Welcome to Travel Time Travel's glimpse into the exciting world of Adventures By Disney! This trip report is on the ABD Ecuador, and is a fun read that will help you explore the VIP experience ABD offers. For more details on this itinerary or one of many others, contact your favorite Travel Time agent today!
Day 1: Bienvenidos!
We had arrived at the JW Marriott
Quito a few days prior (we love to have some time on our own in a new city
before our Adventure begins!), so we had a nice note left on our desk in the
room from our guide letting us know when we could meet him down at the
Adventure Desk to check in and say hi.
Imagine our excitement when we saw it signed by Robby, our ABD guide
from last year’s ABD trip to Ecuador !
We met up with Robby and said our
hellos and hugs, we talked room arrangements a bit so that Robby could handle
anything that needed to be sorted. Since
we’re a family of 3, sometimes that looks like connecting rooms on boats. Our Travel Agent had sent us an email letting
us know we had connecting rooms for our Anakonda boat stay in the Amazon Basin,
so we just asked Robby to check on that and see if that was the case. Bonus of having amazing guides? They handle all those little details!
Since we had the day to relax, we
decided to hit the pool since Reese was itching to swim! One thing we learned on our previous Ecuador visit, and especially in Quito at 9,000ft
elevation, is that the sun is intense.
No joke. We put on the hefty
sunscreen and grabbed some chairs poolside while Reese practiced his
cannonballs. I think we lasted about 45
minutes before we had to come in…and even then my face was sunburned! You just can’t underestimate the strength of
the rays at high elevation on the equator!
The rest of our day we just spent
relaxing. We strolled down to Burger
King, about a block away, to grab a bite of dinner. It’s a running joke with our travel friends
that we have to be bad tourists and stop at BK or McDonalds at least once a
trip.
The rest of our group wasn’t set to
arrive until late in the evening so we didn’t get a chance to meet them
yet. Off to bed and ready for our
Welcome Breakfast the next morning.
Excited to see who we’ll be traveling with the next two weeks!
Day 2: Vamos al Anakonda
We met in a
private dining room for our Welcome Breakfast with a delicious full buffet and
egg station! It’s always fun to get to
know the families at the beginning of the trip, and then look back at the end
and remember that first meeting. This
trip, we were a small group of 8, which I almost prefer on these
nature/outdoors focused trips because it’s easier to move around. We were joined by a sweet couple celebrating
their 50th anniversary, and another family with a 10 year old
daughter. Since our group was small, we
had just one guide this time which wasn’t anything new for us. We all enjoyed breakfast together, getting to
know each other and share our excitement!
Robby told
us that ABD had arranged for the JW Marriott to hold any luggage we didn’t want
to bring to the Anakonda with us, since we would be returning to the hotel after
our boat stay, and those who didn’t want
to take everything were able to lighten their load! Of course, we just took it all with the
exception of a bag with some dirty clothes.
After
breakfast, we had a bit of time to freshen up, and then it was time to hop on
the private motor coach and head to the airport for our flight to the city of Coca ! The JW Marriott Quito is about an hour away
from the Quito airport, and we made the trip back and
forth a number of times during the trip.
It never failed that I got an upset stomach. There’s traffic and bumpy roads…so be
prepared if you are prone to motion sickness.
I just sat in the front seats and closed my eyes. That’s my go-to solution and it usually works
fine.
One of the
perks of travel with ABD is that they handle your luggage any time you’re
transferring hotels. Our luggage had
been picked up from our room at the Marriott, and once we were at the Quito airport, it was
unloaded off the motorcoach for us. We
all headed in and waited a few minutes while Robby handled getting all the
boarding passes for us. It’s times like
this that I really appreciate ABD for making our family trips easy-peasy! There’s no arranging and juggling that we
have to do. ABD takes care of
everything!
After Robby
passed out the boarding passes, we went through security and then headed to the
VIP Lounge, courtesy of ABD. There’s
free WiFi, yummy snacks and lots of free drinks (coffees, teas, milk, juices,
bottled sodas and waters). We always
grab some extra sodas and waters for our carryon bag, and the fried plantain
chips are always a favorite. This time
they had some little hot dogs that the boys loved and the finger sandwiches hit
the spot for me!
