Tag: ecuador

August 9, 2019 – Shell Shock (OOTD #543)

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I couldn’t leave the Galápagos Islands without seeing their most famous feature: the tortoises.

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don’t talk to me or my sons ever again

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On my last day on the Islands, we packed our bags and disembarked from the boat for the last time, early in the morning.

While it was definitely sad to bid the boat adieu, it was not sad to bid the rocking motion of the boat and the waves adieu. Like I mentioned in a previous post, thankfully,  I was not burdened with horrible seasickness, like some of my friends were. I definitely didn’t not feel the constant movement of the ship, however, and so I was always wary to avoid looking out at the waves for too long or thinking too much about the motion.

Being back on land again was so funny. I mean, I had been been off the boat every day for the previous week, but only for a few hours at a time. Being back on land again — like, permanently — made me realize how much I missed it.

It took me forever to get my so-called “land-legs” back. I think the worst of it was when I was on the flights back. The change in air pressure from being in the sky along, with the motion of being in a speeding airplane, in addition to the residual sensation of being on a rocking boat would be enough to make anyone feel a little queasy.

But before there were flights and landsickness and air pressure to worry about, I got to see the Galápagos Tortoises, arguably the biggest celebrities of the island. Our last stop of the cruise was to a small “tortoise reserve” (in reality, it was just some random guy with a farm who charged admission to let people in to see the tortoises who would have lived there anyway).

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don’t talk to me or my son ever again

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What remarkable creatures. I don’t know if they were my favorite animals that I saw on the trip (I think that honor would go to the sea lions or the birds), but they were up there.

They’re just so stupidly big. And slow. I see why the full-sized adults don’t really have any predators — who could take them down? Sure, they can’t run and they can’t hide, but they’re so massive and well-armored that there’s nothing you could do if you caught one. It would be like attacking a rock.

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I heard that Charles Darwin tried to ride them when he first saw them. I see why. I wanted to do it too. I didn’t, obviously — that would have been very much against the reserve’s rules and possibly even the law — but it was tempting. Their shells look like perfect saddles. IMG_4808

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my trip to the Galápagos Islands this summer. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Jacket: Forever21

Top: Ecseri Bazaar in Budapest

Trousers: J. Crew

August 8, 2019 – Birb (OOTD #542)

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On August 8, I saw a lot of birds.

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For a while there, birds were my favorite animals (but cats are more my taste now). There was no particular type of bird that was my favorite during my bird phase — just whatever had wings and could fly (sorry ostriches and penguins). I’m 100% a girl who would have gotten a tattoo of birds in flight on my collarbone back in 2013 or whenever that was trendy. Bonus points if it comes with an inspirational quote about wanderlust.

I’ve never had a flying dream in my life, though I’ve always wished I could have them. Flight as a concept is just so cool to me — like, you just flap your wings and away you go. Maybe that’s why I like traveling in airplanes so much.

The main feature of both islands I saw were the birds. There were some sea lions and cool rock formations too, but the birds were really the main attraction. They were literally everywhere — in trees, on the ground, in the air, in the water. I guess that shouldn’t shock me — of course birds are populous on a pair of uninhabited islands. There are no humans to bother them and few predators to hunt them.

Because of this, they’re not nearly as skittish as most birds and will let you walk right up to their nest if you don’t make any loud noises. I got more cool bird photos on this day than I think I’ve ever gotten in my life.

The babies were all so big and fluffy! I wouldn’t have been surprised if you’d told me that they were full-size, and the blue-footed booby babies just looked like giant cotton balls for their entire lives. They’re the sort of animal that you just want to reach out and pet — you can’t, obviously, or else you’d ruin the whole point of not disturbing them so that they don’t become skittish in the future. Still, they were so cute. I’m having a hard time deciding whether the bird babies or the sea lions were the cutest creatures I saw on my trip — and yes, that includes the giant tortoises, which I’ll write about in an upcoming post.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my trip to the Galápagos Islands this summer. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Outfit 1:

Top: Zara

Coat: Forever21

Jeans: Hollister

Outfit 2:

Dress: Forever21

August 7, 2019 – Long Walks on the Beach (OOTD #541)

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I’ve never really been a beach person.

