Bailando con los lobos marinos (Dancing with sea lions)

Today we went to La Loberia to get data for our research project about the behavior of sea turtles in their near shore habitats.  We saw over 20 turtles in the hour we were out there.  The water was warmer than I’ve ever seen it and the visibility was fantastic.  We found turtles resting in the sand, swimming through the bay, and feeding on the algae there.  We also had a few encounters with the sea lions who live there.  Yes, they are everywhere.  The bull, who we’ve nicknamed Bob, was swimming back and forth right off the beach, so we were a bit nervous about him when we started in.  Fortunately, he did not bother us, although another, smaller, sea lion did take an interest in us.  She swam out with us in the bay and danced with me.  It was incredible!  I’ve played around with the sea lions before, but never like this.  She would swim up until she was almost nose to nose with me and then shift and ducked under me.  Then, she’d spin around in the water and I’d do the same.  Then, she’d look at me and I’d spin again.  Then, she’d spin again. 

She stayed with us for a good ten minutes.  It was one of those amazing experiences I’ll never forget.  Looking into her eyes, I was struck by the innocence and the curiosity there.  I can’t understand why some people don’t think these creatures are worth protecting.

Green turtle surfacing for air

She blends in well, but there's a sea lion there. 

Green turtle resting on the bottom

Of course, spinning around in the water while breathing through a snorkel only works if you remember to clear the snorkel before trying to breathe through it again.  Oops.

Surfing?

Apparently, the waves were only medium-sized.  They sure didn't look medium -sized to me. 

Today, I almost died.  Unfortunately, I'm not exaggerating too horribly much.  You know that light you supposedly see right before you cross over?  Yeah.  Obviously, I'm writing this, so I did indeed survive with only minimal cuts and bruises. 
So, the story is that I went surfing today with my friend Miranda.  It was a rather spur-of-the-moment type thing.  We rented boards and jumped in a taxi with some random Ecuadorians who apparently knew where the best places to surf were.  Just to clarify, we did not know these people.  They ended up being very nice, but it was still really strange for me. 
So, first of all, we couldn't even stand up on our boards.  The Ecuadorians had a great time watching us try.  They attempted to give us instructions, but the language barrier didn't help.  Miranda speaks more Spanish than I do, but it was still a challenge for her.  They also seemed to think that it should be very easy.  It wasn't. 
We finally got comfortable paddling around on the boards and riding over waves without falling off.  Then, for some reason, we decided to go closer to shore where we had more chance of actually catching a wave.  This turned out to be a bad idea because we both ended up being knocked off our boards and tumbling helplessly in the water as wave after wave crashed over us.  What made this even better was that the shore where we were was lined by lots of volcanic rocks, so if we'd hit them, it would not have been pretty.  Every time I came up for air, I found myself looking at another giant wave about to hit me and push me closer to those rocks.  I kept screaming for help at the top of my lungs and I truly felt like I was going to die.  I've never been so scared in my life.  One of the Ecuadorian boys with us ended up saving me and helping me get back to the shore.  I was so happy to be alive and on land again.
Despite the moment of terror, I actually ended up having a lot of fun and it is even funny when I look back on the event.  I'm really not sure how that works.  It's possible I'm just crazy. 
Later that night after we'd eaten dinner, we walked up the path to Tijeretas (Frigatebird Hill) to look at the stars and watch the moon rise.  It was beautiful, and I saw a shooting star.  The unfortunate thing was that to get there and back we had to walk across a beach that is home to a sea lion colony.  We didn't have much of a problem going, but when we were coming back, we ran into a bunch of sea lions sleeping right by where the path entered the beach.  It was difficult to see them because of how dark it was, even with the light of the moon.  While one of the Ecuadorian boys felt comfortable running past them, Miranda and I refused to do so.  He also ended up getting chased down the beach by one of the largest male sea lions I've seen yet, so I feel quite comfortable with my decision.  We went another way and finally made it off the beach and back on the path, only to come across another bull sea lion sitting in the middle of the path.  We all dove off the path and into the foliage to let him pass and then continued, thankfully with no more sea lion encounters, back to the university. 


Oops!  The very first wave ended up breaking Danny's board.

Me and Miranda, afterwards

War on Mora

Yesterday, I went to the highlands with a group of local and international students to participate in the on-going struggle against the invasion of mora (or, in English, blackberry).  We headed to El Junco Lagoon, possibly the only freshwater lake in Galapagos.  The view was beautiful, as was the weather.  Apparently, when the other classes visited El Junco for a field trip, they could not even tell that there was a lake there because it was so cloudy.  We could see out over the highlands and all the way to the ocean from the top.  El Junco is located inside a volcano, which you may or may not be able to tell by looking at it. 

