[Old Article] Galapagos Bar and Art Space, Brooklyn, New York City, USA. March 2004

Part V: Galapagos Bar and Art Space, Brooklyn, New York City, USA. March 2004

Originally created 3/8/2004

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I left the Galapagos Islands, Ecudor, fulfilled and re-energized, back to New York City.

Then, there came the coldest January in 10 years in New York. It was so cold that it made people very depressed. Last time it was this cold is exactly 10 years ago. I still can remember I was in Boston, in my second year of (very unhappy) Master program at Harvard University. It was very cold and I was very depressed.

I kept thinking about the tropical breeze of Galapagos and its stinging sunshine.

So I tried to return to the Galapagos. Or at least the other Galapagos as substitute, Galapagos Bar and Art Space, Brooklyn. At least I can look at the dark reflecting pool, once again.

No way, it was full. At least 10 people braving the cold, waiting in line outside, just tried to get in. It is my classical New York moment again - just think things simpler than they really are. Too many people everywhere, you have to wait to get to everything. And another of my classical New York moment again: Just cannot get what I want when I need it most. At the moment I felt all alone and depressed.

I usually can do well even when I am alone, am I? I still remember I could enjoy being all by myself, while on "the other" Galapagos. Maybe it is just because the cold weather.

Maybe it is just because of New York.

It was the Valentine's Night. While all my friends in New York (okay, there are only two of them) spent that night with their loved ones, I didn't even has a friend to be with. When I wanted some human connection, I had to to make long distance call to Washington DC, California, or even Taiwan. For once in a year, I suddenly feel the sadness (usually I don't, freedom is pricier than...you know) of being single. I could see the Empire State Building on the other side of East River. It was lighted in tender pink tonight, symbolizing the special occasion, Valentine's Day.

See that color through the cold night air, I just felt disgusted. What a vulgar commercialism. Isn't Valentine Day just another excuse to force people to spend money on gifts and luxirious dinners? This society always has some ways to make you feel inadequate.

Two weeks later, with the weather unexpectedly turning much warmer (and the miserable February finally over), I came back to this Brooklyn neighborhood again. Passing by Sea Thai, a Thai restaurant extremely popular by (non-Asian) hipsters, I saw maybe two dozens people waiting outside to get in. A few more "Pan-Asian" restaurants have opened on this block, though this neighborhood still looks unremarkable.

No line outside of the Galapagos this time. I got in and found there was a mini rock concert going on. They charged $8 for entrance to see the performance.

I was not in mood to see a performance at this moment. I just stayed outside of the ticket booth, looking at the dark reflecting pool, it was still moodily lit, just as my last visit, right before I went to visit the real Galapagos.

Just three months, how things have changed. Now I no longer work for the nasty woman at the Department of Health, and now I am on the verge of moving to another new city, once again.

I walked out of the bar. Looking toward Manhattan, across the river. Empire State was in bright red color and a touch of white this night. What did it stand for this time?

Checking the info on Time Out New York: Red and White, it is International Red Cross Day. So the Empire State Building does give regard to something less commercial and bullying, something symbolizing heart and sympathy. I suddenly have warm and endearing feeling about this city again.

I remember the heroine in the movie "Under Tuscan Sun" said "Unbelievably good things can happen, even late in the game."

Who knows? Maybe unbelievably good thing finally can happen (since most of the unbelievably bad things have already happened) between me and New York.

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The End

[Old Article] Travelogue to Galapagos - Part II: Puerto Ayora, Isla Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, South America. December 2003

Originally created 2/16/2004

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I looked at the nice tiled swimming pool in the courtyard, from my hotel window. Canary Island palm trees line the poolside . It is such a sunny and breezy day, even we were in the midst of December, just a week before Christmas. But since I was physically located (a few miles) south of the Equator, I was actually in the South Hemisphere, where it is summertime.

I was on the Galapagos Islands, the Ecuadorian islands 1000 kilometers from South American mainland.

One block from my hotel, a bronze statue of a giant Galapagos tortoise stands greeting both tourists and locals. Further more blocks down, at Charles Darwin Research Station, I found baby tortoises crawling around and adult tortoises resting in shallow pools (they did not even bother to greet me). Faraway in the South Pacific, I was not in New York anymore. While I can find places named after some other famous locales there, it is never more exciting than seeing the real things.

 Giant tortoise resting in a shallow pool at Darwin Research Center.

Galapagos Islands, a laboratory of evolution, and an archipelago inspired Charles Darwin to write his "The Origin of Species" after his 1835 visit (though that book did not publish until 1859. I bet Darwin needed taking a great length of time to digest his thought... sort of like me). Based on what he saw in different species of animals here, he theorized the process of adaptation and evolution. That book has become one of the most influential books ever published. But, can I, be inspired on the same level like him by these Enchanted Islands? Or I am just like millions of tourists after him, visiting here just for some rushed sightseeing. And treating the Galapagos just as another outdoor zoo?

Zoo, yes. We all come here to see some strange animals in the wild.

