Ecuador and the Galapagos – From Spanish Immersion to Island Paradise

After spending 6 months back in the USA, we decided it was time to pry ourselves away from our comfortable routine in Boulder and see more of the world.  We had intentionally skipped Ecuador on our extended travels earlier this year because it is relatively close to the US.  We took advantage of the kids’ Thanksgiving vacation and added more time, giving us 16 days to explore Ecuador and have two vastly different experiences: the first on the mainland studying Spanish and visiting the historic cities of Quito and Cuenca and the second, exploring the natural beauty and animal life in the Galapagos Islands.

We were surprised to learn that Quito, Ecuador’s capital, is at 9,200 feet, which makes this city on the equator surprisingly cool.  We spent a day walking through the cobblestone streets of the old town through big squares and charming narrow streets.  We had an adventurous climb up wobbly metal stairs to a high bell tower at one of the countless churches.  During our two nights in Quito, we tried to get some sleep in our hotel that was in the rocking part of town called Mariscol Sucre, a hot spot that doesn’t quiet down until after 2pm.   Since we are no longer party animals, we will stay in the old town the next time we visit.

We then flew to Cuenca, a historic old city that was a welcome respite from busy Quito.  We settled into a charming boutique hotel and began to immerse ourselves in the task of learning Spanish.  We took 20 hours of one-on-one classes over 4 days.  The boys had fun instructors who quickly learned they needed to get the boys outside the classroom playing in the park and browsing at markets.

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Cuenca and treated ourselves to a gourmet dinner at a hotel that served a turkey meal.  The kids loved the dinner and Ryan asked if we could come back for Thanksgiving dinner next year. 

When we were not in Spanish school, or recovering from brain overload, we explored the surrounding area.   The highlight was a hike at 13,000 feet in the national park of Cajas through beautiful rolling terrain.  When we left Cuenca, we drove through the national park and descended from over 14,000 feet to sea level in just a few hours.  The altitude and climate changes present in the small country of Ecuador are simply amazing.

From the bustling, commercial city of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, we departed on the second part of our vacation.  It felt like Christmas morning as we boarded the plane to go to the island paradise of the Galapagos.  We spent the first 6 days on a small catamaran called the Ocean Spray, run by Haugan Cruises.  The boat carried only 16 passengers, allowing us to explore the islands in a very private and intimate way and to get to know our shipmates.  Each day we went on multiple excursions to different islands, each revealing how starkly distinctive nearby locations and animals were from one another.  The Galapagos Islands are young volcanic islands, and many of the newest ones are a moonscape of black lava rock with mangroves growing where their roots could reach water.   Although the interiors of the islands seemed largely lifeless, the coasts were teaming with fish, penguins, manta rays, sharks, birds – and our favorites – iguanas, turtles and sea lions. 

The sea lion babies stole the show as they rolled around the ground like little puppy dogs.  They are often left alone for days as their mothers are out fishing.  It was hard to resist the urge to pick them up in our arms – which of course we couldn’t do since it would cause their moms to abandon them. 

Our Galapagos highlight was snorkeling with sea turtles.  On one occasion there were so many of turtles that we could not move without touching the ones that surrounded us.  We also swam with sea lions, penguins, cormorants, rays and marine iguanas that can stay under water for an hour eating the sea algae and moss.

We loved our catamaran experience and enjoyed meeting our fellow passengers on the trip.  Our guide, Harry, was fantastic and kept us entertained and educated.  On a few of the days the seas were rough and we started feeling a little queasy, but a quick nap or heading to bed for the night solved that problem.

We spent our final 2 days on the main island of Santa Cruz in a tented safari camp.  The camp was very beautiful and we enjoyed ourselves, but we would recommend that friends spend as much of their time as possible in the Galapagos on a boat.  It is a much more convenient way to see a diversity of islands and animals each day. 

Orris Takeaway's From Travel - PDF Presentation of our key lessons learned

Please click the following link to upload a presentation containing our key lessons learned from our nine months of travel.  We have started making this presentation in the community.  We are happy to share it with groups or individuals and take you through it in person.

OUR KEY TAKEAWAYS

Turkey - Meeting point of East and West

We could not wait to arrive in Turkey for two reasons: first, we had always wanted to experience this country where Europe & Asia intersect; and second, it was our last destination until we headed back home.

Our first stop in Turkey was the touristy Mediterranean beach town of Antalya in the south.  Imagine a beautiful strip of land positioned between the sea and the snow-capped mountains, a calm clean ocean, soft sandy beaches, endless swimming pools, numerous restaurants, and throngs of large German and Russian tourists.  It was a beautiful place, but we felt like we were in Disneyland with all the people, pulsating late night music and an overabundance of “all you can eat” food.  We realized once again that it is hard to “vacation” when we are in traveling mode.  We also confirmed that we are an all-inclusive resort’s dream family – none of us eat our weight in food and being hungover with two kids on the beach isn’t our idea of fun -- so we don’t drink much.  That will change in the next five years when the boys will be able to demolish a buffet in a single sitting!

After some R&R on the beach, we headed north for the real reason we visited Turkey - four days in the history-rich city of Istanbul.  Jay found an apartment in Sultanahmet, the old (really old) town with its narrow winding streets, uncountable restaurants, 1500+ year old sites and numerous tourists.  Swirling crowds were everywhere - it has been a long time since we have been in a place with so many tourists.

