Ecuador (Quito and Galapagos) – Zombie Survival
I want to talk about 2 places in Ecuador for the Zombie Apocalypse. One very quickly (Quito) and one in more detail (Galapagos).
First off- Ecuador is a lovely country located in South America right on the equator. It uses the US Dollar, everything is pretty cheap (I bought a whole new outfit, bra and all for 7$ total and ate lunch for 1.50$) and the people are friendly enough. However, I just came from Colombia– so they seem “normal” in comparison.
Quito is high…. like… really high…. It’s 2800 meters in altitude, which I didn’t realize and I went for a run/walk (6K) and it took me almost an hour. ALMOST AN HOUR! Back home, this would have taken me MAYBE 35 minutes. I was huffing and puffing and feeling faint and exhausted after 5 minutes of running. Being frustrated and feeling defeated, I went to the [quito crossfit] where I tried to kick butt, but, again, felt defeated and weak. I called my parents and they said “well, duh… you’re really high up. You have altitude sickness”. It was only then when it hit me just HOW HIGH I was. (not on drugs). I was almost 2 miles up.
Anyway- Quito is amazing to go to because you should TRAIN HERE! You should run/walk and get your lungs used to the little oxygen. You should power through the weird climate (surprisingly cold) and stay for about a week. Go hiking up some mountains. After you’ve done this for about a week, you’ll be in great shape to run a marathon…. or survive the Zombie Apocalypse. Whichever comes first.
That’s all I have to say about Quito. I didn’t stay long enough to gather enough intel about anything other than it’s altitude. So now I’ll move onto…
The Galapagos Islands! (51/70)
A wonderful set of islands (created by Volcanos) where 97% of the land is for the animals and only 3% is delegated to humans. Lots and lots of diving, hiking, and crazy animal life can be seen here. The majority of the humans that you’ll see are tourists (who will be eaten/disposed of quickly) and the locals probably have their own plans. But here’s the best part:
Location, Location, LOCATION! It’s an island. 500miles (at least) off the cost of Ecuador. It is slooooooowwwllllly moving towards the coast– but you have a few million years until that happens, so I think you’ll be ok. Because it’s surrounded by water, chances of a zombie outbreak happening here are slim-to-none. Also, because of the little human population, this is a great place to hide up. Also- there is sooooo much to do here! Tons of Scuba equiptment that you can rent if you needed to quickly get away, tons of boats, lots of different islands to go to (that aren’t inhabited at all). etcetc. 10/10
Water: everywhere. The island’s water supply is not potable (I found this out, sadly). So bring your iodine/steripen. The water that surrounds the island varies from really hot currents to really cold currents. (read: you can see penguins and sea lions and all kinds of wild-life, which is AWESOME.) 8/10
Lodging: The buildings are standard cinder-block. Sturdy. There are no natural disasters here except for erupting volcanos, so you don’t really have to worry about flooding or earth-quakes that much. 7/10
Food: there is plenty of agriculture on the island as well as fruits and LOTS of fish. Be careful, though. The sealions will fight you for that fish. 9/10
Costco – ha. no. nothing even close. I haven’t seen a single gun, either, since I’ve been here. 1/10
Non-dead dangers: There are sharks, barracudas and snakes and what-not, but nothing that has caught any local’s attention. It’s pretty safe here- including the lack of mosquitos. The biggest “problem” are the horse flies, which really like me, apparently. 8/10
Locals: the locals are really chill and relaxed. It’s a tourist destination, so if they don’t get a buck from you- they’ll get it from somewhere else. The safety on the island is amazing and the views of wildlife are just unbelievable.
I’m pretty sure that no one reading this is a creationist (why would they read about the zombie apocalypse?), but here, there is no one that doesn’t believe in darwinism/evolution. How can you not when you see 150+ yr old tortoises or manta rays that are wider than that fat-lady-riding-her-scooter-at-walmart? However, I’m spoiled by the Colombians and their sheer PASSION of life and brilliance and gusto… The ecuadorians are more laid back. This could be both good and bad- but because this is my blog- I’m counting it as a missed opportunity. 8/10