Over the Seas, Through the Sky, Across the Mountains (written earlier)

So, the last time I wrote to you, I was in Puerto Ayora, Galapagos. After that, we had a few more days of intense sun and heat, including our final days on our boat, more of a yacht really, pretty sweet I must say. I am also proud that I didn´t really get seasick! In addition to hiking into two different lava tubes on two different islands (lava tubes are amazing, and I am pretty much a dork and thought of the Republic while inside, seeing our flashlights lending scant light to the rocky sides). We landed on Isabela where we stayed in a hotel on the beach. Well actually, the entire village of Puerto Villamil is built on a beach. Sand is absolutely everywhere and gets into everything! It was a decent enough place. The cool thing about Isabela, other than the fact that it is the largest of the Galapagos islands, was that we got to hike up a volcano, Sierra Negra, and hike along the rim of the largest active caldera in the world. It was amazing! At first, we were clambering along in the cool morning mist, without a view of anything more than thirty feet ahead. Slowly though, the sun and wind blew away the fog and we could see down to the caldera floor, some hundred feet below. We worked our way around part of the caldera to see the epicenter, where a lava flow originated in October 2006. Believe it or not, cacti were growing right next to the new flow. Tough little buggers! Adaptations here are incredible. The only part of our brisk hike I did not enjoy was our less than stellar guide, but life goes on right? After that, we had a huge travel day. Speedboat right from Isabela to Santa Cruz (think of a boat that belongs on Lake Minnetonka, a decent size fishing boat, and then put it in the rough ocean). A bus, a ferry, a bus, two planes, and a bus and we were in Cotacachi in the Andes! We stayed with native Quechua families that night (I´m running out of time, more detail to come). They are incredible people and it was great to see how the indigenous people of the area live. The next morning, we worked on a community Quechua farm harvesting potatoes. It was cool to help them out and see their methods, which aren´t too different from ours. After that, we went to a luxurious hacienda (where I got to take a nice hot shower). We went to a local town known for wood carvings (I made a number of purchases), then a weaver´s shop (I got to try using a spinning wheel to wind yarn into a skein, it´s kind of hard!). In the evening, we heard traditional Andean music which was really cool. Those of you in Great Con, remember Lope de Aguirre The Wrath of God? Pan pipes! Oh yeah. It was pretty cool. We tried to dance to the music and failed in a terribly American way. Today, we went to Otavalo where I got far too much stuff. But it is all amazing and it was great to see so many quality goods made by people I now understand a bit better. I should be off, I need to return to my host family in Quito. I am about ready to return home, to the U.S. I have had a great time here, but it is about time.