The island here are amazing! They are totally pristine, full of wildlife, and just bellowing with Darwin´s theory of evolution. I have been on a week long boat cruise around the islands and have been very well educated by Diego, our guide, on all the different species and geological formations of the Galapagos.
For example, there are 15 different Darwin finches here. Some get most of their food from land, hence the name "Land Finches." Some have very long and strang looking beaks. They are not a freak of nature, as I suspected. They have merely adapted to get their food in the easiest way. So those strange birds are not the "Elephant Bird Finches" as I suggested, they are "Cactus Finches" with beaks long and bendy to get into the cactus flowers. I may have caused Darwin himself to turn in his grave with my observations of the creatures here.
We get to go snorkelling with the sea lions, and penguins, and I even got to swim with a white tipped reef shark, that was perfectly harmless, as Diego assured. I kept my distance, all the same. The animals have no fear here of people, since they don´t have predators.
Bet you all didn´t know that there are TWO kinds of iguannas here. Marine iguannas and Land iguannas. When they sometimes mate, their hybrid offspring are infertile. Darwin´s theory at work! The Marine iguannas can really swim fast in the ocean, and they eat seaweed. The Land iguannas eat the prickly pear cactus fruit, as it falls off the tree.
I´m having a blast with the other people on the boat as well. We are from all over, Austria, Netherlands, England, Canada, Equador and Australia. We are also all pretty sarcastic and a bunch of jokers. Poor Diego doesn´t get most of our jokes.
I have another couple of days here on the islands on the boat tour, then I fly to Lima to meet up with Heidi, my friend from Boston, and we´re going to hike the Inca Trail.
Well, time is running out. I hope you are all well.
Love, Carla
Saturday, January 25, 2003
Monday, January 20, 2003
¿Estamos in Cuenca?
Holas mi amigos! Yo soy muy bien y me gusta Equador mucho! After saying "Adios!" to my Mom and John in San Francisco, we drove down to LA and spent one night with our friend, Jeremy, who we met in Greece 6 months earlier. Jeremy, please tell your roommates the cookies they gave us made our flight very pleasant.
Unfortunately, I forgot my yahoo password and can´t get into my email account. If anyone has sent important emails after Jan 14th, you may want to resend them to my hotmail account. carlamartino55@hotmail.com
I´ve alerted some Lone Gunmen to the problem, and hopefully it will be resolved, eventually. Laura, I think you jinxed us when you asked us to keep the drama down!
Alison and I flew from LA to Costa Rica, where we chatted away with Rebecca, a Canadian we met on the plane. Unfortunately we had no time to visit there, went on to arrive in Quito, Equador, instead. I had plans to meet up with some relatives of my cousin´s wife, who live in Cuenca. We bought a flight to Cuenca from Quito, but somehow got on the wrong plane. We arrived in Guayaquil, and when our bags weren´t there to join us, Alison, in jest, asks me, "Are we in Cuenca?" Hmmm, not sure.... After confirming our location with security guard, we sheepishly boarded ANOTHER plane to Cuenca. Only in South America can one wander aimlessly onto the wrong plane, yet still get a set of nail clippers confisgated.
Martina´s family in Cuenca are so nice! They let us stay with them, and took us sightseeing to Incapirca, boating in Gualaceo, and fishing in Parque Nacional Cajas. Everyone had good words to say about my cousin, Brian, especially Uncle Jorge (Tio Loco). Brian was there to visit 7 years before, with his wife, Martina, during Carnival. Since no one spoke English, I was able to practice my amature Spanish heaps. MaEugenia helped me advance my vocabulary by teaching me all the bad words, malas palabras. In turn, Alison and I gave them all a remedial lesson in the art of swearing in English. They must´ve forgotten all the ones Brian taught them, except their favorite, sonofab*tch. We saw all the photos of the family, including the ones when Brian and Martina were there, and all of Martina´s childhood photos. Loved the prom ones, it´s all about the 80´s hairdos!
Apparently, in Cuenca, the tradition is to throw water balloons at people during Carnival. Well, Alison and I got introduced to that the first night we were here. We were just walking around the square, and I got nailed by some guys in a passing car. Maybe they thought I was cute??
