I guess it's customary for me to have to go to the hospital here since I had to go to the one back in Quito.  But at least this time it wasn't bad bacteria, an intestinal infection, or a parasite, but instead a whole new experience for me.  So here's how my day went:  took the 3ish hour boat ride from Isabela to San Cristobal (my home island) where I was curled up into a ball resting for most of the trip, returned to my house for some vegetable rice & of course jugo, sprawled across my bed & slept for another 3 hours, then in the evening went to the beach with my family, and lastly returned home to shower before church and dinner.  My family doesn't normally go to church but the day was the 8th anniversary of my host mom's dad's death so most of the family was going including my mom's 7 siblings and their kids.  So about almost an hour in to the Catholic service the priest starts burning sage or some other kind of plant as a purification process to cleanse the church of any evil, I think.  At this time we were all kneeling, when suddenly a more noticeable pain arises in my stomach and a weird sensation rapidly grows in my head with blackness edging in to encompass my vision.  Later I opened my eyes to hear people yelling my name, "Carolina Carolina!"  I was picked up by the shoulders with my hair flipped over in my face & seated on the bench behind me.  However I fainted again and woke to my mom on my right side & a man on my left holding me up to stand.  We walked to the hospital and that helped me regain consciousness.  I won't go into detail about the next 4 hours in the hospital, but at midnight I was able to leave.  As I got up a wave of nausea hit me and yeah....  Through all of this though half of my family was thinking I was pregnant (it's customary for people here to start having kids around 17-20 years old) and the other half thought I was possessed by demons since I fainted as the priest was in the cleansing process, moving the burning plant up and down like he was painting a wall.  So while I was in the hospital in and out of sleep, I was murmuring, "no estoy embarazada y no estoy con diablos".

Now as part of my recuperation, my mom has me on a strict diet of lentils, fish, and eggs to help with my anemia since during spring break I wasn't able to get protein & iron rich foods thanks to the poor planning of our wonderful & super helpful coordinator in Galapagos, but I will do my best to not elaborate on her charming aristocratic American personality.  So anyways my mom has been keeping a close eye on me making sure I get plenty of rest & drinking up her all natural jugo de remolacha and te de manzanilla at meals.  The 1st drink is another Harry Potter potion but not quite as delicious as the other one I talked about in my previous post.

                          jugo de remolacha         te de manzanilla            manzanilla plant

 

