Gobbled up

As was aforementioned, we had to go to the island of Santa Cruz for the final week of our penultimate class, Marine Conservation. Lucho (remember him?) well it was to be a week still full of his goofy self. Santa Cruz is almost smack dab in the middle of the archipelago and has the largest human population out of all the islands, mostly all packed in Puerto Ayora. Per usual USFQ hooked us up with a pretty sweetbutt hotel, Lobo del Mar complete with hot showers and an occasional sulfur smell wafting from the next door mangrove. We were still technically in class, but still managed to have a lot of fun. We took Monday night to relax after our earlier final and 2 hour boat ride. We drank some cervezas overlooking the star-painted waters of Academy Bay. The night evolved or devolved into a boy’s night as we continued with our Cuban friends that joined us and started swapping jokes. Las chicas eventually left and finished the night off with some testosterone-filled drinks such as strawberry daiquiris, bloody Mary, pisco sour, and Gin y tonico. A good start to the week I’d say

Lonesome George

.

                Tuesday was met with a trip to the Charles Darwin Research Foundation, the hub of most research and conservation on the islands. We listened to some Chucky D. rep’s give some talks about the biology and fisheries in the archipelago-blah blah blah 3 major currents, 3 zones, El Niño, blah blah blah. Anywho after “class” we got to see the man himself (by that I mean giant tortoise), Lonesome George! His ancient self had a pretty sweet set up. He gets to sit in his own personal pool all day getting nom-noms and potential mates brought to him all day. It’s tough being the last of your kind, I guess.

                What would you do with a free afternoon, well we fill ours with a great mix of LLapengacho lunch (a tradicional Ecua dish considting of salad, mashed potato cake in a peanut sauce, “sausages”, and a fried egg-the best part), a nap, and then another 60 foot plunge into some water. It’s a recipe I wish I could take back to the States with me. Las Grietas was as fun as the first time and a lot less crowded. Yeh, sure David almost died because apparently in synchronized cliff jumps people from the West Coast go on the “three!” instead of the “GO!” when counting to three while Scott (a Carolina man through and through) correctly waited for the “GO!”. Haha Classic. No worries though he just stumbled on the edge for a while trying to avoid death. We laughed it off with some witty jokes and learned a lot more about how diverse our country really is. After a few plunges we hopped in for a little snorkel. There’s not too much besides bravo clinids and a school of Mullets (including the one that now adorns David’s head), but it was great to swim through some tunnels and try our luck at touching the bottom. We wrapped up the night with a talk with Volker, the head of the Marine Lab at the Charles Darwin Research Center, and Marc, an expert on invasive species. It was great to hear the opinions of experts who were super aware with all that is going on in the Galapagos both bad and good.

Our fine flippered friends. "Did you know
they have names?"

Floreana

                Wednesday brought us to the island of Floreana (that makes 5 islands in total). We were welcomed there by a pod of dolphins that swam with our lancha into port.  As the longest inhabited island, Floreana has a lot of history and we learned about it as we took a tour of the highlands. We learned about love, murder, and mystery of the “first” inhabitants and saw a stone carved into a head from the original habitats, or just perhaps a bored Larry. In addition to that I myself learned all about the plant life from my very knowledgeable and wonderful friend, Kim, who named muchas plantas as we passed and I pestered her for their names. Some Darwin’s Cotton and Scalesia later we went to a nearby beach covered with black sand which curiously resembled Nescafe (Probs the reason it tastes so bad). It was a cold snorkel but it was pretty cool looking down and seeing waves of black sand on the sea floor. The remaining time on the island was spent relaxing on the heat-absorptive playa, eating tamarind from a nearby tree (tastes mike sour candy) and being surprised when two pinguinos popped up right in front of us just to say, “Hola!”

Sonrianse y Saludense

My friend, Kim,
the plant expert

Larry got bored?

Thanksgiving!