And that’s that. The beaches of the Galápagos, though beautiful and pristine and quiet, didn’t necessarily change that. I thought they might — I thought that perhaps what was holding me back all these years, and that I just hadn’t, as the Corona ad puts it, “found my beach.”

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tag yourself, i’m the bird in pic 10

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And I guess I still haven’t. I’m beginning to wonder if there is a beach for me out there, or if I’m more of an Anakin Skywalker, doomed to hating sand forever.

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While I don’t love beaches, I still like them, every once in a while. The red sand beaches of Rábida Island just might be my favorite from this summer (they certainly beat the jellyfish-infested beach of Naples, Italy). For one, they made for some killer color-coordinated photographs when paired with my orange outfit.

Secondly, the island itself was just beautiful. I think what I appreciated most of everything I saw in the Galápagos was the physical form of the islands themselves. They were unlike anything I’d seen before — and they were so different from each other.

Take, for example, the difference between Rábida, which I visited in the morning, and Bartholomé, which I visited in the afternoon.

 

August 6, 2019 – The Suite Life on Deck (OOTD #540)

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*blog post features no actual images of me on the cruise ship

I’ve never been on a cruise before.

This trip has been full of firsts — first time in South America, first time snorkeling, first time on a cruise. Unlike snorkeling, though, I’ve actually really enjoyed cruise ship life. Unlike South America, though, as much as I enjoyed it I wouldn’t necessarily go and do it again immediately.

I liked the cruise, and I would definitely do one again eventually if given the opportunity. I really appreciated how everything was taken care of for you — there was someone to pick you up at the airport and guide you to the boat, there was someone to carry your bags to your room as soon as you got on board, there was a chef and full kitchen staff so all you had to do was show up in the dining room at meal times. It’s what I imagine vacation for rich people is like.

But since everything is taken care of for you, there’s a lot less autonomy on your part in deciding what to do each day. The boat might offer a range of options — snorkeling, kayaking, hiking, etc. — but they’re still the boat’s options. There’s no such thing as deciding you don’t like any of their options and going off on your own.

There’s also a lot of just waiting on the boat as you travel from one island to another. In principle, I don’t like that — who wants to spend half of their day in transit? But in practice, it was actually kind-of nice to have a built-in rest period during the day. I took a lot of much-needed naps.

Gratefully, I didn’t have trouble at all with seasickness. I’ve been on boats before, but only for a few hours at a time — not for a whole week. I wasn’t sure how my body would react. Turns out, it didn’t really react at all. Sometimes, if I looked out at the window and saw the waves rushing by, I’d feel dizzy, but otherwise, I faired surprisingly well. Honestly, the worst was getting off the boat at the end of the week. I felt like everything was rocking back and forth for days afterwards.

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sleepy ocean puppy

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That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my trip to the Galápagos Islands this summer. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Top: Amazon

Shorts: H&M

Hat: Target

August 5, 2019 – A Galápagos Girl (OOTD #539)

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Does it still count as an OOTD if I’m not really wearing an “outfit” in these pictures?

The first day or two with a brand new group of people is always a little awkward. You have to be on your best behavior — no questionable jokes (even if they’re funny), no swearing, no copious complaining, especially if no one else is doing it.

And perhaps this is just a rule that I impose for myself, but no excessive requests for photographs, even if you’re on a tropical island in a continent you’ve never visited before, and you have a fashion blog that you want to post all of your trip photos to. You might want to get a photo with every cool-looking rock, but you need to exercise a little restraint — you don’t want to become known as the girl who needs her picture taken with every cool-looking rock.

In general, I try to wait until someone else asks for their picture taken — then I offer to take it for them, and follow up with “oh, and would you mind getting one for me as well?” They can’t deny taking my picture after I’ve offered to do the same for them, and they can’t judge me for asking because they asked first.

