Last 48 hours at La Reserva Rio “Guaja” Guajalito
Prefaced by Vlastimil deciding to leave for the Oriente earlier than previously planned so he wants a rough draft of our papers (10 days earlier than it is actually due) when he picks us up from the reserve on Friday morning. (Note that papers are to be written completely in Spanish so that they can be used by Vlasti and others in the future)
Wednesday:
12:00 Its raining a lot. Elsita finishes the last of the soup, Christa eats more oatmeal.
4:00 afternoon data collection, Christa’s last in anticipation of working all Thursday in the day to complete paper – Elsita plans all-nighter
6:15 dinner time, spaghetti!
6:45 inspired by Vlasti’s talent, Elsita and Christa make awesome warm fire, burning all accumulated toilet paper in the process
10:00 Elsita goes to bed
11:30 Christa goes to bed after dowsing fire
Thursday:
6:00 Elsita realizes that wristwatch is in the kitchen. Elsita enters to find smoke filled room and huge hole in floor. Cursing and laughing hysterically, Elsita attempts to put out fire with potfuls of water. When last of visible embers wetted, Elsita warns Christa (still in bed) and goes to collect data.
6:15 Christa starts fighting fire, douses entire room with water, removes remaints of two floorboards plus third for good measure, shovels ashes into bucket, ignores kitty begging for food, douses entire room with water again. Elsita finds 3 Phoebes, 2 Dippers, 2 Tyrannulets, and 1 Sandpiper (highest population totals ever). Christa finds missing ruler under floor, runs out excited to tell Elsita.
8:00 Breakfast of bread piece for Elsita, Christa eating more oatmeal, starts working on paper using laptop computer
9:30 Elsita leaves to run up the mountain to call Betty, to confirm place to stay
9:40 Power goes out while Christa on toilet.
9:50 Elsita blatantly breaks SIT rules and hitchhikes – nice truck driver gives her a lift
11:00 Elsita returns from mountain having run all the way down, finds Christa sitting in darkness. Still raining.
11:00:30 Elsita blames guardian angel for the whole thing, Christa blames peanut butter goddess
11:05 Elsita helps Christa put some new floorboards back in the floor, Christa found them in the shed behind the house.
11:10 Elsita takes first shower in a week
11:30 early huge lunch cause there’s nothing else to do. Christa and Elsita attempt to finish all remaining vegetables, beans, crackers and tuna
1:00 Elsita decides to take nap, Christa decides to start writing paper by hand
2:30 power back, Elsita still asleep
3:30 Elsita gets up, packs most of her things, heads out for more data collection, Christa attempts to focus
6:00 dinner time, spaghetti!!
7:00 veto making another fire. Christa tries to get back to work, Elsita mopes around and catnaps, then outlines her discussion and intro sections on paper
9:50 Christa takes break, Elsita begins Microsoft Excel data analysis of her results. Christa takes first shower in a week
11:30 Elsita playing with Excel graphs, Christa decides to sleep for “a couple hours”
11:50 Elsita has downed two glasses of coke, is extremely wired and has trance music blasting in earphones. Continues results section of paper
Friday:
2:00 Christa walks back into kitchen building, scares the crap out of already jittery Elsita. Elsita has completed half of discussion section, all results and stats, and another glass of coke
3:30 Christa takes a turn on laptop, Elsita drinks a cup of coffee and then sits and stares at a piece of paper for a while
4:30 Christa takes another break, having consumed roughly 5 cups of coffee and two glasses of coke, decides to wash dishes
6:30 Elsita finishes the paper including intro, abstract in english and spanish, figure insertion and other little touchups. Decides against editing bad spanish grammar. Christa sits back down.
6:38 Elsita decides to go for a run, hopes for spectacular sunrise, gets rain, chugs last cup of chocolate milk before heading out
7:30 Elsita returns, Christa still working
8:00 Elsita has left-over vegetables and coke for breakfast, Christa polishes off second bowl of oatmeal for the night, 7th cup of coffee. Elsita washes more dishes
9:10 Christa finishes her paper, including maps, figures and text
9:15 Christa pees for 53rd time in the past 24 hours, starts packing
10:00 Elsita plays on computer, Christa finishes “Cold Mountain”, quoted as saying “why would you write 400 awesome pages and then have such a shitty ending?” Discussion ensues as to whether Inman actually died, eventually reach consensus that he did (Elsita was wrong and she is sad, she thought he was cool, not to mention sexy)
11:00 neighbors’ dog knocks over bucket full of ashes, Elsita and Christa find it extremely hard to clean up in their tired and giggly state of mind. Both agree that they feel tipsy.
12:30 still no sign of Vlastimil
12:45 Vlasti shows up
12:50 Elsita explains the fire damage, Vlasti says “oh no”. Elsita shows Vlasti the fire damage, Vlasti says “ok, vamos a arreglarse” (we´ll fix it), then changes subject.
12:55 Settle up business, Vlasti signs some forms, Elsita and Christa save papers on his USB flash drive, goodbyes to Cesar and family, and Rigoberto
1:30 head back to Quito. Drive is long and extremely bumpy, punctuated by Vlastimil stopping to a) collect plant samples for his students´ upcoming biology exam and b) open the hood of the car, allow smoke to diffuse, pour water on engine, keep driving
1:48 Nevertheless, Elsita manages to fall asleep on Vlasti´s shoulder for the better part of two hours, doesn’t regain full consciousness until close to Quito. Christa still giggly.
