touristy sunday

did a two week galapagos holiday with two american families over easter 2013. was a little apprehensive initially because it sounded like such a diverse group on paper (octogenarian, her three grown children and two pre-teen grandchildren, mother and teenage daughter, and us newlyweds). our ever-capable guide had to lead a group ranging from 8-80, no mean feat but one he pulled off with aplomb. in fact, the rest said they felt terrible gatecrashing our honeymoon and were extra nice! but they needn't have been because being in the galapagos was a treat for every one on the trip. the three generational crew was celebrating the matriarch's 80th, the mother-daughter duo were celebrating the daughter's 15th (they'd a lovely family tradition where the date the children were born would be their 'golden year' where they got a super special solo holiday with one parent) and we were finally on honeymoon after tying the knot the previous summer (slow movers...) the group got along swimmingly and we've stayed in touch over email and fb, as you do. so when B reached out to say they were going to be in london on the way to france for a cousin's wedding, we jumped at the chance to catch up. 

such a one trick pony but duck&waffle is a great place to bring friends from out of town. have gotten to a stage where i'm starting to tell people to go without actually taking them there because there's only so much duck&waffle one can stomach. used to complain about the noise level and patchy service but it's gotten better. was last there in january with J & A so six months was a sufficient break. also, spied a new item on the menu (duck porridge!!!) and was craving comfort food. also, not had good duck porridge since my beloved south buona vista boneless duck closed down :( wasn't disappointed and would seriously return just for the porridge :) sort of fusion-y with hazelnuts but throw ginger on anything and i'm one happy camper.

it was great seeing B and family again, the kids have grown so much in the two years we've not seen them. makes me feel like an old woman saying that but it's true! they're great kids, well behaved and well mannered, engaged and engaging. children, like dogs, really need to be socialised and i'm glad my parents threw me into social situations early on. not always something i enjoy but will grin and bear if necessary. our guests were headed to harry potter land after and we'd some time to kill in the spitting rain. the city is an area i'm pathetically unfamiliar with, having no real reason to head that way so there was a little blind leading the blind through the markets and we got some nice photos of them by an old school sweet shop. also made our way to brick lane for a little mosey through the food market which reminded everyone of asia. after depositing them at the station, went back to brick lane for the singapore exhibit which i know i should say was superlatively wonderful but was in fact ho hum.

why being married is good for me

back on mainland, i'd a little surprise waiting. knowing how hard it was for me to spend 10 days in the sun, sea and sand, the mister had ordered blooms, bubbles and a massage :) oh the mister, he spoils me so. now i feel like a right royal ingrate for whining about how he was pushing me out of my comfort zone and making me do all these outdoorsy activities i ordinarily would stay very far away from. and yes, i did have a great time in the galapagos and recognise how blessed i am to have been there with such a wonderful group of people. when i told S that the trip was the mister's idea and how i don't usually go out in the sun, he was almost hurt when he asked incredulously, 'so you didn't enjoy any of it then?!' and no, that's not true. i'd go so far as to say i enjoyed the 10 days immensely, in spite of myself, despite not being able to bathe for the first 48 hours. and that's why i need the mister - to constantly push me to my limits and beyond because i'd be a very boring person if left to my own devices.

all the wildlife coming together

on our last full day in the archipelago, we chartered this sweet ride to sea. ever the responsible guide, S offered me the 'out' of taking the zodiac to shore with the kiddies to snorkel in the protected bay while the rest powered their way in from the high seas. it didn't take much convincing and i'm glad i spared myself the imminent motion sickness had i been gung ho and adamant about swimming in myself. we moseyed over to the cutest little lagoon at bahia ballena, then walked on the rocks on the other side of the island. 

where all manner of wildlife awaited us. there were blue-footed boobies, sea lioness-es nursing their cubs, too many marine iguanas to count, lava lizard and lava heron. in the water, we swam with sea lions, turtles, rays and sharks. someone even saw an octopus! through the trip i kept laughing every time guide pointed out something and very counter-intuitively, we'd swim to it. who'd have thought i'd ever willingly swim towards a shark...

and M, the darling 15 year old in the group, was ducking out of my way. when i thought she was playing hide and seek with the sea lion. 

