The Next Semester

Hello All...

Well, it's been over four months since I last posted. Unfortunately, I never found time to write about our trip to Atacames, the Galápagos, or my trip home. Here's the short story on those...

We went to Atacames for a weekend. We rented two condos on the beach (literally, we walked out the door and right onto the beach), and it was amazing. We didn't have a schedule to follow, it was all free time. So it was just fun in the sun for us. I learned to boogey board (who knows if I spelled that right) which was probably the best part for me. Lindsey and I were out on the ocean by ourselves boogey boarding, and it was like we had the whole ocean and beach to ourselves. It was nice to chill out together. Unfortunately, most of the food there was seafood, which of course I can't stand. But like I said, it was only a weekend, and we ventured home (a little too soon, if you ask me).

Then we headed to the Galápagos. We spent the 5 days on a yacht, and visited a few islands. Unfortunately, I don't remember exactly which islands those were, so I looked online for the itinerary of the Yolita II (our yacht). We started on the tiny Baltra Island from Bachas Beach. The second day we went onto another small island, Plaza, and then on to Santa Fé Island. The next day we went to Española Island (the oldest, so I guess the animals on there are pretty ancient and very rare), day 4 we went to Floreana, and then finally ended in Santa Cruz.

The first day we flew from Quito to Guayaquil, and then from Guayaquil to the Baltra Island, where we took a bus that took us to a raft that took us to the Yolita II. We saw a couple Sea Lions right away when we got to the raft dock. The male was huge, and he yelled at us a lot. Then in the water I saw a penguin. The only penguin a saw during the whole trip. :-( (I was going to take a picture, but I thought I'd see more. And he swam away too fast). After getting settled on the Yolita II, we had a wet landing on Bachas Beach (wet landing = the boat stops off shore, and you have to walk through the water to the beach, dry landing = there's a dock/land the raft docks next to and you can walk right onto). There Risel, the guide, talked to us about how sea turtles make their nests on the beach. And there were a lot of crabs.

The second day we woke up who knows when and had a dry landing on Islas Plazas. Sitting right in the middle of the dock/landing was a sea lion who, when I tried to pass, kept coming toward me. Everyone else was able to pass just fine, but it wouldn't leave me alone. I guess it liked me, lol. Once I got past the sea lion, Risel started his lesson on marine iguanas, land iguanas, lava lizards, and the cacti. His accent was really funny, and a lot of what he said sounded like curse words. Oooh, good old Risel. I thought the island would have a lot of lush vegetation and pretty flowers, but it pretty much looked like a desert. I would have been more disappointed had I not seen so many lobos marinos. Then later in the day we had a wet landing on Santa Fé to a beach FULL of sea lions. They were precious. Also, it was either this day or the third day that we started snorkeling. I wanted to sooo badly, but Risel freaked me out going through the important signals for "jelly fish, shark, hammerhead shark, great white shark, etc..." so that when I got in the water, I was so afraid of whatever might swim underneath me that I panicked and after 5 minutes was too stressed out to stay in the water. So I got back into the raft with one of the crew members...and never went out again.

Third day we went to Española. We got to see blue footed boobies, and we got to see their mating dance. The boy offered the girl a stick (to prove he could be a good provider)?? I also saw albatross. They're HUGE and really pretty. I liked them a lot. On our second outing of the day, we went to a beach while others went snorkeling. I just laid around with the sea lions, and it was so amazing. I also got to swim with them a little bit. SO COOL!! I'd just like to add in as a side note, mostly because I don't know what day it happened, but we also saw from the yacht: sting rays, dolphins, and whales. Also cool.

Fourth day: Floreana. To be honest, this was my least favorite island, although I believe I saw the first flowers there. We saw a few flamingos, Brittiny held a crab, and then we went to a beach where we walked into the ocean where the sting rays were. The water was so cloudy we couldn't really see them, but every once in a while we got a glimpse. And then that evening was basically like a party! We went out at night and walked around town, obviously very environmentally friendly, apart from the huge truck that drove down the road. Unfortunately, all the stores closed early, which stunk. So we got pretty bored, since we don't drink/aren't allowed in bars, and went back to the ship. It was cool though.

Fifth day, we landed in Santa Cruz. We had a flight at noon, so we did a quick tour of the Charles Darwin Station/Galápagos National Park. Then we got in a truck, that took us to a bus stop, that took us to a ferry, which took us to Baltra Island, got on another bus which took us to the airport, and got on the plane to Guayaquil and then another plane to Quito (and of course rode in the Sprinter back to the Seminary). And I must say, my head was not OK for a couple days due to all the rocking of the boat and flying and then being on land again. That night though, we had our goodbye dinner with all our roommates....except mine, because she went shopping with a friend. What? Yup. That's ok though...it was a good time. Very sad, but excellent.

A couple days later I was flying home. It seemed as if time had flown by. I couldn't believe how fast time had gone, and I couldn't believe that I had ever wanted to go home so badly (as I did desperately in the weeks before the trip to the Amazon). Flying out of Ecuador, looking over Quito, all kinds of emotions rushed over me and I was sobbing. It was as heartbreaking as it was to leave my family in Chicago. Maybe more so, because I knew I would probably never see most of those people again.

Now, almost four months after arriving home, it's still a bittersweet thing. I still cry sometimes, and I spend a lot of time reminiscing. I talk to my friends, and I look at the pictures ALL the time. It's almost strange to be starting another semester at Olivet. I know people who are arriving in Ecuador today, and I am soooo jealous. I would LOVE to go back. It really is one of those experiences that you can tell stories about without ever really being able to express all the emotions and feelings that go with it. I don't think anyone, without traveling with NILI, will ever be able to understand how great of a program it is, how many things you learn and feel throughout the semester, and how hard it is to leave the people at the seminary that helped you and loved you, and that you came to love as well. It's irreplaceable. I hope someday, all of you who read this will be able to have such an eye-opening experience, that God will move in your life so extremely, and that your heart will have such an opportunity to grow.

So I think this is it for my aventura. What a blessing it has been. Even writing about it now is so emotional for me. Thank you all so much for joining me on this ride, it means a lot to me.

Dios les bendiga,
Ami