A Wonderful Beginning of the End

As my time left in Ecuador winds down to less than a week, I’m happy to say that I’ve been able to take full advantage of what I can do here. I do still have a class to focus some of my attention on until this Thursday, but I’m also able to go on snorkeling and scuba trips as well as a fishing trip for class. The last course of my study abroad program is entitled Human Ecology and Maritime Communities. It’s a very good wrap up course although it could also be a very good intro to the Galápagos course because we’ve been talking about the political issues, history, and ecology of the islands. We’ve been focusing on maritime issues such as the fishing industry and how detrimental it has become and the tourist industry. Because the number of tourists has increased so much over the past few years, Ecuadorians immigrated to the islands at an alarming rate until the government made a law to restrict the immigration. Moving to the Galápagos may give families an opportunity to earn money; however, only about 10% of the money that is made off of tourists coming here goes to the local community because many trips are on boats that only take people to uninhabited islands. This also allows tourists to keep the idea of the Galápagos that they have such as there are no people living on these islands even though there’s around 30,000 between San Cristóbal, Santa Cruz, Floreana, and Isabela. But enough of the history lesson… here is a picture of a clothesline on someone's roof.

As I may have mentioned before, Ecuador is a very Catholic country so when Earth Day and Good Friday fall on the same day, Good Friday is going to be observed and Earth Day will be pushed back a week. That is why my classmates and I took part in a clean-up dive this Thursday and not last Thursday. This dive was through the same dive shop that I received my certification through. We met at 8:30 that morning to gear up and head over to la Pedrial, the concrete dock where the sea lions like to play all of the time. We stayed around the dock, picking up trash on the bay floor and in the rocks. There were also a few members of the Ecuadorian Navy there to help pull up large objects such as sheets of metal and tires. As usual, there were a few sea lions around to play with. One hugged the Brittney’s scuba tank and somewhere playing with the rope of the flag that Kianee and Sara had. There was also a lot of cool stuff to see compared to the last time we dove at la Pedrial because the water was crystal clear. There were several sting rays, including one buried in the sand up to a point that I could only see its eyes, a sea anemone, a crab that buried himself upon discovery, and the usual suspects of damselfish, sergeant fish, and pencil slate urchins.

Friday was a really cultural night that included both a political rally and some jamming and fire tossing for the fun of it. Next Saturday, May 7th, all of Ecuador will be voting on the potential illegalization of bull fighting and some other questions. When I say all of Ecuador will be voting, I mean that literally. It is mandatory to vote in Ecuador and no alcohol is sold the night before or the day of the voting. No positions are being campaigned for, but the rally was still pro-Correa, the current president of Ecuador, and there was the incentive of going to the rally of playing bingo for household appliances. That at least explained why there was a truck driving around towards the end of the week shouting out announcements and displaying posters of Correa on these appliances. Walking through the rally was interesting because Danielle, Ellie, and I were noticeably the only non-Ecuadorians at la Concha. Between rounds of bingo there was a lot of salsa music. I don’t know how long the rally went on for, but at least until 2 in the morning when I went to bed. 

Just a short walk across town there was a younger crowd playing on their drums, flutes, and guitar to people performing with fire. Although some people were just having fun with the flames, others were actually very talented. There were just as many foreigners here as there generally are in any place during the weekend, but they were either staying at the hostel where the music was being played or had made friends with the Ecuadorians that were there. After the fire performance, there was a musician singing away on a little patio accompanied by drums, bass, and another guitar. I don’t know that much Latin American music, but what he was playing sounded great and I did really enjoy when he played “Light My Fire” by the Doors. The night was very relaxed and more enjoyable hanging out with locals instead of going to bars where the majority of the people are some form of foreigner. 

The next morning I had more fun fishing than I ever thought I could have. For my class we were supposed to go on a fishing trip to see how sustainable fishing is, to see what the work is like, and think of good alternatives to a life made up of fishing because of the overexploitations of the waters. Almost everyone in the group went on the trip and we split up into several boats. My boat really had a lot of fun and we were the only ones to take part in artisanal fishing. For artisanal fishing, you drop a weighted line down to 40m and bring the line up about a meter from the bottom. There is no rod involved so you pull the line in when you think you have something caught. I almost caught my own fish, but it swam away about a meter from the surface. The fisherman was kind enough to let me pull in a few fish on his line. We caught 2 bacalao (which is grouper in the Galápagos), 3 cabrilla, a barracuda, one larger silver fish, and 5 or 6 smaller striped fish. We had tried fishing with rods for a few minutes, but nothing was biting so we went further out towards Leon Dormido and fished around there. Some of us also jumped into the water at the end of the trip, which felt really wonderful after spending about 5 hours out there. We did have covering and calm waters, but it was still fairly hot despite the clouds. (The picture above is the fish we caught.)

During the fishing trip we were also boarded by the Galápagos National Park and a member of the Navy. They were checking permits, seeing who was on board, and potentially also looking for any illegal operations that might be going on but did not actually search the boat, just asked questions. I’m glad we saw the national park patrolling the waters because most of the time we hear how the park does not have enough resources to patrol the waters and there is great animosity between the park and fishermen because of their conflicting interests. During the trip we also caught 5 fish that we had to throw back. One of the species had a strange horn on its back and a strange mouth. The other species was pinkish with circular fins and some legs to walk on. It kind of looked like it came from Dr. Seuss.

I was hesitant once again to go diving because the trip was kind of expensive, but, as usual, it was also amazingly worth it. We started out at 8 in the morning and returned a little past 1. Of course, the first half hour or so was taken up by trying on equipment and making sure everyone had everything they needed. I went diving with Sara, Diego (my professor), and a visiting professor from Australia as well as a dive master. Some of the divers around here are nice enough to take pictures and videos and give them to you for free while others make you pay for those pictures. I wish I could have taken my own underwater cameras diving with me, but the dives were too deep and even if a dive is supposedly only going to 12m, it doesn’t mean you might wander lower as happened today. 

I don’t actually know how famous Leon Dormido (or Kicker Rock) is for diving, but it is probably the best site to dive from Cristóbal. Karahua, the wreck dive that we did as part of our certification, was also very diverse and different to go to. But at Leon Dormido you have the chance to see so much more. Once again the water was quite clear and calm. The current wasn’t even that strong around Leon Dormido, which rises around 300ft and currently has a lot of green on it from the rainy season that allows plants to flourish. Now that I think of it, there is probably better snorkeling and diving during the southern summer (it is technically fall here now) or garúa season because the upwellings of the Humboldt current would bring in more nutrients and sharks would probably come from all over to feed. As it is, we saw all 4 species of shark that are often spotted there, which means a hammerhead, black tip reef sharks, white tip reef sharks, and Galápagos sharks. A few minutes after we reached the bottom of the channel, which is around 18m, I looked up and saw at least 10 sharks swimming many meters above me. There were small black tip reefs that we could get pretty close to us but were afraid of us. There were also sea turtles, an eagle ray, and various types of fish including the cabrilla that we caught on Saturday. (This is a random picture of the Opuntia cactus flower.)

