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Bikepacker's South American Adventure
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- South America
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Location Date Quito 1479945600 Cotopaxi 1479859200 Mindo 1479772800 Otavalo 1479513600 Baltra Island 1479427200 Santiago Island 1479340800 Punta Espinosa 1479254400 Isabela Island 
1479168000 Baltra 1478995200 Tababela 1478822400 -
Location Date Tue, 15 November 2016
1479220560 Mon, 14 November 2016 1479112620
Nov 15/16
Today's adventure started out with a great hike at Punta Moreno, which is a lava field. It is really old so there is a little bit of vegetation in it such as a few cacti and tiny plants that live in very dry conditions. It can get pretty hot up there, what with the black rock and all! We lucked out with a bit of a wind to keep things bearable. It was fun walking on the lava and rather mind boggling to see some plants growing in what appears to be impossible conditions. We stumbled upon a few ponds and saw a pink flamingo along with some other birds and fish.
Later we got very brave and went snorkeling in spite of the cooler water and waves. The visibility wasn't great, but the turtles sure were! Everywhere you looked, there were giant turtles. One guy just kept coming closer and closer, thought he was going to kiss my cheek at some point! The turtles made the cold water much more bearable.
On the panga ride back to the boat, we saw some penguins. They are really cute, and much smaller than what I remember seeing in Chile. Might be 20 years worth of foggy memories making these guys smaller, or maybe they really are, who knows. At any rate, these pinguinos are shyer than the sea lions, but they stuck around long enough for us to get a good look.
After a great lunch and siesta (have I mentioned how well they are feeding us?) we went for another snorkel and hike at Urbina Bay. This time it was warmer and we saw tons of stuff. The turtles were everywhere, in fact it seemed hard to stay out of their way on occasion. Then a shark went by... then a sea lion came to play and in the process scared the shark away! Some tuna went racing by, then more turtles. We even swam with some white spotted eagle rays for awhile. Then a few more sharks went by. They were pretty cool! Not huge ones that you would expect from Hollywood, but big enough to know they were sharks. Sure was wishing that I had a GoPro, but a few of the guys did and hopefully they got some good footage. Visibility wasn't perfect but it was decent and there was so much marine life!
We later took a hike and saw a turtle and a few iguanas. It was pretty nice but after such an amazing snorkel it was hard to top! Back to the boat to get cleaned up and fed. We managed to catch a gorgeous sunset first though... it set beside a volcano. We had several frigate birds join us for the ride too, so they watched it set with us as they floated over the top deck.
Today's adventure started out with a great hike at Punta Moreno, which is a lava field. It is really old so there is a little bit of vegetation in it such as a few cacti and tiny plants that live in very dry conditions. It can get pretty hot up there, what with the black rock and all! We lucked out with a bit of a wind to keep things bearable. It was fun walking on the lava and rather mind boggling to see some plants growing in what appears to be impossible conditions. We stumbled upon a few ponds and saw a pink flamingo along with some other birds and fish.
Later we got very brave and went snorkeling in spite of the cooler water and waves. The visibility wasn't great, but the turtles sure were! Everywhere you looked, there were giant turtles. One guy just kept coming closer and closer, thought he was going to kiss my cheek at some point! The turtles made the cold water much more bearable.
On the panga ride back to the boat, we saw some penguins. They are really cute, and much smaller than what I remember seeing in Chile. Might be 20 years worth of foggy memories making these guys smaller, or maybe they really are, who knows. At any rate, these pinguinos are shyer than the sea lions, but they stuck around long enough for us to get a good look.
After a great lunch and siesta (have I mentioned how well they are feeding us?) we went for another snorkel and hike at Urbina Bay. This time it was warmer and we saw tons of stuff. The turtles were everywhere, in fact it seemed hard to stay out of their way on occasion. Then a shark went by... then a sea lion came to play and in the process scared the shark away! Some tuna went racing by, then more turtles. We even swam with some white spotted eagle rays for awhile. Then a few more sharks went by. They were pretty cool! Not huge ones that you would expect from Hollywood, but big enough to know they were sharks. Sure was wishing that I had a GoPro, but a few of the guys did and hopefully they got some good footage. Visibility wasn't perfect but it was decent and there was so much marine life!
We later took a hike and saw a turtle and a few iguanas. It was pretty nice but after such an amazing snorkel it was hard to top! Back to the boat to get cleaned up and fed. We managed to catch a gorgeous sunset first though... it set beside a volcano. We had several frigate birds join us for the ride too, so they watched it set with us as they floated over the top deck.
- comments
Cheryl Duckworth Wow, wow, wow - this adventure will not be something that you will be able to come home and tell all again to one person, enjoying it as you go - and cannot wait to hear some of it in person :) I hope this blog is something you can refer to when you get home, and I hope you have taken LOTS of pictures.