Well it has been over a month since my last e-mail, so it must be time for another update! I am sad to report that I am no longer in the Galapagos! However, I am finally traveling with my friend who just finished Peace Corps Morocco, and everyday on this trip has been an adventure!
I can not fully express the joy that I got from my time in the Galapagos. I made some incredible friends, saw tons of amazing animals, and got the best tan of my life! It was hard for me to say goodbye, and clearly it was hard for the island as well because it took 4 days of scrambling and cancellations in order to finally fly back out to Quito. Depending on my contacts and what other opportunities pop up, I may be heading back to the island for an ecotourism job in August-ish.
Right now I am in Puerto Madryn in southern Argentina. It is winter here and we are so far south that the sun doesn't even come up until after 9am! It has been quite a switch after 2 months in the Galapagos!!!
After I left the island I spent a little time in Quito getting my visa in order before flying down to Lima, Peru, where I met up with my friend Andrea. We started getting ourselves into trouble almost as soon as she had stepped off the plane.
Andrea has a Zoo and environmental background similar to mine, so we weren't too interested in spending time in the city...we wanted to hike and see wildlife that needed identifying! Because of this, we only spent a couple of days in the capital before heading south to Paracas which is the gateway to Peru's version of “the poorman's Galapagos.” Here our bus dropped us in the middle of the desert and wished us luck. Of course by “wished us luck” I mean, kicked us out and drove off. Luckily someone showed up from our hostel to retrieve us. (I mean 'luckily' quite literally...I was very tempted to run crying back to the bus...seriously, we were in the middle of desert nothing...that didn't seem good)
Once at the hostel we were settling in at the computer when the owner came out and asked us if we wanted to see a penguin. Andrea and I looked at each other like this was some sort of trick question... um, of course we want to see a penguin? So we walked across town (tiny tiny town) where he pulled a Humboldt Penguin out from behind a wall. We stared at it for a minute in shock before we started taking pictures and asking gobs of questions, “What is he doing here,” “Is he a pet,” “Where is he from,” “No really, why is he here?” Etc etc. It turns out that when Pancho the Penguin was little he used to hang around fishermen and now he doesn't know how to fish on his own. At least that is how the story goes. After snapping tons of pictures of us sitting nearish the penguin, the man (now dubbed “Penguin Man”) asked if I wanted to touch the penguin and swooped in and grabbed Pancho and lifted him towards me. Penguins aren't known for being very friendly, and they have very sharp beaks, so I was a little apprehensive, but I wasn't going to pass up the chance to touch a penguin! So Andrea readied the camera and I reached out and petted Pancho's back just at the moment that he turned his head and clamped his razor beak onto Penguin Man's arm. Penguin Man screamed and tossed Pancho aside as I ran off and Andrea's picture taking finger froze in all of the excitement. We are pretty sure that no hostel will ever live up to the excitement of Penguin Man Hostel!
While in Paracas we were warned that traveling in Peru was no longer safe and that we should hunker down in the small town. Goals in mind, and finding no information about Peru safety anywhere online, we continued our travels south and headed to Arequipa. Once in Arequipa we learned that there were riots in the north of Peru where indigenous groups were protesting new government laws that were going to be harmful for the environment in the jungle. The riots led to the deaths of 30ish police officers and up to 100 indigenous people. Because the government in Peru controls the news, it is still very hard to get accurate numbers and information from up there. We weren't too worried since we were headed south in the direction of Macchu Pichu, but then we learned that there were rioters (separate issue) in the south as well and the main road to Cusco (gateway to Macchu Pichu) was entirely closed to traffic. After we got this news we decided that it was indeed unsafe for us to remain in Peru, and despite strong desires to see Macchu Pichu, we decided to evacuate to Chile. The morning of our bus out of Peru, we were awakened by an earthquake. We knew then that we had made the right decision to leave!
After Peru we did a day in Arica, Chile, the driest place in the world (0.03 inches of rain per year) but quickly discovered that Chile was WAY out of our budget and we quickly evacuated into Argentina. Luckily we haven't had to evacuate Argentina as of yet. :)
Highlights from Argentina:
Our favorite stop was at Iguazu Falls which may or may not be the widest waterfall in the world. We made a day out of our visit, hiked around the trails, got dunked under the falls in a speedboat, and I was attacked by a wild pack of Coatis. Seriously. A Coati is an animal that looks a bit like a raccoon (check out my picture site). Andrea and I had packed our lunch for the day, because we knew that food would be insanely expensive inside the park. I had our bread double bagged and hanging from my purse because we didn't want it to get squished inside our backpack. As we entered our first forested path, we came across a Coati. We got super excited and tried to take as many pictures as possible before he rambled off due to the noise of some other tourists coming down the path. Further down the way we came across 5 Coatis playing in a tree. After taking pictures, I walked under them when one came running down a tree, across the path, and launched itself up my leg and onto my bag!! I lifted my bag thinking the critter would fall off, but he hung on as I lifted him into the air. Soon he was using his claws and teeth to break into our bread bag, at which point I wanted nothing more to do with him and I whipped off my entire purse and set it on the ground. At this time 5 more Coatis had shown up to join in the feeding frenzy. And then 10 more. Eventually they chewed the bread bag free from my purse and I was able to free myself from the craziness. Sadly we lost our lunch, but boy did we have an adventure! By the time it was over, a crowd of people had arrived to snap pictures and laugh at my misfortune. Andrea and I were less fond of Coatis after that :) Further down the path we saw a family running at us carrying a picnic basket. Crossing the railroad tracks behind them was a pack of Coatis, they were literally chasing this family through the forest!!! We jumped up onto some handrails and tried not to get reattacked.
Although Iguazu was probably our favorite stop, it was also the first stop where we were robbed. On our bus from Arica to Puerto Iguazu, the bus company cut the lock off my checked bag and rifled through my bag (I am not sure that I lost anything other than my lock), and then our hostel stole some of my makeup (and $70 from one of our friends who was staying there as well). At our next stop in Buenos Aires, I dropped some money in our hostel room and it got scooped up by one of the other girls in our room, she also got Andrea's headlamp. Luckily I am now up to 3 bad things, so I must be done!
After Iguazu we spent a day in Brazil and one in Paraguay where we visited a black market. Sadly we visited these countries “under the table”...legal for a day, no longer...but that meant no stamp in our passport!
Next was Buenos Aires where we saw a tango show, got lost in a huge city park and on the subway. I have gotten really good at asking police for help (for example, “can you let us through the gate (instead of making us pay again) because we went the wrong direction on the subway”). Haha! From there we visited a cute little cobblestone city in Uruguay (complete with passport stamp!!) and then jumped on another bus and headed south into winter darkness.
Yesterday we went whale watching and saw Southern Right Whales (or rare legless hippos depending on if you have seen my picture site or not) and today Andrea is scuba diving while I get things done on the internet. Tonight we get back on a bus and head further south into Patagonia! Hopefully at our next stop we will get to see some huge glaciers and more wildlife. That will probably be our last stop before we head to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. By that time we will be wearing all of our clothes in order to stay warm in Antarctic temperatures. We have heard stories of blowing ice pellets from people we have met on the road. We are excited ;)
Anyway, I will try to be better about sending out updates as this adventure continues. I have been good about updating my picture site, so check that out.
I hope that you are all healthy and enjoying the warm weather up there!
:) Amber
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