Hope you are all doing well, getting excited to vote soon! Beginning next Friday, I should have access to internet almost every day for 10 whole days (wow!) so I look forward to keeping up with world news for a while before I head back to the mainland to continue volunteering in the Amazon. This post is lengthy, so as usual, pick and choose what is most interesting to you. This time I wrote about arriving in the Galapagos, what it's like on this reserve, swimming with sea lions and other marine life, and my recent medical mystery... pick what sounds best!
Arriving in the Galapagos Islands
On Oct. 12th, I woke up at 6 am to head to the airport, westward bound, for the Galapagos. For one of the first times on this journey I took out my ipod for a listen while I waited, and was catapulted back to the Western world by my tunes. The swarms of Westerners in the airport, most of whom were outfitted in expensive outdoor gear also helped... Most of the times that I move from place to place here I am on high alert for anything suspicious. Not on my way to the Galapagos. In the airport's Galapagos terminal, I was surrounded by well dressed Ecuadorians bound for Guayaquil (the commercial center of the country), and American and British families and 70+ tour groups. The plane ride was easy; once on board, I realized I actually had no idea how long my flight was, so I waited in suspense until I felt the plane descend. The clouds whipped by my window, and the Pacific started to come into view. After paying my park fee in the airport, ($100 per person, yes it is as expensive here as they say), I was met by the volunteer coordinator and my hopes of immediately seeing sea lions were dashed as I was directed to a taxi and driven an hour up a mountain and into increasing cloud cover. As you'd expect of an island on the equator, the water color varies from a aqua to deep blue color, is absolutely beautiful, and the water washes up on volcanic rock and white sand beaches. Great, I know. But what makes the Galapagos Islands so interesting is that they were formed from volcanoes. When the magma from earth's core reached the cooler ocean water above, it crystallized into volcanic rock, and eventually formed the string of islands that make up the Galapagos. (Never have I been happier that I took Megageology while at Colgate!) The islands' relative isolation is what has led to the unique array of flora and fauna here. San Cristobal Island is particularly interesting because of its different zones, two of which are the arid zone by the coast, which has very little plant life (think cacti and volcanic rock; it looks sort of what you'd imagine the moon to look like) and the highland zone in which the reserve is located. Whereas the arid, coastal zone is constantly engulfed in sunshine, the highland zone (the highest point on the island) is constantly enshrouded in a cloud and has pretty frequent rainfall. Though being in the highlands certainly offers a different perspective of San Cristobal Island, and makes 'going to port' on the weekends that much more fun, it is definitely not your typical tourist's Galapagos.
Not Your Tourist's Galapagos
Off to work in the back of a pick-up truck, decked out in my turtleneck for sun and bug protection (face net is in my lap).For everyone who found out that I went to the Galapagos Islands for a month and turned green with envy, don't be too jealous yet (...only when I talk about how I swam with turtles and sea lions, haha!). In the highlands (where the reserve is) the ocean is distant, the sun doesn't shine often, it's cool enough to wear pants and long sleeve shirts, and the prevalence of the biting bugs makes it important to wear a face net pretty often. Don't get me wrong, like I said before, it provides an excellent opportunity to see the way life is in the Galapagos for people who actually live here. (Though unfortunately for the volunteers, I get the sense that the bugs really don't exist elsewhere in the island the way they do on the reserve.)
It's been really interesting to come to this reserve right after being in the Amazon. Just like two companies, the reserves operate a bit differently, and just like two families, the people here are from different backgrounds and interact differently than the group in the Amazon did. Facilities are also a bit different. The simple task of showering is even more a test of mental fortitude here than it was in the Amazon: here my shower water comes from a hose dangling overhead, which supplies cold, cold water! Bed nets are a must, and we have about 5 spiders who sleep with us every night, hopefully eating all of the other bugs! At the same time, we have a nice view of the ocean and the equivalent of a gourmet chef who cooks all of our meals.
Most of the volunteer activity in the Galapagos centers around removing invasive species from the island, and trying to plant more endemic species (those that are native to the island). The biggest problem is mora, a variety of blackberry bush. It was only introduced about 15 years ago, but is now literally growing everywhere, threatening endemic plant species. It is extremely annoying to remove -- first you machete it down, collect the cut up bits by hand (inevitably getting pricked by the thorns which line the stems), then hoe up the roots, which are strong and deep. On the days when I am lucky enough not to chop mora, I have gotten to roast coffee and do maintenance on the reserve's trails. The coffee plants on the reserve are left over from when the reserve was a farm, and are now basically growing wild and organically. The harvesting of the beans happens in December and January (the hard part of the process); after the beans are harvested, they are dried and the shell is peeled by hand so that just the bean remains. Then, the beans are slow roasted over hot coals; it takes about 25 minutes of stirring to get the beans to a dark brown color. (I always use my left arm to try to balance out the machete muscles I am getting on my right side!)
I have also helped maintain a trail on the reserve by machete-ing down vegetation and then hoe-ing steps into the earth, using sticks (that I machete'd myself!) to support the steps in the muddy ground. This was a pretty rewarding project because only 3 volunteers including myself worked on it, and after 4 hours of work we were able to see how much progress we had made -- turning an overgrown trail into an easily hike-able one! Yesterday we hiked to a volcanic rock beach to clean up trash that has been dumped by local (and probably non-local) fishing boats. I found everything from water bottle caps to seat cushion covers to a syringe (I didn't pick that up, don't worry).
