Even after all of last nights late night shenanigans, I still managed to wake up at 5:45am for another early morning walk around the town before grabbing breakfast. It wasn’t long before we headed over to another research station to learn more about the tortoises and aquatic life among the islands. With more turtles, lizards and birds everywhere, it almost seemed like we’d seen it all. What else was there to experience during our time in the Galapagos?
Leaving the Research Station, we grabbed our bags from the hotel and headed over to the final ferry ride of the trip. This ferry smelled heavily of gasoline and not a single one of us enjoyed the next 2 hours of nausea. Fortunately, we all kept our composure and made it to San Cristobal with all of our stomach contents intact! I filled up on a hearty T-Bone steak for lunch!
Today’s big activity was a downhill bike ride from the highlands to beach. While I hadn’t ridden a bike in many years, what happened on the ride down was not completely unexpected given my over the top approach as a thrillseeker.
I took to the streets pretty quickly and began to get a feel for the brakes, the handling, and the bike in general as we grouped up to start our downhill descent along the city streets. Zooming down the hill, I felt so free without a care in the world… that is until I made that one fatal mistake! Ok, maybe not fatal, but it definitely wasn’t pretty! About halfway down, I decided to get a little fancy with my riding and started bunny hopping my bike. A few others joined in but soon stopped. Having so much fun enjoying the breeze rushing past, I attempted to jump the curb. My front wheel clipped the side, the bike spun around, and I toppled over. I skinned my right leg and tore my right palm completely open. It all happened in such a blur that no one behind me could even tell what really happened. As I explained my foolishness to my friends, our tour leader came by and made a quick call to the medic in the truck. He brought over a first aid kit consisting of a few bandaids and some alcohol wipes… I told him to grab my backpack out of the back of the truck. My first aid kit was far superior! My hand and leg were doused in rubbing alcohol. The intense sting was something I had only experienced once before with my blistered feet as I floated in the Dead Sea back in 2016. My wounds were dressed with a few fancy ointments, gauze pads, and covered in bandages. An ace wrap was placed around my hand to minimize external contact. After those who could stomach the sight of my open wounds commented on how well I powered through the sting of the alcohol, I picked up my bike, hopped back on and finished the other half of the ride down to the beach!
At the bottom, many others exchanged words of concern as I reassured them I was fine. Hopped up on adrenaline from the whole endeavor, I hadn’t quite yet felt the pain I knew would plague me for the next several days. Using only one hand I managed to strip down to my swimsuit and put on my snorkel mask. I hopped into the water to go snorkeling but it wasn’t until I was already fully submersed before it clicked with me that this was salt water. My torn up leg and hand immediately began to fill with pain as the water permeated through my bandages into my wounds. But I told myself the saltwater would sterilize the wounds and if I stayed submerged for just a few more minutes, my limbs would numb up and I’d be alright. And so baring the pain is exactly what I did.
While snorkeling, I saw some cool fish, a sea turtle, and many many sea lions. Just before we left the beach, we saw these two baby sea lions playfully lounging in the sand in the glow of the orange sun! The sight was 100% worth sticking around for!
After snorkeling, I asked Meredith to reapply my ace bandage and she happily agreed. I went out to grab pizza and then turned in for an early night. Skirting death definitely has a way of draining you!
No Regrets: The Only Way To Live 