Our second dive was literally around the corner and after surfacing for 45 minutes and changing tanks, we went back down to about 15m/50ft and floated along the wall of the rock. We did see one big white tip reef shark at the beginning of that dive. There was also an octopus hiding in circle in the rock that urchins generally grow in. I’m sure that I’ve swum with octopi before, but this is the first time I’ve seen one in the wild. It stayed hiding and curled up in its nook, but it was still cool to see! There were also some turtles in the distance and cool fish. There are small bits of coral around the area and these fish that I thought were only black and orange but also have neon purple around their edges.

I have now been on 7 dives here in the Galápagos and that’s nothing compared to experienced divers that go on hundreds and thousands of dives. When I was speaking with the visiting professor from Australia (whose name is Sheila), she told me that diving gets easier each time, which is good because I still have slight panic attacks when I first get to the bottom. This time I actually had more weight on than normal and I didn’t even think about how much weight the tank must be. With all of those extra pounds, it really shows how we are not meant to swim around on the ocean floor. Not to mention the pain in your ears and all of the things that can possibly go wrong. Still, it’s a really amazing experience and I’ll definitely be getting my advanced certification and hopefully by dive master certification in the far future.

As I mentioned, we now have less than a week left on these islands and a week from today I will be back in the states. Going back to Quito is going to be enough of a shock with fast moving traffic, tall buildings, and mass amounts of people. I don’t want to think about the reverse culture shock that I will be dealing with in the states. Even the temperature is going to be different after not dealing with anything below 60 for quite awhile. That’s a guess, but it definitely doesn’t get cold here during this time of the year and I know temperatures at night are still chilly at home. As I keep mentioning, I am excited to see everyone at home and get the chance to truly share my experiences (and more pictures and videos) in person. Until I get to see everyone, I hope all is well and all of you are surviving the end of the semester!  

¡La Comida! (Food!)

Food, cibo, comida… there is no universal word to describe the stuff that keeps us going and brings us together, but there are universal motions and, as different as tastes may be, there are those smells that make our mouths water and stomachs grumble. Some smells may make us sick while others make us ravenous. A plate might attract all of your senses with its savory smells and promising flavors. Or it may just want you to turn away in disgust as you ask yourself, “who could ever eat that?” Still you may see a plate in front of you and eat it not because it’s delicious, but because it’s what you were served and perhaps it’s even free. Here I will finally share my experiences of Ecuadorian food. As I made a list from my notes in my journal, I realized that I probably cannot talk about each of the foods I would like to mention, but we’ll see how far I can get. 

 

As I’ve mentioned before there is a much greater culinary diversity on the mainland compared to the islands where we depend largely on the supply boat that comes about every other week to bring in peanut butter and fresh avocados (and occasionally whole cows). On the mainland, however, there was a general abundance of diversity although there are plenty of places that also lack options whether this shortage was due to being in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest or poverty. The absolute first thing I was served in Quito was locro around 10:00 pm just after my plane had landed and my host mom and I were awkwardly getting to know each other. Locro is a hearty potato soup sometimes with a few other vegetables thrown in. It’s very common but since I never had soup at night, I may have eaten locro one or two other times at the university during lunch.

My breakfasts in Quito were actually similar to my breakfasts on the island. I would have a bowl of fruit with granola and some bread and juice. A few times I got pancakes or French toast, particularly after I gave my host mom her gift of maple syrup and maple candy. On the islands for breakfast I get an egg, some form of bread, sometimes cereal or granola, and generally a bowl of fruit that often is watermelon and occasionally is delicious papaya. I don’t think I had ever tried papaya until I came here and it has easily become my favorite fruit.

The most diverse thing that is unanimously missed from Cumbayá and Quito are the jugos (juices). We still enjoy different jugos on the islands, but some are served more often than others and it depends on how long ago the supply boat was here. I have had maracuya (passion fruit), naranjilla, naranja (orange), tomato de arbo (tree tomato, not what we consider a tomato), sandía (watermelon), melon (cantaloupe), limonada (lemonade), frutilla (strawberry), piña (pineapple), manzana (apple), mora (raspberry) and pera (pear). Watermelon juice after a run on a hot day is the most amazing beverage. Somehow I manage to drink cantaloupe juice even though I cannot yet bring myself to enjoy the fruit.
As far as I remember, being vegetarian on the mainland was not that much of a problem. 

 

Vegetarianism is not nearly as bad a dietary restriction as lactose intolerance. I do still eat fish, which I think makes it easier on my host mom on the islands to feed me as I get fish for dinner almost every night, but here I only occasionally have chicken. The lactose intolerance, on the other hand, is both difficult to explain and can be bad if, for example, soup happens to have cream in it and no one thinks to tell me this. Being a vegetarian (ok, technically I’m a pescatarian) on the islands is a completely different story. Aside from restaurants not always having vegetarian options or not understanding what it means to take the meat out of a dish, there has also been a couple of occasions where it is forgotten that there are 5 vegetarians in the group. On our first trip to Kicker Rock, there were no vegetarian lunches so we ate watermelon and bananas. On Santa Cruz the restaurant was trying to serve everyone a pasta dish that had a sauce with meat in it. I have also had an instance at my favorite restaurant on San Cristóbal where the owner gave us all juice but it was really a batido (milkshake).

Although remote places can be limited in their food due to lack of access, the eco-lodge that we stayed at in Maquipucuna also did their own organic farming and were able to offer us some really different and really delicious meals. Supposedly the coffee was very good there as well. As I’ve heard it, the coffee is supposed to be better on the mainland than on the islands. In Maquipucuna I had yucca for the first time as well as quimbolitos, which are delicious breakfast tamales. We also had this interesting cold oatmeal, creamy breakfast and brownies for dessert one night that I remember being good. The vegetarian options here were quite interesting as we normally received some form of meat substitute, the last of which tasted like soggy croutons. 

