Santa Cruz: Take 2

Our second trip to the most touristy island in Galapagos was a bit more laid back than the first. 

 
This is still in San Cristobal, on the tourist pier

      This dude freaked me out by climbing the side of the pier and suddenly appearing behind me. 

After our final exam on Monday, we took the boat to Santa Cruz. Then, we had the afternoon free.  We wandered around the city, getting only a little bit lost.  Once you leave the boardwalk you find only houses and the occassional little store.  The Malecon itself is a mix of restaurants, tourist shops, and dive companies.  We ended up at a restaurant called something like Giardin.  There, I had the best waffles I have ever had in my life.  They topped them with bananas and ice cream and caramel syrup.  Then, after dinner I went back with some friends and had a Blue Booby (a drink with blue curacao and other delicious things).  After that I watched an Ecuadorian movie in the room with my two roommates: Kavi and Danielle.  The movie was called something like "Karen Cries on the Bus" and was a very typical Ecuadorian movie with lots of drama and sadness. 

On Tuesday, we went to the Charles Darwin Research Station to hear some of the scientists talk about their work and the difficulties of conservation on the islands.  It was only slightly depressing.  We also got to see Lonesome George, who only sort of looked like he was trying to drown himself, along with lots of baby giant tortoises.  After that, we had another free afternoon.  We ate lunch at Tintoreras and got pumpkin soup and really good fish and ice cream and a cookie for dessert.  Then, we went shopping in all the little souvenir shops.  During dinner, two of the Charles Darwin Research Station people came to talk more with us and answer our millions of questions.  Our class gave a short marine invasive species presentation and then had a talk with the representatives: Mark and Volker (the first from Australia and the other from Germany) about them.

Lonesome George

Wednesday, we finally went to Floreana Island.  This is the fourth inhabited island in the Galapagos, with barely 100 people living there.  As we neared Floreana, we were greeted by a huge pod of dolphins!  It was incredible to see so many of them leaping and flipping around the boats in the port.  We also saw an albatross, a giant sea bird that is quickly becoming very rare.  A bus took us up into the highlands where we saw caves that pirates and other early inhabitants of the island used for shelter and the freshwater spring where the town still gets its water.  Then, we went into a corral of giant tortoises, probably getting a bit closer than we should have.  After lunch at a restaurant called Devil's Crown, which is a famous dive spot in Floreana, we went to a black sand beach to snorkel and relax.  There wasn't much to see snorkeling.  It was different than the sites we usually go to though, so that was cool.  I did see one sea turtle farther out.  That night, we had dinner with two representatives of Sea Shepherd.  We asked them lots of questions and heard about their current initiatives in Galapagos and around the world to protect the ocean and the life found there. 

Dolphins!

Iguana and Lobo on the dock at Floreana

On Thanksgiving Day, we went diving at Rocas Gordon, also called the Washing Machine because of the crazy currents there.  I was nervous about the dive considering that most dive companies recommended you have 30 dives to go there and I only had 10 at that point.  It ended up being okay, though, because the currents were almost nonexistent that day and I saw what I went to see: Hammerheads.  A few of the others had seen hammerhead sharks at Kicker Rock the last time we went there, but I kept missing them.  I was really excited to get one last chance to see these amazing creatures.  We'd only been under for a few minutes when I looked up and saw an enormous shark with a strangely shaped head swimming above the rocks to our right.  I stared at him for a few seconds and then the school of hammerheads swam by.  Katy counted and there were 18 sharks in that group.  We also saw a sea turtle, some mobula rays, and lots and lots of fish while we were there, but the hammerheads were by far the most amazing part.  During our second dive, a sea lion went down with us and then followed us throughout the entire dive.  Several of us played with him, probably using up our air rapidly as we did so, but it was fun.  At one point, one of the hammerheads came close enough that we could see his features really clearly.  Our sea lion friend started swimming toward him and I thought for sure we were about to watch him get eaten.  Instead, he swam up behind the shark and nipped his caudal fin.  The hammerhead shot forward, startled.  It was hilarious.  The lobo swam back to us looking very pleased with himself.  The only bad part of the dive came at the end of the first dive when one of the instructors grabbed me and took me to the surface without letting me take a safety stop.  Considering how inexperienced I am and that we went down to 80 feet (which is 20 feet too deep for Open Water divers, btw), this caused me a bit of concern.  Apparently, he thought that I was having trouble surfacing and ignored my frantic hand signals to take a safety stop.  I promptly told him not to touch my gear during the second dive and stayed far away from him as we surfaced and I took a longer than necessary safety stop.  Everything ended up being fine, but it was scary that an instructor could make a mistake like that when a novice like myself knew better. 