Since wildlife is the main reason (if not only) why people come to visit those islands.

Formed by volcanic activities, those islands are dry and arid and not very scenic. There are not many beautiful sandy beaches here like Caribbean or Mediterranean. Because they are so isolated (the only connection is the airlink to port city of Quayaquil) , it is expensive to visit here. To visit as many islands on the archipelago as possible, most people opt for the cruise-based tour: sleeping on board overnight (usually very small and basic cabin). The ships sail from one island to another in nighttime when passengers are sleeping and tour one or two different islands at daytime when ships anchor.

Not for me this time.

I did some trip like that when I cruised around Aegean Sea in Greece and remember that I woke up with nauseating feeling every morning (those are small yachts, not as comfortable as luxurious oceanliners). After a hard-working year, I really wanted a vacation that I can have a nice bed to sleep in every night, so I opted for a land-based tour: that I could stay in one same hotel every night on one island and took series of daytrips to nearby islands. The disadvantage is: I can only go to islands near the one I stayed but not the remote ones (some are more than a hundred miles away). I also had to spend many hours everyday to make those "daytrips" to each individual isle. A price to pay for just trying to have decent sleep.

While I usually travel alone and expected to meet people who book the same package-tour with me, I was surprised to find out that I was the only person in this tour group! Everybody else booked the trip from the same company arriving at the Galapagos this same week all opted for cruise-based tour!

Checking in the hotel alone, looking onto the nice swimming pool, I pondered the next few days' trips. Well, I would have my own "personal guide" for those trips since I was the only person in my group!

I was actually put in the same yacht with a group of Ecuadorian school kids and their teachers. Besides a missionary couple from Arizona (the wife kept calling Freddie), I was possibly the only foreigners there. Since the missionary worked in Quayaquil and speak fluent Spanish, I might be the only person who doesn't speak Spanish there.

We visited the very small island of Bartolome (with a nice Pinnacle Rock) and wandered around the pristine beaches, observing sea lions making out, and trying to find penguins (the northernmost penguin in the world). We climbed up to the top of the hill to have a great panoramic view of nearby Santiago Island, a barren and unhabitated island.

 

Pinnacle Rock of Bartolome Island.

 Panoramic of Bartolome Island and the nearby, much bigger (but uninhabited) Santiago Island.

Next day, the school kids were gone, but replaced by a group of (British?) teenagers. We had chance to visit Plaza Island, seeing a much bigger sea lion colony, and a lot of endemic seabirds, including the beloved blue-footed booby (a lot of them) and masked booby (only one of them and hidden at the edge of a cliff). I also found ubiquitous swallow-tailed gulls, whose red eyerings are their most famous trademark.

 

Blue-footed boobies on Plaza island.

 The only masked booby I saw in the whole trip, on Plaza island. 

 A lovely pair of swallow-tailed gulls, on Plaza Island.

There are also a lot of brown pelicans and various species of birds whose names I forgot.

Indeed, Galapagos is really a birdwatching paradise!

While seabirds and sea lions are the most popular wildlife on the nearby small islands, I could see iguana everywhere on the main island of Santa Cruz, even right at the waterfront
of the very developed Puerto Ayora.

 

Iguanas are everywhere, even in the main town. This is the only marine iguana in the world. 

Basically similar to lizards, iguanas are much bigger, fatter in sizes (should I also say uglier?). Galapagos has the world's旧 only marine iguanas, which feed on seaweed and algae. Female iguanas are more slender and darker, less colorful (or should I say uglier?) than the male ones. If human species can be like that....

After touring different islands and highland ranch for three days. I finally had a half-day that no scheduled sightseeing was arranged. I walked to the west end of Puerto Ayora, found the entrance leading to a quaint beach. After 30-minutes' easy trekking, I arrived at the Tortuga Bay (Turtle Bay) Beach.

Surprisingly, no turtles to be found here (maybe it is not yet the season for them come ashore to lay eggs). Only a couple was lying on the beach, enjoyed the faint sunshine.

It was a little cool this morning for sunbathing, I thought. Another family of five were playing near water and kids was trying to have a better look at brightly red sand crabs.


I walked to the far end of the beach, into a lagoon area.

Suddenly, I found those ubiquitous marine iguanas everywhere. And then, a pair of my favorite birds on the islands - Blue-footed booby!!

They looked like they are mating but also ignoring each other.

After a few minutes of such indifferent ritual, one just flew away alone. The other left, actually, less than a minute later, toward different direction. In such New York style mating, everybody ends up alone.

Back to my hotel, lying in my bed (it is a nice Spanish colonial styled room with a large painting of penguins), I looked at the spinning ceiling fan.

I felt alone again. Sort of like the blue-footed booby that flew away, alone. I traveled to another new country, once again, alone.

I felt I am my own island here on the isle of Santa Cruz, Galapagos, Ecuador.

But I actually enjoyed it.

Simply by not waiting for a special someone to be with, I end up see more of the world.

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