 

The food in Tiputini was also really good even though they have to bring in their supplies through the same traveling system we took to get there. Apparently the same set of meals is used in rotation so if you were to work there for several months the food might get hold but since their repetoire has at least 5 options for each meal, we experienced something new every day. I’m sure I’ve already mentioned granadilla, which is an interesting member of the passion fruit family that you crack kind of like an egg and slurp the slime covered seeds out of the inside. Those were always out during the day along with whole mangos, apples, crackers and cookies. The meals that are worth noting from my Amazon adventure are the quinoa patties that we had for lunch one day and the tacos that we were able to make ourselves. I think I liked the tacos so much because guacamole is so wonderful. Even imitation guacamole can improve a meal. Avocados are another fruit that I have come to love alongside papaya.
I think Tiputini may have been the first place that I had patacones as well. Patacones are squished pieces of plantain fried and topped with cheese if they are eaten as their own dish or on top of rice plain if they’re just a part of the meal. As much as I have come to love patacones and am determined to make them every so often in the states, I fear that they may be messing with my digestive system whenever I eat them. I haven’t determined if it’s the patacones or the watermelon that has been giving me intestinal cramps, but either way, it’s not so bad that I can’t function so for now I’m not worried. Since my host mom doesn’t give me any lactose products, if I get patacones for breakfast (desayuna) or even sometimes for dinner (cena) I am also given an omelet that cut up and on top of the patacones is delicious.

Speaking of the banana family, another delicious dish is fried maqueño. Maqueño is another type of banana type fruit. The first time I had these in Cumbayá I devoured them. They are very sweet and the way my host mom cooked them made them moist whereas patacones are very dry. However, maqueños quickly became unappetizing to me although I have no real reason for this switch to occur. A bolón is a fairly common breakfast or lunch (almuerzo) also made of plantains. It is a ball of fried (or possibly otherwise cooked) plantain along with cheese, bacon, and other things. The ones that I’ve had at my home-stay are solely made with plantains since I basically don’t eat bacon or cheese. I think one time they might have been combined with peanut butter. Maduros are made from plantains that are fried and split open to insert cheese inside. This is a dish that I haven’t tried and probably won’t because of the cheese. What I have tried and am also determined to eat at home are chocolate covered frozen bananas. The one that I ate had tasteless chocolate, but frozen fruit is delicious, particularly in the weather of tropical islands. There is also possibly the best banana bread I have ever had in a small bakery on Isabela. Sometimes we get banana bread as a dessert, but more often it is just a bowl or piece of fruit. 

 

Another common product of Ecuador is the potato. There are a lot of different types of potatoes around although I don’t know if I’ve really experienced the diversity of this crop. Aside from the locro, my host mom (Cecilia) on the mainland also fed me potato pancakes for dinner that generally had tuna within them. On the islands we are often given French fries along side rice for dinner. The French fries that my host mom (Flora) on the island makes are really good. I probably like these the most because they are skinny and crunchy, but I still miss sweet potato fries. In general, I get some form of potato for dinner from Flora. Most often I get a mixture of green beans, carrots, and potatoes for my vegetable portion although I also get string cucumber and tomato in lemon juice.

Corn and its varieties are also common in Ecuadorian cuisine. Before coming to Ecuador, I did take out a few books from the library and read about traditional Ecuadorian food and culture at least a little. That is how I first learned that Ecuadorians eat guinea pig (which I will probably not try on this trip) and that popcorn is common in Ecuador. If soup is served, a bowl of popcorn is generally on the table. The popcorn goes into the soup and is actually a nice touch. There are also toasted popcorn kernels, although I’m not sure if that snack is as common on the islands as it is in the sierra of the mainland. There are also two dishes that I’ve had that I can’t entirely distinguish from one another. Choclo is apparently corn kernels and mote (pronounced mo-tay) is a variety of grains. In Ecuador, mote is a common dish from the Cuenca area, where Cecilia grew up. Sometimes it’s combined with potatoes and other grains and cheese and whatever else the chef feels like putting in it. Another interesting cultural food is corn on the cob slathered with mayonnaise and sprinkled in cheese. This is something that one of my friends had at a restaurant. Mayonnaise is a very common condiment that people put on a lot of things here or will mix with ketchup and put on things. 

 

Of course, probably the most common food at least on the islands is rice in some form or another. By that I mean most of the time I get white rice with vegetables and fish or some slight variation. However, sometimes we get the vegetables mixed into the rice. I’m surprised that I am actually growing a little tired of having white rice all of the time. Maybe if I had some garlic and onion powder to add some flavor I would be happy. There is ají here, the hot sauce that I’ve mentioned before, but I don’t like spicy so I haven’t had the ají, which is supposed to make rice delicious. I still enjoy a plate of good white rice, I just feel that most often the rice is old or dry. Rice with beans or some form of lentil soup is very common. Another way to make rice more flavorful is by mixing the runny yolk of a fried egg into it. At least I am learning some really cheap and simple meals to feed myself at my apartment, particularly during the school year when I’ll have very little time to cook. 

 

I’ve certainly never had so many types of fish before coming here. The fish that I eat here is also simply different from the types of fish that I have at home. There is a fish that tastes exactly like chicken and tuna is common here. The first night I was served lobster and I have had shrimp twice. I won’t say that I’m starting to like shrimp, but I certainly am able to eat it. I should know more about the types of fish that are caught around here for consumption, but I can’t really remember specific names. I do know that fishing is no longer sustainable all over the world as blue fin tuna has almost become extinct and cod was fished to local extinction in Canada years ago. There are also problems with black market items such as sea cucumber, which is seen as an aphrodisiac, shark fins, and even sea lion penises also seen as an aphrodisiac. As it is, the fishermen and sea lions do not get along as the fishermen of the islands believe the sea lions are stealing their catch and therefore their profit. Some of the fishermen will shoot sea lions. This controversy is just one of many on the subject of developing a community and increasing tourism to the Galápagos.

There are other delicious dairy foods that I try to not eat or simply cannot eat. Empanadas are folded over fried dough with a slap of cheese inside that are delicious with sugar on top. There is a woman we have deemed the “empanada lady” who makes really good empanadas and you can pile the sugar on top as much as you can. But I think the best empanadas that I’ve had are the ones that Cecilia’s maid cooked one Friday. Part of the difference is probably the good cheese that exists on the mainland compared to the lack of cheese here. Then there is tres leches (which means three milk). This is a soggy cake that I have tried but basically cannot even touch because there is too much dairy involved. It is also very sweet, which keeps some other people from eating it as well.

Since this entry is probably bordering on being way too long to talk about food this much, I will end with tea. I miss the variety of tea at home and the teas that I had grown accustomed to drinking almost every day. I sleep a lot more here so I suppose I don’t need the caffeine of black teas, which I get every once in awhile. Flora does serve me tea with almost every dinner. For the first 2 months I was always having anise tea, which I was weary of but actually really enjoy. Anise is also good for one’s digestive system so I appreciate having it after dinner, even if Ecuadorians don’t use as a digestive. When I was sick in Quito I was given cendrón tea and my friends have been given oregano tea here. As a general dinner tea I have also had manzanilla (chamomile) tea and canela (cinnamon) tea. Cinnamon tea is very sweet and interesting to drink by itself, but I wouldn’t say it’s bad.