                So it wasn’t your normal fried turkey and football (Americano) turkey day but I think we made do alright. As a football substitute we went buceando at Rocas Gordon, which was recommended as one of the best dive spots that he’s ever been to by Lucho (he has over 600). It was a pretty calm normal dive full with king angelfish, some triggerfish, and my dive buddy, Dave here, but I dunno if my lateral line was extra sensitive that day or it was just my spidey senses tingling, but I felt a disturbance behind me and looked only to see a Scott Hammer half convulsing half doing the signal for hammerheads, and then I saw them a group of 15 or so longer than 2 meter martillos. They circled as we all either screamed, convulsed, or just floated dumbfounded as Scott’s namesake circled us. That was such an amazing feeling watching this huge pack of powerful creatures slowly cruise as the blood pounding in my ears played a low brass packed symphony.  I think I can deal with missing some Turkey day football. I guess the several schools of sharks took my breath away a little too much because I realized I was low on air and signaled the leader my situation but she said it was all cool and we continued. No worries as we all know there is always a little air left in the tank once it hits zero so I just found my wonderful friend, Gail, and she graciously shared some air. THANKS GAIL! The second dive was just as super with more MARTILLOS, and some eagle/manta rays are that might have been the first dive, but there was also a lobo that followed us around, playing with us and then giving us a, “hey, watch this look” as he bit the tail of a hammerhead twice his size, scaring it away. Awesome. After that adventure we had to have a Thanksgiving dinner. We found an Ecua grill and had some grilled meat and baked potatoes (close enough right?) Even though I missed some of Nina’s pumpkin pie a whole bunch that space was filled by the wonderful people around the table as we joined hands and mentioned what we were thankful for (the Norwegian even joined in). All their love and kindness left no space empty and it left me all warm a fuzzy inside; such a lovely group of people. Don’t forget the beer though! The most crucial part of Thanksgiving was filled in with some Cuba Libres and bastante tequila shots. ‘Twas a Thanksgiving not soon to be forgot.

Hammerheads

David

              

  Friday, instead of leftovers and lying around we went to Tortuga Bay before our imminent departure. It is a long stretch of beautiful sandy beaches a marine iguanas dotting the coastline. The marine class soundly defeated our rivals and then Kim, Gail, Scott, David, and I finished off the morning with some rumble-tumble wrestling in the very blue water. Still a little bit sore. Absolutely lovely.

 

photo-bombing lobo

Tortuga Bay

                We’re back in San Cristobal now, and it’s the beginning of our final class. I do miss home and everyone there, but I still want these last three weeks to pass as slowly as possible.

Bathymetry

We’ve been here for just over 2 months now and I feel that I have more geographical knowledge on the underwater portion of this magical place. I’m quickly closing in on 15 dives now and I think I might be super close to 100 snorkels. We had a few dives with Judith’s class (Marine Ecosystems) which took us through Tijeretas, The Karahua Shipwreck in the bay, and Leon Dormido which were awesome experiences, but I’ll have to say that the dives we convinced our teacher to do and did on our own in this past class were the best and most exciting of my life. Luis “Lucho” Vinueza made a return as our professor for Marine Conservation in this class that has just passed (without having giving us grades from our first class *cough*) and was his usual goofy self, sorpresas and all. Our class focused on mostly marine invasive species, debates about the Galapagos, and as many dives as we could fit into this small time frame. Luis accompanied us when we went to Leon Dormido. It was a pretty smooth dive splattered with Lucho moments of pretending to sleep on the bottom, pointing out every whelk we passed (you have no idea how important whelks are), and showing us that they are super good to eat with spectacular hand motions. The only thing that could make it better would be if it was on some coincidentally special day, like por ejemplo 11/11/11! Pues, it was and we all exasperatedly waited and hoped that we would be under the water for 11:11am to roll around. And wouldn’t you know we were!!! Everyone with watches tried frantically to signal to the rest that fue el momento that we’d all been waiting for, and joy was had by underwater dancing by all (even if we were buddy breathing)

Our next dive would be ‘neath the Eastern Tropical Pacific’s evening sky. Scott, arranged a night dive. These in San Cristobal happen at the old pier near our university’s beach (lammeeeee) but since there were so many of us we went to Tijeretas. With the sea as calm as the starry sky above it we motored out to dive spot. While listening to Shay and Angel give us instructions we watched the familiar Orion reflected in the dark waters until we noticed that the water was glowing too! Plankton at it again, illuminated the boat’s wake just increasing the intensity of our excitement.

Splash! Into the water with wide eyes and lights, we dove and were met with a sea floor covered spine to spine with urchins, lobsters peeking from crevasses, and a very confused ray that kept nonchalantly following our lights till it realized it was about 5 meters off the bottom (whoops). Yeh, it was eerie at times with swift, dark shapes zooming past us (sea lions, siempre chistoso). While ascending we all occupied ourselves by covering our lights and flapping like mantas till the plankton around us started to glow. We did this until we surfaced we another dream fulfilled and Orion a little further up in the night sky.

