Life on Island Time

It's hard to believe that we have already been here for over a week.  Our second class, Marine Life, is great.  Soledad Luna (Sole), our professor, is really cool.  She keeps taking us snorkeling during class.  Today, for example, we went to La Loberia.  We were actually attempting to take data on some transects, but it was still a lot of fun.  La Loberia is probably my favorite place to snorkel here.  There are so many fish!  We also saw like ten sea turtles hanging out and grazing.  It was fantastic! 
We've also been snorkeling at Playa Mann right in front of the university, at Las Tijeretas, Punta Carola, Leon Dormido, and Isla de los Lobos.  Everything has been great.  We saw sharks (Blacktip, we think) while snorkeling at Leon Dormido on Saturday.  I've also seen an octopus, fine spotted moray eel, two tiger snake eels, a bunch of diamond sting rays, and more fish than I've seen in my life.  While at Isla de los Lobos (also on Saturday during our group trip) we saw marine iguanas feeding.  It was incredible. 
Everything moves at a slower pace here.  Not only are we on Ecuadorian time, but we are also now on island time.  We've gotten used to people being half an hour late (except for class) and to nothing being open for three hours in the middle of the day or at all on Sundays. 
In the mornings we have breakfast either with our families or at the university.  Then, we have class for three hours.  We do have some normal class time with Sole as we learn about shapes and species of fish, how they behave, and how their bodies work.  Usually, we take about half the class and go snorkeling though. 
After class is lunch!  We have lunch on our own, so we either go get a cheap almuerzo somewhere in town or make food.  We have lots of free time to hang out at the university and do work.  Unfortunately, we also do have a fair amount of work to do.  Yesterday, I had a quiz (although to be fair, it was in game form) and a presentation on fish reproduction.  Now, I'm working on two other presentations for later this week and early next week.  Anyway, we hang out for a while and then go home or walk around the boardwalk or something.  I love the Malecon (the boardwalk).  It's always so peaceful, especially in the evenings as the sun is going down.  We eat dinner either with our host families or at a restaurant with the university.  Then, there's more free time.  We've been hanging out at Iguana Rock most days after dinner.  Yesterday, we started a series of salsa lessons, so we'll see if those pay off.  I like the bar, and it's not horribly expensive.  I usually won't stay too late, though.  My host mom worries about me when I'm out at night.  It's cute.  The first night I went out, I came home to find her still up with all the lights on.  She's amazing.  I've gotten much better at talking with her and can usually understand her, so long as she speaks slowly.  My room, and the house in general, are minimalistic but I have everything I need. 
There are lots of stray dogs (and stray chickens) here.  I've been barked at (and almost attacked) by a few of them, but I've learned how to avoid/ scare them off.  They're more annoying than anything.  Some of the dogs are really pretty and good natured, though.  It amazes me that they're still strays.
Well, that's pretty much life here.  I'll add some pics if the internet lets me.  It's been off and on the last couple of days. 

Playful sea lion pup (we keep almost getting attacked by the adults while we're snorkeling)

Mexican Hogfish

Hawksbill Sea Turtle !

Leon Dormido (also called Kicker Rock)

GAIAS (our campus, as seen from a boat)

The Dead Flamingos that serve as a landmark to help me find my house

This is pretty much what they do all day long

The Harbor at Sunset

Playa Mann at Sunset

Galapagos or Bust!

So, we are finally on San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos.  We arrived yesterday after getting up around 4 AM and catching our flight out of Quito at 7:30 AM.  After arriving at the GAIAS building we were given a tour of campus and of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.  The town is quite small but is still larger than I'd expected.  I feel so much safer walking around here than I did in Quito or even Cumbaya.  The campus is beautiful and right across from the beach.  We had class this morning and went swimming with sea lions this afternoon.  It is paradise here. 

Manta Ray we found while snorkeling at Isla de la Plata

The view from GAIAS as the sun sets

Pepe, the giant tortoise

A baby sea lion on Playa Mann, the beach across from campus

Yes, there are a lot of sea lions here.  This one posed!