4:00 10-minute stop at Vlasti´s “casa de soltero” (bachelor´s house), Vlasti smokes 20th cigarette since arrival at Guaja, second cup of instant coffee. Elsita and Christa gaze in awe at plant collection on table, pictures of his children (multiple ex-wives), girly ornaments in bathroom and table covered in booze (Vlasti on previous visit had made claim of quitting alcoholism)
4:35 arrival at Quito bus station, where Elsita and Christa make final goodbyes, remember to pay for accommodations (give Vlasti the cash), catch taxis to respective residences
Monday, May 08, 2006
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Independent Study Project
My independent study project was undertaken at the request of eccentric botanist Vlastimil Zack, a professor at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, who had given us a lecture or two earlier in the program and accompanied us all on a day tour through the paramo highlands. Vlastimil’s personal hacienda, his own little reserve really as far as I can tell, named La Reserva Rio Guajalito is the site of my project. Situated in the cloud forest southwest of Quito, in Pichincha, Rio Guajalito is out in the boonies, complete with mainly primary forest, fast flowing Andean streams and oilpipe, the reason for most of the little development in the area. Vlastimil’s concern was for the White Capped Dipper, a resident riverine bird that depends heavily on the well being of the river for survival, feeding on macroinvertebrates living in the water. My friend Christa and I, both interested in bird behavior projects, had visited Vlasti at his university office a few days before leaving for Galapagos. Between searching (unsuccessfully) for a map of the area, upturning papers and a bottle of wine in his desk drawers, and picking up both of his cellphones, Vlastimil outlined the situation. In 1999 there was an oil spill that caused the Dipper to disappear for a few years from the area. He wanted me to find out what it was doing now, how it spends its time, where it goes. Christa was asked to look into the populations of Toucan Barbet in the area with reference to the dwindling numbers of Cecropia trees, on whose fruits it feeds. Some weeks later I find myself arriving at a cluster of buildings after a bumpy two hour drive in a dodgy truck that broke down the moment we stopped. Vlasti scurried about trying to fix it (unable to find jumpstart cables, but managing to change the flat tire) as we got settled in to our new quarters, met the family staying in the house by us, dropped off our previously purchased 3-week supply of groceries in the farmhouse-style kitchen and put our things in a large room filled with bunkbeds and mattresses. Soon afterwards Vlastimil left, still not having fixed the car, taking the bus back to Quito. Before he leaves he introduces us to the place by vaguely gesturing at the the borders of the reserve, telling us to burn our garbage, showing us the refrigerator, freezer, multiple gas stoves and the knob for hot water in the showers and saying that we can ask the bus driver of the regular (some days not others) bus going back to Quito to get us anything if we need it. We seem to be in the middle of nowhere, overlooking a large stream, the road and a huge oilpipe, with forested mountains on all sides. The road winds off upwards. We are left alone and pretty overwhelmed. It seems from here on out we can do whatever we want to do within the stipulations of researching our birds.
I spend most of my research time roaming along the stream looking for Dippers and Black Phoebes, another bird I wish to study as a comparison to the Dipper. I mark down their behaviors every thirty seconds that I see them. I intend to compare not only their activity level but their ability to adapt to human influences, through looking at the proportion of time they spend moving around and also studying time spent perching on manmade structures as opposed to natural things. So far the Black Phoebe (another riverine dependent bird) seems to spend much more time not moving than the Dipper, and it also seems to be better adapted to making use of the manmade things – the warm oilpipe, powerlines, bridges etc. I get up before 6 to take data from that time until 8am, and repeat for 4-6 in the afternoon. Every day. Otherwise I read a lot and run and work on the written part of my project which includes a work journal and statistics as well as the paper itself. Christa and I are putting together a map of the area using GPS, a base map we find in the dining room and an Adobe Illustrator pirated version in Spanish that Christa’s host brother gave her. It’s a quiet life but I get along with the neighbors very well, and I manage to fill my time easily (well, I do take a lot of naps…) My body at least is quite active due to the amount of walking we have to do to get anywhere.
Highlights:
- no hot water for showers, frequent power outs, rain every afternoon, many mornings
-happily Christa and I have similar taste in food – we eat pasta 2 out of 3 nights, and we decide to start a new religion with Peanut Butter as our god.