Gordon Rocks

Me and our Lobo Friend

Playful Lobo

School of Hammerhead Sharks

After GAIAS gave us cake and ice cream for Thanksgiving (before dinner), we went to the pizza shop and stuffed ourselves in the normal manner of the day.  Then, we went back to Giardin and had chocolate cake and cocktails.  I finally had my amaretto sour, which is my favorite drink at home but had been impossible to find in Ecuador.  We went back to the hotel with that 'I'm so full I need to lie down' feeling that characterizes Thanksgiving so well. 

On our last day in Santa Cruz, we walked to Tortuga Bay.  The beach was gorgeous.  We played in the surprisingly strong waves for a while and rested on the sand.  Then, I went to find somewhere to snorkel, since I'd dragged my gear there.  I swam around in this tiny puddle of water for a while before finding the actual snorkeling lagoon.  Unfortunately, unlike my puddle, the visibility there was horrible.  I couldn't see more than a foot in front of me.  That made me a bit nervous about swimming out alone where I knew sharks were supposed to be resting, considering I'd be on top of them before I saw them.  While I was gone, the tide came in and soaked our stuff, despite the heroic attempts of some of the sunbathers to drag it high enough on the beach to escape.  Unfortunately, this included my camera, which is now sitting in a bowl of rice.  :( 

Despite my scuba scare and the possible death of my camera, the trip was a lot of fun and I now feel prepared to spend the next three weeks in our final class at GAIAS. 

Night in the Sand

This one's a bit late, but here it is. 

The Saturday before we left for Santa Cruz, I finally got to go beach camping .  It was surprisingly difficult to find a taxi driver willing to take us.  There were ten of us in all and we ended up needing two taxis.  After a 30 minute ride through the highlands we arrived at a gorgeous, white sand beach: Puerto Chino.  The sand there is soft, unlike the sand at Playa Mann or Punta Carola.  We played in the cold water and attempted to surf, although the waves were a bit too small. 

Puerto Chino, you'll notice all the little Darwin's finches around the surfboards

Hermit Crab (there were tons of these on the beach)

Surfboards

I think my first attempt at surfing may have scared me for life because my second attempt was super short.  Anyway, we hung out on the beach and climbed up some rocks to see the blue-footed boobies.  Then, the sun went down.  It got dark very quickly and we scrambled to find flashlights.  We played never-have-I-ever and sardines in the dark.  It was cloudy, so we couldn’t see stars. 

Eventually though, the clouds disappeared and we could see the stars and, at one point, the moon.  Every time I woke up during the night, the sky looked different.  I kept having to find my glasses so that I could see the stars. 

Overall, the experience was fun, but I don’t think I’d want to do it again.  It was way too cold to not have sleeping bags and defending our stuff from the rats was annoying.  The rats are invasive, btw, and were carried here by humans, probably as stow-aways on ships.  The sand was amazing to walk in, but it got everywhere and I’m still finding it amidst all my stuff. 

It's Wicked Dark Down There

So, my comfort zone has pretty much been non-existent this trip.  It’s funny how many of those things I would have sworn I’d never do came up on this trip and how many of them I actually did end up doing.  For example, climbing 100 m down into the earth on a ladder that I’d never have trusted my life to if I’d seen it in the daylight.  I’m relatively afraid of heights, so that was a truly terrifying experience for me.   It was also amazing, though, and I’d like to think I’d do it again given the chance.  Also, attempting to learn how to surf on waves that were twice my height (I might be exaggerating on that, though it was hard to tell from in the water).    