 

Okay, I lied, I want to mention a few things that I miss in the states and cannot wait to cook and eat. The first one will not surprise anyone, but it is macaroni and cheese, with garlic powder and maybe some cucumbers and tomatoes thrown in. I’m really excited for making different breakfasts such as French toast, waffles, even small things like a toasted bagel. I miss pumpernickel bread and bread that is not sweet in general. I haven’t had hummus since Cumbayá and hummus is a large part of my diet in Vermont. Whenever I don’t feel well I want to go on a search for rice cakes but know that I will not find them anywhere. Despite all of the delicious fruit here, I do miss good pears and nectarines. I also miss places such as Panera Bread, the Skinny Pancake, which is a crêpe restaurant in Vermont, and 7 moons, which is an Asian restaurant in Rhode Island.

I still really, really appreciate the beauty and wonder of these islands, despite the frustration that comes with not being able to fully understand the language or the culture. However, I am very excited to go home and see everyone and eat foods to which my stomach is accustomed. I don’t entirely know what to think from time to time as my time left on the islands dwindles to less than 2 weeks and soon after I will be on a plane traveling 3,000 miles back to New England. 

Before I forget, I don’t have pictures of all of these foods for you to investigate, but I do have some random pictures from around town (which can be enlarged by clicking on them). The first picture is actually of the giant supply boat that goes back and forth between the archipelago and the mainland. The supply boat is the really large boat in the background of the picture. The second picture is of some dogs that live above the dive shop where we received our certification. They like to just look at people but really don't like when other dogs are around. Seeing dogs on balconies and even roofs around here is not uncommon. The next picture is of a hermit crab that I saw when I was sitting watching the surf on Playa Mann one day. The fourth picture is of some sea lions playing at la Pedrial in the morning. This picture really encompasses their behavior towards each other and in general. The next picture is of some graffiti that I thought was well done over at la Pedrial as well. There is some form of abandoned structure there. And this last picture shows a man-made dock in the bay that is over halway between Playa Mann and la Pedrial that sea lions cover almost all of the time. They don't like these structures when it is raining out, but otherwise there are always a lot of loud, smelly lobos marinos hanging around.

I hope all is well at home for everyone!

Cumbayá, Futbol, Universidad...

 

There are some things that I haven’t mentioned yet, or have only mentioned in brief passing, when really I should be expanding on my experiences. Therefore, I am going to go back into the past for this entry and talk a little about my life on the mainland when I wasn’t climbing at an altitude of 4,000m or floating down a tributary of the Amazon. I’m going to talk about Cumbayá for a bit as well as my overall experiences with Ecuador in general because I don’t think I’m giving this country enough credit for its interesting culture. 

 

 

As I’ve mentioned before, Cumbayá is just outside of Quito in the Andean mountains of Ecuador. I think of it as being in Cambridge compared to Boston, but in reality Cumbayá is probably quite a bit further outside of Quito. Cumbayá is a wealthier area than most of Quito and much of Ecuador from what I gather. USFQ (Universidad San Francisco de Quito) is a private university compared to the other universities and is still struggling with being accepted into the community. It was not until recently that the Ecuadorian government or anywhere would recognize a degree from USFQ as a real degree. This controversy is due to the different structure that USFQ holds compared to the other universities. USFQ is much more similar to universities in the states with its curriculum and liberal arts feel. (This is a picture of the house I stayed in Cumbayá.)

I liked going to the USFQ campus during my stay in Cumbayá; however, that campus and even the building where I currently sit are like little bubbles of protection. I’d say that this is much less so on the islands because there isn’t as much of a need for protection although outsiders are not allowed into this building. The campus in Cumbayá was open to anyone as far as I know, but it was guarded at all times and gated in. It was also obvious of the difference between the campus community and the outside community. The campus was beautiful and from the front entrance you could see Quito up on the hill. Within the campus there was a sushi bar, a place to get crepes, and a cafeteria where our plates were taken away by patient wait staff. Of course, there is the sunken pirate ship in the middle of campus as well. As USFQ is the most expensive university in Ecuador and the country is, after all, still a third world country, only the very privileged students and those who are able to maintain scholarships attend. 

 

Many of the students in my group lived within gated communities that have guards all of the time. I did not live in a gated community but there was a gate to my house and yard. The house that I stayed in with Cecilia, my host mother, was fairly large and spacious. She has a beautiful garden with lilies, some fruit tree, and climbing purple-flowered vines. She also had a few hummingbird feeders, which means I was able to watch a different species flying around. And a Siamese cat whose name I cannot spell. 

 

I enjoyed wandering around Cumbayá on the weekends when we had no plans. We discovered many bar/café areas and there are several malls around the area. Good guacamole was never in short supply and there were amazing fruit juices all of the time. An interesting cultural aspect of Ecuador is that they have placed statues and monuments in the center of all of their rotaries or roundabouts. Even on Cristóbal there is an old iron wheel in the center of the rotary in el Progresso (the town in the highlands). Some gated communities have playgrounds and fields within them. A couple of the girls had pools in their back yards. There were also places to get hummus and delicious bread. The variety of the mainland is staggering compared to the limited resources that are on the islands. Particularly towards the end of the time before the supply boat arrives from the mainland or is late in arriving. There was a problem with finding food one day on Isabela because the supply boat was hadn’t arrived due to the swells. (Above is a picture of my campus.)

Quito has more nightlife than Cumbayá as it Quito is an actual city, complete with areas that no tourist should ever go to and squares with some form of farmer’s markets. There is an artisan market in Quito where you can buy similar wares to the Otavalo market, but with a little less variety. It is situated in a beautiful park, Parque Carolina, that is one of those places that should be avoided at night. A few blocks from there a square with tourist restaurants is situated with a weekend farmer’s market. At that market there is more jewelry as well as Ecuadorian chocolate, honey, and marmalades. This includes ají (pronounced a-hee), which is a hot sauce put on all foods other than desserts. 

 

I think my most cultural experience in Quito was attending the game between Deportivo Quito and Independiente Argentina. This was a small futbol (soccer) game where only about a third of the stadium was full and there was a tiny section of Argentinean fans. Like any sports event, outside the gate there are people trying to sell tickets, food, and team apparel. Inside the gates there is even more hustle and bustle where a good number of us picked up jerseys for Quito, sporting the red and blue of the team colors. Throughout the stands there were more people selling scarves with team colors, candy, drinks, and large cups of beer. There are team songs and swearing at the other team (as well as your own team). A large blue and red flag was thrown over us and dragged across the stands then sent back down during one of the breaks in the game. Quito ended up winning the game 1-0 or something, but the refs were still attacked and protected by guards at the end. Random people ran onto the field playing trumpets and running around. As we left the stadium, there were armed policemen with dogs guarding sections. The night ended with a ride back to Cumbayá in Mateo’s hippy van.

