Galápagos

We arrived the day before our luxurious preplanned itinerary began, so the Trip Master (my father) could ensure we were prepared like “racehorses rearing to go” when we met our guide.  That day was mostly spent entranced by the sea lions’ overtaking the town and me begrudgingly translating my mom’s dietary restrictions to waiters.  We swam in the ocean at sunset as sea lions occasionally bobbed up next us but mostly just blobbed on the beach.  When we did meet our guide, we warmed up with a baby hike from the Galapagos Interpretation Center to Tijeretas along natural trails formed by of lava rocks. The path was surrounded by native plants like Galapagos cotton, palo santo, acacia, and cacti.  We spotted frigate birds (called tijeretas because they look like shears), pelicans, herons, gulls, warblers, mockingbirds, and finches in the vegetation and sea cliffs.  A kayak adventure took us around (and almost crashing into) the volcanic coastal bays. We snorkeled at postcard-worthy Carola Beach, surrounded by sea turtles, marine iguanas, and of course sea lions overtaking the stairs out.

Watched a sea lion bark in a woman's face here

 

Playa Cerro Bruno with Kicker Rock in the distance

Our second full day was boat journey to Leon Dormido/Kicker Rock. We swam from the anchored boat to the most serene private beach. We put on snorkels and fins to swim around Kicker Rock with countless reef fish, starfish, clams, tiny stingy jellyfish, and a couple (menacing but harmless) hammerhead sharks.  It reminded me of taking a boat trip in Taiwan to swim in the Milk Sea around Turtle Island.  We ate a traditional ceviche dinner in a fishing family’s courtyard, surrounded by their fruit trees.

The next day, we left San Cristobal on a small plane to Isabela Island, one of the most volcanically active spots on the planet.  Puerto Villamil on Isabela Island was my favorite spot, because we stayed in a gorgeous, private old mansion (Casa Baronesa) right on a vast swatch of white sand beach, perfect for sunrise runs and sunset swims. There were outdoor workout areas, beach volleyball courts (featuring Ecuavolei, which is 3v3 using a soccer ball), and the Pink Iguana beach bar with a slack line.

We rode fat-tired bikes through a wide variety of ecosystems, from white sand beaches, to mangrove forests and brackish lagoons. We came to a screeching halt for the first giant tortoise of the trip.  The ride brought us to el Muro de las Lagrimas (the Wall of Tears). When Isabela was used as a penal colony, prisoners were forced to construct this towering wall of lava rocks for no other reason than to keep them distracted from the madness of isolation. After lunch on the beach, we joined on a little boat tour to Tintoreras, a set of small islets filled with hidden coves and beaches, starring the peculiar, endemic Galapagos penguin, blue-footed boobies, marine iguanas, and vegetarian white tipped sharks.  Massive manta rays lurked below us and baby sea lions zoomed at us as we snorkeled around sparse coral.

 

Our next day on Isabela Island, we hiked to the rim of the Sierra Negra volcano, for a breathtaking vista when the mist cleared. Sierra Negra is the second largest active caldera on the planet, over six miles at its widest point. On our drive down, we stopped at an idyllic farm for lunch.

Another short internal flight took us to Baltra Island which hosts the airport for Santa Cruz Island, reminding me of the Kansai Airport on an standalone island off Osaka. Santa Cruz is the most populous in the Galapagos with about 15k people and the best touristic shopping. We hiked through a forest of endemic Scalesia trees to Los Gemelos, two deep volcanic sinkholes at the top of the island, with rocky cliffs surrounding the huge pits of empty magma chambers. The trees were covered with ferns and epiphytes and lent the forest a quiet, eerie feel.

El Chato in the Santa Cruz highlands was a surreal giant tortoise reserve. Everywhere you looked, the landscape was dotted with a slow-moving tortoise, some over 175 years old. Other features of the landscape were lava tunnels and toxic manzanillo trees with their little apples of death.

Jurassic Park style dining

We did more sea kayaking, this time in more peaceful mangrove outlets created by lava channels. We spent the afternoon swimming at Tortuga Bay. It’s only accessible by foot, after walking on soft, fine sand past a choppy bay to get to its extremely calm pristine waters.  On our walk back, we stopped by the baby tortoises and stuffed Lonesome George at Charles Darwin Research Station.

Muchin de yuca

The Galapagos reminded me in some ways of Costa Rica but even more focused on environmental preservation. Everything required a specialized trained naturalist guide.  There was no ziplining through the habitats of endangered animals.  There were not even any plastic bags allowed on the archipelago.

Costa Rica

 

After flying into San Jose, we drove on the dark one lane roads (the only type of road in Costa Rica, it seems), avoiding pothole after pothole, until we reached Tamarindo, a magical oasis of tourists in the jungle.  Of anywhere I’ve been, it most reminded me of the towns in Bali—perfect surfing conditions, diverse restaurants, expats everywhere.  On our way, we did stop at a little town to eat at a “soda,” a local roadside restaurant serving typical Costa Rican cuisine: rice and beans, plantains, queso, fried egg, and a meat (or veggies for me).  We ate every single meal outdoors, except our very last one at the Monteverde Brewing Company.

In Tamarindo, the weather and water were ideal.  In between sunrise beach volleyball and sunset surfing, we enjoyed massages on the beach and runs on the beach.  Steve tried unsuccessfully to wade across the river to Playa Grande; then, we learned of the crocodile attacks there, so we took a tiny ferry for a long walk.