Last night, I faced another of my greatest fears: dark water.  For some reason, looking out onto any body of water at night and seeing how dark it looks frightens me.  Well, yesterday we went on a night dive.  It took me until the very last second to decide that I wanted to go and that was only after hearing Luis say that it was an incredible experience and that we should definitely do it if we could.  So, I did. 

We got out on the water and headed out to the dive site at Tijeretas.  It was comforting to know that I’d done this dive during the day and that I’d also snorkeled in Tijeretas Bay itself many times.  The stars were so clear from out on the water, and, as we went, little bioluminescent plankton glowed in our wake.  I admit I was scared looking out at the water and not being able to see anything beneath it.  I kept imagining sharks lurking beneath the surface (and this after I did that whole project about how sharks are not actually that dangerous).  I was determined to take my time putting on my gear and not be anywhere near the first person in.  After getting suited up, I sat on the side of the boat and waited for instructions.  We all had our own personal flashlights so that we’d be able to see and be seen.  Suddenly, one of the guides sat down beside me and said, loudly, to get ready, we were going in first.  I panicked, but I’d done this many times before, so I pulled on my mask, stuffed the regulator in my mouth, and even remembered to turn on the flashlight.  Then, without giving myself time to think, I fell backwards off the boat.  After a moment of panic once I was in the water, I righted myself, inflated the BCD and was fine. 

Despite my uncertainty about diving at night, it was truly one of the most amazing things I have ever done and I would gladly do it again.  We descended to the bottom and spent a while playing around with the flashlights.  It was amazing how bright it was down there with eleven lights.  We saw lots of sea urchins and diadema, which we were careful to avoid touching.  There were two green sea turtles, which we freaked out pretty badly, considering they were trying to sleep.  We also saw two stingrays, one of which swam up into the water column towards us.  Several sea lions were hunting for fish while we were down there.  It was fun to watch them zip around after the silvery blurs and swim into caves and under ledges, disturbing sea urchins in the process.  There were also several slipper lobsters and a couple of crabs.  Lots of sea cucumbers were out feeding; apparently many of them are nocturnal.  One of my favorite sightings was a scorpionfish that was incredibly hard to tell apart from the rock on which it sat.  The corals and sea anemones that we passed took on a bright yellow color in our lights.  It was beautiful.  I think my favorite part was covering my light and waving my arm through the water to watch the bioluminescent plankton shimmer like hundreds of little stars. 

I ended up being the first one in and the last one out of the water.  I relaxed, floating on my back and watching the stars while everyone else was climbing onto the boat.  Night diving was incredible and I can’t wait to do it again. 

Back on San Cristobal

One of my favorite things to do here is to stand on the tourist pier (which unfortunately gets decked out in multicolored lights at a certain time each night) or on the roof of the house and look out over the city and the ocean at night.  I’m not used to living so near the ocean and seeing it every single day, having lived in the piedmont my entire life.  It’s so amazing.  I’ve learned so much about the ocean, especially during the last few months, but staring out at it, it still gives the impression of being unfathomable, of there being so much more that we don’t know, that we may never know. 

Last night we had our first debate for Luis’ class.  The debate focused on tourism and whether or not it is sustainable for Galapagos.  It was much easier arguing against it than for it.  We also made the point that we are part of the problem.  In effect, we are tourists here, no matter how much we may feel like we are different from the other tourists, no matter how much we think of Galapagos as our home (at least for three months).  Our presence and that of the 170,000 or so other tourists who come here each year (a number that is quickly increasing) is destroying the environment that we’ve come to see.  In however many years there may not be Galapagos penguins or sea lions or marine iguanas or giant tortoises or blue-footed boobies because the pressure we put on this ecosystem is too much for the islands to handle.  Unless we change our practices here and in many other parts of the world, we will destroy that which we love. 

