Hello, my name is Andrea, and I'm a blog-aholic. It's been 2 weeks since my last post....
Well, much to report on, in that case! Since our departure to Darwin and Wolf has been postponed until tomorrow morning at 9am, I figure I´d better do something productive. As the title says, the Galapagos National Park turned 52 years old this weekend, and I was there for the celebration in San Cristobal. But before I get to all that, let´s catch up on the last two weeks.....
Well, we went for another day to monitor the juvenile shark population in the mangroves east of Puerto Ayora on the 24th, which was amazing as always. This timeI didn´t have the guilty job of taking the fin clip for DNA samples, but rather to put the sharks back in the water, and ensure that they are vigourous enough to swim after their experience. This is done by holding them by the tail and (very carefully!) under the snout, and then ´swishing´ them through the water in a figure 8 motion to pump water over their gills. When they struggle to get free (rather than rest passively in your grasp) is when they are good to go!
¿Qué más? Ah yes, as part of the Galapagos cultural council´s attempt to bring the arts to the islands, they was a jazz and blues concert one night week in the town hall, where a really great, and funny artist from New York belted out great blues tunes on his harmonica and guitar all night! My new friend Ivo (de Alemanía) and I took in the concert with the rest of my house mates Maita, Gabriela, Alegria, and Billy.
Ah yes... On Thursday last week, we went to monitor the lobster population in Canal Itabaca again, but after only getting one collector assessed, our mission quickly turned into a search and rescue for a tourist who´d been lost for three days...! So we left our lobsters and made a full circle around Santa Cruz looking for the tourist who was supposedly on a beach somewhere (faaaaar away from any civilization). Even though another boat found this fellow instead after a long day of hungry searching on our part, it was ´vale la pena´ (worth it), because we saw parts on Santa Cruz´s west coast that few people ever get to glimpse (with the exception of dumb, wandering tourists)... it was gorgeous!!
OK, on to this weekend in San Cristobal! So Thursday night (or rather friday morning at 2am), the boat taking all the park staff was set to depart for San Cristobal, and I was heading through town with my backpack when I ran into my new pal Ivo. Being a rather spontaneous individual, Ivo thought going to San Cristobal would be fun, so grabbed little more than his toothbrush and swimsuit and snuck on to the park boat behind Yasmania (the Galapagenian gal from San Cristobal) and I!
This was a great relaxing weekend! Since the boat ride over was a rather uncomfortable spot to sleep, we napped after arriving at Yasmanias house, and then Ivo and I hung out on the beach where he grew tired of his dreadlocks and asked me to cut them off (que guapo ahora!!!). A bit of dinner and happy-hour carparinias at the bar Casa Blanca meeting amazing people before discoing at Iguana Rock again! Saturday brought hangovers for some (not me!), but we siezed the day and met some of Yasmania´s friends and went to a lovely spot for some snorkelling called Las Tijeretas.
Saturday night was the fiesta for the park, and so after making some homemade carparinias to-go, we headed off to the concert (after filling our bellies with corviches and empanadas, of course!). While the starting acts were playing, Ivo and Juan Pedro were convinced to buy raffle tickets... for (get this)... a chicken. The main act ( a salsa orchestra from Columbia) didn´t start until 2am (!), but nonetheless, people were still out dancing to the music until the wee hours of the morning... this place is great!
Sunday Ivo and I went to La Loberia, which is a sea lion rookery (obviously). We swam with the sea lions for a while before heading off on a hiking trail to see some amazing views of massive waves pounding the shore far below the cliff we were perched on. The rugged beauty of this place never ceases to amaze me....
Well, Monday was time to take the boat back to the real world here in Santa Cruz, but much to everyone´s surprise, the park boat left at 2 am rather than 2 pm, and so everyone had to charter a boat back... (hmmm, surprised? no, not really). Oh well... upon arriving back at the office, I was told that someone had backed out of the expedition to Darwin and Wolf Islands to go tag whale sharks, and there was finally a place with my name on it! AWESOME!! We are departing tomorrow at 9 am (after several delays), and so will post again when I return in 15 days time!
(P.S. Have also found out that I am NOT moving to Isabela afterall... which is alright, since I am enjoying myself immensely here. Guess I know what I'm doing on my next free weekend!)
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