Vamos a Ecuador!!

On October 15th, exactly 12 days after we "moved" to Utah, Daxton and Grady and Brandon and I went on a trip of a lifetime.  I actually flew to Phoenix the day before with Tabitha and Hyatt so they could spend the 12 days with their favorite Nana.  We all met up in Atlanta on the 15th.  The boys were so excited to be included in this trip and I was thrilled to show them another part of the world.  This was my first trip to South America.  Brandon has been waiting very patiently for a trip where he can use his spanish and people will actually understand him.  He tends to try to speak spanish to people who are speaking a foreign language to him- no matter what it is.  It was pretty funny in Hong Kong.

Anywho, enjoy the picture show!

Jessie and Steve brought Tildy and lots of stuff to try and keep her happy.

Stepping Foot in Ecuador.

 15-ish hours later... finally warm, comfy beds at the Marriott-Quito.

 The bridge at the Marriott.  Dressed for breakfast with President and Sister Sloan, my mom's mission president and his wifey.

 Tildy survived her travels and got enough beauty sleep to give us smiles!

 This is right after we boarded our private bus... aka- the boys favorite part of the trip.  We must have spent a total of 25 hours on this bus during our entire trip and the boys DID NOT COMPLAIN ONCE.  They loved having the whole bus to themselves.  No seatbelts, lots of games, snacks, and family to play with and talk to.  Daxton actually cried when we had to say goodbye to the bus for the last time.  The boy gets SO attached.

 Checking out the Sloan's view.

 Our group with the Sloans from Lehi, UT.  They have 2 daughters that are also in Ecuador with them.

 Mom and Steve on our bus.  After a delicious breakfast of fruit, pancakes, and fritattas, we boarded the bus for a 5 hour scenic drive to Riobamba.

 

Lovin' the bus!

 Of the many, many hours we spent on the bus, most of them were spent playing scrabble on Kindle.  We had a total of 4 Kindles on the bus and they were all busy all the time.  The goal:  "Kick someone's TRASH!"  The boys even learned to play and got quite good... when they could use the "best word" feature (which I considered cheating).

 Seen from our bus on the way out of Quito.  Fruit stalls.

 We took the scenic route to Riobamba so we could drive on the flank of this Volcano- Cotopaxi.  This was the clearest it got.  I never actually saw the top of it.  We did see some vicuna though.

 These clowns were set outside every shop that sold ice cream... that means ever shop.  The clowns were EVERYWHERE!  This picture was actually taken on our way out of Riobamba.  We visited the city so my mom could visit her very good friend, Rita.  We had dinner with Rita and her family the night before and then attended Church that morning.  The boys were bored stiff at church.  They didn't understand anything and ended up playing hangman with Grandma the whole time.  A funny little side note... Brandon and others who served missions in South America have always talked about how girls would just whip out the boob to nurse babies while listening to a discussion.  I got to see it first hand in church... in the chapel.  It was weird.

 A pizza place somewhere.  : )

When we got back to Quito we went to my mom's favorite restaurant... Crepes y Waffles.  My sister (who took care of my mom's finances and such while she was serving her mission) said that 80% of the charges on mom's AMEX were from this place.  I could totally see why!  It was FABULOUS!  The first time (of 3) that we at there, I got a chicken curry crepe for dinner and some yummy sundae for dessert.  The boys got dessert crepes for dinner and ice cream for dessert.  Definitely the first time I've let them eat 2 desserts for dinner.  What the heck- it's vacation, right?!!

 Very, very early the next morning we boarded another plane... this time to the Galapagos Islands.  This was the part of the trip I was SUPER excited for.  I mean, who goes to the Galapagos Islands?  ME!!

We flew in and I was really, truly surprised at what I saw.  It was beautiful blue, clear water and then all of a sudden Arizona brown.  Dry, sand, desert, deserted.  Where was the LUSH?  I didn't know why I expected green and lush.  I didn't do much research before we left, what with the move and all.  It all just looked like Arizona.  See:

But then we got on another bus.  It took us to a ferry, which took us across a little channel to a different island.  Then we met our guides and got on another bus.  We drove for about 45 minutes and SURPRISE the higher we got on the island... the more lush it got.  This is how it looked in the beginning:

Then it started to look like this.  Micro-climates:

We stopped to look at an ENORMOUS lava chamber.  Lava chambers are pockets of lava that had built up on the side of a volcano and ended up collapsing.  Think BIG, DEEP hole.

Grady, the bird whisperer.  He got really close to it.

 Tildy did really well during all the driving and flying, but she was 5 months old, and that meant a few tantrums.  I caught this one on camera.  So CUTE!

 

This is the house we rented for our 4 day stay in the Galapagos.  Words cannot really explain how luxurious it was.  The last day there, as my mom was signing the guest book, she found an autographed picture of Gloria Estefan.  That tells you what caliber it was... oh, and we had a wait staff (maid, butler, and cook).  AMAZING!  More pictures of the house below.