After our
flight to Coca, we transferred onto a private coach, and then made our way to
the dock. The only way to reach the
waiting Anakonda? A motorized canoe
ride, of course! We had about 2 hours of
beautiful motor canoe riding ahead of us, and the Anakonda staff on the canoe
was ready with ponchos once the rain started.
Well, hello rain forest! The ride
was beautiful and before long our lovely home for the next 4 nights came into
view.
We were
welcomed onboard, had some cool drinks, and got situated in our rooms. We ended up not choosing connecting rooms
since they were in the back of the boat near the generators (very loud!). Since the boat wasn’t full, we were able to
grab the empty room across the hall to store our luggage. So we had our bed, and Reese had a twin fold
out, together in one room, and then all
of our stuff to get ready was across the hall.
Worked perfectly and allowed us some extra space to spread out!
The
Anakonda set off, and everyone had a chance to explore the boat, relax, and
take in the surroundings. After a casual
dinner in the dining room, we all headed out for our first jungle hike…in the
dark! The Anakonda carries rubber boots
for all, so we got sized for boots and suited up in raincoats &
lifejackets. Robby had some extra
flashlights for those who needed them (hello, Williams family!). We hopped into the motorized canoe that would
be our regular transport over the next few days and scooted off in the dark to
our “drop off” point in the jungle. How
these men navigated in the near-dark and even knew where to unload us was
beyond me, but I knew they had grown up in the jungle and on these waters and
knew everything like the back of their hand.
Our hike
was led by Juanito, our local village guide, along with some of the other
guides that accompanied us along the way from the Anakonda. For nature lovers, this was an epic
experience! The guides were quick to
spot all sorts of things hiding in the night…frogs, millipedes, spiders, owls,
monkeys, grasshoppers, kinkajous, walking sticks, moths...things I had only
seen on TV. I remember standing there,
sweaty and muddy in the middle of the jungle at night, thinking that we are
REALLY HERE in the actual Amazon
Basin
Day 3: Forest
of Life
When we
woke up, we found that we had stopped moving and had tied up to the edge of the
river. I could tell there was a house of
some kind nearby because I saw chickens, but the jungle is dense and it felt
like we were in the middle of Jurassic
Park
We ate a
yummy breakfast of eggs cooked to order, really yummy fruits, Reese’s favorite
Ecuadorian chocolate cereal, and some breads with jam. After we were all full, we headed back to the
room to load up the backpack with raincoats (a must!), our mosquito bands (NO MORE SQUITOES Mosquito Repellent Bracelet), bottles of water
(there’s a filtered filling station on the boat), and a few snacks because I
can’t travel without food on hand. Ha!
Everyone met down on the first deck, put on our rubber boots and
lifejackets and hopped into the motor canoe.
The plan for this morning was to
take an open-top motor canoe ride to a jungle lodge. Along the way, our local
village guide Juanito took the time to explain and share so many things that
one only knows from growing up there! We
got to see monkeys, bats, so many birds…Juanito even found some pods growing on
the river bank that are a favorite food of the monkeys. It was our first experience (of many!) where
Juanito’s vast knowledge made for a really cool moment….he just plucked the
pods off the stem, opened them up, showed us the fruit-covered seeds inside,
and taught us how to eat them! Never
thought I’d be eating what seemed like random jungle food, but we trusted
Juanito and he never led us wrong when he offered things to try.
You pulled a white fruit out of the
pod, sucked the fruit off of the bean-sized seed, and then spit the seed into
the water!
We made our way to the bank of the
lodge and took a little walk up to the beautiful outdoor gathering “room”. More than a room though…there were hammocks,
couches, coffee tables, dining tables, drink and snack stations,
restrooms. It really was a multipurpose
gathering space! The lodge has a number
of rustic cabins people can also stay.
Our visit, however, was just for the day and as soon as we took off our
rubber boots and put on our hiking shoes, we were off on our first daytime
jungle hike!