Anyway, I digress.  Mora is an introduced species to Galapagos, but it has flourished and overtaken much of the native vegetation of the highlands.  Best way to take out anger= use a machete to hack down a bunch of mora.  It does hurt, however, if you happen to get stabbed by the huge thorns the plant produces to protect itself.  This happened to me several times over the course of the afternoon and it is quite painful. 

To prevent the mora we cut down from growing back, we planted endemic miconia in its place.  We also contributed by eating as many of the blackberries as we could find. 

Overall, it was a fun experience and it made me feel like I was actually giving something back to the community. 

El Junco Lagoon

I really felt like a tourist on this bus

View of the Highlands from El Junco

Baby Miconia!!!

Scary, isn't it?

Baby miconia planted in the ground!

Big Miconia

The dark spot is a frigatebird who was looking for lunch in the lagoon

Flying

The Enchanted Isles

Every once in a while I look out over the ocean and think to myself, “I’m in the frickin’ Galapagos Islands!”  Some part of me still thinks that this could all be a dream.  After hearing about this place so often while growing up, it’s incredible to actually be here experiencing it.  However, it’s funny to me that even after learning about the Galapagos Islands so often in school, I had no idea what it was actually like.  In fact, I’m pretty sure I did not know that there were people living here until my class on Galapagos in college with Dr. Walsh.  When I think of the “Enchanted Isles” my first thought is of the boobies, sea lions, marine iguanas, giant tortoises, and other amazing creatures that live here.  I never think about the people. 

Charles Darwin is usually the first person to come to mind; however, his real contribution to the islands' history was incredibly small.  In fact, he pretty much screwed up everything he possibly could.  He didn’t bother to label most of his samples.  He had to depend on other people’s notes once he actually realized what he could have had.  The sailors on his ship ended up eating all the giant tortoises and throwing their unique shells overboard.  His actual research concentrated on the mockingbirds, not the finches.  I sort of feel like everything I ever learned about Darwin was a lie. 

San Cristobal is not really a tourist destination.  When tourists do come, they get off their cruise ships, walk along the Malecon (the boardwalk and the nicest part of town) and then take a bus the four blocks to the Interpretation center or to one of the many beaches nearby.  Then, they climb back on their bus, which takes them back to their cruise ship and away.  They never see the real Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.  Don’t get me wrong.  This place is so incredibly beautiful.  It takes my breath away each and every morning.  But there is trash everywhere.  Stray dogs, cats, and chickens can be found on every street.  The way that people live here is what I would call minimalistic.  They have everything they need.  People in this place are not poor; however, neither are they rich.  Many of the houses have the beginnings of an upward extension, metal poles that stick up into the sky like lightning rods, so that when their residents have the money to build up, they can.  The houses themselves are small and have that unfinished feeling to them.  The nicer places are usually hotels.  People come here to experience Galapagos, but they really don’t get the chance to do so. 

I’m interested to see what we do on our island hopping tour at the end of the month.  We’re going to visit the two other touristy islands, Santa Cruz and Isabela.  I’m curious to see how we’re going to see those islands, if we’ll only see the façade put on for foreigners or if we’ll get to see the real Santa Cruz and the real Isabela. 

Full Moon

The Real San Cristobal

Las Tijeretas

Frigate birds at Las Tijeretas

Me on the beach!

Last night there was a drum circle for the full moon.  A bunch of locals and tourists got together at the new Café del Mar and jammed and relaxed and had a great time.  I’ve been to drum circles on campus before, but this was somehow very different.  It reminded me of how far away from home I am, how different life is here.  There isn’t a tremendous amount to do here.  Sometimes I feel trapped on the island, as you can't really go anywhere else easily.  I can’t imagine how people who actually live here feel. 

Dos Fiestas, Uno Dia

Mom's been asking for a picture of me, so here it is.  Awkward snorkeling picture!  I'm pretty sure I was freezing by this point.  This was also around when we were swimming with a couple of sharks. 

A bunch of sailboats arrived in town either last night or super early this morning (I'm not really sure which).  Apparently the sailors were extremely drunk this morning, so I'm betting a lot of them got in last night.  Anyway, there was a fiesta on the Malecon to celebrate this sailboat race thing (or just because fiestas are fun).  There was cebiche (which is amazing).  It's some sort of seafood + lime + cilantro dish that is very popular here.  There was also cake, an adorable puppy, and free alcoholic drinks.  I'm not really sure why the alcohol was free, but they were making all sorts of random stuff and just giving it out for people to try.  It was awesome! 

