On the first day of the trip, I landed in Quito, Ecuador with a couple other Mines students. Driving from the airport to the city was amazing: skyscrapers sat on the edges of mountain cliffs surrounded by amazing greenery. Upon arrival, we shared a nice dinner and headed to our rooms to get some much needed rest.
The next day, we went on a tour of Quito and some nearby national parks. We tried various local cuisines and deserts, such as mistelas and locally made chocolate. We toured countless churches and the basilica. Even though I’m not religious, if our churches looked like the churches in Quito, I would go to church every Sunday, no questions asked. Unfortunately, I can’t share the beauty because photos inside the churches were prohibited to maintain the sacred spaces. After our tour of the city, we headed to the Pululahua National Park. Inside this park, people lived in a crater of a so-called active volcano (don’t worry, the volcano hasn’t erupted in decades). At around 2pm, our group was famished so we had a lunch of large corn kernels, rice, and a large block of cheese. Following our lunch, we headed to the museum of the Equator where we were able to step in both hemispheres (or as Camille called them, both equators) at once. We then learned about the indigenous history and culture as well as the history of how we located the equator.
The next morning we boarded a plane from the Quito airport to Isla Seymour. After landing and walking on the tarmac, we were greeted by wonderful opuntia cacti, large land iguanas, and Sally Lightfoot crabs. Following a quick ferry across the water between the airport and Isla Santa Cruz, we walked to the Darwin Research Center which housed tens of baby tortoises and several massive tortoises. During our walk, we saw many marine iguanas (distinguished by their dark lava color and noses that launched salt water). My favorite part of the Darwin Center was seeing all of the baby tortoises because it made me feel hope that this species is on its way to recovery.
As we boarded our boat to Isla Isabela the next day, we were able to see little sharks swimming underneath the dock and a little sea turtle nibbling on the algae. After a 2-hour boat ride, we dropped our stuff off at the hotel and took a leisurely walk up a volcano. Standing on the edge of the caldera, we were able to see the entirety of the volcano, including the mass of lava below. As we enjoyed a few moments of silence, a cloud flowed over the tops of the mountains and covered the whole volcano.
The next day, we grabbed our snorkeling gear and headed towards Los Tuneles to snorkel with sea lions, sea turtles, small reef and nurse sharks. The geology of this site was incredible! I couldn’t even begin to describe how wonderful these oceanic volcanic tunnels were.
Our final stop was Isla San Cristobal, the island of the sea lions. This island had even better snorkeling, if you can believe it. In a horse-shoe shaped cove next to large cliffs was a small sea lion population. Here, the sea lions playfully swam around us and tried to copy our movements. When some of us got too close, the sea lions didn’t hesitate to tell us. Our instructor, Kevin, even left with a hole in his swim shirt from a sea lion bite. Despite the fear that these creatures instilled in me, this experience left me with an even greater appreciation of nature.
On the last day, a small group of us embarked on a tour around the island. This tour had multiple snorkeling and beach stops, the first of which was at the famous Kicker Rock. Here, large groups of hammerheads swam directly below us. Their graceful and calm nature made me feel relaxed and I even attempted to get closer to them, swimming more than 15 feet deeper. Right before we were about to leave, a group of 3 eagle rays swam below us, followed by a large manta ray. The manta ray swam up to quickly and swam back down that we were only able to see it for three seconds. If I didn’t get it on video, I might start to believe my eyes were deceiving me. Back on the boat, we came across a group of humpback whales. The group included 2 mothers and 2 baby whales. Watching these whales breach and slap their fins on the surface of the water made me so happy! Nothing could have made this moment better.