Las Galapagos!

This post on the Galapagos is quite belated, but that doesn’t diminish how incredible the trip was:) Going to the Galapagos is truly a once in a lifetime experience, and I feel so fortunate that I had the opportunity to visit the islands. For the trip, our program combined with the students on IES’ program at la Universidad San Francisco de Quito, so we were a group of 16. You are required to have a guide if you tour the islands, so we met ours immediately after arriving. Rather than taking a cruise, we island hopped, visiting a fair amount of islands in a relatively short amount of time (5 days). The Galapagos is hard to sum up because there were so many amazing aspects to our trip, so I’ll just list the highlights here:

-We  saw the famous giant turtles, and got to get really close to them! That same day, we climbed through an underground lava tunnel, and went to a conservation area for more turtles and some bright orange iguanas.

-Went to islands with the most incredibly clear blue water I’ve ever seen in real life. I’m the person who’s had Caribbean island desktop backgrounds, so while this was not the Caribbean (it might be better), being able to see (and swim in) water such as this was amazing.

-Traveled to a deserted beach with the softest sand and the bluest water.

-Saw a gazillion seals, one of which attempted to attack one of our staff members, after he tried to cross the bridge to the island we were visiting. I’m happy to report he made it to the island safely!

-Went to an island that was exactly how I pictured the Galapagos. Black rocks jutting out of the water, millions of iguanas, huge birds…

-Our snorkeling adventure! We got to play with a seal, spot a sea turtle, and even swim between two cliffs to observe white tipped sharks (some people even saw hammerheads).

All in all, the trip to the Galapagos was an incredible experience!