 The dining room.  Windows and doors open, unless we were sleeping.

 

 

 

 An iguana visiting our house.

 

Brandon and Daxton wait on the private dock for a water taxi.

 

 

The boys spent all their free time in the hot tub and pool at the house.  They lived in their swimsuits those 4 days.

On our first day in the Galapagos we did a little sight-seeing.  First we were taken to a private farm where we saw our first Giant Tortoise.

  

After we saw this gorgeous creature, we moved on to the lava tube.  It was really scary and amazing.  I'm looking at these pictures and thinking, "WHY AREN'T I IN ANY OF THEM??"  I need proof that I did this!

 

 This is the part where we had to climb under the rock.  The opening was about 2 feet tall.

 

All the boys on the other side of the scary hole.

After the lava tube we went to a Giant Tortoise Sanctuary on the same property.  words cannot describe how breathtaking it is to see so many of these rare animals in one place.

 

 This day, our first in the Galapagos Islands, was a VERY VERY long day with lots of traveling and sight-seeing, and being pampered by our private staff!  Lap of LUXURY I tell you!

 

 The next day we took a trip to San Seymore Island.  It was incredible... like a zoo without cages.  The wildlife was everywhere, and it was all natural.  The only thing on the island is animals... no buildings or anything.

We dingy-d over to the island from our boat...

About 30 feet off the boat we found this:

 We though he was dead, but then he gave this "woe is me" pose.  It made me think that he was placed there and trained what to do when people come by.

 Our first iguana sighting.  This is a marine iguana.  They are much smaller than the other iguanas.

 The boys were pros and spotting wildlife under bushes.  Several times they would point out some creature that was right under brush, and right next to someone's ankle.  They spotted this sea lion before he stuck his head out and yawned at us.


This was a creepy little creature.  Dead.  Totally frozen in a fighting position, but dead... and molting or something.  We also saw dead, rotting sea lions, and a newly dead sea turtle on a beach, OH, and a baby blue footed boobie was dropped by a Frigget bird, right in our walking path.  The boys loved the dead stuff.

 
Now this is an iguana.  It kind of reminded me of a komodo dragon it was so big:

When we left San Seymore Island we went to another island to play on the beach.  Daxton challenged me to a race and then he totally cheated.  He didn't go all the way to the turn-around point... he just turned around when I did.  This is him racing Grady on the same stretch of beach.

I love this picture:

Brandon took them snorkeling for the first time.

When we got back to the house, this was laying on our dock.  Apparently our "butler" is also a fisherman and caught a swordfish.  He was drying out the sword part.

The next day we were off for another adventure.  This time to Tortuga Bay!
When our boat pulled up to this shore line and we waded through the water, this little guy was coming down the beach to greet us. 

 

Before we relaxed on the beach, we hiked around a bit.  There were literally thousands of marine iguanas laying around.  So many were probably inches from us, but we couldn't see them because they blended into the rocks so well. For some strange reason I don't have any pictures of the PILES of Iguanas.  That's right.  They were literally piled on top of each other.

After the hike, there was time for beach playing.  Grandma, the boys, and Brandon worked on a sand fortress.

 

Afterwards, our guide presented an opportunity to swim with the sea lions.  The water was FREEZING, so Brandon and Steve were the only one's who took him up on the offer.  Both of them said it was an opportunity of a lifetime and they were so glad they braved the cold water.  They actually got to interact with the sea lions.  Here's a very happy Brandon after the experience:

The rest of us were very happy to wait on the boat... where it was possibly just as cold.

 

Brandon took the Kayak out when we got back.  He is kayaking in the OCEAN and after about 2 hours I started to get really worried.  He's not a very experienced kayaker and any current could have taken him out to sea.  Luckily, he came back okay.  Sunburned, but okay.

 

I guess you could say it was an exhausting day.  This is the boys at dinner that night... falling asleep at the table.

 The waitress took pity on them and gave them a bench and some blankets...

More to see!  The next day we were off see another lava chamber.  This one seemed so much bigger to me, but the guide told us it wasn't as big as one that we saw on the first day.  One of the crazy things about the micro-climates is that we never knew if it was going to be cold or hot where we were going.  On this day it was COLD, but we had plans to go to a beach, so we assumed that would be in the HOT.  We hiked through the rain to the lava chamber...

 Treasured the Kodak moment...

 And then sent the boys back to the bus with Jessie and Tildy, so we didn't have to listen to them complain about being cold anymore.  The rest of the hike was through some of the most amazing scenery.  It reminded me of LOST (a television show).  Look at all this gorgeous GREEN!

 This is Chris showing us what we were actually hiking TO.  We were on a hunt for more turtles, and they supposedly live in this marshy area.  Unfortunately for us, the marsh was all dried up and deserted.  Oh well, it was a pretty hike.

 

Here's a pic of my handsome husband on the beach.  You won't find one of me anywhere near that water because I was hiding under a blanket trying to keep the wind from blowing more sand in my eyes.  It was COLD and WINDY!

