#11 Travel somewhere on my bucket list

Each year, I end up taking a full week to celebrate my birthday.  I get to catch up with various groups of friends through dinner or drinks, I buy something sparkly for myself, and Macy's even hosts a fabulously large fireworks celebration on the Hudson River for me!! 

But this year... as much as I love sparkle... I wanted a memory, not another thing.  I wanted something magical, unique, and unlike anything else out there - a memory that sparkles.

My brother (in law) grew up in Quito, Ecuador, and his entire family still lives there.  So, when he and my sister decided to visit, I decided I wanted to visit as well... and so I booked my flight.  Then, I started to put together this challenge, and #11 Travel somewhere on my bucket list was born.  And while my bucket list is long and continuously growing, one of the places that was top on my lists was the Galapagos Islands, mainly because it is part of Ecuador and I have a direct connection to everything Ecuadorian.  :) So I reasoned "Why not splurge on a life changing vacation?"  I mean, you can get married multiple times in your life (and some do!)... but you only turn 30 once.  Might as well celebrate for months, instead of just a week!

So I booked it.  And, I had the most amazing, incredible, magical trip in my entire life.  Now, I've had the good fortune to travel to a lot of great places, like Italy, Hawaii, Greece, Argentina... So here's why this trip to Quito and the Galapagos was so incredible:

First... I got to see my family.  Not my blood family, but the family that my sister married in to, and who are so awesome. Kind, generous, loving.  And they happen to love me, for some reason :)

Second, I got to visit the one tourist site in Quito that I had not visited the last time I traveled to Ecuador in 2005, and I got to do it with my sister and brother.  This is site is SPECIAL, and is called Teleflorica.  Quito is almost 10,000 feet above sea level, and is surrounded by mountains, kinda like an oval bowl shape, and Teleflorica is almost 15,000 feet above sea level.  It is special because it has GREAT views of the city and makes you feel like you're on top of the world:

Third, while hanging out in Quito, I ran my first 5K in three years, which was a special moment for me.

Fourth, I freaking WENT TO THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS!!!!  What a truly magical place!!  From Quito, I flew to San Cristobal, one of the many islands in the Galapagos.  After flying in, my cruise ship company came to pick me up, we took a short bus ride to a dock, and were greeted by this gracious welcome committee:

The first night of the cruise, we stayed in the harbor of San Cristobal and went to the "Centro de Interpretación" (i.e. the Interpretive Center), which is a great little museum explaining how the Galapagos were formed, the first documentations of the island, and the "recent" history of the islands, which was interesting.

The Galapagos Islands are actually made out of volcanoes.  The glass panes represent the ocean surface, so you can see what else remains under water!

On my way back to the boat on day one, I captured the sunset, and a few sea lions taking over the public park benches :)

Throughout the rest of the trip, I had many cool moments, such as:

I had the opportunity to be like a sea lion:

I got to see some small sand crabs skitter up the beach:

I got to go snorkeling (many times!)!!!

 

I saw several beautiful fish, one which was smiling (or growling) at me:

One fish was checking me out ;)

I also saw this really cool sea urchin:

I took a pic with a sea lion and my Terrible Towel (yeahhhh, STEELER NATION made it to the Galapagos!!)

I spied a black iguana among the black lava rocks...

I hiked and climbed over several islands of the Galapagos so I could take amazing photos of the view (our boat is in the background):

I spotted a frigate.  This bird doesn't hunt for its own food.  It harasses other birds (literally grabs on and shakes them) so they get so frazzled and throw up their meals, which the frigate then eats.  Crazy:

I took a pic from the southern-most point of the Galapagos... I'm embracing the sea :)  (Notice a theme with the pics???)

I saw pear cactus trees, which were really cool:

I saw a ton of iguanas (yellow colored this time) that were just chilling on rocks, soaking up the sun, and not minding me regardless of the fact that I was a foot away!

I hung out on beaches that were FULL of sleepy (and sometimes horny) sea lions:

When snorkeling, I got thisclose to sea lions:

I witnessed a manta ray glide along the bottom of the ocean floor:

Saw a HUGE starfish:

Laughed at appropriately placed signs (this one was placed right before a steep drop off to the sea below):

I fell in love with sea lions who show no fear... 

And who are adorably cute snuggling together:

I snorkeled with sea lions, and played with them... they were so curious and playful!!!: 

I was able to capture some video of sea lions playing with me :).  Just phenomenal.  They were so curious and playful, and had no fear, as they hadn't needed to fear mean humans.  Such a cool experience!!! 

I got to try on a large shell from a deceased tortoise that weighed about 50 pounds... this pic is of me doing a plank :)

I nicknamed a giant tortoise Frank, and he allowed me to get close to him for a photo op:

I saw the BLUE FOOTED BOOBIE!

... who have a really funny way of walking, which is why there were named the bobo in Spanish...

...and I also saw the Albatross...

I saw sea lions attempt to scare the tourists by pretending to be sharks (they were floating on their backs with their fins in the air!!):

I met a lot of incredible people:

Me and Socrates, the guide I spent the most tours with.

My newly adopted parents, Rila and Mark from Toronto :)

My new friends from Slovenia, Jersey (originally Phillipines and Switzerland) and Germany :) - we were the United Nations!

Some of the fabulous crew from Tequila night... Mario and Roberto :)

My newly adopted fairy godmothers... Candy and Diane!!!

And I jumped off the cruise ship.  7 meters, 21 feet to the surface.  Here's the composite image of me flying through the air:

This trip will go down in the history of Kimmy as one of my favorite vacations... the sites, the activities, the people, the scenery, the animals, the snorkeling, the blue water... it was perfect, and magical.  This memory will definitely live in my mind, and now on the internet, forever.

I highly recommend a visit to the Galapagos, and HIGHLY recommend the Santa Cruz (the boat that I traveled on).  Great staff, great tours, great food.  Thanks to my brother-in-law and the Andrade Montenegro family, thanks to Southern Explorations for finding this tour for me and working out all the details, and thanks to everyone on the Santa Cruz for making the Galapagos sparkle.