Tomorrow we fly to the Galapagos Islands. I´ve wanted to see them ever since I read the book Galapagos by Kurt Vonegut. Hopefully it won´t rain the entire week. Then i´m off to Lima, to meet up with my Boston friend, Heidi. We´re going to hike the Inca Trail together!
Thinking of you all.
Love, Carla
Unfortunately, I forgot my yahoo password and can´t get into my email account. If anyone has sent important emails after Jan 14th, you may want to resend them to my hotmail account. carlamartino55@hotmail.com
I´ve alerted some Lone Gunmen to the problem, and hopefully it will be resolved, eventually. Laura, I think you jinxed us when you asked us to keep the drama down!
Alison and I flew from LA to Costa Rica, where we chatted away with Rebecca, a Canadian we met on the plane. Unfortunately we had no time to visit there, went on to arrive in Quito, Equador, instead. I had plans to meet up with some relatives of my cousin´s wife, who live in Cuenca. We bought a flight to Cuenca from Quito, but somehow got on the wrong plane. We arrived in Guayaquil, and when our bags weren´t there to join us, Alison, in jest, asks me, "Are we in Cuenca?" Hmmm, not sure.... After confirming our location with security guard, we sheepishly boarded ANOTHER plane to Cuenca. Only in South America can one wander aimlessly onto the wrong plane, yet still get a set of nail clippers confisgated.
Martina´s family in Cuenca are so nice! They let us stay with them, and took us sightseeing to Incapirca, boating in Gualaceo, and fishing in Parque Nacional Cajas. Everyone had good words to say about my cousin, Brian, especially Uncle Jorge (Tio Loco). Brian was there to visit 7 years before, with his wife, Martina, during Carnival. Since no one spoke English, I was able to practice my amature Spanish heaps. MaEugenia helped me advance my vocabulary by teaching me all the bad words, malas palabras. In turn, Alison and I gave them all a remedial lesson in the art of swearing in English. They must´ve forgotten all the ones Brian taught them, except their favorite, sonofab*tch. We saw all the photos of the family, including the ones when Brian and Martina were there, and all of Martina´s childhood photos. Loved the prom ones, it´s all about the 80´s hairdos!
Apparently, in Cuenca, the tradition is to throw water balloons at people during Carnival. Well, Alison and I got introduced to that the first night we were here. We were just walking around the square, and I got nailed by some guys in a passing car. Maybe they thought I was cute??
Tomorrow we fly to the Galapagos Islands. I´ve wanted to see them ever since I read the book Galapagos by Kurt Vonegut. Hopefully it won´t rain the entire week. Then i´m off to Lima, to meet up with my Boston friend, Heidi. We´re going to hike the Inca Trail together!
Thinking of you all.
Love, Carla
Thursday, January 9, 2003
From LA to Canada and back, eh?
Alison and I decided it would be great fun to rent a car and drive to Canada to meet up with our Canadian friends we met in Turkey! Jon and Caroline joined us for the road trip making it 3 women to 1 man. Did Jon really know what he was in for??? If he did, he may not have left England!
We were going to spend New Years in San Francisco but our party plans with fellow hashers fell through so we decided to haul on up to Vancouver and spend it there. Two days of steady driving, through blizzards and rain, we made it to the boarder. Jon learned how to put chains on tires, and then learned how to take them off a half hour later when the snow turned to rain. We had a most entertaining meal stop at Dirty Dave's Gay 90's Pizza Place, somewhere in Washington. How can you not stop to eat at a place called Dirty Daves? We had a long wait at the boarder, surrounded by cars filled with 18 year old kids heading to Canada to drink legally. Boy did I feel old.
In Vancouver, we partied at a club called Ginger (in honor of my sister-in-law) and drank fine margaritas until the year 2003. For once, Alison and I were dressed appropriatly for the occasion as we had bought cute new dresses and shoes just for the holiday. No jeans or black flip flops tonight! Highlights of the evening were the passing out of fortune cookies to random people, Alison pulling out fake money from between my breasts with her teeth, and finding the last cab in Vancouver at 3 am to get home.
