Unexpected Magic
Visiting the Galapagos had been on our bucket list for years. We imagined it would be wise to go while we were still in good shape, getting older but no less fit. There was some back and forth about exactly which boat and the dates. I hoped to avoid seasickness and anything resembling a cruise ship. A trimaran for 16 was chosen. Visits to Cuenca and Quito before and after 8 days among the islands.
Only home for two days, I am tired and cold just as San Francisco is damp and grey. Images float among the raft of emails waiting to be answered and the refrigerator to be filled. I am more there than here.
Cuenca was first, after a night at the Guayaquil Hilton. First thing after our arrival was a swim in the large, warm pool with a bar one could sidle up to without getting out of the water. We chose snacks to be delivered to our chaise lounges. The first ceviche and something other than for Robert. Happiness is not being on an airplane.
The next morning Gustavo and Diego picked us up for the drive north. Gustavo was handsome, charming, friendly and kind. A father who was already missing his only daughter who would soon move out to marry and begin a life separate from her dad. In the moment of his sharing I felt the link I would note throughout our trip. That differences are more about location and less about the other being anyone to fear.
Diego drove seamlessly as Gustavo narrated. His knowledge not just encyclopedic , but full of personal anecdotes and details unavailable in any guidebook. We stopped for lunch and a gentle hike around Llaviucu Lake, a lagoon in Cajas National ParK a visit to which was on our itinerary en route to Cuenca. At 12,000 feet our lungs were working.
Three nights in Cuenca, which Gustavo described as the cultural center of Ecuador. Guayaquil being the commercial center and Quito, the capitol, the political center. We would visit them all, as bookends to our 8 days among the islands.
Part of the joy of travel with Robert is that occasionally he can choose to nap with a good book and I can choose to venture out. On day 3 we did such as I joined Gustavo and Diego to circle the city visiting a number of small villages where families of artisans made guitars from locally grown wood, crafted pottery and silver filigree, and wove scarves and shawls colored with the dyes made from the plants in local gardens.
Our first stop was for tea in San Bartolomé. Having been a guide for over 20 years, Gustavo had established relationships which offered his clients the option to connect with other than foreign tourists. Years ago he had met Selmyra whose garden held the ingredients for an herbal tea she made whenever Gustavo arranged to visit with one of his charges. She selected flowers and herbs from her tidy fenced plot, piled them onto a plate and then disappeared to steam them into tea. In the meantime her daughter escorted us to a small dining room set with slices of lime and cookies.
Before leaving I asked to use the bathroom and was directed to a tiny space which I assumed served the entire family. A bedroom door was open as I entered the hallway and Selymra’s son closed the door, retreating to his privacy; just a teenager no matter the locale. Above the sink I noted a number of toothbrushes, floss and paste. Here in this home with seemingly few of the trappings we have come to value, I surmised that the family’s dental hygiene might be superior to my own.
After Cuenca there was a flight back to Guayaquil and a second Hilton night. Early the next morning we joined others on a flight to Baltra Island. The airport, also known as , “The Galapagos Ecological Airport,” implements bio climactic strategies for natural air conditioning and the use of renewable energy. Ecuador is the most biodiverse country on earth as it has more plant and animal species per square kilometer than anywhere else on the planet. We were immersed in a country that protects its natural resources with extreme care and vigilance.
Our chosen trimaran, the Horizon, was spotlessly clean and well designed. Each of the 8 rooms had its own deck where I sat several times a day. I became mesmerized as I watched the sun, whether rising or fading, birds and sea lions. One day the captain spotted whales, another time it was dolphins and flying fish. Always warm, clean air and always the endless blue of the ocean.
The passenger list included a couple pregnant with their first child, a cardiologist and his wife from Indiana and a Russian family of four now living in London. Several other couples and a mother and son combo from the East Coast. Friendly, easy going and supportive. Not a kvetch among them.
I was most impressed with the ship’s crew. We met the captain only once at a meet and greet on the first night. Others like the hostess, Anita, and the naturalist, whose name was also Gustavo, ,we saw several times a day. They were all a perfect combination of warm, friendly and helpful. I liked to believe that they enjoyed tending to us. Nothing seemed forced. At least they seemed to be enjoying the pace and rhythm of this life aquatic. Gustavo said several times how much he loved his job.
We hiked and snorkeled daily. We swam among a panoply of tropical fish and baby sea lions at play. Sea turtles, and a pair of hammerhead sharks normally seen only by deep sea divers. In the clear, warm water there were penguins, cormorants and marine iguanas who were equally comfortable relaxing on land and swimming below the surface for nourishment. One early morning we were privy to a group of pink flamingos usually only seen briefly while in flight. Their quiet elegance personified our extraordinary journey. Blue footed boobies, a range of land iguanas, lava lizards, birds, and baby sea lions with their mothers nursing on soft, wet sand. We even shared some hiking trails with giant, slow moving tortoises and their offspring.
It was not easy to say good-bye. To the animals, the serenity, the joy and the magic. The past few years have been challenging. There was Trump and the pandemic and still there is war in the Ukraine. For just a few weeks I didn’t worry or overthink and stayed, mostly, in the moment of discovery.