Last night, we went to Iguana Rock, the most gringo bar here.  It was fun.  The music was great and the drinks aren't too horribly expensive, but almost everyone there was from our program.  I'm not sure if any of the locals ever go there. 

This morning I walked to campus through a sleeping colony of sea lions.  It was both incredible and frightening.  In the middle of our class, we all went out and walked to Los Tijeteras to snorkel.  There were so many schooling fish there!  It was amazing.  

Marine Ecology Coast Trip

So, we just got back yesterday from our ten days at the coast.  The trip was fantastic and we saw a lot of the coast.  We started off in the north at the Congal Research Station, near Muisne.  While there, we explored several mangrove forests (two which had been restored and one old forest).  All of them were cool, but the natural, old growth forest was incredible.  The trees were enormous.  We had to travel by balancing on the prop roots of the mangroves.  It was not a place I think I'd really want to do research.  It was very difficult to move around and not get stuck in the mud. 
We also talked to fishermen at a few of the towns further down the coast (Cabo San Francisco and Caimito).  We spent a while at a beach in Caimito and enjoyed the beauty of it.  We had coconuts on the beach and even saw a whale. 
Then, we headed South to Manta, one of the main fishing ports on the Ecuadorian coast.  We got up early and headed down to the port to see the catch fishermen brought in.  It was all rather disgusting, but it was great seeing it for real instead of just reading about it. 
On the way further south, we stopped at Pacoche.  We hiked through the forest and saw howler monkeys. 
Finally, we made it to our final destination: Puerto Lopez.  It's sort of a sleepy fishing town that is trying to become a tourist spot.  It was interesting going back and reading what Lonely Planet has to say about it.  They don't really give it many points; however, we enjoyed our stay there immensely. 
Anyway, while we were there we saw/ helped with sea turtle captures and tagging, measured sharks at the fishing port, and went whale watching.  We saw a mother and her calf while we were out.  Then, the next day when we were on our way to Isla de la Plata we saw a male breaching and tail/ fin slapping.  It was really incredible.  On Isla de la Plata, we attempted to count sea birds (blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, tropical birds, and frigatebirds).  It was cool, but very difficult to keep an accurate count.  We also went snorkeling while we were there and got to swim with sea turtles and manta rays and lots and lots of fishies.  Overall, the trip was absolutely incredible and I'm so glad we got to go. 

Restored Mangrove Forest

Juan de Dios, the undergraduate student at USFQ who was doing the mangrove research

Rikke, Katy, and me in the intact mangrove forest

Luis, our professor, chilling in the hammock in Caimito

Me at the beach in Caimito

Beach at Manta

Hiking to the beach at Los Frailles

Me, Gail, Alexandra, Alexis, and Katy on the hike to Los Frailles

Blue-footed Boobies!!!

Humpback whale breaching

EquilibrioAzul researchers working with a captured sea turtle

Unfortunately, now I'm stuck working on two papers due by the end of the week about the trip.  If this post seems a bit scattered, that's why.  I still have to write the methods section for one of the papers before bed tonight. 

Fiestas Ecuatorianas!

