Days 113 - 115: Past the Point of No Return

Monday, December 15, 2008

Day 113. Class today was agonizingly long and hot and stuffy. We had a guest lecturer come in again and talk to us about fishing and other tourism stuff, but because it was in Spanish and Diego was translating I only caught a couple words. It’s really hard to listen to talks in two languages because by now I understand most Spanish so I start to follow that, then Diego comes in with English and I just get lost going between the two. Lunch at Sula Sula was really crappy chicken that was more like rubber so I didn’t eat any of it, just some yucca. I came back to school, sat my butt down, and started working on my 10-12 page final paper for Diego’s class. I got a lot of research done and took a few breaks to go online and do other things, but basically worked all day.

Dinner, which is usually at a restaurant on Monday’s, was at school today because Carlos and his family came and cooked dinner for us. We had the fish that we caught this weekend, and then they also made ahí, some vegetable thing, patacones, rice, and lentils. It was pretty delicious and his entire family came too so there were a lot of people all together at school. After I had stuffed myself silly with patacones (one of my favorite foods down here) I sat back down and continued the work on my paper. By 10:15 pm I had written 10 pages and just needed to go back and edit. It felt amazing to actually be able to sit down and do something without procrastinating for once. I left for home with a big smile on my face, and fell asleep shortly after climbing into bed.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Day 114. I am not sure what has been going on with my insides lately, but I feel nauseated most of the time now. If I don’t eat I feel sick and light headed and dizzy, and when I do eat I feel good initially then soon after I feel really sick and want to puke. I spent most of class trying not to be sick because I was so uncomfortable and hot again. The end of class could not come sooner, especially since I think I have officially checked out for the semester and can no longer pay attention for more than 10 minutes at a time.

After class we trudged up the hill to lunch at Sula Sula again. If possible, the meal was even worse than yesterdays: the grossest shrimp I have ever tried (I think they had been plucked from the ocean and not properly cleaned or cooked), awful beans, and burnt rice. I managed to eat some rice but that was about it. I went back to school to start reading, but about 10 minutes in was so tired I couldn’t keep my eyes open and succumbed to sleep. I took about a one hour nap, which was nice but I woke up in the sun, sweating an sticking to the leather couch. I changed into my bathing suit and went out to the beach for a little while where Katie Kangas and I had a nice talk and lounged in the sun for a while. Reading was just not happening for me, so when Perrazo showed up he came over and we chatted for about 20 minutes all in Spanish. I was really happy because he told me at the end that my Spanish had gotten much better and he was very impressed. We also discovered that he is on our flight off the islands on Saturday. He is going to Guayaquil for something (I didn’t quite catch what) and leaves Saturday too. As Katie put it, at least we will be laughing the whole ride instead of crying because Perrazo is a clown and always knows how to put a smile on people’s faces. I went inside for a little bit to try to read and was not successful, so at 5:30 Katie D, Carlos, and I walked to Punta Carola for sunset. I took lots of pictures because I realized I didn’t have many from Punta Carola. Carlos is a funny guy and I’m really going to miss him when we leave – not like Katie will because she is dating him, but he calls me his “mejor amiga” and we get along really well. Once the sun had set the three of us walked back to school where Katie and I got our stuff, grabbed Lisa, and walked home for dinner.

Normally Ines has dinner ready at 6:30 on the dot, but tonight she was running behind. We ended up watching half an episode of America’s Next Top Model in dubbed Spanish with Karol before dinner, and then helped fold the laundry. I felt like a seagull from Finding Nemo, saying “mine, mine, mine” while we were sorting the clothes. Dinner was interesting, but definitely not my favorite. I cannot handle the cheese down here and Ines put cheese in the rice (along with cilantro which I hate – and they put it in everything!). I ate as much as I could but could not force myself to finish it all. The five ladies of the house sat around and talked for a while, and Karol and Lisa made fun of me because I was eating my rice with my knife and being weird. We finally excused ourselves because none of us had showered yet and I was still sandy and salty and sweaty. I jumped in the shower, got cleaned up, and went upstairs to get Katie since we were supposed to go Christmas shopping. When she was finally ready, she, Carlos, and I headed out to do peruse the stores. We got soft-serve because it was chocolate and mora (my favorite combination!), and then continued our stroll on the malecon. Unfortunately, most of the stores were closed. We did, however, run into Courtney and her baby so we stopped to say hello. Little Sasha, who was 6 lbs 8 oz and born on December 1st is an absolute doll. She looks like a porcelain doll and is just so precious. We chatted for a while, but when we started laughing Jeff, her husband told us (including Courtney) that we had to leave if we were going to laugh because we would wake the baby up. Turns out he is a grouchy Daddy lately because he has been getting up in the night with her.

