My favorite parts of the Galapagos were swimming with sea turtles and playing soccer at the little town center on San Cristóbal.
There was something surreal about swimming with a giant sea turtle. I wasn’t just watching the sea turtle swim from the surface or from a distance. I was 8 feet under water swimming alongside it 3-4 feet away. It was pretty dang cool to me. I expected to see them but didn’t expect to be able to swim alongside them.
The sea turtles are deceptive. They don’t look graceful or elegant at all but they are able to glide effortlessly through the water. At one point I was swimming alongside a turtle and all of the sudden another turtle sped past us going in the opposite direction. It startled me that it was able to move that quickly. I had no idea.
My 2nd most enjoyable part of the Galapagos was when the kids and I went to the little town center and played soccer with the locals. The park had an amphitheater where some teenagers were on the stage learning some latin dances. The amphitheater projected their music to the whole park.
There was a volleyball court complete with an abacus-like scoreboard and a non-vocal referee. There were some serious games of 3-on-3 old-man “volleyball”. I put “volleyball” in quotes because every hit looked illegal to me. It really cracked me up when they argued passionately about a “bad” hit. I thought they were all bad.
On two sides of the volleyball court were cement bleachers filled with other old men watching the volleyball. I wondered if all of the town’s old men were there. They would all hoot and holler and laugh together as they watched the volleyball.
And then there was the soccer court. It was cement and about the size of a basketball court. The goals were about 6’x6’ and made of metal pipe and chain link fencing. There were “house” rules that we learned quickly.
At first Joe, Jenna, and I were just kicking the ball around on half the court while 4 boys played on the other end. Eventually they approached us and asked if we wanted to play. They offered to give us one of their guys since they didn’t think it would be a fair match otherwise. They were right. It wasn’t fair. Joe, Jenna, the 1 boy, and I beat them easily. It took them literally almost an hour to score their first goal.
We had a great time. No one took the soccer too seriously. We all laughed at each other and celebrated the good moves and shots. At the end we took this nice picture with the boys. I think we all had fun. That was a great memory and a cultural experience.
Now, imagine this scene in your mind: with the soccer and volleyball courts, amphitheater with dancers and latin music, and with a cool ocean breeze as the sun sets and you will have an idea of why I enjoyed this so much.
There was something surreal about swimming with a giant sea turtle. I wasn’t just watching the sea turtle swim from the surface or from a distance. I was 8 feet under water swimming alongside it 3-4 feet away. It was pretty dang cool to me. I expected to see them but didn’t expect to be able to swim alongside them.
The sea turtles are deceptive. They don’t look graceful or elegant at all but they are able to glide effortlessly through the water. At one point I was swimming alongside a turtle and all of the sudden another turtle sped past us going in the opposite direction. It startled me that it was able to move that quickly. I had no idea.
My 2nd most enjoyable part of the Galapagos was when the kids and I went to the little town center and played soccer with the locals. The park had an amphitheater where some teenagers were on the stage learning some latin dances. The amphitheater projected their music to the whole park.
There was a volleyball court complete with an abacus-like scoreboard and a non-vocal referee. There were some serious games of 3-on-3 old-man “volleyball”. I put “volleyball” in quotes because every hit looked illegal to me. It really cracked me up when they argued passionately about a “bad” hit. I thought they were all bad.
On two sides of the volleyball court were cement bleachers filled with other old men watching the volleyball. I wondered if all of the town’s old men were there. They would all hoot and holler and laugh together as they watched the volleyball.
And then there was the soccer court. It was cement and about the size of a basketball court. The goals were about 6’x6’ and made of metal pipe and chain link fencing. There were “house” rules that we learned quickly.
At first Joe, Jenna, and I were just kicking the ball around on half the court while 4 boys played on the other end. Eventually they approached us and asked if we wanted to play. They offered to give us one of their guys since they didn’t think it would be a fair match otherwise. They were right. It wasn’t fair. Joe, Jenna, the 1 boy, and I beat them easily. It took them literally almost an hour to score their first goal.
We had a great time. No one took the soccer too seriously. We all laughed at each other and celebrated the good moves and shots. At the end we took this nice picture with the boys. I think we all had fun. That was a great memory and a cultural experience.
Now, imagine this scene in your mind: with the soccer and volleyball courts, amphitheater with dancers and latin music, and with a cool ocean breeze as the sun sets and you will have an idea of why I enjoyed this so much.
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