Testing the Limits

As part of my spring break I went to Santa Cruz, and on one of those days we took a panga boat out just beyond the harbor and slowed the motor down to a rumble.  Then the captain threw a pair of old gym sneakers in the water and instantly there were Galapagos sharks buzzing around getting at the shoes.  Any guesses as to why this erratic behavior?  Think about the location, the island's main harbor for boat trafficking which thus includes fishing boats.  Bingo!  The fishermen clean their fish here and throw leftovers overboard where the sharks have learned from repetition to listen to the sound of the motor, watch the boat slow down, wait for droppings over the side, and CHOMP!  These Galapagos sharks look similar to bull sharks and were about 6-7 ft long and say mmm 10 of them in total.  These are some waters you don't want to swim in.  After seeing the aggressive behavior of these guys, we hopped over to a place called Shark Channel which hosts some much more tranquil and lackadaisical white tip reef sharks.  These guys were about 5.5-6 ft in length and say in total 15 that were hanging around the mouth of this narrow channel.  Now this was awesome, going face-to-face and having sharks swim up behind me and swim around me.  At one point my guide grabbed me and took me to where a sea turtle was chillin w/ some sleeping sharks under the rocks, and then the captain dragged me over to a shy but persistent octopus hiding under and holding on to the thick shells of his last couple of meals despite how hard we tried to pry away the shells.  A little while later we boarded the boat and began removing our snorkel equipment.  As everyone was putting their gear away, a humongous sea turtle floated up out of no where.  Before much could be said, I threw back on my goggles and jumped over board in search of this mammoth creature.  Scared by all the noise, the turtle disappeared.  So I returned back to the panga boat but was keeping hawk eyes out for the moment the turtle would have to surface for air.  That moment didn't take too long and I made a 2nd escape from the boat.  This time I was in luck, executing a more sly approach while swimming to the turtle keeping my disturbance to a minimum and then succeeded in getting snapshots.  Once again I reboarded the boat to be taken to our last cite of the day.  As everyone was disembarking, the captain held me back and the 2 of us stayed on board until the others were all off.  We proceeded to return back to the place where we saw the sea turtle, and snorkeled some more spotting 3 sea turtles and 2 marble rays.  So half an hour later we decided to get back to the rest of the group before our absences were noted and as we began pulling the anchor up it got stuck.  There was a slight entanglement of the anchor line in the props, so the captain jumped in the water for a better look as I lifted up the motor.  It was a quick fix and we raced back to where we dropped the others off.  As the captain pulled up to the dock, I lept off, tied the boat up to a makeshift cleat, and we took off towards the trees.  The was a bizarre site, us running all on ankle-breaking rocks, me in my bathing suit and sneakers alongside a guy who's barefoot in his underwear.  After 15 minutes of running on rocks through shrubs and a muddy kind of sediment, we caught up to a cliff where the group was swimming in a peaceful lagoon w/ rock ledges on either side.  But the excitement wasn't over yet, the captain again dragged me to a rock about 33 ft up on the cliff and persuaded me to jump off.  He did it flawlessly, and the students below were cheering me on with a "sweet Caroline bum bum buh".  That sealed the deal and I took a leap of faith as far out as I could from the cliff, past the death defying rocks below me.  I plunged into the clear translucent water and bobbled to the surface like a cork with only a slight sting on my butt.  So a little bit of bragging rights here as I was the first (really second to the captain, but hey he's a local) and one of the only ones from everyone there to jump at that height.  One time wasn't enough so the captain then took me to another rock even higher!  This one at say 37ish ft took a longer time for motivation, but pressured by the call that we would be leaving soon and the fact that the rock I was standing on was pretty hot, once again I found myself plummeting downward making sure to point my toes and keep my surface area to a minimum (aka staying pretty straight which helps with the impact into the water).  The stinging itself wasn't as bad on the 2nd jump since my technique was better, but I also got the experience of some unwanted seawater in places it didn't need to be.  If you've every had a gnarly wipeout from surfing and managed to get seawater all the way up your butt crack then you know about the sensation that I'm talking about.While the others preferred to keep to the shallows, the thrill and rush of jumping off a cliff is incredible!  On the other hand this got me some respect from the guides haha. 

I made a spontaneous decision to go night diving last night at two places, one called Tijeretas and the other Caragua, a 90 year old sunken ship modeled similar to the Titanic.  I was desperately hoping to witness a small but controlled feeding frenzy of sharks, but unfortunately that didn't happen (there may have been sharks but our dive lights only permitted us to see 15 ft in the direction in which its pointed).  But there were tons of cool organisms that welcome the darkness of night to slither out of their daytime hiding spots.  There was only a handful of us diving, half of us working on dive certifications and the other half just for the thrill, and we got pretty lucky I'd say on the conditions:  26 degree Celsius water (although I was braced with a 5 mil on top of my dad's sharkskin & underarmor, but also brought gloves, hood, & spring suit to put on top of the 5 mil just in case), some wave action (but only noticeable at the surface), a little bit of current, and very little suspended sediment.  So we get in the water and we each turn on our lights, and somehow as the only person who hasn't done a night dive yet I naturally get the "stubby" light, aka the light that is barely kickin.  But whatever, I just used that as an excuse to get really close to everything like the 4ish sea turtles (green and black morphs), red eyed octopuses, an eagle ray, Pacific mutton hamlet, scrawled filefish, Panamic graysby, breeding Panamic sergeant majors (different from other b/c of their dark blue wash), a couple of timid mottled soapfishes, Panamic soldierfish, three banded butterflyfishes, a shit ton of Pacific creole fish, among others.  Also there's the sponges and ahermatypic corals that come out to feed like black corals, polychaete worms, and zooanthids but I focused more on the fish.  During this incredible dive me and my dive buddy (which also happened to be her birthday & lived with my mom and host family last semester, so my mom threw her a party earlier that day where we all gorged on wine, juice, and all sorts of vegetarian goodies (we're both vegetarians), and lots of cake & sweets; only to be followed by hanging outside the house nursing our full bellies and filling the air w/ our laughing) separated some from the group & turned off our lights.  We found ourselves floating in a sea of stars, lights dazzling all around us.  This light is from the tiny creatures that migrate up from the depths at night emitting a self-produced light called biological luminescence, or bioluminescence for short.  Drifting all around us, they dotted our outlines allowing us to be temporary constellations in the sea.  With every movement, a new constellation.  Not wanting to get to far from the group in the pitch blackness and after sharing this experience, we rejoined the others and could now cross this off our bucket lists.  The rest of the dive was just as enlightening and while I'd like to write more, I have to go pack for my boat which leaves in an hour.

