Galapagos Trip with Mom

It was such an amazing opportunity to take a trip to Ecuador with Grandma Faiola. 

We went to the Galapagos Islands. The impetus came from a 1, 2 punch: learning that we spend 80% of our time with our parents before we're 18 and talking to one of my 50'ish male friends about a trip he made to Italy with his Mom. His enthusiasm (from a merger & acquisition attorney; literally, the man is the most monotone of speakers with very little inflection in his voice ever)  was so inspiring that with Grandpa's help and an understanding, kind, and generous husband, the trip was booked within just a few days. Then, the best part was surprising Grandma with the trip. The second best part was actually going on the trip. 

We flew into Quito, Ecuador and spent a night there, getting acclimated. Grandma took altitude sickness pills to ensure she wouldn't get sick because Quito is so high above sea level. Then, we boarded another plane to fly two hours into the middle of the ocean to the 60-island archipelago chain. 

The diversity of the islands was incredible. Each island was completely different. Some were just 100% lava (like, literally, they would drop us off of the zodiac onto an island for 4 hours that had only lava ... and like two shrubs). Some were lava plus a few trees. Add in some iguanas and sea lions and we had quite the party for four hours. 

The islands were fascinating; like the most amazing, crazy interesting experience. Each one had small but meaningful differences. One island would have iguanas that couldn't swim, another would have iguanas that could swim but couldn't climb trees (we saw several of them dead, waiting for fruit to fall off the cactus's because ... yeah, no climbing).  

Even the sand was different from island to island. It went from crushed beautiful fine pink hued sand to dark black/purple sand that was made from spiny sea urchins (really, crushed, tiny spiny sea urchins). There were multiple hues of sands on the same island based on what kind of shells and creatures grew in the ocean directly beside the island. Try not to imagine all the little crustacean lives lost to give the sand rainbow colors. 

When we first got to the islands, we were amazed and astounded at all the diversity of birds, iguanas, and the seals and sea lions. It was like magic. By the end of the trip, we were basically stepping over the creatures in the natural habitats, and wondering why they were cluttering our perfect photo shots. Okay, that's an exaggeration but really, the wildlife was plentiful and not at all scared of us.

Thanks to a major hurricane (and did I mention the tsunami from the Mexican earthquake that hit us while we were on the boat?), Grandma and I got the lucky privilege to stay an extra day in Ecuador.

We spent that extra day searching the rainforest for the amazing toucan. It was very successful in that we spent eight hours hunting around in a rainforest for a very elusive bird that we saw literally on the car ride back to the hotel (2 hours away) from basically a football field away. And just his beak. But that was enough for us both. We squealed like giddy teenagers who had won the lottery and aced our finals all at the same time.

Our trip was perfect. We spent 13 days together, 8 of that in 225 square feet on a boat, and came back happier, more grateful and more connected than ever. It was the trip of a lifetime (thus far ... here's to hoping the best is yet to come).