Okay, I’m done with the rant about sustainable tourism and the beauty of the ocean.  For those of you who have kept reading, here is what I’ve been up to for the past week.  After getting back from the island hopping tour, we were all exhausted.  I spent last Saturday in a sort of daze, barely able to function.  Sunday was a bit better, but I didn’t actually manage to go anywhere.  I just hung out at the university and wrote on my blog, watched movies, and started reading another book by Isabel Allende.  As the week went on, it got better, though, and now I feel close to normal.  All of my scrapes and bruises acquired during the tour have almost healed. 

This was the first week of our third class on the islands and the fourth class of the semester “Marine Conservation Biology.”  The same professor who taught our first class in Cumbaya, Luis Vinueza, is teaching this one.  He’s really cool and very laid back, about everything.  He told us on the first day of this class that we all got A’s in his last class.  When asked if he actually graded the essays we submitted about the mangrove research from the coast, he just laughed. 

Anyway, Wednesday we went up to Hacienda Tranquila for a wedding.  Tina’s fiancé got to the island on, I think, Sunday and was told Monday that he was getting married on Wednesday.  He was incredibly good natured about it.  The wedding was beautiful and lots of fun, despite the garua.  They provided pizza for dinner and several cakes, all of which were delicious.  There was a cake typical to Ecuador and another one with strawberries.  That one made me really homesick.  Some of the girls decorated the Hacienda with balloons and streamers for the wedding.  It was really nice. 

Thursday we snorkeled in La Loberia with Luis.  It was fun, as usual, but also colder than usual too.  It’s still my favorite place to snorkel here, as we tend to see more fish and sea turtles than anywhere else on the island.  The currents are strong, though, and every professor we’ve had here so far has cautioned us against going out too far.  The sea lions are also fairly active there and you have to be careful not to get too close to the macho.  He’s chased us out into the water a few times.  It’s not a fun experience, swimming as quickly as possible while being chased by 300 pounds of angry sea lion.    

Friday we went diving at Kicker Rock, successfully this time.  We saw lots of sharks and some people (not me, sadly) saw hammerheads.  We first went diving through the channel again and then dove off of a point and around the wall of one of the giant rocks.  It was incredible.  Now, we’re talking about diving in Santa Cruz (Luis changed our schedule to allow time for it), so we’ll see if that works out. 

Me, scuba diving   :)

     Hammerhead Shark, you can barely see the head

                                             More sharks (Katy took all the shark pics)

Saturday we attempted to go camping at Puerto Chino.  Unfortunately everyone else ended up backing out, so Maureen and I decided that going by ourselves probably wasn’t the best idea.  Instead, we went onto the navy base and explored some of the trails that lead back past where we went surfing (El Canon) to Tongo Reef, one of the other good surfing areas on the island.  We walked until continuing would have meant finding our way back in the dark.  We still only just made it back to the well-lit area of the base as the sun went down.   Tongo Reef was beautiful, especially as the sun started to set.  The trail leading to it was more what I expected of Galapagos: deserted, dusty, and full of thorny plants. 

Cemetary on the path to Tongo Reef

                    View of Tongo Reef at sunset

Sunday, we went to a futbol game in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.  I wasn’t even aware that there was a stadium here until this weekend.  The teams were Barcelona and Emelec (apparently located near Guayaquil, Ecuador).  The game was interesting, made more so by the rowdiness of the fans.  We sat with the Barcelona fans and cheered with them, as best we could.  Sometimes fans from Emelec would come over to our side and yell at us.  They would immediately get pelted by popcorn and, I think, water (the other option would be beer).  At one point during the game, the players looked like they were about to have at each other.  Some of the fans got a bit crazy too.  I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one ready to make a break for it if things got rough.  Luckily though everyone calmed down and the police barely had to step in to get things back under control.  Barcelona ended up winning the game, after a shootout in the near dark.  It was interesting, although expensive.  Tickets to the game were $10 (I only say that because those in Quito were $5). 