 

I believe futbol is the most popular sport in Ecuador. Watching games with people is intimidating. We joined some local at a bar one evening to watch a big match thinking that it would be fun and another good cultural experience. However, no one spoke a word while the players were in action and at halftime the brief exchanges were for drink orders and speaking about the game. We sat in the back of the bar and were basically glared at anytime we muttered anything that was audible. During other big matches there are crowds outside of a corner store on the boardwalk intently watching the games on the large TV that the store has presumably for this purpose.

Going dancing at various places has been interesting as well. In Quito there are a lot of discotecacs as well as some salsatecas. Cumbayá has a few bars and restaurant/lounges, but the real nightlife is in Quito. The best place we went was probably Seseribo. It has really good atmosphere and amazing salsa dancers although there are also dancers who just do the same two or three steps over and over again. Salsa can be frustrating because what you do is completely up to the guy, unless you are a girl and you are back leading, which you are never supposed to do. On Cristóbal there’s 3 places that I can think of where people dance. I’ve never been to Neptunes, la Isla has salsa music for part of the night, and the music at Iguana Rock is basically the same set of 15 or so songs every night. When there are big festivities, there is also dancing in la concha, like during the Galápagos celebrations that were taking place one of the first weeks we were here. On Santa Cruz there are more places to go to dance, but I still like quaint Cristóbal.

Aside from dancing and futbol, another important aspect of Ecuadorian life is their food. But I am still determined to devote an entry to the food that I have tried and some of which I have come to love so that will have to wait. Ecuadorian hospitality is pretty amazing. Most of the people that I’ve interacted with the islands are particularly kind. My Ecuadorian classmates are particularly awesome. They always offer food and give up their seats and are just really nice people in general. I think Ecuadorians are more likely to speak to random people about random things like if they notice your foot is swollen or ask you where you are from. I’m sure part of random people talking to people in my group is the fact that we are obviously not Ecuadorian. I am slowly getting tan and I at least have dark hair. But I freckle, burn, can’t stand wearing pants and sweaters during hot weather, and my Spanish is still horribly lacking. Still, I like to think that part of the community is more accepting of student and volunteer gringos than of tourists.

There are bad things about living in Ecuador as well… even more so about living on the islands sometimes. Ecuador is still a third world country, no matter how beautiful it is and how privileged I have felt being here. The hospital on Cristóbal is nowhere near American standards. The hospital on Santa Cruz is supposed to be better, but there are occasions when people have to be lifted back to the mainland. We have to drink bottled water in all of Ecuador all of the time. Quito has bad water… Santa Cruz has worse water. We were advised to not even brush our teeth with the water in Santa Cruz, which I’ve been doing throughout the trip otherwise. My stomach hasn’t been any worse than it gets in the states, but some people have gotten really sick. And currently the mosquitoes are pretty killer because of all of the rain we’ve been having. We are also very lucky to access to internet, even though it’s so slow that you can barely load articles for your classes.

Even with its bad sides, I still love this country. It is beautiful beyond belief and I have very mixed feelings about leaving it so soon. Not to sound like a broken record, but I really hope I can make it back here some day. Also, just a note, I’m currently avoiding writing a paper and have had a lot of stuff to talk about. I’m going to try to post entries more often for the next 3 weeks then I had done for the past 3 months, but probably not at the frequency of these past few days. Either way, enjoy!  

 

Here are 4 pictures taken in my homestay garden in Cumbayá and a picture of the campus dog, Loba. Her name means wolf and she's a pretty husky who spent most of her day napping in flower beds and ignoring the students despite our pleas for her to come play with us. She was friendlier on weekends when there were less people around to give her attention. This picture of her really sums up our life in Cumbayá pretty well. 

Best wishes to all at home!

 

Snorkeling with Sharks, Sea Lions, and Sea Turtles? Just All in a Day's Work for Young Marine Scientists

Historically April is one of the rainiest months in the Galápagos. People have said that this is more rain for a season than they have seen for a while, but maybe that’s a good thing. Aside from the mass amount of mosquitoes and the bay becoming dirty every time it rains because of runoff from roads and potentially sewers, the rain seems to be doing the islands a lot of good by keeping it very green. Some sun every once in awhile would be nice though or we’re going to start getting depressed by the cloud cover. Yes, I believe that is still possible on these islands. I do wish that the streets wouldn’t flood whenever it rains and create rivers of brown sludge that empty out onto our beaches. Just for a little comparison, here is a picture that I took on one of the first days we were here compared to a picture I took today to document the erosion of Playa Mann. I wonder if they fix up the beaches from time to time here or let them naturally erode. This reminds me all too much of home and how some of Rhode Island’s beaches will probably be gone within the next decade, especially if sea levels do rise. It’s even a possibility that Block Island will be underwater. But onto happier subjects…













Yesterday, Wednesday, we spent the day snorkeling as we did on our first weekend here with my evolutionary professor. (Note: all of these pictures are from the first trip that we took.) I didn’t realize what we were doing until we started heading to Islote Lobos again. My class was only told that we’d be spending the day at Leon Dormido to work on studying shark demographics. However, it was a pleasant surprise to find out we were doing the trip to Islote Lobos, Leon Dormido, and Puerto Grande again.

At Islote Lobos we were supposed to be looking for sea turtles and a potentially sick sea lion. When we were there in February, we saw a couple of sea turtles. This time we saw no sea turtles, but had some very curious sea lions come up to play with us. This young juvenile swam around with us for at least 20 minutes. He would dive around us, coming as close to your face as he dared before veering off to the side. He was blowing bubbles out and swimming around us upside down. Every so often some bigger sea lions would join the party to check us. At one point I looked down and saw a large lobos underneath me and picked my feet up just in case. I’m hoping that I captured some good pictures on my disposable underwater camera. I also saw some schools of fish and a live sand dollar. I’ve only ever seen the dead sand dollars that are so common in tourist shops on the coast of the states. Instead of being white and bleached out, this was brown and fuzzy looking.

We then headed over to Leon Dormido, where there were also a few boats of people parked. Some people were scuba diving although I don’t know where they were as I don’t remember seeing them. We were unable to go diving because the course budget does not take into account dives. The bottom of the channel is only 12m deep and it’s possible to see to the bottom clearly enough to make out fish and small sharks, although places around the rock go much deeper. We swam a lot more this time, going through the channel and around the rock a bit. There was also a much stronger current this time, but the boat was following us and willing to pick us up whenever we were tired. I would have stayed in the water with everyone else a bit longer if a jellyfish hadn’t mauled my leg. I had several terrible welts when I climbed out of the water and they hurt longer then all of the other stings I received that day. Even now I still have some marks from those terrible little creatures.