- hour and thirty minute walk uphill (that is up to 3 hours total) to get cellphone service, we’re expected to call our academic directors twice a week
- 9 km to the nearest town, Chiriboga, where we buy some food every now and then, hope we don’t get struck by lightning on the walk back home, Christa almost loses her shoe in the mud while trying to pick a giant leaf to use as an umbrella
- power goes out for 2 days straight during the first week forcing Elsita to cook all of her meat in fear that it might go bad. She has eaten it all (mince, steaks, cold cuts) within the first 6 days
- little cat decides to take up residence in kitchen building – very cute, affectionate and parasitic, will not shut up at meal times to the point of extreme aggravation, nicknamed ‘Maggie’ for ‘maggot’ but also refered to as “Kitty! Futzek!!” (go away), and actually named ‘Conejo’ (rabbit) by neighbors’ three-year old daughter
- tons of downtime, not much going on, not much to do, so Elsita works out a lot and has some great runs in the pouring rain
- Elsita and Christa unable to tell why or when Vlastimil named himself, as everyone here refers to him as Patricio
- Rigoberto (the “guardabosque” or gamewarden basically) mentions that he was wondering whether the flagging tape Christa leaves along the road to mark where she has sighted birds for later GPSing, is so that we won’t get lost (the road leads directly back to the houses)
- Christa and Elsita attempt to make vegetable soup; later on it is undecided whose fault it was that way too much water was put on to boil, it is so bland that they add all the spices they can to it including salt, pepper, soy sauce, aji (Ecuadorian hot sauce), vinagrette and tomato paste (luckily Christa vetos the hot chocolate powder)
- starting a fire to burn the garbage requires much talent in the humidity, so the addition of gasoline provides a welcome source of ‘insta-fire’
- Christa and Elsita badly in need of coordination - Christa manages to drop two forks into the pot of boiling pasta water while stirring, Elsita sets dishrag on fire twice trying to get them out
- Elsita locks keys inside kitchen. Neighbors, Cesar and seven year old son, Paul lend a hand - lifting up corrugated tin roof segment so Paul can climb over door and open up.
- On the one day it doesn’t rain, Elsita does laundry. Unfortunately the lack of afternoon shower allows her to forget all her socks and some undergarments outside overnight, at which point they are soaked anew. Elsita later quoted as saying “I think I should remove my underwear and bra before Vlastimil gets here”.
Look out for a hilarious account of my last two days at the Reserva - coming soon
I spend most of my research time roaming along the stream looking for Dippers and Black Phoebes, another bird I wish to study as a comparison to the Dipper. I mark down their behaviors every thirty seconds that I see them. I intend to compare not only their activity level but their ability to adapt to human influences, through looking at the proportion of time they spend moving around and also studying time spent perching on manmade structures as opposed to natural things. So far the Black Phoebe (another riverine dependent bird) seems to spend much more time not moving than the Dipper, and it also seems to be better adapted to making use of the manmade things – the warm oilpipe, powerlines, bridges etc. I get up before 6 to take data from that time until 8am, and repeat for 4-6 in the afternoon. Every day. Otherwise I read a lot and run and work on the written part of my project which includes a work journal and statistics as well as the paper itself. Christa and I are putting together a map of the area using GPS, a base map we find in the dining room and an Adobe Illustrator pirated version in Spanish that Christa’s host brother gave her. It’s a quiet life but I get along with the neighbors very well, and I manage to fill my time easily (well, I do take a lot of naps…) My body at least is quite active due to the amount of walking we have to do to get anywhere.
Highlights:
- no hot water for showers, frequent power outs, rain every afternoon, many mornings
-happily Christa and I have similar taste in food – we eat pasta 2 out of 3 nights, and we decide to start a new religion with Peanut Butter as our god.
- hour and thirty minute walk uphill (that is up to 3 hours total) to get cellphone service, we’re expected to call our academic directors twice a week
- 9 km to the nearest town, Chiriboga, where we buy some food every now and then, hope we don’t get struck by lightning on the walk back home, Christa almost loses her shoe in the mud while trying to pick a giant leaf to use as an umbrella
- power goes out for 2 days straight during the first week forcing Elsita to cook all of her meat in fear that it might go bad. She has eaten it all (mince, steaks, cold cuts) within the first 6 days
- little cat decides to take up residence in kitchen building – very cute, affectionate and parasitic, will not shut up at meal times to the point of extreme aggravation, nicknamed ‘Maggie’ for ‘maggot’ but also refered to as “Kitty! Futzek!!” (go away), and actually named ‘Conejo’ (rabbit) by neighbors’ three-year old daughter
- tons of downtime, not much going on, not much to do, so Elsita works out a lot and has some great runs in the pouring rain
- Elsita and Christa unable to tell why or when Vlastimil named himself, as everyone here refers to him as Patricio
- Rigoberto (the “guardabosque” or gamewarden basically) mentions that he was wondering whether the flagging tape Christa leaves along the road to mark where she has sighted birds for later GPSing, is so that we won’t get lost (the road leads directly back to the houses)
- Christa and Elsita attempt to make vegetable soup; later on it is undecided whose fault it was that way too much water was put on to boil, it is so bland that they add all the spices they can to it including salt, pepper, soy sauce, aji (Ecuadorian hot sauce), vinagrette and tomato paste (luckily Christa vetos the hot chocolate powder)
- starting a fire to burn the garbage requires much talent in the humidity, so the addition of gasoline provides a welcome source of ‘insta-fire’
- Christa and Elsita badly in need of coordination - Christa manages to drop two forks into the pot of boiling pasta water while stirring, Elsita sets dishrag on fire twice trying to get them out
- Elsita locks keys inside kitchen. Neighbors, Cesar and seven year old son, Paul lend a hand - lifting up corrugated tin roof segment so Paul can climb over door and open up.
- On the one day it doesn’t rain, Elsita does laundry. Unfortunately the lack of afternoon shower allows her to forget all her socks and some undergarments outside overnight, at which point they are soaked anew. Elsita later quoted as saying “I think I should remove my underwear and bra before Vlastimil gets here”.