One of the most memorable parts of
this whole trip, for me, was having Juanito as our local village guide. He grew up in the jungle, with health care by
shamans; his father was a legitimate
head hunter; his wife’s village still
has no electricity except for the one generator they recently brought in so
they could have light…it’s still a 40 minute walk through the jungle to get
there. To have someone just for our
little group that has such authentic, true knowledge of a life completely
foreign to me meant so much.
As we hiked the jungle, everywhere
we looked we saw things you’d only see in books or on shows as a kid. Giant kapok trees. Prehistoric looking millipedes. Bullet ants!
Juanito showed us how to eat Lemon Ants (they tasted just like a lemon!)
and chew on leaves from a cinnamon tree (tasted exactly like a cinnamon
candy!). He stopped and made rope from
palm tree fronds, showed us how he makes a basket from palm leaves while he’s
out gathering. Spotted owls hidden in
the tree tops that I still have no idea how he saw them! Needless to say, I was in awe the whole time.
We made our way back to the lodge
for a delicious lunch with local fare. A
couple that was staying at the lodge had caught a huge piranha earlier in the
day and they shared it with our group.
Everyone took a little bit and I was surprised how tasty it was! Guide Robby even went back to the kitchen and
brought back the jaw and teeth for me after I had mentioned I wished I had kept
it. That Disney Magic never stops…and
now I have a perfect souvenir of our day at the lodge!
We wrapped up lunch, hung out in the
hammocks, checked out the monkeys in the trees, took one more bathroom break,
and hopped back onto the motor canoes.
Robby and Juanito had a little surprise for us because we stopped along
the way and got to fish for piranha ourselves with some little primitive
fishing “sticks”! We had some success
after a while and I was the closest I’ve ever been to a piranha! Way cool!
After dinner, Robby offered a kids
movie night but Reese was pretty worn out so he decided to pass. They played Pirates of the Caribbean
up in the comfy lounge so our friends got a chance to lay out on the couches
and enjoy the movie!
DAY 4: BIRD’S EYE
VIEW
This morning’s agenda included
another yummy breakfast and motor canoe ride (rainboots and lifejackets ready!)
to a local village run by women. The village of Sani Isla
We were greeted by some precious
women and children, then given a quick tour of the school buildings. It’s always touching to meet local children
and it gives such perspective to see how simple their classrooms are, and how
eager they are to learn. We passed by an
algebra class, and I believe another class doing spelling.
We were led by a local village
woman, who along with Juanito, walked us around the grounds to explore all the
ways local villagers live and eat from the jungle. We watched this powerful little woman chop
down a small palm tree and pull out fresh palm heart for us all to try
(AMAZING). We pulled up yucca, cut off
the edible parts for later, and Reese replanted the yucca stem that would
become a new yucca plant in time. We ate
raw white cocoa “fruit” straight from the pods.
We learned SO much about living off of the land!
We made our way back around to the
series of huts which housed the market overflowing with handmade goods, and
also held the kitchen (which was
essentially a large raised firebox over which they grilled and roasted anything
they could find). Juanito shared some
“chicha” with us, which is a fermented yucca drink, and we all shared the bowl
as we sipped. We sipped our chicha and
shopped for a bit…I bought a bracelet made from palm fibers and a tiny little
pottery bowl as a ring holder. The
prices were so fair, and you could find a special handmade memento anywhere
from $2 and up.
We made our way to the kitchen and
boy..was there a surprise in store for us!
Juanito explained all of the different foods the ladies were preparing
for us to snack on, and then he called up one of the kiddos from our group to
open a special mystery item wrapped in a banana leaf. Something interesting? You bet!
She opened the leaf and inside was the biggest, fattest, most yellow
live grub I have ever seen…about the size of a half-hotdog! We looked around, and sure enough, Janito
asked who was going to eat it. Live. Just like the villagers do!
Giggles and looking around…and Jeff
finally spoke up and said he would if Janito split it with him. Never thought we’d be going halvsies on grubs
in the Amazon…but WOOHOO ABD! Juanito
took the first bite, and Jeff threw back the other (drippy) half. I can eat pretty much anything cooked, but
the live aspect I just could not do. So
major, super sized props to my hubby for jumping in and giving it a try! He did say he probably wouldn’t eat them live
again. Can’t say I blame him!