Then, we went up into the highlands for another fiesta.  My host mom and her nephew came as well.  Unfortunately it was really cold and rained for most of the time we were there.  The gringos ended up getting too cold and having to leave before the rodeo (with horse racing and bull riding) happened.  I was a bit disappointed in that, but we at least got to see some of the horses and the bulls.  That was cool.  There were potato sack races and several futbol games. 
I'd gone to the school where the fiesta was held on Wednesday to help clean it up in preparation for the festivities.  The weather was a lot nicer, which was good because there's this area where you can walk up and see the ocean and Leon Dormido.  It is a gorgeous view.  Today, it was a bit too cloudy to see much.  I'm amazed by how much the weather can differ between the town and the highlands.  We drove for maybe twenty minutes and went from cold, rainy and miserable to cool, semi-sunny and pleasant.  I think I prefer the weather at sea level. 

Mother hen and her chicks on the side of the road (the chickens all just run free here)

Sea Lions and Sailboats

Kitties!!!!!!

This is the view from the roof of my house

This is the house

This is what I would consider the garage.  The first door on the left is mine and my host mom's

You can kind of see Leon Dormido through the clouds/ mist/ rain

This is the cake that Sole, our professor, got Scott for his birthday.  He's had a sort of awkward relationship with the sea lions here.  They keep interfering in his transects. 

Me, Katy, Chancey, and Alexandra on the bow of the boat during our trip to Leon Dormido

And, of course, the obligatory cute sea lion picture. 

. 

Coexisting with the Locals

Sometimes getting along with the locals is extremely difficult.  Othertimes, it is very easy. 
For instance...

Then, there are the times when Mama thinks you are waaaaay too close to her baby, even though you are standing ten feet away.  

She charged me a few seconds after this adorable scene. 

I don't really have much to talk about, since all I've been doing the last few days is school related, so I'm just going to post more sea lion pictures.  :)    Disfrutalos!

Bebe Lobo Marino!!!!!

Okay, so these are actual locals.  This is Chancey playing with a bunch of local kids.  We were really afraid that someone was going to die (by that I mean, get hurt). 

My brother gave me a bunch of music in Spanish, some by Ecuadorian artists, last night, so I've been listening to those today.  There are also a bunch of songs that have been translated from English (such as, My Heart Will Go On from Titanic).  They are quite fun to listen to. 

I leave you with a parting quote from our class today.

"We only conserve what we love, we only love that which we understand, we only understand what we know, we only know what we are taught."
- Baba Dioum

Shark Fin Soup and a Quiz on the Beach

So, most of my week was spent working on various projects for our Marine Life class.  I presented one yesterday about the marine diversity of the Outer Banks.  I'm also working on a project about sharks.  Apparently, we kill over 73 million sharks each year, mostly for the shark fin soup market in Asia.  The good thing is that people are finally realizing how important sharks are to our oceans.  Without them, midlevel consumers (like the Cownose Rays causing problems in NC) experience population explosions and mow down all the species that serve as their food sources.  Without their top predators, ecosystems are thrown into chaos.  Anyway, that's been my life for the last week. 
We also had a quiz Friday about some of the stuff we've been learning in class.  However, I'm classifying this as the Best Quiz Ever because 1. it took place on the beach, 2. consisted of playing Fish-ionary, and 3. our professor bought us beer for it.  Plus, 4. everyone got a 100. 
We were going to go diving yesterday, but conditions have been iffy for the past few days so we decided to wait for a more favorable weekend.  Considering how much work I still have to do, this was probably a good thing. 
Friday night, Tristan played his guitar and sang popular music from the U.S. at Casa Blanca.  It was a lot of fun.  There were a lot of gringos (not all of them us).
I swear my host mom can read minds.  I spent most of yesterday thinking about how much I wanted yogurt with granola and fruit in it.  Guess what we had for breakfast this morning?  :)  It was delicious.  Last night, I went on a walk with her.  We were supposed to go to some concert; however, they were charging $5 to get in and you could hear the music from three streets away anyway.  So, we walked down to the Malecon and got ice cream. 

Our class, being amazed at everything we saw on Puerto Grande

Lots of Black-striped Salema

Another curious sea lion (apparently too curious, one of the groups had a sea lion mess up their transect)

SHARK!!!!  This was at Leon Dormido

Pelican enjoying the view (this was also at Puerto Grande)

Sole, our professor, writing on the board on the beach

Quiz?!?!

This would be how I get home

My only other bit of news is that I almost got attacked by a sea lion, again.  I was walking home through one of their little resting beaches.  It was later, so they were all laid out all over the place.  I thought I was being quite careful and maintaining my distance; however, one of the bulls disagreed.  He sprang up (faster than I thought they could on land) and started barking at me and flopping towards me.  Needless to say, I backed up and went another way.