Brandon took each of the boys on a kayak ride when we got back to the house.

This was the ramp that the boys loved to play on while we waited for our bus in town.

 

That was all for the Galapagos.  It was an amazing place and I highly recommend it to any family.  We were so sad to leave, but there was more to explore in Ecuador!

For example, we still hadn't see this beauty:

 Yeah, it's a shrunken head... of a 12 year old prince.   Strange.  We saw this when we went to visit the Equator.  They actually explained how shrunken head are made.  It consists of skinning, boiling, and stuffing.  They only did it to important people.  Nice, eh?  Now let's move on to the reason you go to the Equator... to kiss someone who is in a different hemisphere.

They say that when you're on the equator both poles have the same pull, so you can stand an egg on the head of a nail.  There was a convenient nail pounded into some wood on the equator, and some eggs to try this trick with.  I tried to get that egg to stand up for a good 10 minutes and didn't succeed.  Here's Brandon hard at work during his turn...

 And Daxton giving it a shot...

 Not one of us got it to stand up, but my brother Chris, sister Jessie, and brother-in-law Steve all succeeded, so I guess it can be done.

Oh, here's a random shot of Brandon on our bus.  He flagged down a vendor who was selling coconuts on the side of the road and bought one... mostly for the experience of having the boys drink out of a coconut, from a vendor on the side of the road, in Ecuador.  I think it was lost on them though.

The next day we were off to Otavalo.  It was one of my mom's favorite places to visit because the Otavalan people still dress in their indiginous clothing, and because there is a really great market there.  It was time to SHOP!

  

Grady didn't want to take time to look around.  He wanted to spend the $10 that was burning a hole in his pocket.  He wanted the KID stuff.  This is what we lovingly call his "angry eyes".

The colors of the textiles were AMAZING:

 

After some lunch the boys found their happy faces again while they jumped off some steps.  This was their favorite part of the day.

 

We took another little side trip to see this pretty view.  This was the caldera of a volcano that has had a lake form in it.  With the mist, it was beautiful!

 That night we stayed at a resort (Puerto Lago) that was really the nicest you could get in the area.  I'll be honest... I wasn't impressed.  It was rainy and cold, and the only way to get warm was to start a fire in our fireplace.  I was FREEZING.  Us and the boys had to be in two different rooms that didn't have a connecting door, so we decided it was best to put Brandon with one boy, and me with the other.  So, Daxton and I had a good mother/son bonding night.  When we got back to our room after dinner, the first priority was to get our fire started so we could have some heat.  We worked together and we got a raging fire going.  Proud:

 

In the resorts defense, they had a lake with paddle boats.  They almost didn't let the boys go out because of the rain, but the boys had been looking forward to the paddle boats for days, so Brandon (with his brilliant spanish) talked them into it.

 

We attended church in Otovalo on Sunday, and then did another majorly long drive to the Arasha resort in the rainforest.  It was a gorgeous setting... and yes, it rained.  Here's a picture of our arrival, on the road up to our hut:

These were REAL hydrangeas.  I couldn't believe how beautiful they were.  I've only ever seen the fake ones at the craft store, and they are actually a pretty good replica, but once you've seen the real thing, the silk ones won't do.

Um yep, this is a real toucan.  Never thought i'd see one of these up close and personal...

The pool, which of course, was the boys favorite part.  They're like, part fish or something. 

Jessie celebrated her birthday and the tour company had arranged a surprise birthday cake for her.  I've tasted better : ) but it was a lovely gesture.

A photo of Daxton on the balcony of our hut:

We stayed at the Arasha for two days.  The first night there, the boys and Brandon, along with Grandmaand Steve, went on a night walk through the rainforest with torches.  There wasn't no way, no how you were gonna get me out there with the bugs.  There were too many bugs in our room for me, and it had doors and windows.  Apparently they had fun.  At some point the guide had them put out their torches and they got to see the phosphorescent glow coming from the moss.
There was also a mini-golf course, which the boys utilized a few times.  It was better to play mini-golf in the rain, than swim.  We also attended a chocolate-making class where we made chocolate from cocoa beans.  It was fascinating and some of the best chocolate I've ever tasted.
I know I look really happy here... I'm just really focused on making good chocolate.  This is us roasting the beans:

 Next we peeled the beans:

 Then we ground the beans into a lovely brown chocolately sludge:

 Then it was time to add the sugar and water;

 YUM!

 My chocolate monster was in HEAVEN!

 

Day 2 in the rainforest was the day the boys had been waiting for the entire trip.  It was the day for ZIP LINES!  We did 14 zip lines that criss-crossed the rainforest and it was so FUN!  Darn, there's no pictures of video of me.  OK, so I have no proof to show you, but I was right there with 'em.

Yes, this is the matriarch of our family, and my only surviving parent, flying 200 feet over a gorge. 

This was truly a trip of a lifetime.  Many many thanks to my mom, who not only sponsored the trip, but was willing to put up with all of us for 14 days.  We love you mom!