After we saw the goodies being
prepared, we were led back to another part of the huts with a beautiful spread
of food! Everyone took a seat on the
floor, got our banana leaf “plate”, and dug into some of the most amazing,
fresh, local food I’ve ever eaten.
Catfish and palm hearts, plantains, yucca, roasted grubs (which were
DELICIOUS), a peppery dip, with more chicha and a type of tea to pass and
drink. It’s these moments I am most
thankful that Reese gets to experience.
Something so far removed from anything we do in our daily lives, a
completely foreign way to obtain and prepare food...there is such value in
these experiences!
After our amazing meal, we had the
chance to play soccer with the local school children on their full-sized soccer
field. They may be in the middle of the
jungle, but soccer is still king and they had a full field and covered
bleachers! Reese and Jeff decided to sit
the game out (it had started raining), but a few of us got in the middle of the
rain and mud and tried our best to keep up with these kids who were nothing
short of amazing. Guide Robby had
brought along a new soccer ball, and after the game we gifted it to the kids
and said our goodbyes.
After lunch and a bit of time to
freshen up after the rain and mud, we met back down on Deck 1 to don our rubber
boots (freshly washed by the Anakonda staff..thank you!) and lifejackets for a
motor canoe ride to another jungle path.
I don’t think I ever got over my amazement at the knowledge these
Anakonda folks had of the river and locations.
Everything along the bank looks the same to me!
The afternoon’s plans were to hike
through the jungle a bit to the river, take a canoe ride (paddled by the guides
so we could just sit back and take everything in!), unload and then another
hike further into the jungle to find the Canopy Tower Walk. Wasn’t sure what to expect, as I’m afraid of
heights, but you only live this life once so let’s go!
The hikes were fun, hot, and
muddy…welcome to the Amazon! Ha! The canoe ride was excellent because there
truly is SO much to see along the way. I
felt like I was in a totally different world most of the day. After the second hike to reach the Tower
Walk, we came up on a giant kapok tree…with 200ft of spiraling steps to climb
up to reach the top. Holy moly! We all did it though, and were rewarded at
the top with amazing views from the top of the rainforest. And glasses of champagne (and sodas). I kid you not. Adventures by Disney arranged for some of the
Anakonda staff to trek through the jungle ahead of us (remember….hike, canoe
ride, another hike) carrying a cooler with chilled champagne and sodas. Talk about spoiled and counting my blessings
for opportunities to toast my family at the top of the kapok tree!
After plenty of time on the
platform, viewing beautiful toucans, miniature orchids, and everything
inbetween, we made our way back down the steps, through the jungle, back on the
canoes, paddled back down the river, hiked through more jungle, and made it
back to the motor canoe *just* before darkness fell! I was kind of wondering if we were going to
be finishing our jungle trek in the dark because the light quickly went away,
but we made it without having to pull out any flashlights.
This was probably one of our most
muddy days, but the experiences were like no other!
DAY 8: JUNGLE CRUISE
We met extra early this morning so
we could head to the parrot clay licks. We
got to catch a glimpse of one of the most unique parrot habitats in the
world! In the early mornings, hundreds
of vividly-colored parrots from varying species meet at the riverbanks and the
clay wall to congregate and ear the exposed clay. It’s said that many of the seeds and nuts
found in the rainforest have toxins in them and the parrots come to these clay
licks to neutralize those toxins.
Janito and Robby shared their powerful binoculars with
those who needed them, and we were able to see a number of different parrot
species come and go as they at the clay.
It’s always fascinating to see parrots flying over head, because my
whole life I’ve just seen parrots with their wings clipped that can’t fly away. So majestic to experience flocks of parrots
in the wild!
After heading back, eating
breakfast, and having a bit to refresh, we met together for a jungle trek to
another popular parrot gathering spot in the jungle. As we hiked, Juanito continued to show us so
many unique plants, insects, spiders, mushrooms, etc just as he had done on
every hike. His knowledge of everything
in the jungle still amazes me. We were extra-fortunate to come across a huge
group of wolly monkeys WAY high up in the trees. They didn’t seem to appreciate our group
passing underneath, and as we made our way through they began making lots of
noise, moving tree to tree, and the males were even shaking branches way up
high to let us know who was boss! When
Juanito and Abel (another Anakonda guide) noticed the monkeys starting to pee
from above as a sign of territory marking, we made our way down the path and
said goodbye to the monkeys!
