Day 33: Native and Introduced plants of the Galapagos

Monday, September 22, 2008

Today was my first day of class on the islands. I woke up around 6:30 am because I couldn't sleep anymore, so I just read in my room until it was time to get up and get ready. I left for school around 7:40 am because on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we have breakfast at the school. It was great to see cereal and milk, with tons of fresh fruit and bread. Everyone ate and talked about their host families, then had some free time before class. Class is Monday through Friday from 9am - 12pm.

My teacher, Hugo Valdebenito, is really funny. He gets really excited about teaching and makes jokes about the plants sexuality (or lack there of in the case of asexual reproduction). We had lecture for about 1.5 hours then went next door to the interpretation center. It is a center/museum/information place that teaches people about the history of the Galapagos. It was pretty interesting learning about how they were formed, how Ecuador came to acquire the islands, when they were first visited and settled, etc. We returned to the school to grab our bags, then hung out for a short while before lunch. Lunch is with the school everyday - this week we are eating at a restaurant called Sula Sula. Our meal consisted of fish, rice, and some salad. The fish was alright, but definitly not as good as the fish my host family gave me.

When everyone finished with lunch, a group of 15 went into town to talk to a Scuba Diving instructor. Victor set us up with a nice discount, and starting Thursday we have the theory classes. On Saturday we are going to help with the ocean/beach clean-up that they do around here pretty often. Some people will get to go diving and collect trash, others will be on the boats helping get the trash out. On Thursday I am also going to participate in volunteer sea lion watching. At 8:30pm we will meet at the school and go out to the beaches and count sea lion. It is part of a conservation program being run on the island.

I tried to find a lock for my locker at school so I could keep things like scuba gear, etc here, but since it was the afternoon all the shops were closed. I am planning on going back tomorrow to find a lock at some point...

I then returned to the school to grab my swim suit and go out on the beach. Instead of walking to the far beach most people decided to stay at Playa Mann, the beach that the school is on. It was really hot so I wanted to go swimming right away, but there were 3 large males patrolling the beach and fighting with each other so we had to wait a while before we got in the water. One actually came at Lindsey; she fell over and had to crawl away from the big papa. Luckily he didn't actually touch her. When I was finally able to get out, Steph and I saw some amazing things. I saw fish that were almost 3 feet long and tube-like with pointy tails and snouts. Then we saw a school of more than 100 fish that were huge and had bright yellow tails. I think someone said they were box fish? We also saw a gigantic turquoise fish that was about 2 feet long and the prettiest fish I have ever seen. It was amazing to be swimming that close to such neat wildlife.

The water was a bit colder today so I didn't stay in for long - I got out and flopped on the beach to dry off and warm up. A little after 4pm I left to go home so that I could go for a run. I went running around for about 18 minutes and just about died because of the hills and the heat. At least I could breath though because I never could in Quito! After my run I went up on the roof/sun deck and stretched for a bit while letting the wind cool me off. Then it was shower time because I was super sweaty. After showering I took my time getting ready because I was still sweating and I was trying to cool off. Around 6 pm I left to go walk around town and talk to my parents before dinner. I found a beach bag, wandered along the boardwalk, talked to my parents and cousin who is leaving for the Army today, and went to dinner at 7pm. This week we are eating dinner M,W,F at a restaurant called Calypso. Dinner consisted of hamburgers, french fries, and pop. It was tasty but I hope its not always like that because it was really greasy and I can't handle that much grease!

When we finished dinner several of us walked to Mockingbird Cafe to get the worlds best brownies. I got a warm brownie with a scoop of coconut ice cream on top. Just as I was thinking the world could not get any better, a cat that looks like my cat Phoebe came out. I picked her up and put her on my lap and she just sat there purring as I ate my brownie and ice cream. Louise thought I was disgusting for having a cat on my while eating, but I didn't care because I was so happy. When we finished around 8pm I walked back to my house with Louise and Stian, who live 2 houses away from me. I was really tired, but sat and talked with my family for a bit. I am already starting to feel more comfortable speaking in spanish, but I don't always understand what they are saying. I went to do homework around 8:40pm and started, but fell asleep shortly after begining. Apparently I was exhausted!