Sometimes, though, a cool photo opportunity arises and no one’s posed for the picture question yet. Maybe they’re embarrassed or maybe they’re just not into having their picture taken. In that case, I will ask first. Often, people follow suit in expressing their desire to have their picture taken. If they don’t, maybe it’s a little weird, especially if the group ends up waiting for you while you pose next to your cool-looking rock. Oh well — at least you got your picture with the cool-looking rock. The judgmental people can’t say that.

For my first day in the Galápagos Islands with a new group of friends, that’s what I ended up doing. I couldn’t go a whole day without a picture to post for a blog, so I caved and asked my roommate on the ship to get my picture next to the water.

I’m glad I got the pictures so I could share something with you for today’s post, but being honest, these photos weren’t worth the mental anxiety I put myself through to get them. There are much, much cooler photos to come from my subsequent days in the Galápagos — so stay tuned.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my trip to the Galápagos Islands this summer. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Bathing suit: Target

August 4, 2019 – Quitting for Quito (OOTD #538)

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Oops, I guess I couldn’t stay in the US for too long.

That’s right, two weeks after I returned home from Italy/Denmark/Hungary/Croatia/England, I was back off again — this time, to an entirely different continent that I had never been to before.

In addition to being my first time in Quito and in Ecuador, this was also my first time in South America altogether. You’d think being the closest continent to my own (North America), I would have been there before, but it’s not a super common destination for American tourists. Maybe that’ll change in the future?

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when the church is better styled than you

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So why was I in Quito? It’s kind of a long story. The short answer: I won an essay contest.

The long answer: one day, I received a mysterious email from Notre Dame International inviting me (and the rest of the undergraduate student body) to apply for what could perhaps best be described as an “academic pilgrimage” to the Galápagos Islands be led by two professors from the Chemistry Department in the College of Science. The goal of the trip was described  broadly as to “trace the steps that Charles Darwin took on his path to discovery,” and in the process, perhaps gain a deeper appreciation for how discovery — in any field of study — occurs. That’s how I interpreted it in my application essay, at least.

I never thought I’d get in — I’m studying history and international relations, and I haven’t studied evolutionary biology since high school. I technically took some science classes my freshman year at Notre Dame, but they weren’t really that rigorous. I’m not even studying the history of science. I definitely haven’t studied anything chemistry-related that I could’ve used to impress the Chemistry professors leading the trip.

I guess my essay comparing the studies of human history and natural history impressed them though, because somehow, I got in. Or maybe it wasn’t the essay — maybe it was the outfit I wore to the interview. It was rather cute. You can actually check out the blog post from the day that I interviewed for the spot here.

Before heading to the Galápagos, our cohort of six stopped for a day in Quito, Ecuador.

Now, I’m used to traveling to new cities at this point. I’m used to trying to figure out public transportation, I’m used to trying to communicate with people whose language I don’t speak, I’m used to trying to keep my head down and doing my best to not look like a total outsider. I am not used to having a personal tour guide take me around a city and act as my translator and chauffeur all day.

For about 2/3 of our day, we had a very friendly man (whose name I’ve forgotten by this point — whoops) do all of that for us. He drove us around from site to site. He dealt with our tickets. He ordered our food. He acted as our historical guide at each place we visited. He showed us the best shops and best views of the city. Everything I’m accustomed to when traveling — the wandering around aimlessly with my eyes glued to Google Maps, the putting my headphones in to try to look more like a local, the avoiding eye contact in public places (especially in Europe) — I didn’t have to do any of it. Everything was taken care of.

It was so strange and so different. In one sense, it made the trip totally stress-free — the only thing I had to think about was making sure I didn’t lose our guide in a crowd. In another sense, it felt a little like something was missing. Sure, seeing the equator and a big old Catholic church and eating Ecuadorian food was cool — but it would have been cooler had I figured it all out on my own. It felt a little like cheating.

I certainly hope you don’t hear that as a complaint. Because uh…if anyone wants to give me another all-expenses paid vacation cruise with a personal tour guide, I’ll totally take it.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my trip to the Galápagos Islands this summer. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Dress: Forever21