Istanbul is surrounded by water – sitting on the Bosphorus Strait that separates Europe from Asia and connects the Black Sea with the Mediterranean via the Marmara Sea.  We spent our days walking to all the “must-see” sights packed into Sultanahmet – the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and an ancient underground cistern built by the Byzantines.  We went shopping among the 3,000 shops in the Grand Bazaar, one of the largest and oldest “shopping malls” in the world.  And we jumped on ferries and trams to see the sights across the strait and spend the afternoon in Asia!  The food, the sites and the sounds (the four mosques in our neighborhood all fired up at 5 AM) were everything you would imagine in such a fabulous international city.

Istanbul was the perfect place to ease back into the Western world.  Next stop, a country that seems very foreign to us – the USA!

Palestine and Israel - Friends, religion and history

For the first time in a very long time, we spent five nights in the same place.  And even better it was with friends in their home!  The Maayah family ensured that our time in Palestine and Israel was a highlight of our travels and very informative.  Tareq is a fellow in Christy’s Henry Crown class at the Aspen Institute, and he and his wife, Natalie, and 3 children welcomed us into their home in Ramallah, Palestine.  They not only hosted us in their new guest apartment, they also fed us, entertained us, loaned us their car and ensured that we got the most out of our time there.  

Luke and Ryan were ecstatic to be with kids their own ages again.  Zena, Sammeh and Maajed played video games, watched movies and ran around constantly with our boys.  Since we were there for several school nights, we certainly managed to disrupt the normal flow of life in the Maayah household.

In addition to connecting with our friends, we explored the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Jericho, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. We loved wandering through the old streets of Jerusalem and seeing the historic religious sites – we visited sites that are among the most holy for Islam, Judaism and Christianity, all within an area smaller than one square mile.  We also spent one day in Israel proper exploring Tel Aviv.  Israel’s largest city had beautiful parks and beaches and was a sharp contrast to what we saw in Palestine.  Tel Aviv seemed like a very livable city and had a similar feel to many cities in the US or Europe.

Staying in Palestine was a very different experience than we would have had staying in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.  Despite reading about the Middle East prior to arriving, we found we still had large gaps in our knowledge of history and conflicts in the region.  News and history are often influenced by the source of the information and frequently we hear only one part of the story.  It’s no different in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and the bulk of our news in the US seems to come from an Israeli viewpoint.  What doesn’t make the news is the state of “martial law” that exists in the West Bank, and we saw and experienced first hand the restrictions imposed upon the Palestinians.  Our five days there has left us with a more complete view of what is happening in Israel/Palestine.  Paradoxically, it seems that there is no good resolution to the conflict while at the same time it seems obvious that the current situation is untenable and a two state solution is necessary.

Birthplace of Christ

Our travels over this past month have been a wonderful way for us all to learn and experience different religions, especially in places where religion is more central to public life than in the United States.  We certainly never take anyone to the church, synagogue, temple or mosque when they visit us in Boulder!  We learned about Buddhism in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.  We experienced the Muslim way of life in Bangladesh, Jordan and Palestine.  Finally, we learned more about Jewish and Christian beliefs and history while touring the historic sites in Jordan, Palestine and Israel.  It is much easier to comprehend the stories in the Bible, Koran and Torah when you have stood in the sites where the stories actually occurred.

Jordan - Lively people, ancient ruins and a Dead Sea!

Jordan surprised us all with its inviting people, vast ruins and stunning natural beauty.  Any concerns we had about how we would be received by the Jordanians were alleviated right away.  Everywhere we went, people would say, “You are welcome here.  Welcome to Jordan!”  Shopkeepers invited us in to have tea and talk about their area’s history and waiters befriended the boys, spoiling them with special drinks and ice cream. 

Jordan has some incredible history and some of the most spectacluar ruins in the world.  The impressive sites we saw right in the capital city of Amman were dwarfed the next day by Jerash’s vast ancient Roman city that reached its peak in the 3^rd century AD.  We were astounded by the immense temples, columned streets and buildings that we speculate would rival those in Athens and Rome.

With the images of Jerash still in our heads, we headed south to the crown jewel of Jordan’s historical past, Petra.  As advertised, it was even more impressive than Jerash.  Petra is a city that was literally carved out of the red rock by the Nabataeans 2500 years ago in about 400BC.  Petra, with its natural and carved structures, is an explorer’s dream and the kids immediately began scampering up rocks and looking in caves.  The stunning 1.2km narrow rock canyon leading into the village would be well worth a visit on its own, but there is so much more.  Palaces, temples, tombs and homes were intricately carved out of the sandstone walls.  It would take at least 3 days to explore the sprawling city in any depth.  We walked ourselves ragged for a day and a half and were only able to cover a fraction of the excavated ruins.  And they estimate it is only about 20% uncovered!

Another highlight of Jordan was our overnight in a Bedouin Camp at Wadi Rum Reserve, only about 20 km from the border with Saudi Arabia.  Wadi Rum is Moab, Utah on steroids with its sculpted sandstone mountains and vast desert plains.  We stayed in a rustic tented camp run by the local Bedouins.  We sat on the floor in the communal dining tent while we drank tea and listened to our guides sing and play their local music.  We climbed up to rock bridges, ran down sand dunes, visited Lawrence of Arabia’s old home and took an uncomfortable but mercifully short 30-minute camel ride. 

To contrast our experience in the desert, we went to a posh hot springs resort near the Dead Sea to pamper ourselves and get the grit off of our bodies.  It was a beautiful place but also probably the emptiest hotel we have ever been in.  Definitely more staff than guests!

On our return from Israel/Palestine, we spend one night on the shores of the Dead Sea and had a memorable swim/float/mud bath.  Although we had heard that the salinity would provide extra buoyancy, we were shocked to find that it was difficult to even fully submerse yourself.  You couldn’t drown in the sea if you tried!