Since we’re in the wild and things
are just unpredictable, our trek to the bird viewing spot turned out to be a
dud. No birds showed up, with the
exception of a lone dove that made a quick appearance. This was the one spot where the mosquitos
were SO heavy and after about 20 minutes of sitting and waiting for the birds
to come, Jeff had covered himself in all of the mosquito bands I brought
along. I have to admit I wasn’t sad to
leave that spot and made our way back.
Sitting and waiting for birds was not the most exciting part of my
day…but we had to give it a shot!
After a lunch back on the boat, we
headed out for our afternoon/evening adventure at the Limoncocha Biological
Reserve. The group (carefully) piled
into a canoe with a trolling motor, and we set off into the beautiful waters of
the lake. Slowly motoring along the banks,
we were able to view so many birds (my favorite being the Stinky Turkey). After a quick snack break in the boat, and as
the sun began to set, we headed back around the other side of the lake to
search for cayman coming out for the night.
Our guides have amazing eyes and we were able to see all sizes of
caymans, from small babies to very large adults who you would not want to meet
in a smaller boat at night!
Sometimes you’ve got to be a little
flexible and patient while you wait for transportation, especially in places like
the jungle, so while we waited for the motor coach to pick us up at the end of
our lake adventure, Abel managed to find a tarantula and caught it so we could
get a closer look at it.
After the bus ride we picked up our
motor canoe and headed back to the Anakonda to spend our last night in the
jungle!
DAY 6: KEY TO QUITO
This morning we ate breakfast and
put our bags out so that Tinkerbell could pick them up and transport them to
the Coca airport while we took one last motor canoe ride. The rain became quite heavy, so they rolled
down the clear vinyl walls of the canoe, passed out ponchos again, and we made
our way to the debarkation spot. It took
a bit longer because of the rain, so instead of a walking tour of Coca, we had
a quick driving tour, which was fine because it was still raining so we weren’t
walking around getting wet! Once again,
ABD makes airline travel so easy. Robby
secured our boarding passes and we all boarded the plane and back to the JW
Marriott Quito!
The traffic luck was in our favor
and everything ran smoothly, from flight times to that hour-long trip back to
the Marriott from the airport. That was
a good thing because we had a cooking class at Zazu and nobody wanted to be
late for that!
Zazu was closed this evening so that
we had the entire restauraunt to ourselves.
We had a beautiful champagne toast to celebrate the evening, and
everyone headed into the kitchen for what turned out to be the most excellent
cooking class ever! We each manned one
of the prep stations, but I will be forever thankful to Romerio. This fine young man spent nearly the entire
time with Reese, teaching him proper knife skills. You see, Reese’s life goal is to open a pizza
shop with Dad, and he has been interested in cooking for quite some time. The experience of being in a real restauraunt
kitchen, working along side a real chef, made such an impact on this budding chef. Something we will never, ever forget.
We all prepared a giant bowl of ceviche ,
then sat down for a hearty, delicious meal filled with foods everyone
loved! The sommelier and Jeff really connected and he brought out a
very special bottle of wine to share, an experience I know Jeff will forever
hold dear.
DAY 7: EL MERCARDO
We woke up
ready for a day to explore Quito ! With a local expert guide, we went on a tour
of this ancient capital. Quito is a beautiful
colonial center packed with architectural treasures! We explored a number of beautiful churches,
listened to history bits and stories from our guide, and loved strolling the
streets of Quito . Some in our group bought some beautiful
scarves from the ladies around the churches….I kind of regret not getting some
to bring home as gifts!
We happened
to be in Quito
on the day of the Changing of the Guards, so Robby made sure we had a good
viewing spot for the pageantry. Horses,
a marching band, soldiers, huge crowd of people, a few protestors, speakers…it
was quite the event! Robby passed out
the Ecuadorian national anthem words so we could follow along as they sang. I love it when these little surprises pop up
during our trips. Getting to watch the
change was a neat, local experience!
