
Let me give some context: prior to this our group had had some of the best luck imaginable in terms of seeing wildlife in the Galapagos. We had seen everything we expected to and more, and this was only 4 days in! But there was one thing we had pretty much no chance of seeing, the Galapagos Albatross, a bird who who only resided on Genovesa, an island not on our tour. Big deal, who cares, birds suck anyways (in my humble opinion). But to Velu, the Albatross was at least half the reason for even coming to the Galapagos. I really have never seen a more enthusiatic bird freak in my life...spotting these puny little finches and distinguishing ground finch from tree finch (ancient torture mechanism for someone like me) was like the highlight of this mans life. It would be sad if he weren´t the coolest guy ever.
Anyways, after the excitement of seeing all these whales we calmed down and were all feeling pretty satisfied and reflective. As he started descending to finish his half-shaven grill, Velu jokingly said ´´Now all we need to see is the Albatross and I can die happy.´´ Ask and ye shall recieve my friend.
2 minutes later the quiet content of the boat was interrupted by the highest pitched most erractic skrieking I have ever heard. Everyone ran down a level to find Velu, still twofaced with shaving cream, jumping, squealing and pointing at some average looking bird sitting on the water surface. Contrary to appearance, it was...drumroll...an ALBATROSS! Miles and miles away from the only island it is supposed to be chillin at.
Like I said, I could have cared less, the thing looked like a fat seagull to me, but seeing the sheer joy that it brought Velu, the way it united the whole boat, passengers and crew, and and the impossibility of the situation was beyond perfect. So ya, I know you had to be there, but it was one of those days where all I could do was sigh, grab a beer, watch the idyllic sunset off the bow and appreciate how lucky I am to be here.
Okay, there is seriously neither time nor space enough to go into much detail about the boat tour that Grace and I did for 8 days in the Galapagos. Apart from having to leave Jesse behind, it was such an amazing, completely action-packed experience every day, so I think it's best just to illustrate a bit with my nerdy pic collages. Sea lions and crabs and herons and giant tortoises and sea turtles and finches and warblers and vermilion flycatchers and frigatebirds and penguins and flamingos and boobies (blue-footed you dirty minded kids you) and flightless cormorants and marine iguanas and land iguanas and sharks and rays and whales and whale sharks OH MY!
The next island we visited, Santa Cruz, is the most populated/developed and its main city is Puerto Ayora. We spent 3 days before Grace and I left Jesse for a week to go on our boat trip, and got to experience a lot of what Puerto Ayora had to offer. Our first day we went to the Darwin Center to see some giant tortoises up close and personal. Turns out we got a little too up close and personal...it was a pretty empty day as far as tourists and any kind of law enforcement went and we "accidentally" entered the enclosure from the back where there were no signs telling us not to get so up close and personal. Whoopsies! Don't try this at home kids.
Also, there are really really awesome movies that Jesse put together of this and the rest of our Galapagos/Ecuador time, but I forgot to steal them from him before we parted so you have to go check them out at his, far superior blog: kipptastic.blogspot.com. They are not to be missed, trust. Anyhow,The next day we set out for a brackish water swimming hole we'd heard about called Las Grietas. It was hot as hell and a perfect day to take some dips. We did some pretty lame cliff jumping and were soon schooled by 8 year olds jumping the entire length of the 60-70 foot crevasse. Nothing like an ego boost to start your day off right. Again, see Jesse's blog for evidence. The final day in Puerto Ayora we went to see Tortuga Bay, a GORGEOUS white sand beach about a 45 minute walk from town. Probably the most beautiful beach in the Galapagos, and a strong contender for most others I have seen.
Obviously one has to take advantage of these settings for a little photo shoot attempt:
The Galapagos has been one of those things in the world that I have always been dying to see. When Grace and I first started talking about our trip it was the one thing I was absolutely insistent on doing. But man, it is not a cheap thing to do. After forking over a huge chunk of our budget to Fernando and Dougie Dougie for our 8-day crusie tour, we figured we should also do some exploring on our own and see some of the other islands we wouldn't see on the tour.
Anyone thinking about going to the Galapagos, I highly recommend you do the same.
Our first stop was Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristobal Island, the farthest east in the Archipelago. Literally the minute we arrived we were swarmed by sea lions, blue footed boobies, pelicans, and sally lightfoot crabs. We took a long walk up to the Darwin Interpretation Center and watched the sunset with the sea lions at Lover's beach, off the lighthouse in the southwest corner of the isle. SIGH.
The next day we toured around the rest of the island, stumbling upon an amazing treehouse, La Casa del Ceibo about 20 minutes outside of town. We could have stayed there for only 15 bucks a night, but there were only 2 very small beds for us 3...next time, next time. We continued along to a gorgeous crater lake, a giant tortoise reserve, and gorgeous beach whose beauty was eclipsed by a giant horsefly ambush. Another GREAT day in the life.