Look out for a hilarious account of my last two days at the Reserva - coming soon
Galápagos
What can I say about Galápagos? Life was good, that´s for sure. From the moment the plane started to land I knew I was in a cool place – how? Because it was unlike anything I had ever seen before and at the same time it was oddly familiar. The Galápagos are Islands situated north west of Ecuador in the pacific ocean, imagine a kind of desert landscape, some islands covered in black lava rocks, others with red sand, and many with strange cacti and little shrubby things (I mean plants) all over the place.
We land in Baltra and immediately get outside into warm dry breezy air, the sun is strong and I´m ready to smell the sea. As soon as all of us (that is 12 students plus Xavier and his wife and mother) get our luggage, we hop into a bus that takes us to the dock. The first thing I see are sea lions. Huge, hairy and peaceful was my first impression, they lay all over the wooden benches in the only shade and under the dock as well. We boarded a small motor boat, red and rafty looking, it looked like a big blow up toy, and luckily could hold half of us, as its brother came and picked up the rest. Our Yate (yacht) was named San Jose and we eagerly climbed up onto it. We admired the length, its levels – kitchen, crew living quarters downstairs, the dining room and some cabins above, above that more cabins and open deck with bar for relaxation, and my personal favorite, the very top, basically an open area where you could look out and climb up a little platform where the GPS machine was located. Anyways, so we get settled in and immediately head off to a beach on nearby Santa Cruz. We meet our personal guide/naturalist to the Islands, Billy, who tells us all about the ecology and some natural history of the islands as we travel with him. He gives us a talk every evening about the next day’s plan and refers to cool stuff as “super chevere” the ecuadorian equivalent of “totally rad”.
We take a little “caminata” or walk, and one of the first things we almost walk into is a marine iguana. It is just lieing on the rocks in front of us, its black coloration allowing it to blend in with the black of lava basalt. At first I think it will run away as we approach, but it sits there completely spread out, unbothered by our prescence. If it hadnt been pointed out to me, I wouldn’t have noticed until I stepped on it. After everybody takes pictures of it, the other iguanas that we spot and all the sally-lightfoot crabs (huge, red with speckles, scary) we move on and come to a little inland lake. Standing in the middle is a flamingo – the Greater, the same as we have in Namibia. We all oggle some more. Galapagos seems to have a little something for everyone – strange vegetation, marine life and beaches, desert island kind of effect, it is stunning.
Happily we go back to the beach where we landed, pull on snorkel gear and jump right into the ocean. We see some very pretty fish, small ones big ones, colorful parrotfish, large schools of surgeonfish, concentric pufferfish. We only find out the names of many of them later, but I love the view and swimming feels great. We definitely ame in the right season – the water is warm and the current isn’t too strong so there isn’t a huge chance of seasickness. Similarly to Namibia, Ecuador’s coast is affected by an Antarctic-originating cold water current which causes dryness along the coast after which it turns and hits Galapagos with similar effects. The cold current is great for sealife because it causes upwelling of oxygen and nutrient rich water, but it causes the land to be very dry. However, Galapagos is also affected by the El Nino current which brings warmth and wet air around christmas time every 7 years or so (hence its name meaning “the child”). This causes great vegetational growth on the Islands and is good for the bird and animal populations on land – but not too great for the sealife. Can’t please everyone I guess. That night we are served coctails of welcome and introduced to the crew – captain, first and second mates, panga drivers, engineers, cooks. Then we are served the first of some very classy meals including meat, vegetables, noodles, fruit and desert. We get spoiled on board – it’s like a mini-luxurycruise, all meals served by Jefferson (basically our butler), snacks when we come back from the beach, nice two-person cabins with their own bathrooms.
That night we are standing on the deck with Xavier looking out to the dark sea when we notice some very large shapes moving around in the water, illuminated in the boat’s light. We make out a huge marble ray and some other big fish we think are tuna. My friend Cooper and I run down to the edge of the boat where we would normally board the pangas and try to see the fish up close. Everyone is already going to bed this time but we stay and watch the water. Suddenly a huge flipper pops out right underneath us. We jump back in surprise and it vanishes. Soon it returns attached to a sealion. We later find out that they often leave the shore at night to fish and can go for a few days without needing to return to land, the reason that they were able to survive years of overhunting in the past.
The next morning we get up to an amazing sunrise over Rabida – a small island of red pebbled beach and the clearest blue waters we have ever seen. We take another little walk spotting cactus finches and lava lizards in the process, and spectacular views of waves crashing into lava rocks, desert hills (er, I mean dormant volcanoes) rising up around us and the sea all around. We go snorkeling again and this time we see even more – the water is so clear that we easily see to the bottom and dive to investigate starfish, coral and little blennies resting in the sand. We see a huge spotted eagle ray and a green sea turtle. We see white-tipped reef sharks circling in the water below us and a myriad of other tropical fish, alone or in schools, colorful or silvery, in schools, solitary, eating algae off the rocks, synchronized swimming in their schools, diving away from us.
We come out to the shallow beach water, and watch dark green mexican hogfish with their strange head-bumps investigating the debris we kick up with our flippers. We are also fortunate to see a Galapagos penguin, close by and swimming around like a fat underwater bullet. We return to our towels in time for a huge male sealion to walk through our group, unaggressive and curious. He sniffs some of our bags (maybe he doesn’t like the reek of field notebook) before moving along to the ocean.