 

River tracing hike to La Leona waterfall

Our second destination was the Monteverde Cloud Forest. We hit the uphill unpaved mountain roads right as the low gas light turned on, barely making it to Santa Elena by the last drops in our tank.  A night hike taught me that all scorpions glow under black light, thanks to our guide who could spot a sleeping snake in the trees a hundred feet away or a subcentimeter glass frog perched on a leaf.  The next day, we went on our own glorious hike through the cloud forest.

We saw iguanas, frogs, geckos, snakes, tarantulas, other spiders, scorpions, millipedes, grasshoppers, crickets, leaf bugs, caterpillars, butterflies, racoons, coatis, kinkajous, opossums, monkeys, toucans, quezals, and other birds.  On one occasion, there was a touch of traffic while cows were crossing the road; on another occasion, it was a tarantula crossing the road.  A highlight was a cafe famous for its pavilion full of colorful hummingbirds speeding and hovering around.

The original moss art

I learned that Costa Ricans are called Ticos and that mae is Costa Rica's version of the ubiquitous local term for dude or bro.

Switzerland

We were looking for a new place to go on vacation that wasn’t going to be super hot in the dead of summer, so we chose Switzerland since I randomly have multiple friends who live there.  Turns out it’s still super hot in the dead of summer, but also that Switzerland is famous for its natural swimming spots!  Zurich has urban parks where bathers lounge in the grass and then wade into the lake.  At noontime, we saw the businesspeople of downtown eating their lunches while splashing in the creek.  Supposedly, some workers pack their professional clothes in a dry bag and float with the current of the Limmat to work every day.  In addition to this, there’s excellent public transportation for which everyone uses the same app.  Locals are more likely to own a bike than a car.  Cars stop at all the crosswalks for pedestrians even without a stop sign.

Rentenwiese pictured here, also went to a similar park, called Chinagarten, where we spent a perfect last day in Zurich playing grass volleyball, throwing a frisbee, doing aero, swimming in the lake

My suitemate from all four years of college and her boyfriend live right in the heart of the old city, over a bar that stays noisy all night long.  Unlike other countries’ old towns, it felt special that Zurich’s was a place where real locals lived and worked, and there was industry besides tourism.  My friends were incredible hosts who took us for gorgeous walking tours.  There were tons of thrift stores (brockenhausen) which suited Steve.  We ate at Hiltl, the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the world.  Overall, there were excellent vegan options and international food options throughout the urban areas of Switzerland.

The public fountains all provide fresh drinking water

We tragically arrived one day too late (due to me working a 24 hour shift at the hospital) to experience Zurich’s Street Parade (an open air EDM music festival).  My friends were embarrassed that the city streets had a minuscule amount of trash as a result.  The next Saturday in Zurich was the Limmat float where swimmers all got inflatable axolotls and sent down the river on a section normally reserved for boats.  It was reminiscent of the Sun Moon Lake swim I’d done in inner Taiwan.  

Lindt chocolate factory

Seebad swim club in Lucerne, view from the bar

After Zurich, we spent a day in nearby Lucerne.  It also had a picturesque old town with winding cobblestone streets and a covered bridge crossing the river.  Walking down the tree-lined path by the river (wishing we had our rollerblades), we happened upon an amazing swim club.  It was full of Swiss people sunbathing on the elevated deck, drinking Aperol spritzes, and cooling off in Lake Lucerne.  Afterwards, I was on a hunt to try raclette, the Swiss specialty of cheese melted over veggies and bread (suspiciously similar to fondue, the Swiss specialty of cheese melted over veggies and bread). However, we only emerged for dinner at 8:30pm when every restaurant seemed to be closed, Switzerland being an exception to the European habit of eating late.  A bar owner ended up making us raclette pinsa while we sat at the tables of people having wine in a quiet plaza with a fountain.

Lucerne Lion Monument

 

We took a train then a bus then the steepest funicular in the world to reach a village called Stoos, that cannot be reached by (nonlocal) car.  The first afternoon, we did a stunning ridge-line hike between two cable cars.  The whole hike was soundtracked by the clanking of cowbells.  The heatwave with no cover from the sun made it sweltering.  We spent the night at the cozy Stoos Lodge, in a modern, wood-paneled room with floor-to-ceiling views of the mountains.  Opening the windows at dusk for the first cool air of the whole trip, we heard the eerie alphorn calling through the valley for the cows to come home.  The next day, we rented e-bikes to take around mountains that we otherwise would not have been able summit.  Regardless, we were barely able to descend; the trails were so steep with loose rocks.

Rösti (traditional Swiss hash browns)

Our next destination was Bern. It is a fairytale of a city, with the glistening blue river wrapping around the old town.  There’s even a park incorporated into the city that has bears.  

Rosengarten lookout

As soon as we saw people zooming along the fast-flowing river Aare, we knew we had to join too.  After hunting down a dry bag in the city, we walked along the river side path, passing bars and a beach volleyball court shaded by an overpass, until the launching point.  Steve held our matching popsicle floaties while I jumped off the bridge.  We bobbed along at high speed with everyone else until there was a sign in German at a fork in the river.  We reluctantly got out at the Marzili swim club with everyone else.  Afterwards, we asked a lifeguard and learned that if we hadn’t, the river would’ve carried us over the dam of death.

There are bears hiding in those trees

Eating local fondue despite it being 90 degrees outside

Bern was also extremely cool because the main streets of the old town all had cellars.  In front of every aboveground storefront, there was another entrance leading to an underground storefront.  There were extremely few cars, just occasional trams speeding between fountains along otherwise old fashioned streets.  The week prior the city had hosted a buskers street music festival.  Passing an old bridge over the Aare, we saw people doing parkour in the streets.  Then, we stumbled upon the Movement Park, which hosts regular yoga, acro, juggling, and slackline jams, and I decided Bern would be the Swiss city for me.