We finished
our walking tour and headed over to Hotel Plaza Grande for lunch. We hopped into the little exclusive elevator
to head up to the ballroom which was decked out in a beautiful banquet table
set with flowers and snacks! Roasted
corn (my absolute favorite Ecuadorian nosh!), fried root vegetables and
plantains, popcorn…all kinds of fabulous things to nibble while we relaxed and
unwound to enjoy lunch!
Adventures
by Disney always likes to throw in little magic touches, and I won’t spoil any
surprises, but dessert was a fun theatrical presentation with a cultural tie
in! Education AND a tasty dessert? Can you beat that?!
Stuffed
with good food, we headed back out into Quito
to continue our walking tour. This would
be our Afternoon Of Chocolate Tour. OK,
that’s my name for it and it was exceptional!
We met up with another historical character who led us to various
chocolate shops. Some places were for
tasting, some were for learning, some were for buying! We found dark chocolate with roasted corn
(think Corn Nuts type things) and sad to say, we’ve already eaten through the 4
bars we bought. Will I ever learn to buy
more local treats when we find something we love? That last bite of the chocolate bar once we
were home made me sad. Ha!
We hopped
on the motor coach and headed to the Mercardo Artesanal for some shopping. One of our goals was to find a gift for the
White Elephant gift exchange later in the trip!
Robby handed each person $5, and we had to find a secret gift that we
would exchange. We practiced our
bargaining skills, and each found THE gift that was perfect for the
exchange. I was also happy to be back at
the market because the previous year I found a little wool llama key chain and
managed to lose it just before we left for this trip. You’d better believe I bought 3 llamas to
bring home as well as one for the gift swap.
They’re my favorite market item in the world!
The motor
coach took us back to the hotel after our shopping, and the rest of the evening
was on our own. I’m glad ABD builds in
these times to decompress, rest, or explore the city…whatever pace your family
goes! We usually take these times to
just grab an easy dinner and relax.
DAY 8: TORTOISE RACE
Time to hit
the Galapagos! Since ABD arranged for
the Marriott Quito to hold any luggage we didn’t want to take with us to the
Galapagos (we would be returning to Quito one more time), we spent a little
time shuffling things in our suitcases.
We pared down to just 2 suitcases and left another suitcase and a few
bags of dirty clothes behind to stay. After
a filling breakfast we headed to the Quito
airport once again (remember that hour long ride?) and relaxed in the VIP
lounge while we waited for our Galapagos flight.
It’s always
surreal to me when we touch down and walk into the Galapagos airport. It’s such an iconic place to be and I pinch
myself every time we arrive!
ABD set us
up in the VIP Arrivals Lounge (thank you!) while Robby handled all of our
incoming legal things. I’m not even sure
what they were but I appreciate ABD taking care of all if it for us while we
relaxed and had refreshing drinks and tasty snacks!
We headed
to the Finch Bay Hotel, checked into our rooms, and headed out for an amazing
lunch and hike at the Galapagos Tortoise Reserve. Santo, our Galapagos naturalist, led the hike
and showed us lots of tortoises throughout the reserve. He even brought some passion fruit so we
could watch them eat…that was Reese’s favorite thing!
After our
hike we went up to the open air “dining hall” for our lunch. Cold drinks, tasty food, and a beautiful
surrounding watching tortoises stroll the grounds made for such a fun lunch!
We had a
chance to unwind and enjoy the resort for the evening and had dinner at the
resort on our own. Reese spent some time
in the hammock on the balcony, we strolled the property, took warm showers…just
had a really nice, slow evening together!
DAY 9: DARWIN
DISCOVERS
We were
really excited about our boat trip to Santa Fe Island
I don’t do
well on small boats on waves, so I loaded up on Dramamine and made sure to pack
our Sea Bands in case either of the boys needed them. The boat was beautiful but Jeff quickly felt
sick again (I later found out he really didn’t feel like going at ALL but
didn’t want Reese and I to miss out on the day). The water was fairly choppy, so we got Jeff
settled laying down on the floor with towels and some clothes as a pillow, but
it wasn’t long before Reese was “feeding the fish” overboard himself, along
with about half of the other people on the boat. It was a hard ride out to Santa Fe Island
Reese and I
hopped on a zodiac and landed on the
beach full of sea lions! Adults and pups
were lounging in the sun, “talking” to each other, playing in the water, and
just being adorable. Reese recorded
videos and I snapped pics and generally just walked around in awe that I was
standing there with so many sea lions just doing their thing. What an amazing experience!
