{"id":4768,"date":"2024-02-15T02:17:03","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T02:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/?p=4768"},"modified":"2024-02-15T02:17:03","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T02:17:03","slug":"sabbatical-week-41","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/?p=4768","title":{"rendered":"Sabbatical Week 41"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Day 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Not much happened today but just riding the 10hr bus back to Quito while saying goodbyes to the Amazonas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By the time we arrived, it was already very late. I found the only place that’s open near the hostel – of course, it’s gringo food made by a Colombian. The noodles and cheese were great however. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Day 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I met up with the French boy again, it was also this day that entire country of Ecuador turned upside down (I am sure everyone’s been watching the news?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Took the Metro for for the first time, it was brand new which was just opened 1 month prior <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Following the advice from my friend from Quito, I decided to visit I\u00f1aquito, which is a middle class suburb of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s nice to get out of the touristy old town and visit where the locals actually live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(I actually bumped into the French in Amazonas in seperate river boats)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We decided to ascend to the local park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was completely empty likely due to the civil unrest which we were not aware of at the time<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was at this hour my friend from Quito texted me and urged us to go back to our accommodation ASAP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We came down just to realize that everything was complete shutdown including all public transit and of course Uber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where it shows how lovely Ecuadorians are. While we were trying to figure out the next steps, there was this local family who saw us getting stuck at the foot of the park. They spent more than an hour and half trying to get us help including calling various hostels in the old town as well as driving us to police stations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end, they even managed to get us a Taxi where the driver initially didn’t want to risk taking us back to the old town. It was a thrill moment as soon as we headed back (all shops were closed), there was tons of armed vehicles and we were not allowed to get off the old town. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end we managed to sprint back to our hostels across the highway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just stayed at the hostel rest of the day after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I also became much more sick at this point. Switched to a private room and just chilled and planned for what to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I initially thought about going to Argentina, but figured it’s too hot and the safest place to visit in Ecuador was probably the Galapagos. This was also to take advantage of the reduced tourism and everything became somewhat affordable again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Took a mid morning flight to the Galapagos<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Interesting airport <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Stopover in Guayaquil <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Landing in the Galapagos <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Plane spotting <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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First wildlife, I was excited. Very soon, I realized how common they were <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Bumped into the same people from the Amazonas tour <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was tired after flights and boat ride. I booked a private place just to chill a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Made some stir fry at the hostel for myself. It’s nice that the produce and meat are affordable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s Starlink at the hostel so the Internet was semi usable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I do want to say my cooking skill has gotten better<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Day 5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Walked to the pier to see some wild lives<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There’s even a fish market there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Next was the Giant Tortoise sanctury<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The note worth is the preserved tortoise Gorge. Hunting has distincted lots of species. Gorge was the last one of his kind found on the island, and unfortunately despite various effort it was unable to mate with others. Sad to witness disappearing of such gorgeous animal<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The research center has quite a few under protection <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Breeding ground for the youthlings – typically they are raised in the research center for a few years until they no longer have natural enemies. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lunch was at this local lunch place that serves Menu del dia. delicious fish for $5 only at Galapagos is a steal<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It even came with a soup<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I also bought a papaya for only $2 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 6<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A little hike to the national park to visit some beaches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After about 45min blazing in the sun, I walked to one of the most pristine beaches I’ve seen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I basically just chilled at the beach before heading back to wait out for the afternoon sun. Dinner was more of my own cooking<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 7<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Rented a bike to go see the tortoise reserve<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The area was surprisingly cooler and greener even though the elevation was just a few hundred meters high<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s also Lava tunnel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Me doing some push ups against the tortoise shell. It’s lighter than I thought, no surprise they can swim in the ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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hmm <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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On the way back, found a local restaurant to try some Fritadas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Beautiful bike lane <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, a brewery to watch sunset in celebration of my birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Expenses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Week 41<\/td>Currency:<\/td>USD<\/td>1<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
Day<\/td>Food&Drink<\/td>Lodging<\/td>Transportation<\/td>Other (tickets\/tours etc)<\/td>Day total<\/td>Country<\/td><\/tr>
1<\/td>$15.50<\/td>$10.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$2.00<\/td>$27.50<\/td>Ecuador<\/td><\/tr>
2<\/td>$19.50<\/td>$10.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$9.46<\/td>$38.96<\/td>Ecuador<\/td><\/tr>
3<\/td>$20.00<\/td>$10.00<\/td>$10.00<\/td>$11.41<\/td>$51.41<\/td>Ecuador<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>$16.25<\/td>$35.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$51.25<\/td>Ecuador<\/td><\/tr>
5<\/td>$30.00<\/td>$36.75<\/td>$118.82<\/td>$131.00<\/td>$316.57<\/td>Galapagos<\/td><\/tr>
6<\/td>$19.40<\/td>$36.75<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$20.00<\/td>$76.15<\/td>Galapagos<\/td><\/tr>
7<\/td>$8.50<\/td>$36.75<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$1.00<\/td>$46.25<\/td>Galapagos<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>$129.15<\/td>$175.24<\/td>$128.82<\/td>$174.87<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Total<\/td><\/td>Grand Total:<\/td>$608.08<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
Expensive due to Galapagos entrance ticket and flight<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 1 Not much happened today but just riding the 10hr bus back to Quito while saying goodbyes to the Amazonas Day 2 I met up with the French boy again, it was also this day that entire country of Ecuador turned upside down (I am sure everyone’s been watching the news?) Following the advice… Continue reading Sabbatical Week 41<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4768"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4815,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4768\/revisions\/4815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}