I saw sharks this time! There were white tips and Galápagos sharks. Most of them were fairly small, although there were larger sharks around the area that other people saw. I probably saw about 5 this time, which is the most sharks I’ve ever seen in one trip. None of them were very big, but it’s fun to follow them around when they’re several meters below you. One of the Galápagos sharks did start coming closer to the surface as if it wanted to check out what we were, but it lost interest before it was very close and when on its way. There were also several sea turtles around the area and very large schools of fish that were also struggling against the current. I didn’t see the school of tuna that was also around us. Then there was a lost fur seal that I should have taken a picture of. He was sticking his head in the water and then swam off he saw there were more of us. Fur seals are smaller but thicker looking than the sea lions. It’s easier to see how seals, sea lions, etc. (technically pinnipeds) are related to bears by looking at a fur seal.

Once we had had enough of floating around with the jellyfish, we made our way over to Puerto Grande to have lunch and survey the damage from the tsunami. For some reason it is always a process to have enough food for the vegetarians. Luckily I eat fish or I wouldn’t have had food on the trip. Much of the sand is gone from Puerto Grande, forming new dunes and destroying hills that were once there. Mangrove roots, cactus trunks, and pieces of scrap metal prove as evidence for the forces that washed away the beach. There was even a baby shark that had washed ashore. After the tsunami there were young sharks and sea turtles far inland at Puerto Grande because the area is a nursery for both animals. At least the beach does still exist; it’s just a smaller than it used to be.

These last few days of our marine ecosystems course means we actually have to do some work. There’s a paper to write for the research we’ve been doing, presentations were given today on those same projects, and tomorrow is our final exam. Although the paper isn’t due until Sunday, the plan is to get it finished so that we may enjoy the weekend between classes before we start our final course for the semester. Our last class is supposed to be the one with the most work after having to do barely any work all semester. The professor is the founder of GAIAS and has swum from Leon Dormido back to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno when the motor for the boat needed to be fixed and he didn’t feel like waiting. Starting our last class means we only have three weeks left on this island. Although my stomach is ready to go home, not all parts of me are ready to leave the Enchanted Islands. Speaking of which, I feel that I’ve been using that name wrongly as it refers to the mysterious disappearances of people rather than the ability of the islands to woo people.

Best wishes to all at home!

I am Scuba Certified!

The Galápagos appears to be confused as we head into what is supposed to be the dry season and it has rained every day for over a week. It hasn’t been a constant rain so it’s actually quite nice. The temperature is cooler and if the rain is done by the evening then there are beautiful sunsets and the first full rainbows I’ve ever seen, from arc to arc. Yesterday evening when we were driving back from the ship wreck dive we could see all of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno from the descending sunlight and a rainbow arcing across the sky. Enjoy the random pictures throughout the entry of marine iguanas and rainbows. The rainbows are not from the dive boat but from Punta Carola when I was doing some sea lion counting as explained further below.

 

I am open water scuba certified! After about 4 days of watching a video, pool exercises, shallow water exercises, and finally “deep” water exercises, I can dive safely to 18m (60 feet) I believe. In the beginning I was very hesitant to go through with diving because it is a lot of money and I was nervous about the whole thing. However, diving certification does last for life and as I’ve become more and more interested in marine biology I figured it could be a useful skill. Now my dilemma is if I want to get advanced open water certified when my instructor comes back at the end of April. It would be my last week in the Galápagos (scary) and it is more money, but he’s offering to give us the courses at a discounted price because we did our first certification with him.

I can imagine that using scuba equipment for the first time without having first snorkeled would be a bit nerve wracking. I enjoy snorkeling when the conditions are good. Even sometimes the conditions are not that great and you are still able to see a lot of larger creatures such as sea turtles. The best snorkeling on Cristóbal that I have experienced so far has been la Loberia. This is the beach where the politics students had a lot of trouble with the tide and were almost pulled out to sea because of the rip current that is always present. Because of these conditions, it is really only safe to be swimming there in the low tide and even then you can feel a strong current. The first time we went here we saw a lot of sea turtles. The most common sea turtle in the Galápagos is the green sea turtle. Sea turtles in general are very calm creatures that don’t mind when you swim around them and sit at the bottom eating sea vegetation. Of course, the second time we went to Loberia to actually study the sea turtles there was only one large female to be found. That day I did sea an eagle ray, some pipe fish, a tiger eel, and other standard tropical fish.

Snorkeling is great because it allows you to see underwater and breathe without constantly having to stick your head above the surface. On Rabida I did swim around with only my goggles and fins because Danielle had forgot her snorkel on the boat. This made it easier to dive and most of the time I snorkel without fins. For some reason fins are a difficult piece of equipment for me to use properly. When descending for scuba diving, my fins tend to come up in front of me. But swimming around without the snorkel is tough because I did need to keep coming up for breath and wasn’t able to follow some of the animals entirely such as the sharks that were swimming around below us. Snorkeling is also wonderful in that it takes very little time to prepare for and it’s not expensive or bulky.  

 

Scuba diving, on the other hand, is a completely different experience. First off, it’s very unnatural to be breathing underwater. Trusting your life on your regulator or your secondary regulator working properly is scary. There are other sources of air such as your buddy’s alternate air source. I also have yet to dive to a depth that is unsafe to ascend within a minute. (It is safe to ascend 18m/60ft within a minute.) Being able to stay underwater and see is amazing and well worth any of the fear that I’ve felt while diving. Of course, like any dangerous activity, our course started out with watching 2 and half hours worth of videos on what exercises we would be doing during our dives, information about the equipment we would be using, and information about diving in general. One of the most important pieces of information has to do with equalizing at different pressures. Every 10m deeper in water is another atmosphere/bar of pressure. That means at 18m, we were dealing with close to 3 atmospheres/bars of pressure.

Our first time using the equipment was in a pool. Yes, we went to a pool at a hotel to do the first part of our training. The pool was small and shallow enough for everyone to stand in. Being able to stand is good considering while diving you wear weight belts to allow you to sink, which also makes it impossible for you to just float. After jumping in quickly, we geared up with masks, tanks and all, flipped back into the pool, and took our first breaths underwater. In the pool we performed exercises such as flooding our masks, taking our masks off, helping each other if we were to run out of air, dragging each other around the pool as if one of us were tired or unconscious, and trying to remain neutrally buoyant. Neutrally buoyant basically means staying at the same depth underwater, another feat that I still need to work on as during one of our dives on Sunday I started ascending without meaning to. 