But Lucho’s class wasn’t all fun and diving; we played soccer sometimes, and had debates too! Our first one was on the Malecon (boardwalk) so we could watch the sunset over the water and discoos over some cervezas (can you say priorities?). Being here for around 2 months and we these beautiful people for about 3, we could talk candidly bout tourism. It’s the root for high standard of living of the Galapaguenos and also the root for most of the environmental problems here as well. Although we will live here for awhile it’s difficult to separate us from the tourists that come here. I can’t blame them for wanting to come here, it’s truly enchanted, and don’t get me wrong I, as well as my friends, have developed a huge superiority complex over the gringos extranos. But, we see this place differently and I don’t think any of us could come up with an answer except for limiting the tourist numbers. If the Galapagos isn’t for everyone though, where is? The discussion got pretty deep and I still ponder about where my place is here> we all agree we all wanna come back, and this place feels like home, but unlike my dear friend, Jessica, Studying abroad in Montpellier, I will never fit in here. Soy un gringo por la vida. C’est la vie.

Next is another trip to Santa Cruz for the last week of our penultimate class!

Also, just so you know Bathymetry is pronounced (ba-thim-uh-tree) not (bathie-metrie) we all have gaps in our knowledge.

Also, Save the whelks.

You’re whelkcome. 

Fredinator out

Absolutely Lovely

So much love...

It can't be contained on only a few islands

straight cheeseing

The people your parents warned you about

it's good to be a poco loco

I don't think they were ready for us

I wish there was photo for every one of them

Chistes y'all

There will never be enough of these photos

If I attempt to truly encompass who the people here are, I doubt that there would ever be an end to my blog, but I’ll try anyway. My first thought on them would be cool, I experience each day a realization that I’m surrounded by some of the coolest people in the world from all parts of the world. Sure we’re all a tad bit eccentric in this group but each one is wholly, undeniably their self, and I’m constantly giddy with surprise that I’m permitted to hang out with them.

It's good to be un poco mas de poco loco

Second would be caring. I always worry  that I’ll be filled up with my experience here and will be overflowing on my return not able to bring back the extra that spilled while I am here, but I am definitely certain that this archipelago has overflowed with care long before one month or one week was reached since our arrival. Whether it is the land, the sea, the flying birds, the spouting whales, or a tree blowing in the wind, everything is inexplicably loved here by one of us, down to the last lonely Homo sapiens.




Talented would be the third. Whether it’s solo guitar, playing in a steel drum band, soccer, hockey, singing, or ability to make someone smile under any circumstance, they are so good at it all and the list goes on. It’s also not like each one carries a sign with a list of their accomplishments and skills; it’s just what they do, because they simply love it. They are amateurs (lovers) of a plethora of things in the truest sense of the word.

Love the sea

              

     I could keep going, but then this blog post would never end. These people these friends here are lovely, and I love them all. They’re irreconcilably crazy, and love being that way even more. I only hope that I can express the full extent of my love for them, and past memories and future meetings continue after this next month ends.

love the tree

Our teachers have always told us all the current, impossible global problems and that “We’re too many”, well there’s no doubt that these beautiful friends are too lovely to let just a little ol’ impossibility stop them. 

Bella Isabela & Missing Memories

The next part of our island tour took us to Isabela. It's the biggest in the archipelago and I think it has taken its rightful place as my favorite. We were welcomed with even clearer blue waters, long palm-lined coral beaches, and PENGUINS!!! They're so small and agile and sort of sound like an owl being strangled. Each day was filled with something wholly unexpected and amazing. We walked to various snorkel sites on sand covered roads to see huge rays, reef fish, and rambunctious penguins (I snorkeled with penguins, still can't believe that). We took some small boat rides to Tintoreras, where we saw some ickle-marine iguanas, all in Godzookie cuddle-puddles right next to sea lions and channels filled with sleeping white-tipped sharks (shhh they're durmiendo), and those were the boring days.

So Galapagos. Can you find all the animals?

We hiked from inside a cloud and a dewy fern forest to a nice resting spot. The misty morning was just beginning as we were surrounded by clouds. We broke out apples, but we were all amazed when it broke and the mind-boggling enormity of the caldera before us became apparent. After some oos and ahhs we continued on as the landscape slowly transformed into an arid, barren lava field broken by black cone-shaped turrets. Every rock had it's own sparkly sheen as if new Earth came fresh and squeaky clean like most other things. We sat and shared jokes in two languages with our guide, José, until it was time to hike back. Our lunch was a pit-stop at Campo Duro, an hacienda, that revolved around this enormous tree, complete with a full sized soccer field, manicured gardens, giant tortoises, and delicious food.