Kids hanging on the fence at the futbol game

Now, another week has started and we have to attempt to focus on schoolwork again.  We have a group essay due eventually about invasive marine species and how to control them and a final exam on Monday before we head off to Santa Cruz again.  It should be an interesting week. 

I ate dinner alone last night, and I’ve gotten so used to watching Combate that I turned it on automatically.  It’s this really popular Ecuadorian game show.  The first few times I watched, it was just sort of confusing.  I have to admit, though, it’s funny.  I also had the longest interaction with the kids that I’ve had yet.  Dailyn, who is 6, hung out with me and had me read her a book in English.  She played on my computer for a while and tried to teach me words in Spanish.  She’s adorable, but a handful.  She and her sister, whose name escapes me, watched Combate with me for a while before bed.    

Then, this morning we had a visitor.  I didn’t even know he was there until he made a small noise.  Then, it took a few minutes for me to think to look behind me, and there he was.  This little filthy white dog had wandered in and was begging to join in our breakfast.  My host mom chased him out.  The next time he came in, he made no sound at all.  I just looked down and there he was, curled up at my feet.  I feel really bad for the dogs here.  They’re an invasive species, so they shouldn’t be here in the first place; however, the locals brought them here and now they don’t take care of most of them.  There are so many dogs on the streets here.  It makes me really sad.  I realized this morning after our visitor left that I would be in serious trouble if I lived here; I would adopt every single stray dog I saw. 

This is a picture I really like of Erick (he's from UNC)

Island Hopping

                          Boat Trip!!!!!!

Day 1: So, we headed to Santa Cruz last Friday after the exam and turning in the paper and everything.  That made for a very rushed exit.  I did manage to say good-bye to Concepcion before we left, but it still felt rushed.  We saw some dolphins on the way.  The boat was a bit cramped, but it was only about a two hour ride, so it wasn't that bad.  When we got there we checked into our hotel, which truly reminded me of a Dr. Seuss book with all its twists and turns and maze-like staircases.  Then, my roommates (Danielle and Maureen) and I went to get food because we were starving.  We ended up finding pizza.  :)   For dinner we ate at this really nice place that looked like a bar, and was decorated for Halloween, but served us bruschetta, chicken and veggies and ice cream for dessert).  It was called the Rock.

Good-bye, San Cristobal

                                                                 Hello, Santa Cruz

Pelicans in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz

A Pelican with a very nicely colored beak

Statue of the Hammerhead and Giant Tortoise, the symbol for the Galapagos National Park

Day 2: The next day we went to North Seymour, an island above Baltra, which is above Santa Cruz.  We took a bus all the way across Santa Cruz and a boat to the island.  There were lots of frigatebirds, blue-footed boobies, iguanas, and lizards on the island.  We took a walk and observed them and took lots of pictures.  We even saw a baby sea lion that had literally just been born.  The placenta was still there.  When we got back on the boat, we saw several sharks under the water (which explained why we were not snorkeling there).  Then we went to a beach on Santa Cruz called Las Bachas.  It was really nice and snorkeling was great, but several of us got stung by jellyfish there, which made things less fun.  Luckily it was the kind that hurt badly at first and then faded quickly to nothing.  We also saw some sea turtle nests at the top of the dunes on that beach.  We had dinner at Chocolat.  The food that first night was not as good as the name, though. 

                                                                     Land Ho!