 

For our first open water dive, we stepped off of a pier that is a short ways from the school. There I had some trouble because I couldn’t easily equalize my ears and they started to hurt a lot. I’ve since discovered that as I am descending I need to equalize every half a minute or so and I also need to equalize every so often when we level off on the bottom. We traveled from the concrete pier back over to Playa Mann, most of the way on the floor of the ocean until we surfaced due to the possibility of boats being around. We came out of the water on the beach across from my school, which means our friends got to see us walking out of the water with all of our equipment on, looking ridiculous.

Our next dives weren’t for a few a days later after taking our exam and once the instructor Victor arrived from the mainland. Victor happens to know someone in Wakefield, RI that owns a dive shop. I asked him how the diving is in the north and he said it’s much colder. Even when we have been diving in the ocean here we have used full wet suits complete with booties. When diving at deeper levels such as at Leon Dormido (Kicker Rock) some people use gloves and hoods. We went diving on Sunday at Tijeretas (18m deep) and Karahua (13m deep). Tijeretas is about a 20-minute walk from the school and offers some good snorkeling. Of course, with all of our equipment we went by boat and further out than where we snorkel. After once again completing a couple of exercises and making myself calm down and enjoy being somewhere that few people visit. We saw a ray, the standard sea urchins, damselfish, and other fish.

After diving at Tijeretas, we went back to the dock in order to drop off our used tanks and pick up some full tanks. Our boat was not big enough to easily hold all of that weight at once. Then we made our way to Karahua. Victor explained that the wreck we were diving at was a steamboat that had run into a reef about 90 years ago and came into the bay where it sank after 3 days. The boat was 200m long and all of the walls have since fallen. There are larger fish around the wreck, including a school of gray/blue fish that had yellow tails, giant starfish, a seahorse, some coral and barnacles, and a sea lion that swam by a couple of times. Diving in such an area was really interesting and we were subject to the currents at both dive sites. Having as many currents around the Galápagos as there is means you are often dealing with warm and cold waters in close proximity. It is possible to see the difference in the currents as more or less foggy water.

So now that I have gone over my exam with my instructor and I have my dive log book, I am officially open water dive certified. We were hoping to be able to go diving this Wednesday at Leon Dormido for class, but apparently diving is not in this course’s budget. Due to that we are trying to figure out when we would like to go diving and Sara and I are seriously considering going through with the advanced certification. Advanced certification would train us to safely dive deeper than the open water certification. The course itself includes 5 dives and having the same instructor again would be great. We shall see what happens in the weeks to come. 

 

Because I only have pictures from my dive instructor and none of my own, I’m also adding some pictures that I have taken since we’ve been back in Cristóbal. I guess it’s been 2 weeks since our spring break already and we have less than 4 weeks until most of us return to the states. Speaking of spring break, I had a gecko in my room before we went away and I rescued him from my shower. When I returned he was still there and about twice as big! The picture is of him before break. If I had unlimited access to money then I would transport my friends and family here and stay here for a little while longer. Of course, you can only stay on the Galápagos for 3 months at a time. Also, I don’t know how much I would like the dry season, when the weather cools down and the water also cools down. I would certainly have to buy a wetsuit because I would be sad living on a beach without being able to go swimming all of the time.

 

Anyways, the pictures were taken at Punta Carola after a day of raining. Danielle and I have been counting sea lions for our project for marine ecosystems. We’re taking sea lion censuses of a couple of beaches and looking for diseased or injured sea lions. During our research we have found what may have been the cutest sea lion pup playing with a stick, beautiful rainbows and sunsets, we’ve done research through the pouring rain, and I’ve been barked at and chased by a few of the sea lions. In Spanish, sea lion is los lobos marinos, which literally translates as the wolves of the sea. I’m sorry if I’ve mentioned this before. However, sea lions are really more like wolves in that they bark and play around and especially the pup playing with the stick. Cats are more nonchalant. Of course, it helps when you name an animal that you spend your life being around. Despite the fact that they smell horrible and are loud, I will miss the critters when I return to the sea lion-less east coast.

Oh, returning to the east coast of the states will be weird after having been here for so long. I’m looking forward to seeing all of my friends and family, but I’m going to miss this beautiful country and its crazy ways. Best wishes to all at home!

Following the Stars: South to North and Back Again

As fall time rolls around and the weather will hopefully start getting a little cooler and dryer, the kids head back to school. On Monday many of the students had a half-day of classes. When I walk to the university close to 7, I see troops of them in uniforms walking by or getting a ride on the back of their parent’s Moped. At night there are kids in the street playing soccer and one of my host-sister’s friends comes to see her about homework. The air of the island seems to have changed a little bit as people admit summer vacation’s defeat. (Click on the pictures to enlarge them!)

The last 4 days of our trip was spent aboard a boat. I was apprehensive about living at sea for several days, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. We traveled between 8 islands within 4 days, including crossing the equator and coming back to the southern hemisphere. The boat itself appeared smaller than it was. We had 16 students on the boat and another 5 people for staff and guide. Because of the limit of the boat size, 2 of the GAIAS students were placed another cruise and the Ecuadorian students were also not there. It was a little weird to be split up, but everyone had adventures to speak of after sailing the sea.
The first day that we boarded the boat we were given lunch and our cabins and our guide offered to take us into the highlands of Santa Cruz to see the giant tortoises. Giant tortoises are cool, but once you’ve been on several trips to see them you start to want to experience something new, especially if you would be seeing the tortoises on the same island. Instead of going to see the tortoises, we went back to Tortuga Bay and enjoyed our day there. That evening we settled onto the boat and we started sailing for new islands around midnight. 

When I walked out of my cabin on Friday I had a beautiful view of the island on which we would spend the morning. Rabida is a smaller island to the north of Santa Cruz. It is situated near Isla San Salvador, also known as Santiago Island, and you can see the volcanoes of Isabela off in the distance. Rabida is a red soil island, including having a red sand beach. We took a short walk around in the island where there are cacti, cactus finches, some lizards and coves around the island. The snorkeling off of Rabida is in darker water because of the red sand and the water was a little cold. On this trip I allowed one of my friends to use my snorkeling equipment and only used my goggles and fins. Fins can be very useful and very annoying. If they fit correctly, which is an issue when you’re on a boat with a limited amount of fins, then fins can be useful because it takes less energy to move around. Most of the time I prefer to swim without fins although for scuba diving I will always be wearing fins. Off of the coast of Rabida, there is a fair diversity of marine life such as rainbow fish, hogfish, starfish, urchins, marine iguanas on the shore nearby, gulls, and sharks. As I mentioned before, the first shark I saw was the baby shark at Tortuga Bay. While snorkeling on Rabida I saw black tip sharks and possibly some white tip sharks. The sharks that I saw in whole were no longer than I am tall. But I also saw the end of a larger shark’s tail that I could imagine was very big. 

