What are your bucket list destinations? Is there a place you learned about when you were young and you’ve always wanted to explore that place in real life?
That’s the Galapagos Islands for me. I remember doing a research project about Galapagos penguins when I was in third grade, and while learning about all the wildlife, I was absolutely blown away that a place like this was real. As a big animal lover, I knew this was a place I needed to see when I was older. When I was living in Guayaquil, Ecuador at the age of 20, my opportunity came! During a week off from classes and my internship, my friend and I decided to book a trip to the Galapagos since we were so close.
As 20 year olds, we didn’t fully prepare for the trip and wound up having to pack our bags and move to a different hostel every single night. We didn't have many “excursions” planned so we really just flew by the seat of our pants. I learned the value of planning ahead after this trip (to say the least!).
We did, however, get to explore several of the islands. On our first day off the plane, we went to the Charles Darwin Research Station and saw all of the huge Galapagos tortoises. Known as the rarest creature in the world, Lonesome George was still alive and living at the Station. Lonesome George was the last of his species after many failed attempts of mating him. He was about 100 years old when we took this photo!
We had a total adventure; snorkeling with the sea lions was incredible, taking a small boat to check out the different islands, and chatting with the locals about life.
Of all the animals we saw, the one that sticks out the most is the blue footed booby. They were EVERYWHERE! Fun fact- the males that have the brighter blue feet tend to have more success with mating than those with duller blue feet! These fascinating birds were not very shy around people, but could be found resting on rocks, diving for a fish, or flying above the water.
The blue footed booby was the inspiration behind the bright blues of the Galapagos collection. I hope you love this color palette as much as I do!