Christmas Iguana

Day 3: We took a bus to go explore the lava tunnels in the highlands of Santa Cruz.  We were even able to walk down into one of them.  You could see where part of it had collapsed, leaving a giant hole in the top of the cave.  It was fun sitting in the very back of the cave and trying to take pictures/ just enjoying the silence.  We then went to Garrapatera Beach, a gorgeous white sand beach with lots of lava rocks.  We walked around to explore tide pools and play in the sand.  Alexis even attempted to fly a kite.  After lunch we went to Las Grietas, a channel in between two walls of rock.  Some of the students jumped off the rocks into the water.  Then, we took a boat to Tintureras, where we saw some slumbering sharks (while we were on land).  We snorkeled around part of Santa Cruz and saw glowing damselfish (we think they were juvenile Giant Damselfish) along with lots of other fish.  There were lots of big waves, so it was difficult to stay in one place on the little boat.  We made our way to Caamano, where I was the only one who wanted to get in to snorkel.  Another tourist from another group with us and a guide went in too.  We saw lots of sea lions playing and swimming around.  We also saw a large Galapagos shark, who was apparently hunting.  We got out at that point.  We ate at Chocolat again, the best part being the limon pie for dessert, and then walked down the malecon to savor our last night on Santa Cruz.  We stopped to get ice cream (nutella and moka, yum) and then went down to the tourist pier.  There we saw a pelican (who several people got too close to, as he was sitting on the pier), a group of cownose rays feeding in the light of the pier, and a few baby sharks!  Then, Maureen and I rode the psychadelic caterpillar around town. 

Las Grietas

Day 4: We headed to Isabela Island, the largest island in the archipelago.  The town there, Puerto Villamil, is the smallest of the three major towns in Galapagos (the others being Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno).  After the two hour boat ride to the island and lunch, we went snorkeling in a little lagoon near the harbor.  We ate lunch at The Oasis (pumpkin soup with popcorn (cangeal in Spanish) and chicken with slaw and rice and ice cream for dessert).  Unlike the other towns, the harbor in Puerto Villamil is not near the rest of the town.  It is a fifteen to twenty minute walk down a dusty dirt road away.  Anyway, we again saw lots of fish and corals and other fun stuff in the lagoon, while fighting the currents that were created as the water came into the lagoon through the rocks.  I also saw two penguins swimming around on the far side of the lagoon.  They were adorable.  I ended up in another area after trying to follow them, though, and had to climb over some rocks in shallow water while fighting the strong current to get back into the lagoon where everyone else was.  Then, we went to Tintoreras (after seeing a juvenile penguin sitting on the rocks where the penguin colony roosts).  At Tintoreras we saw several white-tip sharks resting at the bottom of a narrow channel and also lots and lots of juvenile iguanas.  When we got back to the dock, there was a penguin zipping around in the water hunting for fish. 

Pinguinos!!!!

Hunting

Day 5: We got up early and took a bus up to the Sierra Negra volcano.  Then, we spent around 5 hours walking around the rim of the volcano and then through a lava field to Volcan Chico.  The views out over Isabela were amazing.  I fell on the way back through the lava field and scraped up both my knees and (to a lesser extent) both my arms.  I did manage to save the apple I was eating, though.  We ate lunch at Campo Duro, this hacienda in the highlands with amazing food and giant tortoises.  We got back to the hotel super dusty and tired.  We got the rest of the day to shower and relax, which we all took full advantage of.
 
                         Hiking up into the mist

The group at Sierra Negra volcano

              Welcome to Galapagos!
Day 6: We went to see more lava tunnels, although these were mostly underwater.  We took a boat out, stopping a few times on the way to jump into the water whenever we saw a manta ray.  We ended up scaring them deeper, but it was still cool.  We also saw a shark on the way.  It felt like we were playing a new game, shark or manta, a few times.  Luckily we guessed right the times we jumped in.  While snorkeling in the lava tunnels, we saw a seahorse, a baby eagle ray, and several white-tip sharks (up close and personal).  They were incredible to see.  I was extremely glad they didn't show much interest in us, though.  It was fun to swim through the lava tunnels (they were small) and under arches in the water. 
In the afternoon, we went snorkeling at Concha de Perla, which ended up being the area I got sucked into on our lagoon trip.  We swam around to look in the mangroves that fringed the area and through a channel in the rocks where there were lots of corals.  I saw a giant sting ray that was larger than I was sitting on the bottom in a corner of the bay.  It was intimidating. 