Once we had had enough of snorkeling at Rabida, we moved on to Bartolomé, sailing there after lunch. As we were traveling we had a half dozen frigate birds following us around. Frigate birds are an interesting bird species whose males have a red pouch on their that they inflate during mating season and make a call similar to a turkey while moving their heads back and forth and spreading their wings wide. Frigate birds also have to steal their food from sea lions and other marine birds because they don’t have the right oils on their feathers to be able to dive in salt water. These are the same birds that come to el Junco to take a bath in the fresh water. Birds follow boats often because they can fly easier with the drag created by the vessels. The frigates were also following us because the boat would expel the waste of fruits and vegetables that they would eat. 

Traveling throughout the islands during the day was beautiful. We passed by many islets that are the remaining domes of great volcanoes that once were. Passing along these differently aged islands, we could see the vegetation that has managed to spring up, the lava fields a mixture of black and red, and some volcanic domes that still look like volcanoes. After being in the bay for a little while, we spotted some sharks swimming around our boat. There were 2 large black tip sharks that kept reappearing and one of my classmates jumped in the water to swim with them. The rest of us stayed on the boat. 

Snorkeling at Bartolomé was similar to snorkeling at Rabida in that the sand had a red coloring. There were schools of Panamic sergeant major fish, more hogfish, parrotfish, probably damselfish, and many starfish. There was also a pod of golden cow rays and a couple of penguins on the rocks. Small amounts of coral can also be found in the area. Later in the evening we also hiked to the top of Bartolomé where you have a view of Daphne Major, the famous island where the Grants have done most of their research on Darwin’s finches. There are also craters around that have been made from collapsed volcano domes and pinnacle rock. Pinnacle rock is famous because it juts out from Bartolomé forming a very noticeable landmark. However, that landmark was not naturally made. The rock itself was shot up from an eruption of lava, but it was formed into such a point by the United States when their air force used the area as target practice during World War II. This practice meant the end of some land iguanas that were once on different islands.

That night we were warned about how rough the surf might get as we traveled from Bartolomé to Genovesa. The journey takes about 7 hours and includes crossing over the equator. This was my favorite night of being in Ecuador. When we started moving the captain turned off all the lights and we could see the stars. Not only could we see the stars, we could see the Milky Way. I know this is probably getting repetitive, but it was once again one of the most humbling experiences I have ever felt. I could recognize Orion, and for the first time see all of Orion, as well as the upside down Big Dipper. As we traveled we had swallowtail gulls following us. They’re the world’s only night gulls that have turned nocturnal to avoid the thievery of the frigate birds. Traveling from south to north over several hours meant we could see the constellations shifting positions and we saw the moon rising as an orange slice over the horizon. 

When I woke up the next morning we were in Darwin’s Bay at the island of Genovesa. Darwin’s Bay is a giant crater that has been formed by the collapsing of the dome of a volcano. It forms a near-perfect circle that allows for a beautiful view of Genovesa, which is a long thin island. Our first stop was on the island itself to view see the frigate birds courting each other, red footed boobies, and Nazca boobies. The adolescent frigate birds also make a very prehistoric sounding call that chills to the bones. The rocks on the side of the island also hold fur seals that are in the same scientific family as the sea lions, but a different genus. They may be cuter because they have more fur and are a little smaller. On the island there was also a lot of storm petrels flying around. Small owls also inhabit the island but are very difficult to find and we did not see any. 

Before lunch we went snorkeling in the bay. Our main goal of snorkeling here was to see hammerheads and we did! I saw 3 different hammerheads and apparently there were many more around. The first hammerhead I saw swam by nonchalantly. The other 2 were circling below me at one point and were fairly large. Around that area was also a school of rays and a couple of see turtles as well as an abundance of fish. Sadly I cannot share the photos I have taken with my underwater cameras because they are disposable. My plan is to find some way to put them on here when I finally get them developed back in the states. That is, if the pictures are any good.

That afternoon we went for a walk off of a beach. Here we saw more Nazca boobies, the swallowtail gulls that followed our boat, some adolescent night herons, more red-footed boobies and some fur seals playing in a lagoon area. The night herons we have nicknamed creeper birds because there are a few around Cristóbal that just stalk around at night. Sometimes we will see them on our walks home standing in the middle of the street. Often they will not even move out of the way. There was also a swallowtail gull chick that was hurt and hiding in the shade of someone’s bag. Its foot was hurt, but there was hope as its parents were standing near it. We did a bit of snorkeling off of the beach where we landed, but there was very little to see other than a few fish.

That night we had a small party on the boat because it was our last night with the crew. Once the party ran out, a few of us again watched the stars while we traveled and listened to some relaxing music. We were on our way to North Seymour, again just north of Santa Cruz. Wake up call was at 5:30 the next morning to go see the land iguanas and some blue-footed boobies on the small island. Waking up that early allowed us to see the magnificent sunrise. I am sad to say that my camera was dead at this point, but we did see some sea lions, blue-footed boobies courting one another, and some land iguanas. Land iguanas are particularly large because they have no predators on the island.

Traveling back home to Cristóbal was a process similar to traveling back to Quito from the Tiputini. We landed on Baltra as originally planned. Baltra is where the United States set up an airbase during World War II and the location is now used as an airport. From the place where we landed we were supposed to take a bus to the ferry, take the ferry to Santa Cruz, take another bus from the North of Santa Cruz back to Puerto Ayora, and take a speed boat from there to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. However, we took a speedboat home directly from Baltra. That should have been easy if we didn’t have 2 people on another boat cruise. After some traveling and sitting in the harbor in the north of Santa Cruz, it was finally decided that the 2 students from the other cruise would take a different speedboat back. The ride from the north of Santa Cruz back to Cristóbal was the worse ride we have had in a boat thus far. If several of us hadn’t been wearing patches, I think more than 1 of us would have been seasick. It was a ride rough enough to make me think of the bus rides from Cumbayá to Quito.

The whole adventure was amazing. We were able to see so much of the archipelago and witness some of the most beautiful places on Earth. I’m getting the opportunity to see even more amazing sites by learning how to scuba dive. By the end of this Saturday I will be SCUBA certified and have been on 3 dives, not including the pool lesson we had today. But that is an experience for another time.
As always, I hope all is well at home! From today there is a month until I fly back to Quito. Add 2 days to that and I will be back in the states, surely reeling from the impacts of reverse culture shock. Best wishes!