Island In the Sun

On and on and in the sun

We’ll be playing and having fun

And it makes it feel so find I can’t control my brain

Life is flying by like I never knew possible. I woke up this morning to realize that today was the 1^st of May, marking my last full month I get to spend in this wonderful country. I have been thinking a lot over the past week or so about how fast everything is going. This dream that has been over two years in the making, from the first conversations bridged with the parentals to stepping out of their hugs and nervously going through airport security to where I am sitting now singing along in my head to my sisters Spanish pop songs and waiting to eat the comfort food of rice and meat. When did the change happen? When did I gain confidence? When did I learn how to speak Spanish? When did I stop caring that I am a tall white giant giraffe here? When did I make my self a life in another country? It didn’t happen all at once and I know there were tears and hard times along the way, but they seem to fad and give way to the wonderful smells, colors, conversations, words, weeks, months, sights, voices, and friends that have and are shaping my Ecuadorian year. Today I realize how much I have changed, how much life is going to be different after this year. This will not just be a year in my life, it will be a marker, similar (I imagine) to the markers of getting married, having kids, going to college, and getting through that mid-life crises that everyone fears. It will and has changed me. What will I be when I get home? Who will my friends be? Where will life take me? I am scared. Excited. Sad. Elated. And every other emotion that one person can hold. All I can say is that the adventure of life is carrying me down its twisting river and I am just trying to hold on while enjoying the view.

With that part done I will do some catching up on what I have been doing lately.

I have been back from the Galapagos for about a week and it was amazing! A trip to never forget.

The first day we got up very early and headed out from Quito (where we had been staying) and headed to the airport. The experience at the airport with all the AFSers was sort of strange because we all felt that it was a semi-practice run for going home and it was strangely emotional. But mostly we were just super pumped to go to the Galapagos. We then took about a two and a half hour trip out to the islands, they are quite a bit farther out then most people think, sort of like Hawaii from the US. When we got there we were immediately hit but the need to get into warm weather clothes as we were dying of heat. The view was amazing and I knew this was going to be a wonderful trip. Then we were shuttled to a boat to take us to the island that we were going to be staying at for the next bunch of days. I along with some other wonderful AFSers (Carlotta and Alicia, love you girls) got the ride up in the top level of the boat with our driver. It was wonderful and I managed to wrap a towel across my sholders the not get to sunburned. I felt like I had just arrived to paradise.  We got there a little bit before the other boat of AFSers so we had time to head to the hotel throw on our swimsuits and go swimming. What we didn’t know though was that we would be swimming with sea lions. They would pop up right next to you and next to you and play around you. It was so cool. After lots of traveling and a long day we headed to bed and got ready for a crazy day two.

The next day was even better then the first. We got up early and started on what was going to be the perfect trip for the inner nerd in me. We walked around the crater of a large active volacano. For me the high light was when it started raining and all the rain was steaming off the craters rocking covering because it was so hot. It was then that you could really appreciate how you were really walking around a volcano. We hiked though mud (fun) and lots of lava rocks. It was impressive and wonderful to see what our earth can do to form the land around it. A hike I will not soon forget. That afternoon we headed out to go snorkeling and had an amazing time floating in the sun and enjoying the crazy warm ocean. The day was amazing even if the volcano provided me with more than a little bit of sunburn, it’s not the first time and not the last. But for the record, I did put on sunscreen, but I am pretty sure that when the Ecuadorian sun and Ellie’s pasty white skin fight I will always loose.

On day three we headed out in a little boat to an island to see more sea lions, seals, penguins (the only ones that life north of the Equator!) and the cool little sea iguanas. It was awesome wandering around and just encountering all this wildlife you are sure you are only ever going to see in zoos in its natural habitat. We were hoping to spot some sharks, but they seemed to evade us. Ohh well can’t have it all. We were all quite excited with the wildlife we got to saw. Then we headed out for a second snorkel trip that was quite like the first, but I enjoyed immensely. I split away from the group a little bit with Alica and we had a good time just exploring the wonderful world under the sea. So much to see and just floating their enjoying life was a great experience of what a lucky duck I am. That afternoon we headed out to the Giant Turtle Center and learned a lot about the process of bringing the almost extinct species of turtles back to life on the islands. They are not only trying to regrow the population but also trying to eradicate the exotic species that have made them extinct like wild dogs, rats, and goats. Quite the endeavor if you ask me, I don’t have a clue how you go about erecting a whole population of rats from an island, but they have done it. Props to them. We also saw a wall build by prisoners who used to live on the island, a lava tunnel, and the “playa de amor” (beach of love). It was a wonderful and activity filled afternoon.

With the end of our stay approaching and day for on us we took a boat back to the island Puerto Ayora where we did some very typical touristy things. We saw Darwin Research Station with some very cool turtles and iguanas. A high light was Lonesome George a poor male turtle who is the last in his species and when he dies there are none left. It was sad and cool be able to see this first hand and also a must see when in the Galapagos. My favorite part about George is there are restaurants and hotels named after him and when he dies what are they going to do?!?! We also saw a facility that mimics natural conditions but is fenced of and controlled to introduce turtles back in to the wild conditions. We wandered around and bought some souvenirs as well as it was the largest city in the islands. The next morning was hopping a plan back to Quito and finishing our wonderful Galapagos dream.

Livin’ life on the loose.