In the jungle, you're a gringo; in the Galapagos, you're a tourist!
Heading out to the Amazon, I was surrounded by Ecuadorians from all parts of the country. Some were dressed in traditional wear, others sported city-like fashions; all stared at me in my jeans and t-shirt, with my gigantic backpack. Even more a dead give away than my backpack, though, was my skin color - I was a gringo. On my way to the Galapagos, I boarded a plane jammed with Westerners. I spotted French and Irish passports and several English faces, along with a few American backpackers. When the plane arrived at the airport, passengers weren't greeted with curious stares, but with signs and smiles, like 'Galapagos Explorer II Cruise. Welcome!'
Off to work in the back of a pick-up truck, decked out in my turtleneck for sun and bug protection (face net is in my lap).For everyone who found out that I went to the Galapagos Islands for a month and turned green with envy, don't be too jealous yet (...only when I talk about how I swam with turtles and sea lions, haha!). In the highlands (where the reserve is) the ocean is distant, the sun doesn't shine often, it's cool enough to wear pants and long sleeve shirts, and the prevalence of the biting bugs makes it important to wear a face net pretty often. Don't get me wrong, like I said before, it provides an excellent opportunity to see the way life is in the Galapagos for people who actually live here. (Though unfortunately for the volunteers, I get the sense that the bugs really don't exist elsewhere in the island the way they do on the reserve.)
It's been really interesting to come to this reserve right after being in the Amazon. Just like two companies, the reserves operate a bit differently, and just like two families, the people here are from different backgrounds and interact differently than the group in the Amazon did. Facilities are also a bit different. The simple task of showering is even more a test of mental fortitude here than it was in the Amazon: here my shower water comes from a hose dangling overhead, which supplies cold, cold water! Bed nets are a must, and we have about 5 spiders who sleep with us every night, hopefully eating all of the other bugs! At the same time, we have a nice view of the ocean and the equivalent of a gourmet chef who cooks all of our meals.
Most of the volunteer activity in the Galapagos centers around removing invasive species from the island, and trying to plant more endemic species (those that are native to the island). The biggest problem is mora, a variety of blackberry bush. It was only introduced about 15 years ago, but is now literally growing everywhere, threatening endemic plant species. It is extremely annoying to remove -- first you machete it down, collect the cut up bits by hand (inevitably getting pricked by the thorns which line the stems), then hoe up the roots, which are strong and deep. On the days when I am lucky enough not to chop mora, I have gotten to roast coffee and do maintenance on the reserve's trails. The coffee plants on the reserve are left over from when the reserve was a farm, and are now basically growing wild and organically. The harvesting of the beans happens in December and January (the hard part of the process); after the beans are harvested, they are dried and the shell is peeled by hand so that just the bean remains. Then, the beans are slow roasted over hot coals; it takes about 25 minutes of stirring to get the beans to a dark brown color. (I always use my left arm to try to balance out the machete muscles I am getting on my right side!)
I have also helped maintain a trail on the reserve by machete-ing down vegetation and then hoe-ing steps into the earth, using sticks (that I machete'd myself!) to support the steps in the muddy ground. This was a pretty rewarding project because only 3 volunteers including myself worked on it, and after 4 hours of work we were able to see how much progress we had made -- turning an overgrown trail into an easily hike-able one! Yesterday we hiked to a volcanic rock beach to clean up trash that has been dumped by local (and probably non-local) fishing boats. I found everything from water bottle caps to seat cushion covers to a syringe (I didn't pick that up, don't worry).
In the jungle, you're a gringo; in the Galapagos, you're a tourist!
Heading out to the Amazon, I was surrounded by Ecuadorians from all parts of the country. Some were dressed in traditional wear, others sported city-like fashions; all stared at me in my jeans and t-shirt, with my gigantic backpack. Even more a dead give away than my backpack, though, was my skin color - I was a gringo. On my way to the Galapagos, I boarded a plane jammed with Westerners. I spotted French and Irish passports and several English faces, along with a few American backpackers. When the plane arrived at the airport, passengers weren't greeted with curious stares, but with signs and smiles, like 'Galapagos Explorer II Cruise. Welcome!'
'In Tena, the town closest to the Amazon Reserve, everything is communicated in Spanish -- store signs, menus, the cost of international phone calls. In the Galapagos, everything is communicated in both Spanish and English -- the Galapagos are tourist friendly because the people here depend on tourism for their livelihood. Aside from fishing, which I assume is an industry here, though I do not know how large, tourism is where it's at. It's really interesting to watch how transfers of money occur between gringos (or tourists) and Ecuadorians\Galapagaeans and speculate why the differences in relationships between these groups in each region of the country are the way that they are.
In addition to the large sums of money flowing to the island via tourism, I learned the other day that it is Ecuadorian law that in the Galapagos, employees of all professions are paid 75% more for a month's work than employees in the same professions on the mainland. This is thought to help with the increased prices on the islands, which result from transportation and importation costs. Because of this, I suspected that education systems on the islands would be significantly better than on the mainland. When I asked the volunteer coordinator about this, I was surprised to learn that the schools on San Cristobal Island don't teach environmental science to the children. This is stunning to me because of the emphasis that the national park places on conservation and the large amounts of money that flow to the island via not only the national park, but also the earnings law that I mentioned earlier
Some shots of port on San Cristobal Island and some of my new friends - blue footed boobies, a pelican, an iguana and a sea lion, and none of them photoshopped!
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