Life Just Keeps Getting Better!

The week so far has been filled with class work, as reflection papers, midterms, and my phylogenetic analyses are all due within the next week. No matter how much work I may think I have, I still have time to nap on the beach in the afternoon (until I remember how much work I have due, grrr). Tuesday was exceptionally special. While I was chillin on the beach with a local friend, a baby sea lion was ‘walking’ around, calling for its mama. Well, she was nowhere to found and this little cutie came right up to us and put its head on my friend’s ankle. Cutest thing ever. Unfortunately, I’ve been forgetting my camera at home and didn’t get a picture, but I will forever remember that moment.

Sea Lion Familia!

As weekdays are for class, lunches, afternoon beach naps, and sunsets, weekends are for brunches, beach naps, snorkeling, and adventurous activities. To make the island seem less small (haha) I enjoy traveling beyond the town into the National Park to break up my normal beach nap routine (I’m totally serious).

Early Morning Beach Yoga

Booby.

Saturday was spent hiking and snorkeling. Well, it wasn’t really a hike, more like a scramble over sharp ‘aa’ basaltic rock. The scramble was awesome because the view is just amazing and we kept running into these huge iguanas. If you walk too fast there’s a pretty big chance you’ll step on an iguana or dive face first into the rock to prevent from stepping on one. Upon returning to the loberia (lobo breeding ground), we decided to go snorkeling. By we I mean Jackie, Keegan, and I. The snorkeling was pretty awesome. Swimming with the tortugas is just amazing. Just before we were about to get out of the water we saw a few lobos playing in the water not far from us. It was so awesome!! One of them swam up to us and was swimming around us checking us out. The food schedule is pretty strange here. We eat our meals between uni, our host families, and at restaurants. Fridays and Saturdays we’re on our own (i.e. we have to pay for it) for dinner so after dinner Saturday I went with a couple lovely ladies to the pier with a box of wine (yeahhhh…a botella is 2x the price than on the mainland so the $8 box is just fine). We hung out for a few hours watching the fish, sun rays, and sea lions swim by. Watching a beautiful light-colored ray glide through the water at night is one of those moments that make me so happy. The juvenile sea lion was playing with a fish; tossing it in the air, through the water, even pushing the thing after it died. Sea lions are really playful and seem to be very smart. I’m in awe every time I see one. They’re such majestic creatures.

Tortuga!

Iguana Tracks

Swimming with the Sea Lions

 Sunday was a fabulous day! A small group of us left uni around 10am in a taxi for the Highlands. Our plan was to make a couple of stops along the way before settling in at a beach for the remainder of the afternoon. Now, the taxis here are not what you would imagine. They are fairly large 4-wheel drive trucks. People can sit in the front, backseat, or in the bed of the truck. I’m sure you can imagine what a taxi would look like with 7 people.

         Our first stop was a crater with a lake. We parked at the bottom and had to walk up the hill for approximately 10 minutes or so. I have learned that my lung capacity is no longer conditioned to the altitudes of Quito and Quilotoa. Needless to say, walking uphill and talking at the same time will leave you a tad out of breath. A few of us were from Mountain Geology and had climbed Quilotoa, so I think we were expected something a tad more grand considering that were on an island in an archipelago that’s a volcanic hotspot. Laguna el Junco is beautiful, but it makes sense that it would be small considering San Cristobal is the oldest of the all the islands. Thankfully it was a clear day because we were able to walk around the crater and see the ocean on all sides. If you’ve read my previous blogs you’ll know we summited Quilotoa twice because we lost one of the students (I still have no idea how that happened); well, we ‘lost’ her again at el Junco, haha. Only since it’s such a small crater she was able to see us the entire time.   

 Back down the hill and back in the taxi we were on our way to the Galapaguera. The Galapaguera is a tortoise refuge. Because the tortoise population has been decreasing over time (many thanks to those who discovered the Galapagos islands and removed many of the tortoises from the islands to use them for food on their ships, causing a number of species to go extinct), a refuge has been built within the National Park to help increase the numbers of the species Geochelone chathamensis. A number of tortoises were taken from the northern part of the island and placed within the refuge. There is also a nursery to protect the young and decrease the mortality rate.

         Puerto Chino is an amazing beach. It has fine, white sand like you would expect in a tropical region (expect that the Galapagos are not considered tropical, but equatorial), the water is crystal clear, and the marine wildlife abundant. I honestly didn't do much here; just played in the waves for a bit and passed out on the sand.

         Sunday evening was spent with some wonderful people that live on the island. A group of fiends get together every few weeks and make dinner; vegetarian lasagna= lots of veggies! I had broccoli for the first time in over a month! Some of my classmates are starting to have nutritional-related health problems (papas are considered a vegetable), so we're trying to come up with a way to get more veggies into our diets.

         Eating white rice multiple times a day eventually leads to an aversion of it…I now avoid rice as much as I possibly can (so basically whenever I have to buy my own lunch or dinner), which has been working out fairly well. I’m pretty sure I’ve gone a whole day before without eating rice. Living on an island can be pretty cool because everything you eat is super fresh. I get fresh squeezed oj with breakfast and papaya picked from one of the trees outside. I’m pretty sure my superfamily are fishermans, so when I do eat dinner at home I usually get fish, lobster, or shrimp. Occasionally we have chicken and I’ve noticed that when we do there tends to be one less chicken running around outside. The first time it happened I was a little shocked, but now I’ve gotten used to eating the chickens I see running around on a daily basis. The tiendas don’t sell bread b/c the island is full of bakeries; the scent of freshly baked bread makes your mouth water. I’m pretty sure many people in the U.S. would smile more if they got to experience the freshness of food more often.

I’ve been waking up at 5:20am three days a week to help the Galapagos Science Center with its lobo counting. We meet at uni, split up the different beaches within walking distance, and differentiate between pups, juveniles, females, subadults, and machos. I’d prefer to avoid waking hours before 7am, but walking around the sea lions while they’re sleeping is something I greatly enjoy. They get mad at you for waking them, and in the chance a newborn was born that morning, we get to see baby for the first time while avoiding tired yet overprotecting mom. The other great thing about getting up this early is that I can get my run done early. Running along the malecon at 6:30am is very peaceful as most people are still sleeping, minus the tourists getting ready to catch a boat to another island.

Kicker Rock. Great snorkeling and diving.

I've finally given in and started taking anti-everything drugs. Having already 'lived' (i.e., slept in the bathroom if you get my drift) twice since I've been on this particular island, I've gone on a round of Cipro and anti-parasitic drugs. The cool thing is that you can just walk into the pharmacy without having seen a doctor (the healthcare here is mediocre at best; the thought of going to the hospital gives me the gitters), tell the pharmacist what ailments you have, and get something for it. I got 10 pills of Cipro for $5, without the copay of a physician. That's pretty cheap. 

Now that I’m in a new week (today is actually Oct. 25^th), we only have two days of class left so we’ve all been working really hard to get our phylo projects finished, papers written, and study for the final; all of which are due today (and yet I'm finishing up my blog, haha).  Mañana will be an easy day and on Saturday the whole group leaves for Santa Cruz to begin a week of island hopping!