GALAPAGOS.

Wow. I don't even know where to begin with this post. We got back to Quito today around 6pm after spending a week in the most incredible place in the world, the Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos were nothing like what I was expecting, which was an archipelago filled with lush, green vegetation. The islands are really dry, which is a result of two cold, major ocean currents that affect the climate of the islands, especially at this time of year. There are some areas that are green, but most of the time we saw cacti mixed with dry vegetation or bare lava rock. These are the conditions that caused the animals that settled on the Galapagos to become so unique, because you have to be really specialized to live in an environment like this. Another thing that I didn't really believe before I got to the islands was that the animals have absolutely no fear of humans. We would walk by sleeping sea lions and blue-footed boobies with chicks or eggs and they would just watch us pass by and then go back to what they were doing before.

On Tuesday we flew into the airport on Baltra island and immediately split up into our smaller groups to go our separate ways. My group has 22 people in it, and we split in half for the Galapagos because it would've been hard (and expensive) to do everything that we did with that many people at one time. My group started our Galapagos adventure on Santa Cruz island where we saw a volcanic crater, a farm with a ton of giant tortoises (not Lonesome George, we never actually got to see him), and walked through an underground tunnel created by a lava flow. We had lunch in Puerto Ayora, which is the only city in the Galapagos, and then got on a lancha (a motorboat) to go to Isabela island where we were having our homestays. The trip from Santa Cruz to Isabela was only supposed to take about 2 hours, but only one of the two motors on the lancha was working so it took us 3 hours, and we were late to our homestays!

Our homestays were in Puerto Villamil, which is the largest settlement on Isabela. My family included my mom Clara, my dad Daniel, and my little brother Justin, who was 8. I was one of only 3 people in our group who were alone in our homestays (everyone else was doubled up) which was a little scary at first but turned out to be a really great experience. Clara was so nice, she took me out the first night to walk around and show me the town and we had a great conversation even though we'd only met a few hours before! She was definitely my favorite mom out of the three homestays that I've had so far. Puerto Villamil is a really cute port town that's a little touristy, but not overwhelmingly so. Everyone rides their bikes around town and when you go into a store everyone seems to know everyone else.

On Wednesday morning we got picked up in our chiva (an open air bus kind of thing) to go snorkeling at a site called Tuneles. We walked around on the really cool lava rock structures for a little while and then got in the water to snorkel. It was the first time I had ever gone snorkeling, which was pretty nerve wracking, and my mask let water in which was really annoying. We got to see some cool fish, including a rare yellow pufferfish. The water was really calm, too, so it was a pretty good first snorkeling experience. On the way back to Puerto Villamil we saw some huge manta rays and sea turtles in the water, which was really cool. When we got back to town we had lunch, and then went to the beach for a little while before heading out in pickup trucks to see some of the sights on the island. We went to the Muro de las Lagrimas, which is a huge wall made of volcanic rock that was built by prisoners who were being punished on the islands. After that we went to a little beach where we saw some marine iguanas as well as another lava cave.

On Thursday we got picked up really early because we were going to climb one of the volcanoes on Isabela called Sierra Negra. People usually ride horses up at least part of the way, but we were walking the entire trail. We got to see the huge crater of Sierra Negra (11 km across), as well as a place called Volcan Chico with a lot of smaller volcanoes and cool volcanic rock formations. As soon as we got onto the rocky part of the path to Volcan Chico it looked like we had been transported to Mars, it was nothing like the hike we had done before. The hike back down the volcano was definitely the hardest part, and we were all very tired and hungry when we got to the bottom. Luckily we were going straight to lunch at this place called Campo Duro, which was a really beautifully landscaped farm type place. We had a delicious and filling lunch there, and got to explore the farm a little bit afterwards. Once we got back to Puerto Villamil we had free time on the beach, where we played frisbee, jumped in the waves, swam with a sea lion, and watched a gorgeous sunset before going back to our homestays for dinner.

On Friday we had to have all of our bags packed and ready to go in the morning because we were leaving for the boat after our activities. We went snorkeling at a site really close to the port called Tintoreras, where we saw a lot of fish as well as a sea turtle in the water. We also saw a bunch of baby marine iguanas and white-tipped reef sharks while we were walking around, but none in the water. After that we enjoyed our last few hours on Isabela on the beach before and after lunch. We were all really bummed to be leaving the island because our homestay families and the town were really nice, but we were all excited for the boat. The other half of the group was talking a lancha to Puerto Villamil, so we got to see them for about half an hour before we had to get on the lancha to go to Puerto Ayora to get on the boat. Our boat was called the San Jose, and it was incredible. The food was great, the crew was super nice, and the boat itself was amazing. When we got there we had a brief presentation about boat safety given to us by our guide, Daniel, and then had dinner before settling into our rooms.