there was a magical moment at the end where we sat in complete silence and stillness for 4minutes to take in the sounds of the galapagos. simple as it may sound, it was one of the highlights for me as we sat and watched the animals watch us.

santa cruz

we left isabela after three lovely nights and moved on to santa cruz. the tour outfit was smart to save the best for last, because with a balcony like this...

and breakfast view like this,

it was hard enough to get out of bed, much less out of bed and into a kayak for some recreational kayaking. to my sheer relief, we were done with expedition kayaking on day 3 and had the luxury of taking our time in the lazy backwaters of santa cruz. we paddled by a shipwreck with a squatter of the winged variety, and by some crazy cliffs covered in bird poo.

the colours were amazing! never seen such brilliance and this recreational paddling was so much more my cup of tea than fighting the ocean currents.

sharks and boobies

no, i'm not being naughty here! 

never seen so many sharks in one place in my life, let alone in the wild. there's something about the water temperature in tthis natural channel that appeals to them.

 

the rock is covered in boobies if you look close, and below are two blue-footed boobies about to launch into the mating dance among the lava rocks and tunnels. let's just say they were camera shy when the photo was taken.

isabela and her dive bars

we stayed at a beautiful beachfront hotel on isabela and as the slogan reads, "our pool is the pacific ocean". and hey, they were right! one of the things i appreciated most about going on a land-based tour was how we'd rock up into a fancy hotel every night. well, every night except the first two that we spent in a tent. on second thoughts, maybe that's why we could afford such luxury after... my sea legs are non-existent so live aboard i.e. sleeping on a boat would've been my idea of a floating hell. in fact, taking a ferry from stockholm to helsinki and back, back in the day, was horrible enough. so a big thank you to the mister for recognising my inherent inadequacy and choosing a land-based tour. 

and what this lovely little hotel had going for it was the sheer volume of awesome dive bars just a stone's throw from its patio. now i don't know about you but i don't like chichi beach bars one bit. overpriced cocktails and a 'to see and be seen' crowd? ugh. doesn't help that after camping for two nights, presentable is the last thing i felt. so take the glam factor down a couple of notches, add some authenticity for good measure and tadaaa! dive bars just bursting with genuine personality.

and while this little bonfire looks pretty, the bunch of us were struck with hacking coughs minutes later. guess that's what happens when they burn an entire wooden door.

floreana

we were supposed to fly from st. cristobal to isabel but the aeroplane broke down. for real. and while the airline had a second, smaller plane and wanted to fly us (ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!) in two groups, S wisely said no. testament to S' versatility was that he chartered a sweet little yatch and we sailed to isabela instead, stopping floreana (an island not originally on the itinerary) en route. 

BEST. DECISION. EVER. because we had this bonus, magical moment where we 1. saw dolphins 2. swam with dolphins in the middle of the pacific ocean 500miles from the continent. it doesn't get better than that. and at floreana, we chanced upon giant tortoises mating (!!!) and it was hilarious. we've a video that i can't post because it's basically tortoisep*rn. we rode a pick-up truck up to the highlands and the fresh, cool air was a welcome respite from the equatorial heat.

expedition kayaking

now i had the privilege of attending an all girls' school that believed in being well-groomed more than it believed in sending us to 'outward*bound school'. while other teenaged girls were doing night hikes and confidence jumps, we were schooled on etiquette, carriage and what colours would match our skin tone. looking at me, you can't tell, but i assure you my alma mater went to great lengths to see we were as presentable as possible. while i don't harbour taitai (lady of leisure) aspirations, secret or otherwise, i'm also hardly the outdoorsy type. regarding being a taitai, i really don't think i could take myself seriously if i dropped everything to be a wife. i mean, if there were children in the equation it's a fair point but to stop work just to look after my able-bodied spouse? no thanks. ohmy now how did this end up an anti-taitai rant? :)

anyhoos i was talking about kayaking. and how i've only ever kayaked once. in the maldives. in crystal clear calm water. this was a whole different kettle of fish ! the current was strong, the sun stronger and there were times when i think our guide feared our fledgling marriage wouldn't survive the kayak. but it was an epiphany, really, and i'm glad we did all five hours (!!!) of it. and when it was time for the boat to tow the kayaks back to shore, i was relieved we didn't have to paddle ourselves all that way back.

