We spent the New Year in the Galapagos on the island of San Cristobal. We had thought that spending our Christmas holiday on the islands would have been loud and rowdy, but it was anything but that. Because the Galapagos islands are a National Park and all the non-domesticated species on the island are protected species, the flying of drones and loud music, fireworks and such are not permitted. You have to get special permissions to do any of those things. The first night we were there, we had come back to our hostel from walking around and saw what I could only describe as a body on fire in the middle of the street. There were a group of men standing on the opposite street corner drinking Aguardiente, which is the national drink and plenty of people like it, I however, was not a fan.
I noticed, in the burning pile of what appeared to be a body, a bunch of small tree branches stuck into the shoes and pant legs of the burning replica. Being the nosy person I am, I asked the men on the corner what was happening. They explained to me that it’s a tradition in Latin America, that they essentially burn the memory of the bad things that happened in the previous year, to make room for growth of new and better things for the new year. They were surprised that I hadn’t seen or experienced it, because they thought I was Latina. They did say that they were celebrating early, and that the festivities don’t actually start until midnight on New Year’s day. The lead up to it will be an entire display of burnable mannequins dressed up in clothing with a papier maché faces or pictures of peoples faces. There would be men walking around dressed as women, getting done up in local salons and barber shops and this is the “viduas” or widows.
Talking to one of the locals, she explained to me that it is the way of the “año viejo” the old year, and these men pretend they’re widows and that their “husband” either died or it’s imminent that he will die and they’re collecting money for their “future costs” like raising a family and such. This is all done in good humor and to some, is a way to show appreciation of the sacrifices the women make when their husbands go away to find work and such. Mostly it’s done for fun and is a humorous way to start the new year, with good energy and a little foreign comedy. They will sometimes block traffic until you throw a couple of coins to them.
The next morning, new year’s eve day, we decided to go snorkeling with at Tonga Reef with our new Canadian friend, Anna. She’d been there before and asked if we wanted to go with her. So of course we jumped at the opportunity to see somewhere new. We caught a taxi out to La Loberia beach I think it cost $4, so $1.00 per person. We went the way the sign told us NOT to go. Rule breakers! When we arrived, we quickly set up a little area for our things and headed to the water. It was not easy to get in, or out for that matter. We had gone out and it had become a yellow flag warning day, so swim at your own risk. We were being tossed around by the currents and it was practically impossible to swim out far enough to be safely out of the current and away from a riptide. We only stayed in for about 5 minutes before deciding to head back to the other side at La Loberia.
See the full video here:
At La Loberia, we had the most wonderful experience swimming with the playful sea lions. We saw more eagle rays, sea cucumbers, sea snails and reef fish, but beyond the eagle rays, the sea lions were the highlight of that particular beach. There were so many tiny little baby sea lion pups. It was cuteness overload. After spending a few hours out there, we headed back to our hotels and got ready for the evening festivities.
We took to the streets, checking out all the kiosks that had been set up, the mannequins on display, witnessed the vidua ritual and saw so many men going into the salons to get all dolled up to play their part in the evening fun. There was a live concert happening in the town square where the adults were mingling while the kids were off making a slide out of empty plastic bottles on a concrete slab. Everyone out and enjoying themselves. There were fishermen who brought in the catch of the day and cooked up all the fish for the entire island and invited everyone to join in at no cost. There was dancing in the streets, and otherwise it was just totally organized chaos. And this was just barely getting started.
As promised, at midnight, the real party began. Suddenly around every corner, there were huge bonfires. On every street, in the middle of the street there was something ablaze. It was wild. The firefighters had been driving around, where they could and just made sure that nothing critical would be caught up in the blaze unnecessarily. It was quite an incredible experience. Even the children were having a great time throwing things into the bonfire. Mostly supervised.
The following day, we tried to get money from an ATM machine, but the machines were all either out of money or out of service. Even some establishments couldn’t take payments because the WIFI and internet systems were all down. Nothing was functioning. So we all waited at the ONE functioning ATM machine on the entire island that still had money and service. I even tried to Western Union money to myself, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t take it out at the Western Union affiliate bank (I’ve been having this problem a lot with WU lately). I had to go to an actual Western Union location. I wasn’t asking for an enormous amount either. I only wanted $500. It took me an entire week back on the mainland, not to mention the 5 additional days we were on the island, to find a Western Union Location not an affiliate to finally get access to that money. I probably won’t be using Western Union any more. Eventually when our turn came at the ATM machine, we were able to withdrawal money but it would only allow $200.00 withdrawal at a time. Which is kinda bullshit because the islands are expensive and you’d blow through that in less than a day trying to feed a growing teenager, even at menu del dia prices.
When the offices re-opened the following day, we booked a dive trip. We ultimately wanted to see the hammerhead sharks. The best place to do this, according to every tour agency, is Kicker Rock, or Leon Dormido. I don’t know why we call it Kicker Rock in English, and sleeping lion in Spanish, but whatever. The tour agencies know exactly what they’re talking about. This was literally the best diving experience of my life, and it’s worthy of an entire separate blog post and video itself, so if you’re interested, stay tuned. That will be coming soon! (And by soon, that means, whenever I get around to posting).
Ciao for now!