The next day we picked up our Aussie friend, Mark, at the airport and all 5 of us drove to Victoria to meet up with Marnie and Karla. Mark never got the email that we were meeting him, so you can imagine his surprise at seeing our faces as he went through customs! Being a world traveler himself, he could appreciate an unexpected ride in a car rather than have to figure out the bus schedules. We met up with Marnie and Karla, and then we all drove to Marnie's parents condo in Mt. Washington to go skiing and snow boarding. Her parents were just diamonds (my new British aquired compliment). They made us dinner, and we thoroughly enjoyed their company. I snowboarded in a blizzard, and Karla wiped out so bad she broke a pole. We also had to do a bit of sledding, later that night, with plenty of beer. What a phenomenal time! Everything you hear about Canada is true. They do have lots of snow (12 feet!) and say "eh" a lot.
After saying good-bye to Marnie's parents, Marnie, Karla, and Mark, we drove down to Seattle and Portland to sightsee, then on to the Oragon Dunes, and the National Redwood Forest. I finally got around to seeing the second Lord of the Rings-Two Towers movie, and enjoyed it more than the first since I recognized all the scenery in New Zealand!
Now we're back in San Francisco at my mom's. It's been good to be in the states and spending time with my mom and Jon again. After seeing Jon off, we'll be heading down to LA to spend some time with our friend Jeremy (who we met in Greece) and then off for South America.
I got so many Christmas and New Years greetings via email, it was just impossible to respond to them all, but thank you everyone for sending them. I have a mere 2 months left before I must face reality again. Your emails help keep me stay grounded and make me feel loved. Thanks!
Love, Carla
We were going to spend New Years in San Francisco but our party plans with fellow hashers fell through so we decided to haul on up to Vancouver and spend it there. Two days of steady driving, through blizzards and rain, we made it to the boarder. Jon learned how to put chains on tires, and then learned how to take them off a half hour later when the snow turned to rain. We had a most entertaining meal stop at Dirty Dave's Gay 90's Pizza Place, somewhere in Washington. How can you not stop to eat at a place called Dirty Daves? We had a long wait at the boarder, surrounded by cars filled with 18 year old kids heading to Canada to drink legally. Boy did I feel old.
In Vancouver, we partied at a club called Ginger (in honor of my sister-in-law) and drank fine margaritas until the year 2003. For once, Alison and I were dressed appropriatly for the occasion as we had bought cute new dresses and shoes just for the holiday. No jeans or black flip flops tonight! Highlights of the evening were the passing out of fortune cookies to random people, Alison pulling out fake money from between my breasts with her teeth, and finding the last cab in Vancouver at 3 am to get home.
The next day we picked up our Aussie friend, Mark, at the airport and all 5 of us drove to Victoria to meet up with Marnie and Karla. Mark never got the email that we were meeting him, so you can imagine his surprise at seeing our faces as he went through customs! Being a world traveler himself, he could appreciate an unexpected ride in a car rather than have to figure out the bus schedules. We met up with Marnie and Karla, and then we all drove to Marnie's parents condo in Mt. Washington to go skiing and snow boarding. Her parents were just diamonds (my new British aquired compliment). They made us dinner, and we thoroughly enjoyed their company. I snowboarded in a blizzard, and Karla wiped out so bad she broke a pole. We also had to do a bit of sledding, later that night, with plenty of beer. What a phenomenal time! Everything you hear about Canada is true. They do have lots of snow (12 feet!) and say "eh" a lot.
After saying good-bye to Marnie's parents, Marnie, Karla, and Mark, we drove down to Seattle and Portland to sightsee, then on to the Oragon Dunes, and the National Redwood Forest. I finally got around to seeing the second Lord of the Rings-Two Towers movie, and enjoyed it more than the first since I recognized all the scenery in New Zealand!
Now we're back in San Francisco at my mom's. It's been good to be in the states and spending time with my mom and Jon again. After seeing Jon off, we'll be heading down to LA to spend some time with our friend Jeremy (who we met in Greece) and then off for South America.
I got so many Christmas and New Years greetings via email, it was just impossible to respond to them all, but thank you everyone for sending them. I have a mere 2 months left before I must face reality again. Your emails help keep me stay grounded and make me feel loved. Thanks!
Love, Carla
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