Las Tintoreras: A Marine Iguana snuggle party

This beautiful day wound down to some afternoon naps, some Fried Frikin' oreo empanadas (I cannot fully express my joy for the love and genius that went into making these, a big ol' hig and thanks to those friends and all the friends that made my pre-birthday and birthday memorable and not so memorable for obvious reasons), and eventually some rough and tumble birthday celebrations for yours truly. Most of a bottle of rum and Boone's wine later this guy (points to himself) was missing out on some quality memories. But by all accounts those two seemingly did me in, but I apparently made an astonishing come-back after delivering some nutrients back to the the friendly, neighborhood upwelling current conveniently located next to our first/only? bar. The rest of the night was spent (video evidenced) with stripping to my skivvies and half play fighting half showing all my pent up affection for everyone near and dear to me all while intently stealing David's beanie. David, the hero of the night, managed to dodge and keep occupied as I brazenly did the aforementioned and hooped-and apache hollered my way into Puerto Jose Villamil's Most Notorious Gringuito list (surry). All in all the festivities were deemed a success after the replays were viewed the next morning and apologies given (Chuuuuuuutaaaa!!). 

The day of my birthday: From hiking in the highlands until the foggy forest turned to barren lava fields, to manta hunting we had our hands fuller than we ever thought we would. We made friends with our great guide, Jose, who in his experienced wisdom  had the boat stop on our way to Roca Union each time we spotted a Manta Ray fin slice the water. Barely letting the boat come to a stop and yelling incoherent directions through our snorkels we helped  each other close in on the nearest manta. It was a sight to see, us plying the epipelagic in search of these majestic creatures, then being surprised when other fish surrounded and sharks swam underneath. After about a half an hour of this we reached Roca Union. After our manta chasing, our adrenaline was pumping and we didn't think twice when the boat stopped next to the wave-battered, sharp islet jutting 5 meters above the dark, choppy surface. Splash, we were all in and swimming towards the large waves crashing agasint the larger, shark sided cooled lava peak. The marine life was LOCO!! Huge schools of huger fish were being swirled around with the loco currents cycloning around the roca, and soon we found out so were we... Whether it was seeing how close we were to the battered, rocky, sea spire, or being rocketed fully around it, something eventually clicked in all our minds that we were screwed and were about to celebrate el Dia del muerte to accurately for any of our tastes. Luckily I had my friend, Neil, by my side (como siempre) as we communicated through our SCUBA masked covered eyes that we needed to salir frinkin' proonnnto. We swam with all we could briefly taking breaks (still swimming) to look at each other, notice the rock underneath and it hadn't moved, and of course pointing out and photographing cool frikin' fish! No worries though we all made it back, and started the jokes as soon as we touched the boat ladder (We dive together, we die together, marine biologist fo' life). 

A Tokyo-terrorizing Godzilla in the making

Misty Morning on the trail to Volcan Chico

Luckily our next snorkel-spot was a elementary school aquatic playground (albeit with tiburones) in comparison. It began in a mangrove filled with a sea horse posing as a prop root, ickle-bitsy shrimps, tortugas, a curious white-tip shark and of course a muthaluvin cephalapod! Then it was into the labyrinth, I quickly found myself lost and alone after chasing every large puffer, and popping up right next to penguins napping a few times. It was truly magical and none of us even noticed the rain that started until after the fact. 

Our remaining time on this island was needless to say, very relaxed as we snorkeled some more, visited the Muro de Lagrimas (Wall of tears), some various beaches, and enjoyed a few more Pilseners on the sand covered beaches (and roads) of Isabela. 

La Caldera

Roca Union (aka Death Rock)

Holy chuta, I almost forgot, Spelunking! we did that. We slowly dropped into a well fern-ished cave hundreds of meters deep to utter darkness, mud, bones, and some quality amateur filming of Planet Earth Caves edition. We conquered it with bike helmets and some string harnesses that made us more uncomfortable than safe as we shimmied down then up as our final sunset was happening on Isabela. 

Vive el lugar que Amas 

Giant Land Tortoise of the Isabela ilk

A fellow snorkeler in La Bahia Elizabeth (White-tipped Shark)

Pinguinossssss!!!

Mama Ray

Camaron

Wall of Tears

These guys

It wasn't just my birthday that made this my favorite island, it was all, and I can't express to the full extent how much this group of wonderful people mean to me.