The Wonders of the Galapagos

Well, it's been an incredible ten days so far on the islands. To start things out, I flew in to the Galapagos with no plan laid out. Just two goals: find a good cruising tour and see lots! Once I made it to Puerto Ayora, the main town on the Santa Cruz Island, I found a cheap hostel with my new German friend, Stefan. From there I set out to start my negotiations with several different tour agencies that specialized in last minute dealings. I figured that this was going to be a tiresome adventure but I soon realized that this entire island is practically geared towards it. Within the first hour or two of finalizing tours, I had set up a ten day tour which would take me through ten or so different islands throughout the Galapagos.

The first three days consisted of land based tours on the Isabela and Santa Cruz islands and the following seven cruising around the ocean exploring gorgeous landscapes, animals and underwater creatures.

I had an amazing time on my cruise filled with sixteen eager tourists from all around the world. Couples from Germany, Australia, Ireland, The UK and Canada. There were three of us from the states. Two from San Diego and myself. And one solo German traveler who I bunked with. The food was unbelievable and the crew was so much fun! Especially our guide, Enrique.

Here are a few shots from beginning to end of my last ten days! Enjoy!




These are called "Las Grietas" or The Cracks in English. To very random edifices in the middle of Santa Cruz island hanging over a brackish river of water.



The famous giant tortoise of the Galapagos weighing close to 250kg! HUGE!




Shot of my first group on Isla Isabela hiking along the edge of a huge volcano.



This was a very strange area filled with very different forms and colors of volcanic rock.



Snorkeling down to find sea turtles and life below.



Dinosaurs taking up the path. They were everywhere! You had to watch your step in order not to step on them.



The Galapagos' famous Kicker Rock



A red footed booby cooling itself down



One of the many sharks we swam with in the last few days! They were everywhere and definitely not too shy...



Para... para... paradise!




Relaxing on layers upon layers of cooled lava flows.



The pinnacle on Isla Bartolome



A very calm sea turtle sharing the waters with me.



Female lava lizard. She was a little hot headed.



A huge waved albatross. These things have the dorkiest mating dances ever and also have a huge wing span of over two and a half meters.


A blue footed booby and it's chick. Shot this with my Irish friends impressive 300mm lens. Thanks Merv!



Penguin contemplating diving into the water. He was fun to swim with for a while.



Here's a shot of a naska booby nest and it has an interesting story behind it. nazka boobies always lay two eggs. Of those two eggs one chick will survive. The moment both chicks are born they have a summon wrestle match and attempt to push the other outside of the first ring that you see closest to the parent. Once they are pushed outside, the parent witless no longer recognize that chic. As it's own and will only feed the strongest one.



My always smiling iguana friend

Location:Santa Cruz,Ecuador

Baños Adrenaline (Baños video)

Fun little video of the crazy fun things to do in Baños!!

The Amazon! (The Video)

Finally got around to making the video for the Amazon! Enjoy!

The Quilotoa Loop Adventure

What an adventure!! To start off this four day trek, max and I leave latacunga early in the morning and arrive to this beautiful alkaline crater lake by the name of lagoona Quilotoa. We marveled at the lake as we traversed around it for about an hour. We then dropped off the side down into the lowlands of the neighboring farming communities. Our next destination was eight miles away to a city called chugchilán. We only managed to get lost about two times and with the help of the occasional farmer, we made it to our destination.



Some amazing views as we passed around the pool of the Quilotoa lake.





These hill sides were unbelievable. They could drop off without a. Moments notice, dropping up to 150 meters or they could go on and on with what seemed to be an endless expanse of farm after farm. From chugchilán max and I made our way to insinliví, a complete sleeper town. Not too much was happening here but like we always seemed to find amazing hospitality and happiness.
We stayed at a small hostel which was completely self sufficient. They had their own crops, animals, kitchens and best of all, their bake house. As I walked towards my room I couldn't help but take in the amazing warm smells of freshly baked bread and cheese filled empanadas. I stuck my head into the small room filled with two ovens and racks upon racks of either fresh out of the oven loaves of bread or fresh dough waiting to be baked.
I had to let the woman baking know just how good the aromas were that we're being wafted out of this room. Without even a moment of hesitation she offered max and I two freshly baked loaves which were by far the best treats we had even enjoyed.


We continued on towards a small town named sigchos on our final day. This was by far the most exciting hike that we had made. Not only was the scenery absolutely amazing in any direction that your eyes laid their gaze, but we got lost for about two hours or so which turned our supposedly easiest two hour hike into an exhausting four and a half hour adventure through farms, rivers, random bridges and tiny back road paths.
All in all, an amazing 40 miles of hiking throughout some of the most gorgeous landscapes I have ever seen.


¡Hasta próxima vez! #coopedAbroad

Yasuni National Rainforest A.K.A The amazon

To start off our expedition into the Amazon, we first take a two hour truck ride into the middle of no where. We were already surrounded by dense forests and to our side was the Shiripuno River.
We then got on this metal canoe which pushed us four hours deeper into the jungle. On the way to our camp we found turtles, amazing birds, caiman and so much more. Finally when we made it to our camp we realized that we were the only living human for miles around.


When the sun came out, it didn't mess around in the jungle. We did what we could to block the sun with our awesome ninja looking buffs.



Gorgeous ride out on the canoe during the evening to go bird watching and soaking in the incredible sounds of the forest.


You would think that the country that produces the worlds best coffee would have the stuff everywhere! But they don't. Almost every restaurant that we went to had some terrible Nescafé. So, when I found this bag of freshly ground coffee in a market, I didn't wait a second to buy it and promptly make myself a cup each morning for the following week.


These Kaypok trees are amazing! They are scattered throughout the amazon, showing off their huge buttresses. This is a small one compared to the giant we found at the end.




Happy little caiman chillin on a log as we rode up to a trailhead into the forest.



Just to give you an idea how dense the jungle was that we were traveling through.


Our camp which was located in the middle of nowhere! Surrounded by Forrest on all sides gave us an amazing sense of isolation in the wilderness.



Max and I decided to get a little dirty and have ourselves a mud bath/fight.



The amazing macaw of the amazon. We saw about 20 of these guys throughout our trip! Good to know that this part of the amazon is still so intact.







Here's a shot that shows you just how massive these Kaypok trees are that I was talking about earlier. Just looking at this picture can't make you feel the massiveness of these trees.

¡Hasta próxima vez! #coopedAbroad