The Night Sky

Lately I have been gazing at the stars more than I have in the past. After many nights of just staring I decided to learn more constellations, so far I now know Orion, Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer, and I'm working on Leo who only comes out later in the night when the stars are dimmer. its a very exciting hobby and I can now teach others about what I have found. Right now nothing can beat silence and a clear night.

Island Exploration

El Junco, Fresh Water Crater Lake of San Cristobal

Class is going well, with a total of three weeks time for class the workload can be a bit overwhelming. But the worst part about taking classes on an island is that sometimes it is hard to find the desire to do anything. This Thursday was the start of the Galapagos parties, which is a time where the community pulls together and has a great time together celebrating the birth of Charles Darwin with music and dancing. They start the week of festivities with an island clean up project where everyone goes out to the beaches and streets and cleans up all the litter that has accumulated. As a class we participated in this process and cleaned the beaches all Thursday morning.

Later Thursday afternoon our native and introduced plants class departed on an overnight trip to the island highlands and surrounding areas. One of our destinations on the first day was the only freshwater lake in the Galapagos island chain. This lake maintains its water level through the dry season by collecting condensation and mist water from the passing clouds. The views from the top of the island were amazing. Here we were able to see how big the island actually was, it was pretty large.

We stayed the night near the coast at a small campground where they fed us dinner and gave us a campfire. At the campfire we shared ghost stories and island tales. A few of us have experienced the island pirate ghosts, I have yet to have any encounter with a ghost but I’m sure it will happen seeing as how there are so many here on the island. After the fire we decided to go into the field and soak up the stars where we were able to see a lot more than we regularly could back in town.

After an uncomfortable sleep in our tents we went for a walk down to the Galapaguera and then the beach for lunch and swimming. The Galapaguera is where they protect and breed tortoises, they were large and old. While we were at the refuge it was feeding time so all the tortoises were eating their lunch. After the refuge we hiked our way down to the beach Puerto Chino where the sun was shinning and the sand was powdery and white. The water was very refreshing and the waves were perfect for body surfing. We stayed at the beach for two hours and ate lunch.

After our island exploration we returned to town where the Galapagos parties were in full swing with a music festival on the pier. We danced around for the night and woke up the next day for the next concert on the beach just outside the university doors. The parties will be continuing until Wednesday I believe the Carnival starts on Monday. This is our last week for this session of classes and after carnival we star our next class, which I believe is evolution. Now I must try and reject the beach for a few hours and get some work done. Love

Puerto Chino Beach, San Cristobal

Off and Away

I am burnt. Sun burnt that is. I am finally on the Galapagos Islands and I am loving it. Before I get into anything about the islands, I should wrap up my last days in Quito.

As soon as I returned from Riobamba I immediately tried to contact Molly and was able to be with her for the remainder of my time in Quito. For our Tropical Ecology Exam we all agreed to do a field practical where we would go out on a hike and attempt to describe and explain particular ecological processes. My topic of interest was highland vegitation and the adaptations utilized to withstand the various biotic and abiotic conditions. The hike itself was about 6 kilometers and started at the very to of a mountain, from the top we hiked down. By doing this we were able to observe the changing landscape with respect to the altitudinal gradient of vegetative zones. The temperature was rather cold and the air was moist with fog and clouds. During the hike we were able to see plenty of amazing plants along with some white tail deer. Overall it was a great experience with plenty of wonderful views, in addition to its beauty it was the best final exam I have taken.

So we left Quito early on Sunday morning and arrived on San Cristobal Island around noon. As soon as we arrived at the university campus we were set free to play in the ocean. The campus is across the street from the beach and is extremely accessible. I went swimming in the Pacific Ocean for the first time and the water was great. After a short swim, our host families came to pick us up. My family is extremely nice and provided me with a wonderful room to stay in. The house is set up like a motel where the only door I walk into is my bedroom. The house is located close to campus with some amazing views of the bay; I have no complaints so far. I have gone on a few hikes and have done some snorkeling; on each of these trips I have gotten some great photos of the wild life. We started our classes of Monday and our first module is Introduced and Native Plant Species of the Galapagos Islands. So far this class is great and our professor is very knowledgeable. I will post some more photos of the exam hike and the islands so far. Love you all.