White-tip shark

Day 7: On our last day on Isabela we went to El Muro de las Lagrimas (the Wall of Tears), a giant wall of lava rocks built by prisoners on the island many years ago.  The Galapagos Islands have a very interesting history, going from scientific marvels, to refuges for pirates and whale hunters, to prisons, and then finally to populated tourist areas.  Before reaching the wall, we stopped at a lagoon to see the flamingos the island is so famous for.  Anyway, we walked around the wall and then walked the 4 km back towards the town.  We stopped to walk through a mangrove forest to a small, beautiful bay where some of the kids swam while others enjoyed the shade of the mangroves.  We also stopped at yet another lava tunnel and then at Playa del Amor (beach of love).  There were lots of iguanas there, including two fighting, and the view of the ocean was great.  After lunch, we went to a cave in the highlands and enjoyed the silence and darkness (after everyone turned off their lights).  Apparently some guy used to trap wild hogs in these caves to eat.  Luckily, we didn't run into any.  Then, we went to a vent where we climbed down a bunch of rickity rope ladders 100 meters down into the earth.  It was absolutely terrifying.  The equipment we were using seemed to serve little purpose.  For example, our caribiners would not have helped us much if we'd fallen.  The knots were too few and far between to be much help and in some places there was nothing to clip onto.  Anyway, we all survived the trip down and the climb back up was much easier.  It was getting dark by the time we made it back up, though.  We rode the bus back to town in the dark and went straight to dinner, covered with mud as we were.  That night, I went out with Rikki, Katy, and Wyatt to get Pina coladas at this shack by the beach.  They were delicious.  We then walked down to the bonfire and I ended up with a passion fruit daquiri, also delicious.  We were exhausted, though, and ended up going to bed soon after that. 

Pink Flamingo

I see you!

Ladder down into the vent; looks really stable, right?

The next morning, we ate breakfast and had some free time to walk around Puerto Villamil and visit the Flamingo Lagoon (there weren't flamingos there that time, though) and the panaderia (bakery) and enjoy.  It was sad to think that we wouldn't be coming back to Isabela, although a part of me was ready to be back "home" on San Cristobal.

Yay!  Random extra pictures (AKA: I don't feel like moving them where they belong)

Galapagos National Park

No clue where this was, but it's pretty!

Rocks in the middle of the ocean

Flamingo taking flight

Iguana looking down at the shark sleeping below

Home Away from Home

One of the most interesting things about this program is that I get to call San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos my home for three months.  This was especially apparent when I felt like I was coming home after our island hopping tour yesterday.  It was really great to be back on San Cristobal and feel so comfortable here. 
Before I start talking about the island hopping, I need to go back a few more days.  I omitted something that happened on Wed of the last week of Marine Ecosystems class.  We went diving again, this time to Kicker Rock.  It was absolutely incredible.  Going down between the two giant rocks sticking out of the ocean and seeing the animals there was so exciting.  We saw so many corals and sea urchins and fish.  We also saw about 30 sharks (all of them black-tip or Galapagos sharks), several sea turtles (one of them being cleaned by a barberfish), and eagle rays.  It was really cool.  Some of the sharks got within five or six feet of us.  One of them started swimming directly for me.  I was only slightly terrified at that point.  Luckily he just looked at us and then veered off. 
So, the reason I didn't mention any of this before was that when we surfaced, there were a bunch of people on a random boat yelling at us to climb aboard, that something had happened on our boat.  It took a while to learn the whole story, but apparently the naturalist guide on one of our boats (not the one I was on) was snorkeling and had a heart attack.  He was my host brother's wife's brother.  When I got home my host mom told me.  It was a really scary and weird experience.  Within a few minutes it seemed like the entire island (or at least the whole town) knew about it.  I wasn't sure how to talk about this last week, so I just didn't.
The man died while they were trying to find competent medical care on the island.  Apparently the hospital didn't have oxygen to give him.  The family was thinking about suing, but I'm not sure how that's turned out.  The experience was really sad and upsetting for a lot of people.  It was frustrating to me that I had no clue how to comfort my host mom, either in terms of the words to say or the appropriate things to do culturally.