That afternoon we have an absolutely gorgeous walk on the Island of Santiago. We follow a trail between bushes a bit reminiscent of savannah but not really and it starts to rain – warm water falling all around, the sun doesn’t go away and a rainbow appears behind us curving in front of a mountain. We keep on and see tons more iguanas and sea lions hanging out on the strange black lava landscape that separates the completely dry land from the ocean. It goes on and on, with patterns etched into the rock like uneven ripples. We all just watch the sunset for a while, jotting down field notes and thoughts and probably some poetry too.
The next day we go to Bartolome island and take a walk over the rocky volcanoes. We climb up a mountain of leftover lava, listening in awe as Billy describes how built up gas causes tunnels to form with blow holes at the top. Some of the chutes have caved in and I climb into one for a funny picture, hoping that there arent any snakes farther inside. We next go to Sullivan’s Bay which turns out to be a snorkelling disappointment as most of us get stung by hordes of man-o-war jellyfish, tiny little guys that cause much irritation. Luckily we move along to the next site and hear we are greeted by more fantastic snorkeling – sting rays and more sharks, more fish in general and a clos up view of a penguin. It didn’t do much, just sort of pouted and looked upwards proudly as we swam near and then gathered around the rock it was standing on. Madrid, one of the panga drivers, came by to pick us up from the water and take us to land to get our things before returning to San Jose. I got on board with much difficulty and then begged Madrid to throw a rope in the water so that I could hold on to it as he drove to shore – it was great, effectively being towed along behind the boat, experiencing motor-caused bubbles, still able to see underwater and breathe through the snorkel at the same time.
The boat takes us to Santa Cruz, this time to the city of Porto Ayora – a tourist town mainly, we find out when we go out that night. Much of the income generated on galapagos comes from tourists and it has caused much migration of Ecuadorians to the islands in search of jobs. One of the problems is that most of the money generated goes to the rich owners of the cruise ships and other wealthy people at the top, whereas most of the people who live there or work on the boats don’t get payed as much. A friend tried to find out how much the crew gets paid but Billy wouldn’t tell her. We walk around at night talking to people selling things on the streets or sitting in front of shops, I hang out at a discotecca with some friends afterward.
The next day is spent at the Darwin Research Center, where we learn about giant tortoises and see a few in captivity. These massive reptiles are being bred back into existence at the station. They were hunted by pirates and sailors of the Pacific who saw them as an easy source of meat, and later when settlers introduced species such as pigs and goats, they faced great competition for food, while introduced rats ate their eggs. Billy told us about the Station’s breeding programs and about its hunting programs. Wild chivos, or goats, have been eliminated from many of the smaller islands but the hunting on the larger ones has not met with much success due to extreme weather conditions and sheer landmass in which to find them. We board a bus that takes us up in the mountains into more forested areas, where we encounter a combination of some farmland, some forest and many wild tortoises.
The next morning we snorkel more around two large rocks in the middle of the ocean named ‘El Leon Dormido’, the sleeping lion, where we see Galapagos sharks, far far below us in the deeps. The current is strong here. One of the threats facing Galapagos fish is international fishing corporations sending boats illegaly to fish in the area. Sharks for example, are the favorite of Asian corporations seeking the shark-fin soup industry. They catch sharks, cut their fins off and throw them back into the water.
Our afternoon is relaxed as I endure a long boat ride to San Cristobal island, where we dock at Baquerizo Moreno. Though I find I have a lot of tolerance for boat rocking motion, I do get a bad case of cabin fever and am pleased when we get out for another drive, this time to the only freshwater lake in the entire galapagos, Lago Elhunco, where we watch frigate birds swooping and look for insect for our field investigation projects. We don’t find too many.
The boat leaves port late that night for the island of Espanola. A few friends and I had decided to sleep outside so we could stargaze before sleep, but we were constantly awakened by the crazed rocking of the boat while in motion. It was very strong but luckily only 1 student actually felt sick enough to throw up. We head out early for more snorkeling and unfortunately I decide to chug some very gross juice we were served at breakfast and then proceed to have a handstand competition on the beach before our sea lion counting project. The earth feels like it should be moving, the swimming doesn’t help (though Madrid let out an extremely long rope behind the panga and pulled all 12 of us students around for a while) and later I find myself vomiting behind some thorn bushes lining the beach. Some Hood Mockingbirds, proving their reputation as opportunists followed me and cleaned up. A Galapagos “Drop-off”. And no worries, I instantly felt much better.
That afternoon was the best walk of the whole trip, where we went back to Espanola and trouped amongst the sand and rocks, watching sea lions and hoping they wouldn’t chase us. As a side note, a sea lion jumped into our boat for a nap earlier that day. I missed the whole episode, but it bit Madrid as it was trying to get out, so we were very wary of the territorial bulls barking at us angrily. Madrid was not badly hurt, luckily.