They had finished dinner so we continued our stroll down the street. It is amazing how different Courtney is since a) she no longer has a baby inside of her, and b) she isn’t in charge of the international GAIAS students – a job she never liked in the first place (and it showed, let me tell you!) Carlos, Katie, and I ended up going back to our house because none of the stores I wanted to go in were open. The three of us watched an episode of Nip/Tuck, and then I went down to my room because I was feeling sick again. I couldn’t fall asleep because my stomach was so upset, so I put another movie in: The Rescuers Down Under. I can’t remember the last time I saw this movie, so while I thought I might fall asleep during it I was very wrong because I had to stay awake to finish it because I was so excited to be watching it. Finally, around 1 am I was able to go to sleep.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Day 115. Maybe it is stress, or maybe I have a weird South-American bug, but today I felt like I was going to either pass out or be sick on the way to school again. I don’t know what is going on but it seriously needs to stop because I don’t want to feel like this for my last 5 days in Ecuador. In class today we had the Governor of the Galapagos come talk to us. While some of what he had to say was very interesting, you could tell he was definitely a politician and was also very arrogant. He skirted questions, especially when they questioned actions of the government, and was kind of rude to our class, including Diego. He also talked for about 2 and a half hours, during which time I felt sick and had to sit in a horribly stuffy room with my ankle/leg aching. My ankle still hurts every day and I have no idea what is going on with it. Guess I need some doctor appointments for Christmas!

When class ended, we all went to lunch at Sula Sula again. Everyone was excited because it was spaghetti, but I just have not had an appetite and didn’t really eat much of it because I didn’t like how it tasted. I came back early from lunch with Katie and Rachel, and quickly claimed one of the couches. I did a little bit of reading before falling asleep. Only getting 5 and a half hours of sleep last night meant that as soon as I started reading I was out. I woke up shortly before 3 pm because we had a meeting scheduled with Diego at that time. Shawna had written a letter on behalf of us in regards to the “cruise” our group was supposed to take but got day tours instead, and also regarding the country exit tax. We proposed that since we had paid for things we did not actually receive, GAIAS should pay the $42 dollar exit tax for each of us. The talk ended up going on for about 45 minutes with Diego explaining some of the logistics, and us voicing our concerns with various aspects of the program. In all I think it was a very productive talk because no one attacked Diego, we simply explained the situation and how it could have been handled better. It was more than just the cruise too, there were several other things which were addressed. Many had never been brought to Diego’s attention before and he was upset to learn about a lot of it. We all felt like we witnessed the collapse of GAIAS this semester, but I think after this talk now that Diego is aware what is going on things are going to get turned around.

After the talk I did some stuff on my computer, then Rachel and I walked around and took pictures and went Christmas shopping. I was finally able to find the stuff I wanted since a cargo ship came in yesterday and restocked the stores. We were able to waste several hours, and went to dinner at Calypso early. Since it was a bit chilly and windy, we ordered hot chocolates. Then we realized we shouldn’t be complaining about the cold because in a few days we were going to experience a severe temperature drop and our bodies were probably going to go into shock! When dinner was done – and I felt like crap again because it was pizza and the cheese is killing me – I walked home with Katie. I was really gross feeling from earlier because it was so hot and humid so I quickly rinsed off and threw on sweats before heading to school to get some work done for class. Unfortunately, since coming to school all I have done is update my journal and talk to my mom online. I feel to sick to actually do anything so I am thinking about going home and sleeping so that tomorrow I can study for the test, and write my take home portion for the test too. At this point I am so far behind in the reading that I don’t think it matters what I do. I will get at least 30% on the final, and I feel like I wrote a really good paper so hopefully I do well enough to pass the class and snag the 3 credits that it transfers back to Michigan State as.

Only 2 more sunsets in the Galapagos…and one is going to be while we are taking our exam tomorrow…I just want to skip these next 4 days and be home. Saying goodbye is just too hard...