out of body

had the strangest experience at the baltra airport when we were leaving the galapagos for guayaquil. i saw the most gorgeous man walking out of the loo and my heart lurched. in the split-second it took to look him up and down, i realised it was the mister. how weird is that? like i checked my own husband out... haha so loser right, my pseudo-wandering eye wanders right back to where it should be. but it was a nice little bolt from the blue where i'm reminded that the mister is indeed a fine looking young man and hmm it keeps things exciting. this also just happened when his sister sent a photo to the family whatsapp and i was like 'dayum who's that good looking creature?' before my brain caught up with my hormones and i realised, again, it was the mister. these flu meds are really pulling a number on me...

but yay to being married to someone who's only gotten better looking with time, superficial as i may be, and here's to giving as good as you get. which's something i'm a firm believer of because... heyyy i've a young husband to look good for, i can't have a third slice of chocolate cake, thank you very much! part of me still pinches myself in disbelief that he picked me and he's mine forever and ever. yes, i gush and babble that way when giddy on promethazine*hydrochloride. oh the joys of being able to self-diagnose and medicate. 

more than once in the galapagos i'd help the mister get breakfast while he kept an office hour in the morning. when asked how i knew what he liked, i said smugly, "well we've been going out for almost 6 years, there's not much i don't know about him." only to have him leave stuff on his plate! pride before fall? and i realise a much humbler, and accurate answer would've been i still only know 80% of his preferences and we're both constantly changing. factor in how he's feeling in the morning and the odds of plating every thing he'd have picked for himself are quite slim.

camping on st. cristobal

a bit of house-keeping by way of introduction to our galapagos trip. the mister is planner supreme (i mean, he only planned and executed our three weddings, no big...) and once he set his heart on visiting the galapagos, i knew we'd be doing it the best possible way. now i'm not a fan of the outdoors, nor exertion, but i'm a fan of the mister and knew how much it meant to him. to his credit, he did warn me and give me plenty of chances to put my foot down, and he finally decided on this great little outfit that practiced 1) "leave no trace" 2) supports local enterprise. what that meant is that when we camped, there was no showers because we couldn't use soap on the island. every trace of waste water, right down to the bit you spit out after brushing your teeth) was bottled and removed from the island. we also had a local naturalist guide with us every where we went, used local charters and engaged only locals (captain, sailor, guide, crew) as we made our way through the archipelago. the only "non-local" but ecuadorian nevertheless was S our amazing guide. 

it was a mixed group to say the least. there were 6 new yorkers (80 year old granny, her three kids, her daughter's 9 year old and 12 year old), a mother-teen daughter pair from mineapolis and us. S basically had to simultaneousy manage guests from 5 decades (<10, 10-19, 20s, 40s and 80) and keep us all entertained. talk about multi-tasking! he did this with aplomb and i'm grateful for how he managed me and my aversion to the outdoors. incidentally, it was sort of how he handled the kiddies haha, constantly reassuring, encouraging me to "just give it a try" and allowing me an 'out' any time it proved too much. the 80 year old, by the way, is an elegant elegant parisian lady who moved to NYC in her 20s to work for the UN, married an american and has stayed on since. she's fit as a fiddle, putting me to shame on more than one occasion and exuding this old world glamour while the rest of us degenerated into a bug-bitten mess.

we spent the first two nights on a deserted beach at st. cristobal where only our outfit was allowed to camp. here's the mister carrying everything, taking photos after peeing next to a pelican in the morning, the campsite bathed in the soft morning light and breakfast being prepared by our ever-efficient campsite crew. the meals were amazing and they worked magic in the very basic kitchen.

preparation

so the mister and i finally got round to going on honeymoon. we did go to the western fjords after our midsummer wedding last year but um 13h days where we're out at 5am does not a honeymoon make. come to think of it, neither does this 10 day boot camp with crazy amounts of kayaking, hiking, trekking, snorkeling and volcano walking. we did mini-moon in phuket shortly after our singers celebration but it took awhile to save up for this crazy crazy trip. also took awhile for the mister to get some time off work! but here we are and i'm so excited to be going to the galapagos. we're not glamping (boo!) but i hear the tent will be pitched for us. which means i don't have to put my newly acquired tent-pitching skills (learnt at wild*trials2012!) to the test. phew!