But, point being, Espanola was amazing regarding bird life. It was full of boobies (masked and blue footed, very strange birds I admit) all conducting mating dances all over the ground, some watching eggs lying on the ground (they don’t make nests), others regurgitating to feed young. Everywhere literally. And unafraid of humans, they barely acknowledged our presence. We trouped over iguanas and after skirting around the waves crashing into lava rocks we came upon an albatross – for its reputation as the largest Galapagos bird, it wasn’t that huge and it looked like a big gull really. But quite cute, Billy told us that usually they werent around at this time of the year as they migrate generally a bit later. From his description, it was a bit like seeing the first robin of spring. We saw a Galapagos hawk seated on a rock with its back facing us, looking into the distance as the sun set, a wonderfully pink moment. It was amazing – make sure you go there when you get to Galapagos. Mind the sea lions though, they got somewhat more aggressive as we made our way back, but luckily they were lazy and didn’t chase us hardcore. Their flippers just werent made for running. Overnight the boat took us onwards to Floreana Island – our last full day – and we took a little panga ride around and climbed up some more lava hills. Billy told us about some fairly recent settlers to the area – all crazy germans who had tried to make a life out on the island, generally didn’t succeed very well, and many of whom ended up missing. Nobody really knows the full story but there’s a book about it that I intend to read (Floreana - Lista de Correos for those interested). We also learned that Yate San Jose was haunted by a construction worker killed on some drunken night and that the original boat was burnt down to hide the evidence. Oh the scandal; before hearing the story, I had already coined a joke regarding a poltergeist on board that I liked to call the “Galapaghost”. Billy thought it was hilarious. We also got to climb down into a cave and swim in the dark and in freezing cold water which was a lot of fun. We snorkeled along the beach, swam back to Yate San Jose and then took turns jumping off the top level (10 m or so). Pretty spectacular, the fall was worth it.
Our last bit of snorkeling occurred at a very special location, imagine a crater sticking out of the ocean, named “Corona del Diablo” or Devil’s Crown, it was the sight of some strong cold currents that meant the snorkeling was super chevere. I swam with 5 sharks circling below me, tropical fish all over the place, the current so strong that when we were inside the crater it seemed that we werent even moving when we swam our hardest. I followed Billy through a tunnel under the rocks forming the crater, holding my breath and watching the blue sea changing hues as I rose. I swam with another penguin and later dove deep to investigate a turtle lieing on the sand at the bottom. It was with sadness that we all boarded the pangas again, but Madrid let me hang on to a rope and get pulled along at top speed so I couldn’t complain.
We walked along another Floreanan beach before the sun set that evening and saw a school of 30 or so stingrays swimming along. A huge Galapagos shark came right up to the shore where we were standing which also caused some excitement. On our last day we had the great fortune of fortunes to have been allowed (Xavier asked permission) to go to the island of Daphne Major – yes the legendary island where the Grant research team made some amazing discoveries about natural selection and indeed, evolution itself (read The Beak of the Finch, we all had to before the program’s start). It was awesome. We climbed up a steep rock face to get to a trail winding around a crater filled with boobies and frigate birds. The finches were there too, along with tropic birds and we passed a happy hour just looking down and watching. It was a great final stop before we had to head back to Baltra to catch our flight. What a paradise.
We land in Baltra and immediately get outside into warm dry breezy air, the sun is strong and I´m ready to smell the sea. As soon as all of us (that is 12 students plus Xavier and his wife and mother) get our luggage, we hop into a bus that takes us to the dock. The first thing I see are sea lions. Huge, hairy and peaceful was my first impression, they lay all over the wooden benches in the only shade and under the dock as well. We boarded a small motor boat, red and rafty looking, it looked like a big blow up toy, and luckily could hold half of us, as its brother came and picked up the rest. Our Yate (yacht) was named San Jose and we eagerly climbed up onto it. We admired the length, its levels – kitchen, crew living quarters downstairs, the dining room and some cabins above, above that more cabins and open deck with bar for relaxation, and my personal favorite, the very top, basically an open area where you could look out and climb up a little platform where the GPS machine was located. Anyways, so we get settled in and immediately head off to a beach on nearby Santa Cruz. We meet our personal guide/naturalist to the Islands, Billy, who tells us all about the ecology and some natural history of the islands as we travel with him. He gives us a talk every evening about the next day’s plan and refers to cool stuff as “super chevere” the ecuadorian equivalent of “totally rad”.
We take a little “caminata” or walk, and one of the first things we almost walk into is a marine iguana. It is just lieing on the rocks in front of us, its black coloration allowing it to blend in with the black of lava basalt. At first I think it will run away as we approach, but it sits there completely spread out, unbothered by our prescence. If it hadnt been pointed out to me, I wouldn’t have noticed until I stepped on it. After everybody takes pictures of it, the other iguanas that we spot and all the sally-lightfoot crabs (huge, red with speckles, scary) we move on and come to a little inland lake. Standing in the middle is a flamingo – the Greater, the same as we have in Namibia. We all oggle some more. Galapagos seems to have a little something for everyone – strange vegetation, marine life and beaches, desert island kind of effect, it is stunning.
