Since February 1st, I have been on Isla Isabela. I actually published my last two blog posts from the Galapagos, the Guayasamín post from Santa Cruz and Max's guest post from here on Isabela. They are two of only four islands that are inhabited by humans. You might be surprised to find out that the islands have a permanent population at all, but there are currently at least 25,000 inhabitants in the Galapagos. Luckily 97% of the islands are National Park, but it is very hard for the Park to regulate what is done in the municipal areas. The population has been growing quickly since 1970, though they have since made it harder for new people to live in the islands as permanent residents.
I feel lucky to be here volunteering at el centro de crianza, the tortoise breeding center here on Isabela, for two weeks (just started week two!), plus my mom is meeting me here and we will get to see more of Isabela together. I am staying with a host family and there are other volunteers around, plus a group of marine biology students from the University of Miami. So far I am having an amazing time!
My weekday schedule goes something like this:
6:40: Even after my current usual of falling asleep around 9pm, it is still sometimes hard to get out of bed. I give myself 5 mins max before I do the normal waking up things like brush my teeth, smother myself in sunscreen, and make sure I have everything I need in my backpack for the morning - more sunscreen, plenty of water, my hat, my camera, house key, etc.
7am: The grandmother of my host family, makes and eats breakfast with me. It varies from day to day what we eat; today it was bread with jam, a pear, and maduro con queso, or fried ripe plantain with cheese.
7:30: it's already pretty stinking hot when I meet Holly (fellow volunteer from the US) at one of the corners of the towns triangle-shaped center for the leisurely 30 min walk to work. We must keep our cameras out, because there are always iguanas, birds, flamingos, and lava lizards to see along the way!
I feel lucky to be here volunteering at el centro de crianza, the tortoise breeding center here on Isabela, for two weeks (just started week two!), plus my mom is meeting me here and we will get to see more of Isabela together. I am staying with a host family and there are other volunteers around, plus a group of marine biology students from the University of Miami. So far I am having an amazing time!
My weekday schedule goes something like this:
6:40: Even after my current usual of falling asleep around 9pm, it is still sometimes hard to get out of bed. I give myself 5 mins max before I do the normal waking up things like brush my teeth, smother myself in sunscreen, and make sure I have everything I need in my backpack for the morning - more sunscreen, plenty of water, my hat, my camera, house key, etc.
7am: The grandmother of my host family, makes and eats breakfast with me. It varies from day to day what we eat; today it was bread with jam, a pear, and maduro con queso, or fried ripe plantain with cheese.
7:30: it's already pretty stinking hot when I meet Holly (fellow volunteer from the US) at one of the corners of the towns triangle-shaped center for the leisurely 30 min walk to work. We must keep our cameras out, because there are always iguanas, birds, flamingos, and lava lizards to see along the way!
8-11:45ish: TORTOISE TIME!!! First of all, there is a difference between a turtle and a tortoise. Turtles are aquatic creatures, whereas tortoises spend all their time on land. The tortoises, the other volunteers, and the people who actually work at the breeding center, Fernando and Pancho, are all great company. Fernando and Pancho don't speak much English, which is great because it means I get to practice my Spanish! Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are feeding days, and the tortoises go nuts as we bring them their food. It's brought into their corrals in a wheelbarrow, and for the big ones we have to bait the tortoises away from the gate with giant leaves so they don't block the wheelbarrow’s path. It also helps for them to have something to munch on while we distribute the rest of the food. The larger tortoises especially will otherwise try to eat directly from the wheelbarrow and end up knocking it over.
We also rake inside the corrals to keep them tidy, not that the tortoises care but for the tourists. We sweep the pathways free of apples and leaves from the poisonous Manzanillo tree, which the tortoises can eat, but if even a leaf brushes against your skin, you'll feel a burning sensation. I repainted a lot of the tortoises’ numbers onto their shells to keep track of them, so if you visit soon, many of the blues and whites and greens on the big tortoises will have been painted by me! Sometimes, as I painted the number on one tortoise, another would come up really close behind me and chill there until I walked away. One even bumped his nose against me once, twice…and then as I got up to leave he opened his mouth really wide as if my knee would have made a nice snack. The tortoises are really sweet though, and apparently, Steven Spielberg got the inspiration for E.T. from the giant tortoises. I can believe it; E.T. is basically a magic naked tortoise. He even makes the same sounds as the tortoises when they hole up into their shell! Yes, there actually is a noise.
12:00-3pm Our stomachs are growling and we head to a restaurant for lunch. The program has a partnership with some of the restaurants on the island, so we get to eat for free! It's also the hottest time of day, so afterwards I usually chill at the International Outreach Initiative headquarters in a hammock with some water to wait out the heat.
3-7pm: So far I have mainly spent this time snorkeling or with my host family. Concha de Perla is a snorkeling area very close by and no guide is needed. I have also been to Tintoreras with a guide, and I have some pics here from my waterproof camera before it died. Las tintoreras was amazing. We got to see blue footed boobies and penguins from the boat, and apparently the penguins are very lazy hunters and they just follow the boobies if it seems like they found a good spot to fish. We also went snorkeling on the tour, and saw sharks, rays, giant sea turtles, and had a seal and a penguin swim under us!! I tried to take pictures underwater, but they didn't turn out very well because I couldn't really see what I was taking pictures of.
3-7pm: So far I have mainly spent this time snorkeling or with my host family. Concha de Perla is a snorkeling area very close by and no guide is needed. I have also been to Tintoreras with a guide, and I have some pics here from my waterproof camera before it died. Las tintoreras was amazing. We got to see blue footed boobies and penguins from the boat, and apparently the penguins are very lazy hunters and they just follow the boobies if it seems like they found a good spot to fish. We also went snorkeling on the tour, and saw sharks, rays, giant sea turtles, and had a seal and a penguin swim under us!! I tried to take pictures underwater, but they didn't turn out very well because I couldn't really see what I was taking pictures of.
7pm-10: Dinner with my host family is around 7. They had a very hard time with the concept of me being vegetarian, as I'm the first one they've ever hosted. We went through the list of almost every type of meat and seafood available plus potatoes, and they were so relieved to find out I ate eggs, cheese, and milk. After dinner, a lot of times my 9 year old host sister Ariana and I play with Google maps on my tablet, which she calls her “mini-compu” because I have a keyboard for it. She loved looking up where I live in Baltimore and thinks my university, University of Redlands, is the prettiest in the world. Now we're on to randomly searching for countries, the latest being Russia, which has a lot more beautiful beaches than I realized! Also full disclosure, sometimes I don't actually stay up till 10...I've been to bed as early as 8:30, on a day we had blackouts on and off during the evening.
This is actually the part of my gap year I have been most self conscious of telling people about because definitely more than actual volunteering this is voluntourism, where you scoop out more money than you'd like to do something really cool in a really cool place. But in the end, I have no regrets and the experience has been completely worth it.
This is actually the part of my gap year I have been most self conscious of telling people about because definitely more than actual volunteering this is voluntourism, where you scoop out more money than you'd like to do something really cool in a really cool place. But in the end, I have no regrets and the experience has been completely worth it.