El Dia Final

"Here, the strong cry and the weak die."

They said that the wall was meant to enclose the prisoners, but the truth is that it was intended to kill them. A two mile walk towards the heart of Isabela has brought us to "The Wall of Tears."  In 1947, 300 Ecuadorian criminals were shipped 600 miles off of the mainland to Isabela Island. For those who think that the Galapagos are an ideal vacation destination, it certainly wasn't for the prisoners that were sentenced to a punishment that was likely worse than any crime...they died building a pointless wall that would stand there eerily for decades to come so that tourists could feel cold shivers run down their backs at the sight of it.

But luckily, I am a modern tourist, and here on this last day, I have for you a list of all the things about Galapagos that were absolutely brilliant...and then some things that weren't quite so perfect, but added to what has been a fantastic conclusion to a most fantastic month abroad.

Charles Darwin Research Center

Surfing

Dinners with my incredible peers and professors

Homework on the beach

The most adorable puppy I have seen in my life

Patacones

Dancing under the stars

Flirting with Ecuadorian guys

A two hour boat ride of sea sickness...at 6:00 in the morning

Teaching the locals about solar energy

Organic oranges and bananas

The beach of love (or iguana love, at least)

A fantastic guide named Julio

A steaming volcano crater

Mid morning banana splits

Lots of sore-blistered feet

Talking of the things we miss about American food

Amazing lunches for $4

Happy hours

Turtle breeding center

Spontaneous singing sessions

Lack of wifi

Sand...everywhere

Sunburns despite sunscreen

Oodles of our own unique memorable quotes/facial expressions/idiosyncrasies 

Pictures. So. Many. Pictures. So. Many...and I am quite grateful for this

Last minute touristy shopping

Snorkeling with sharks and turtles

Face to face encounters with sea lions

Swimming with the penguins

Watching late night soccer games

Going for night runs

Paradoxes: cacti and mangroves, flamingos and penguins, creationists living in the homeland of evolution

Calling for Darwin's finches

Getting taken advantage of as tourists

Scrambling to catch up on journaling

Walking with the iguanas

Marveling at the diving blue footed boobies

Avoiding poison apples and collecting Jesus flowers

Long island ice teas, piña coladas, cognac, pilsner 

A fruit fight with little kids

Eating tres leches cake in such an amusing manner that the locals bursted out laughing

Making plans for when we can all see each other again...

I will miss Ecuador, these beautiful people I am traveling with, and learning new things by the minute. And while I am already excited to travel again, I have a clear concept of how lucky I am to belong in Seattle...if I hadn't known that I had a solid place to go back to, I never would have been able to let myself go and break down new boundaries the way that I did. They say that traveling helps you figure out more about yourself, and I don't want to be any more cliché than necessary, but I think that I instead learned that there is only going to be more about myself that I will never know.  Meeting new people requires changing little pieces of who you are in order to enable a connection, but each time I surprise myself with how I have changed, the happier that I am to know that I can trust in the solidarity of the notion that so much in life is transient.

Okay, I hope you understood all that...I think I broke my English in the process of improving my Spanish. It has been fun writing out my experiences, but it is time to stop stalling while finishing this last post so that I can look out the windows of this bus and watch Ecuador, as well as the rest of the time I have here, whiz off into my memory. If I could, I would say goodbye the Ecuadorian way, thanking all of you readers with an air kiss, but all I have for you are words. So ciao, hasta luego, I'll see you the next time around.

The Most Picturesque Day Yet...

Seeing may be believing, but I'm still a little uncertain that that enormous sea turtle swam only a foot beneath me. Under the water, there are brilliantly fluorescent rainbow fish mingling with an equally beautiful species that bears eyes the ebullient blue that one might find on the wings of butterflies in the mangroves. A fantastic aquatic world glistens underneath waters that look more as if they might be as cold as those in Puget Sound. From what I have seen so far, Isabela is not the glorious Hawaiian island that travel magazines airbrush to increase their income. In all honesty, the obsidian-black lava rock makes the island look more wasteland than evolutionary keystone of the world, but the beauty of the place really lies in the animals, and not just the ones that can be seen while snorkeling.