Happily we go back to the beach where we landed, pull on snorkel gear and jump right into the ocean. We see some very pretty fish, small ones big ones, colorful parrotfish, large schools of surgeonfish, concentric pufferfish. We only find out the names of many of them later, but I love the view and swimming feels great. We definitely ame in the right season – the water is warm and the current isn’t too strong so there isn’t a huge chance of seasickness. Similarly to Namibia, Ecuador’s coast is affected by an Antarctic-originating cold water current which causes dryness along the coast after which it turns and hits Galapagos with similar effects. The cold current is great for sealife because it causes upwelling of oxygen and nutrient rich water, but it causes the land to be very dry. However, Galapagos is also affected by the El Nino current which brings warmth and wet air around christmas time every 7 years or so (hence its name meaning “the child”). This causes great vegetational growth on the Islands and is good for the bird and animal populations on land – but not too great for the sealife. Can’t please everyone I guess. That night we are served coctails of welcome and introduced to the crew – captain, first and second mates, panga drivers, engineers, cooks. Then we are served the first of some very classy meals including meat, vegetables, noodles, fruit and desert. We get spoiled on board – it’s like a mini-luxurycruise, all meals served by Jefferson (basically our butler), snacks when we come back from the beach, nice two-person cabins with their own bathrooms.
That night we are standing on the deck with Xavier looking out to the dark sea when we notice some very large shapes moving around in the water, illuminated in the boat’s light. We make out a huge marble ray and some other big fish we think are tuna. My friend Cooper and I run down to the edge of the boat where we would normally board the pangas and try to see the fish up close. Everyone is already going to bed this time but we stay and watch the water. Suddenly a huge flipper pops out right underneath us. We jump back in surprise and it vanishes. Soon it returns attached to a sealion. We later find out that they often leave the shore at night to fish and can go for a few days without needing to return to land, the reason that they were able to survive years of overhunting in the past.
The next morning we get up to an amazing sunrise over Rabida – a small island of red pebbled beach and the clearest blue waters we have ever seen. We take another little walk spotting cactus finches and lava lizards in the process, and spectacular views of waves crashing into lava rocks, desert hills (er, I mean dormant volcanoes) rising up around us and the sea all around. We go snorkeling again and this time we see even more – the water is so clear that we easily see to the bottom and dive to investigate starfish, coral and little blennies resting in the sand. We see a huge spotted eagle ray and a green sea turtle. We see white-tipped reef sharks circling in the water below us and a myriad of other tropical fish, alone or in schools, colorful or silvery, in schools, solitary, eating algae off the rocks, synchronized swimming in their schools, diving away from us.
We come out to the shallow beach water, and watch dark green mexican hogfish with their strange head-bumps investigating the debris we kick up with our flippers. We are also fortunate to see a Galapagos penguin, close by and swimming around like a fat underwater bullet. We return to our towels in time for a huge male sealion to walk through our group, unaggressive and curious. He sniffs some of our bags (maybe he doesn’t like the reek of field notebook) before moving along to the ocean.
That afternoon we have an absolutely gorgeous walk on the Island of Santiago. We follow a trail between bushes a bit reminiscent of savannah but not really and it starts to rain – warm water falling all around, the sun doesn’t go away and a rainbow appears behind us curving in front of a mountain. We keep on and see tons more iguanas and sea lions hanging out on the strange black lava landscape that separates the completely dry land from the ocean. It goes on and on, with patterns etched into the rock like uneven ripples. We all just watch the sunset for a while, jotting down field notes and thoughts and probably some poetry too.
The next day we go to Bartolome island and take a walk over the rocky volcanoes. We climb up a mountain of leftover lava, listening in awe as Billy describes how built up gas causes tunnels to form with blow holes at the top. Some of the chutes have caved in and I climb into one for a funny picture, hoping that there arent any snakes farther inside. We next go to Sullivan’s Bay which turns out to be a snorkelling disappointment as most of us get stung by hordes of man-o-war jellyfish, tiny little guys that cause much irritation. Luckily we move along to the next site and hear we are greeted by more fantastic snorkeling – sting rays and more sharks, more fish in general and a clos up view of a penguin. It didn’t do much, just sort of pouted and looked upwards proudly as we swam near and then gathered around the rock it was standing on. Madrid, one of the panga drivers, came by to pick us up from the water and take us to land to get our things before returning to San Jose. I got on board with much difficulty and then begged Madrid to throw a rope in the water so that I could hold on to it as he drove to shore – it was great, effectively being towed along behind the boat, experiencing motor-caused bubbles, still able to see underwater and breathe through the snorkel at the same time.
The boat takes us to Santa Cruz, this time to the city of Porto Ayora – a tourist town mainly, we find out when we go out that night. Much of the income generated on galapagos comes from tourists and it has caused much migration of Ecuadorians to the islands in search of jobs. One of the problems is that most of the money generated goes to the rich owners of the cruise ships and other wealthy people at the top, whereas most of the people who live there or work on the boats don’t get payed as much. A friend tried to find out how much the crew gets paid but Billy wouldn’t tell her. We walk around at night talking to people selling things on the streets or sitting in front of shops, I hang out at a discotecca with some friends afterward.
The next day is spent at the Darwin Research Center, where we learn about giant tortoises and see a few in captivity. These massive reptiles are being bred back into existence at the station. They were hunted by pirates and sailors of the Pacific who saw them as an easy source of meat, and later when settlers introduced species such as pigs and goats, they faced great competition for food, while introduced rats ate their eggs. Billy told us about the Station’s breeding programs and about its hunting programs. Wild chivos, or goats, have been eliminated from many of the smaller islands but the hunting on the larger ones has not met with much success due to extreme weather conditions and sheer landmass in which to find them. We board a bus that takes us up in the mountains into more forested areas, where we encounter a combination of some farmland, some forest and many wild tortoises.