The rest of
the group took off for a hike, but since Jeff wasn’t feeling well and had
stayed back on the boat, Reese and I decided to take the zodiac back and check
up on him. One of the best parts about
ABD trips is that they work really hard to accommodate your wishes, so they
made sure we had a way back to the boat when we were ready and didn’t have to
wait or hike!
We found
Jeff asleep on the top level couches, being watched over by one of our other
sweet trip friends who didn’t wish to hike either. There’s something extra special about the
relationships formed on these ABD trips, and we all end up looking out for each
other. It made me feel so good knowing
she was there with Jeff since she didn’t want to get off the boat.
Once
everyone got back from their hike and back onto the yacht, we sat down for a
fresh prepared lunch and filled our bellies with all kinds of good things! After lunch everyone who needed them got
fitted for masks and fins and we boarded the zodiac to head over to the snorkel
spot! Jeff still wasn’t feeling well so
he thought it best just to stay behind and chill on the boat.
Santo, our
local naturalist, hopped in the water with us and we spent the afternoon
snorkeling in shallow water with sea lions!
Whose life is this?! Reese and I
were so excited to be right in the middle of tall the action, with sea lions
coming right up to you, checking out your bubbles, playing with your flippers,
and following you as you swam fast.
Santo led
us to a little deeper water searching for turtles and sure enough…he found
some! They weren’t playful like the sea
lions but being in the water with them just hanging out was pretty
special. Since safety is top priority
with Disney, we always had a zodiac right next to us in case anyone needed out
of the water. By the time it was time to
leave, we had all swam quite a way from where we started, but the zodiac was
right there to pick us all up and take us back to the yacht!
The 2 hour
ride back to Finch
Bay Santa Fe
Island
DAY 10: SEA THE GALAPAGOS
This
morning we had an optional hike, or we could catch a boat ride and meet up with
the hikers at Tortuga
Bay Beach Tortuga
Bay Beach
Santo and
Robby showed us a small path that led to a tide pool and we spent the rest of
our beach morning there wading with baby sharks, blow fish, damsel fish, pipe
fish, and schools of other varities of tiny fish. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the
close, safe encounters with wildlife we have in the Galapagos. Standing in a tide pool with a *shark*
swimming next to your child, and not freaking out, is a skill I never thought I
would possess! But I trust the Galapagos
naturalists, and our ABD guides, to keep us safe and not put us into a
dangerous situation so if they say getting in the tide pool with the shark is
not dangerous, I go with it. Of course,
nature is unpredictable but they know better than I do about what is safe and
what’s not!
After lunch
back at Finch Bay
Tinkerbell
came by with some magic and treated everyone to ice creams at the snack shop,
so we finished our visit with some relaxing views of rainbows and
critters!
Before
dinner, we all met in the lounge room to hold our White Elephant gift exchange
with the gifts we had picked in Quito ! It’s always such a fun to see what everyone
picked out, especially the kids, and see who ends up with which gifts. Some of our favorite quirky souveniers have
come from our ABD White Elephant exchanges.
After some
good laughs, we all grabbed a table together for our final dinner at the Finch
Bay Hotel. There was a little hiccup
with the steaks being undercooked, but ABD is quick to fix any issues so they
were all brought back out just right!
DAY 11: VIAJE FANTASTICO
Our luggage
was picked up and we were off to the Galapagos airport, ready to head back to Quito one last time. By the time we departed, arrived, and took
that hour long ride back to the Quito Marriott, it was nearly dinner time so
everyone headed to their rooms to clean up.
All of our luggage that had been left behind at the hotel had been
delivered so we spent a little extra time sorting things and packing a little
since we were leaving the next morning.
We headed
up to the Presidential Suite for our final dinner and were spoiled with a giant
buffet of deliciousness! Live music,
performers, speeches, and a few magic surprises all topped off the night with
perfect memories.