On Saturday I was woken up by Xavier, our Academic Director, saying "whales, guys" through the open window of the room I shared with my friend Rachel. Sure enough there were some small whales swimming not too far away from the boat, which only reinforced the fact that we were in an absolutely amazing place. Where else can you wake up, walk outside of your bedroom, and be greeted by whales? It was super cool. After that we had breakfast and the headed out in the pangas (small motorboats) to San Cristobal, the island we were visiting that day. First we looked at some of the volcanic formations around the island and then headed to the beach to go snorkeling. There were a lot of sea lions on and around the beach, and one of the juveniles was playing with us while we snorkeled! Once we finished snorkeling we walked around on the beach, taking pictures of the sea lions and ghost crabs that were everywhere. After that we got back on the boat and circumnavigated around a huge rock called Leon Dormido where a lot of marine birds nest. After that we went to the main port of San Cristobal, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, where we visited the Centro de Interpretacion (kind of a Galapagos museum) and then had a chance to walk around in the town.

We spent Sunday on Espanola island, which is the oldest of all the islands in the archipelago and has a lot of unique species. The first thing we did was walk around on one of the beaches, where there were a ton of sea lions, and there were even some pups! They were really cute, and it was funny to watch them play. After that we headed back to the boat, got our snorkeling gear, and headed out to snorkel. At one point I looked up out of the water and saw some people back in one of the pangas, which was surprising because usually you only get back in the panga if you're cold or tired, and we hadn't been in the water for very long. It turned out that someone had spotted dolphins out in the water, so we all got in the pangas to chase them. It was a huge pod of dolphins, and they were jumping out of the water all around us, swimming under our pangas, and playing in the bow waves. We tried to snorkel with them, but the minute we got in the water they turned and swam in a different direction. I did see two of them swimming below us, and another girl and I may have seen a shark underneath us as well! That was definitely one of my favorite experiences of the trip.

After we went back to the boat and had lunch we disembarked again to hike a trail that has a lot of blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, and albatrosses that nest near it. We also saw a bunch of marine iguanas that have a unique red and green coloration, lava lizards, and Espanola mockingbirds. One of the coolest things that happened on our hike (besides being right next to nesting boobies) was when a baby albatross wandered towards us on the path. He was really interested in us, and eventually started trying to eat my friend Teddy's shoe. It was really funny, and also pretty cool being that close to a baby albatross!

On Monday we were on Floreana island, which was the first island to be colonized of the Galapagos. Floreana is the site of the post office barrel, which is a Galapagos tradition where people will leave postcards that they want to send in the barrel and other travelers will come by, see where people want to send the postcards, and then take the ones that they can deliver. You're supposed to hand deliver the postcards that you take so it's a "postage free" form of mail. I took a postcard going to Portland, ME (there weren't any for Massachusetts!) so it'll be a fun day trip to deliver it when I get back to school. While we were at the barrel we saw some huge splashes out in the water, which were humpback whales breaching! We scrapped our plan to walk through a lava tunnel, called the pangas, and went chasing after the whales. It was a mother and calf, and even though it took us a while to reach them we ended up being pretty close and getting to watch them breach and swim for a little while. It was incredible to see that and also be so close to them, and for a lot of people in our group it was the first time that they had ever seen whales!

After chasing the whales we went back to the beach to play a soccer game against the crew from another boat. I didn't play, but it was really fun to watch other people in our group play with our crew against the other crew, and we ended up winning the game! After that a few of us went snorkeling off of the beach, where we saw two sea turtles, a sting ray, an octopus, and three penguins! It was really cool swimming with the penguins, they were so cute! After that we went back to the boat, had lunch, and then hiked around a lagoon on the island where we saw a few flamingos. After that we collected our snorkeling gear from the boat and then went to the Devil's Crown, which is one of the three best snorkeling sites in the Galapagos. The crown is a bunch of rocks sticking up out of the water that form a circle, and there are a ton of fish there because of the way the currents are. We saw sooo many fish there, a lot that we hadn't seen in other places, and also some white-tipped reef sharks! (They don't attack humans, don't worry Mom.)

This morning we got up early to go to Seymour Norte, which is a small island where a lot of marine birds nest. The highlight there was getting to see frigatebirds, especially males with their red pouches inflated trying to court females. We also got to see terrestrial iguanas and fur sea lions, which were also cool. After that we headed to Baltra to go to the airport and start our journey home. I'm really sad that the week is over, because it was an absolutely amazing experience. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to go to the Galapagos and see all the things that I saw, because there are a lot of people (especially native Ecuadorians) who never get to visit the islands during their lifetime.

I took almost 500 pictures while we were in the Galapagos, and I'm going to post them tomorrow, so check back if they aren't up when you read this!

Hasta luego,
Caroline