On Friday we had our final exam for our current class.  Strangely enough, we'd only had like four days of actual class before this, so there wasn't much that could be on it.  All of us were pretty exhausted after spending two days hiking in Maquipucuna and then coming back and having to study and take a final.  After class ended we went to get a drink at one of the local places.  It was fun, but very loud.  Then, we headed for Quito to look at Kao (sports store that has wetsuits and snorkeling gear). 
Eventually, we walked across Parque Carolina to the Olympic Stadium in Quito to watch a futbol game (Ecuador vs. Jamaica).  It wasn't as interesting as the Quito game.  The fans were much less involved.  Ecuador did win, though.  :)
After the game, we met a bunch of the other GAIAS kids and all of us piled into Mateo's van.  There were about 22 of us in his van (that is approx. half of GAIAS).  It was quite cramped, but we made it back and saved that 25 cents we would have spent on the bus. 
That night we returned to Quito to go to Mariscal, the area commonly referred to as GringoLandia and a place we were warned about during orientation.  There were almost 20 students with the group, though, so no one bothered us.  We went to a couple of discotechas and I drank more than I usually would.  The only bad moment was when I went to buy a drink and returned to find that all the GAIAS kids had left.  I had a moment of panic before walking outside the club and finding a Scottish boy we'd talked to earlier.  Unfortunately, he did not know where "the Americans" had gone, but I enjoyed talking with him until they reappeared (which they did after about ten minutes). 
The altitude definitely has an impact on you when you drink here.  I found that out the hard way last night when we tried to get home and everything just seemed like a dream.  I don't remember specific details about our return trip from Quito, but we did make it home safely.  As an added bonus, the husky that hangs out at the university came and laid down beside us as we waited for a taxi, so I got to make friends with him. 
Anyway, today was a rather relaxed day.  We woke up later than usual (considering we didn't get home and to bed until like 3 AM) and then went to the university.  A bus came and took us to a resort-like place near Cumbaya for the International Student Fiesta!  It was a lot of fun.  There was beer and Ecuadorian food.  We also played games, including pinatas and balancing eggs and attempting to climb some tree-like pole (this one I didn't do).  Then, they put on music and people danced or sat on the grass in the sun.  It was a beautiful place too, and the weather was perfect. 

USFQ

Fountain on campus

Entrance to USFQ

Gata, our cat

GAIAS students chilling out on the lawn on campus

Rikke, my roommate, enjoying a cinnamon bun

Tomorrow, we leave for the coast for ten days.  Then, when we get back we only have a few days until Galapagos!

Maquipucuna Cloud Forest Reserve

It's been super busy lately, so I haven't had a chance to write.  Now that I have a bit of free time, I'm going to recount our trip to the cloud forest.  On Wednesday, all the GAIAS students arrived at the university and piled onto two buses.  Then, we traveled for around 2 hours to reach Maquipucuna.  This included a half-hour trip up a mountain on a poorly maintained dirt road, on a bus.  Yeah, that was painful.  Anyway, the ecolodge is gorgeous.  The first thing I noticed about the place was that there were birds everywhere!  They've hung hummingbird feeders around the dining area, so there are always several species of those buzzing about.  For the most part, we hiked during our two day stay there.  We went on a late morning hike once we got there, an afternoon hike, a night hike (which was cool, we saw bats), an early morning hike, and another late morning hike.  We saw all sorts of birds.  Our guide, Andres, used to work at Maquipucuna, as well as at Tiputini (in the rainforest), so he knows a lot about the area.  We saw a coocoo (probably spelling that wrong, but that's how it sounds), woodpecker, many types of tanegers, lots of coloful (blue, green, orange, yellow, red) birds that I can't remember the names of, a toucan, kite, etc...  It was great, and the area was also amazing.  Our longest hike (which was supposed to be a 2.5 to 3 hour trek to a waterfall) ended up being about an hour and a half.  Did not much enjoy the end of that one (my feet tried to kill me).  Then, we reached the river and the beautiful waterfall and got to swim and fool around there for a while, so it was all okay.  We also climbed up into a crevice behind the waterfall (all ten of us), so that was cool.  While we were there, we drank some of the water (probably not a good idea, but it tasted delicious and we're all still alive and well so far).  The water was freezing cold, but it felt good so long as we didn't spend too long in it.  The trail we walked along was apparently a trail used by the Incas to transport things between the Quito area and the coast.  It was not a claustrophobia-friendly trail.  The dirt is piled up on both sides of it in places so you can barely fit through.  It was a fun hike, though.  Before we left Maquipucuna, we also walked down the road a bit and swam in the river.  Erick and I climbed up a waterfall (not a very steep one) while we were there.  I have cuts and bruises all over my legs from it.   :)  I was sad to leave the cloud forest, especially since we got back and had to attempt to study.  Our final exam for our first class was Friday.