Sally Lightfoot Crabs

According to legend, Sally was an American spy during the second World War. She worked in Germany as a dancer and could thus glean information from the soldiers who frequented the bar that she worked at. She was killed, and when the American soldiers who were based at the Galapagos heard this, they named the crab in honor of her...because of its dance-like movements.  Female crabs, according to our guide Julio, will eat their mates, so there is no such thing as "spending the night" after sex unless the male has a death wish. They are a daring fire-truck red, and yet the seabirds seem to leave them be.

Marine Iguanas

A tribute to the dinosaurs, piles of these charcoal-black dudes reside on the beach.  They can live up to 30 years, and after 2 years, will gain their capability to dive for food underwater, during which time playful sea lions will swim past to pull up on their tails. Patrick asked if the playfulness of the sea lions was a sign of intelligence, which led to the notion that the benefits of intelligence could be a longer life span. Julio looked at him and said something surprisingly existential. "What is the purpose of me living longer? It would be better for the world if I were dead." It was something that I had never considered before...I guess that on top of developed freeways, health care, and drink-worthy water in every toilet, shower, and sink, another thing that we all take for granted in America is a long retirement.

Frigate Birds

The princesses of the birds here. They have no waterproofing on their feathers, so all of their food must be stolen from blue footed boobies who do the dirty work of hunting while the frigates relax above. Kevin calls them the "friggin frigates" but regardless of their survival methods, it is said to be good luck to have a frigate bird fly overhead.

If you prefer to stay away from the gringo restaurants, there are no menus here...only the promise of soup, a main course and fresh juice, all for four dollars. The rest of the day is for sleeping on the beach...well, and doing homework, we find time for that, too, ya know.

Last night was spent with piña coladas, dancing, and good times underneath millions of glittering stars. And just for that extra dollop of perfection, in the background you could hear the chorus of warm waves softly grooming the fine white sand of a sleeping Galapagos. 

Let's Galapa-GO!

So I'm not that clever, I have to give the credit of the title to Ashwin.  We are all here in the Galapagos Islands at the lovely Hotel Sula Sula.

This morning meant a sad departure from our host families--many of us have become surprisingly close to them in the span of only a week. It seems that Ecuadorian families like to give small mementos upon parting.  Allie got some cute bracelets. Taran's host family splurged and bought him three shirts. And I, I got two cans of tuna and one of hominy...living the rich life, right?  I have plans to keep in touch with my family (a practice that they seem much more serious about here in Ecuador than they are in the US) and would definitely love to return some day.

Getting to the Galapagos was more than a little bit of a hassle. First they have to make sure that you aren't trying to sneak in any exotic elephants that are not native to Ecuador...ya know, because I always keep a cat or a chicken or something with me to ensure the spread of invasive species.  Then they have to make sure that they discourage your entry to the islands by charging you endless amounts of park fees and life (life that you spend waiting to give said park fees and have your packs searched for said elephants). We took an airplane, a bus, a ferry, another bus, a boat, and finally a truck to get to our destination.  And big surprise, the locals down here to everything they can to take advantage of tourists. They will not dock larger boats, but instead charge you for small water taxis to take you and your luggage from these boats to the shore--apparently this is a new development that has started taking place over the last two years (as Chuck said he had never encountered it before, and was not very happy about the change). 

Yesterday was our last free day in Guayaquil. Sarah S, Sarah E, Emily, Michelle, Ashwin, Allie, and Kevin all went to Cuenca, which is apparently an adorable city with incredible ruins. It is on the top of my list for when I return to Ecuador.  Lisie, Amanda, June, Patrick, James, Nikki, and our two fabulous profs all went to Playas and had a very sunburned but happy time on the beach.  Taran got to spend the day with his lovely family and I with mine (thus inspiring the previous post).

Tomorrow is the beginning of the end...and the first day of the last week is going to be kicked off with snorkeling.  So excited to Galap-"GO" (lol how we all love Ashwin) and see some turtles!