The next morning we snorkel more around two large rocks in the middle of the ocean named ‘El Leon Dormido’, the sleeping lion, where we see Galapagos sharks, far far below us in the deeps. The current is strong here. One of the threats facing Galapagos fish is international fishing corporations sending boats illegaly to fish in the area. Sharks for example, are the favorite of Asian corporations seeking the shark-fin soup industry. They catch sharks, cut their fins off and throw them back into the water.
Our afternoon is relaxed as I endure a long boat ride to San Cristobal island, where we dock at Baquerizo Moreno. Though I find I have a lot of tolerance for boat rocking motion, I do get a bad case of cabin fever and am pleased when we get out for another drive, this time to the only freshwater lake in the entire galapagos, Lago Elhunco, where we watch frigate birds swooping and look for insect for our field investigation projects. We don’t find too many.
The boat leaves port late that night for the island of Espanola. A few friends and I had decided to sleep outside so we could stargaze before sleep, but we were constantly awakened by the crazed rocking of the boat while in motion. It was very strong but luckily only 1 student actually felt sick enough to throw up. We head out early for more snorkeling and unfortunately I decide to chug some very gross juice we were served at breakfast and then proceed to have a handstand competition on the beach before our sea lion counting project. The earth feels like it should be moving, the swimming doesn’t help (though Madrid let out an extremely long rope behind the panga and pulled all 12 of us students around for a while) and later I find myself vomiting behind some thorn bushes lining the beach. Some Hood Mockingbirds, proving their reputation as opportunists followed me and cleaned up. A Galapagos “Drop-off”. And no worries, I instantly felt much better.
That afternoon was the best walk of the whole trip, where we went back to Espanola and trouped amongst the sand and rocks, watching sea lions and hoping they wouldn’t chase us. As a side note, a sea lion jumped into our boat for a nap earlier that day. I missed the whole episode, but it bit Madrid as it was trying to get out, so we were very wary of the territorial bulls barking at us angrily. Madrid was not badly hurt, luckily.
But, point being, Espanola was amazing regarding bird life. It was full of boobies (masked and blue footed, very strange birds I admit) all conducting mating dances all over the ground, some watching eggs lying on the ground (they don’t make nests), others regurgitating to feed young. Everywhere literally. And unafraid of humans, they barely acknowledged our presence. We trouped over iguanas and after skirting around the waves crashing into lava rocks we came upon an albatross – for its reputation as the largest Galapagos bird, it wasn’t that huge and it looked like a big gull really. But quite cute, Billy told us that usually they werent around at this time of the year as they migrate generally a bit later. From his description, it was a bit like seeing the first robin of spring. We saw a Galapagos hawk seated on a rock with its back facing us, looking into the distance as the sun set, a wonderfully pink moment. It was amazing – make sure you go there when you get to Galapagos. Mind the sea lions though, they got somewhat more aggressive as we made our way back, but luckily they were lazy and didn’t chase us hardcore. Their flippers just werent made for running. Overnight the boat took us onwards to Floreana Island – our last full day – and we took a little panga ride around and climbed up some more lava hills. Billy told us about some fairly recent settlers to the area – all crazy germans who had tried to make a life out on the island, generally didn’t succeed very well, and many of whom ended up missing. Nobody really knows the full story but there’s a book about it that I intend to read (Floreana - Lista de Correos for those interested). We also learned that Yate San Jose was haunted by a construction worker killed on some drunken night and that the original boat was burnt down to hide the evidence. Oh the scandal; before hearing the story, I had already coined a joke regarding a poltergeist on board that I liked to call the “Galapaghost”. Billy thought it was hilarious. We also got to climb down into a cave and swim in the dark and in freezing cold water which was a lot of fun. We snorkeled along the beach, swam back to Yate San Jose and then took turns jumping off the top level (10 m or so). Pretty spectacular, the fall was worth it.
Our last bit of snorkeling occurred at a very special location, imagine a crater sticking out of the ocean, named “Corona del Diablo” or Devil’s Crown, it was the sight of some strong cold currents that meant the snorkeling was super chevere. I swam with 5 sharks circling below me, tropical fish all over the place, the current so strong that when we were inside the crater it seemed that we werent even moving when we swam our hardest. I followed Billy through a tunnel under the rocks forming the crater, holding my breath and watching the blue sea changing hues as I rose. I swam with another penguin and later dove deep to investigate a turtle lieing on the sand at the bottom. It was with sadness that we all boarded the pangas again, but Madrid let me hang on to a rope and get pulled along at top speed so I couldn’t complain.
We walked along another Floreanan beach before the sun set that evening and saw a school of 30 or so stingrays swimming along. A huge Galapagos shark came right up to the shore where we were standing which also caused some excitement. On our last day we had the great fortune of fortunes to have been allowed (Xavier asked permission) to go to the island of Daphne Major – yes the legendary island where the Grant research team made some amazing discoveries about natural selection and indeed, evolution itself (read The Beak of the Finch, we all had to before the program’s start). It was awesome. We climbed up a steep rock face to get to a trail winding around a crater filled with boobies and frigate birds. The finches were there too, along with tropic birds and we passed a happy hour just looking down and watching. It was a great final stop before we had to head back to Baltra to catch our flight. What a paradise.
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