Shark stories at Leon Dormido:

Leon Dormido, aka Kicker Rock, is the most popular dive site in San Cristobal with its abundance of life, particularly the sharks.  To the Galapagenouns this rock that shoots out of the water looks like a sleeping lion, the English translation of leon dormido, and to some Americans it looked like someone kicking a rock hence the name.  I've had 2 good days of diving here, the most recent this past Thursday.  The first dive involves going down 20 m to the sandy bottom of a channel that cuts through this ginormous rock about 3 or so miles off the eastern coast of the island.  The first time I did this dive I felt like I was swimming against a wall of water while wearing a 5/4 wetsuit; the current was that strong.  But the second time there was less of a current and better vis.  With my underdeveloped hobby of fish identification, I could include a detailed list of all the fish I saw with their latin names But I'd rather not bore those reading this.  Awaiting for our descent to the bottom are Galapagos, black tip reef, and white tip reef sharks between 4 & 5 ft long.  During my most recent dive, AGHHHHHH!!!!!!  It was one of the most thrilling experiences I've had!  Not only was I swimming after these sharks, but others would swim right towards me and get crazy awesome close  (from this frontal view their heads look a little like a bull shark's)!  I guess they could sense my inner fish, fearing me less than the other divers.  It was very tempting to reach out and touch them like all the other animals here, but again you're not suppose to disrupt the wildlife here.  The sensation around these guys is incredible, no fear.  Instead of fear or anxiety, I was amazed but very relaxed & wanted to get as close as possible to the sharks.  I think a balance of emotions w/ swimming technique allows a closer interaction among divers & sharks.  Sharks have neuromasts for electrical sensing and pores covering their heads and lateral line which are glycoproteins that aid in the detection of muscle contractions and heartbeat among a few other functions.  So I proposed that maintaining a steady heartbeat by controlling my emotions & swimming smoothly in an energy efficient way would optimize my opportunity to engage in a closer interaction.  I put this hypothesis into action and it worked for me, hopefully also with future dive encounters w/ sharks.  Ok, but for each day of diving we do 2 dives, so the 2nd dive was along a vertical rock wall where you can see hammerheads.  Unfortunately the vis for this dive wasn't as great and I only saw 7 at a distance.  But the apex of this dive is swimming in the middle of a giant bait ball of black striped salema.  A word of caution goes out to those who stray too far, you may get engulfed and isolated in a maze by these small fishes and lose your sense of direction.

Other good uses of large cruise boats:

This time of the year here is pretty popular for tourists to visit by boat and plane (the only 2 ways to visit).  But the beach across from my university has direct access to the harbor so there are usually boats anchored just beyond the no boating zone (that restriction is taken with a grain of salt, as I almost became sushi once while snorkeling).  So on Women's Day (yes, such a thing exists here but thank goodness it's not a replay of Valentine's day) a couple of friends (mostly chics) and I swam a little more than a half mile out to a small can buoy.  Once we were out there we decided, "hell it's a holiday, why not jump off the top of this small cruise ship?"  So we climbed up on the boat's zodiac, to climb up on to the boat (only inhabited by a few workers at the moment & no tourists), only then to climb up to the top floor.  This was a good opportunity to check the surf at the next headland over, Punta Carola, which by the way was a few feet over head.  But to fulfill our half-joking comment, I looked for a suitable spot to jump from, one where the floors beneath didn't jet out too much from the third floor.  Quickly after searching I found a good spot on the port side just behind the bow where the floors below only exceeded 1 or 2 feet farther out than the top floor.  So naturally the only guy with us wanted to be the first to jump, immediately after selecting this spot without so much as saying a word.  Followed by me and another gal (me holding down my top), and after some persuasion we were able to convince the last two gals to follow.  Its about a 30 ft drop of sheer awesomeness plunging into the clear tropical water below.  This was followed by me demonstrating several backflips off the side of the zodiac to try and teach the other gals, and a while later the setting sun forced us to swim back to the beach to rejoin the others.  Sadly I don't have any documentation of this, but maybe next time I'll remember to carry my underwater camera with me.

And now I'm drinking a drink that my mom made, but is normally drinkin (is that even correct grammar?) on November 12 for Day of the Dead.  When I first looked at this giant bowl, it looked like it some kind of thick, purply potion with chunks of something that could have come straight out of Harry Potter.  Not wanting to be rude, I took her mug full of this saucy drink and took a gulp closing my eyes not sure what to expect.  My first swig was like taking a crappy shot of tequila, very very quick in case I wasn't too hip on the flavor.  Despite the look and somewhat alcoholic smell, this drink wasn't too bad and after my 2nd sip my mom preceded to give me a few ladle fulls more.  From what I can get from this drink is that it has purply pineapple, peaches, and cinnamon but I think there's more. 

Anyways this Friday I leave for island hopping to 2 other islands, Santa Cruz and Isabella, for my spring break.  Eventually I'll blog about it when I get back.  Until then salud y chao!

Galapagos shark

 

Black striped salema bait ball

 

Female Pacific Green Sea Turtle

 

Galapagos shark again

My Galapagos niece handing me my mug of Day of the Dead potion

GALAPAGOS - SAN CRISTOBAL - A WHOMPING SLICE OF DARWIN HEAVEN

Yikes!  I haven't written in 5 weeks, but (1) there's lots to do to enjoy the special place I'm in and (2) the Internet takes me back to the 90s when we all had dial up connection.  The Internet could compete with a tortuga.... my money is on the tortuga winning.  So yea also explains the lack of pics.  If it's not already on there, you should add Galapagos to your bucket list, the flora and fauna are endemic and the interaction with them is surreal.  Especially for me in the water, I go beserk with all the fish!  Being able to identify most of them definitely adds to the thrill and whether I'm getting nibbled by them (tiny territorial damselfish defending their algal patches), or having fish swim so close to me that I can just reach out and touch them (like Spinster wrasse of Mexican hog fish), or best yet diving around the bottom of a rock enclosed channel with sharks (white tip reef, black tip reef, and Galapagos), which I've gotten to do twice now, is wicked sweet!  Being in the water with these guys is an inspiring feeling, a connection to nature and a realization just how talented these creatures are in simplistic ways (whenever I swim with sea lions they make me feel like a tortuga next to them embarassingly lacking their graceful, agile, and swift swimming technique or when I place my hand on the carapace of a sea turtle to swim alongside it and feel how mellow these dudes are).  While I won't go heavy into all the fantastic marine animals, although I could in a heartbeat, I'll list just a couple of the cool and some endemic creatures hanging around this joint:  Galapagos sea lions, Galapagos fur seals, Galapagos penguins, a plethora of whales, sharks, and fish, marine iguangas, blue footed boobies, red footed boobies (haven't seen the Nazca booby yet), frigate birds (yes, those that blow up their red chests to attract females and are kleptoparasitic so they steel food from other birds), sea and land tortugas, rays, and lots of other birds.  Conveniently I met a guide who helps me build up my knowledge arsenal on species identification, behavior, and habitat when my professors and id books have reached their max limit.  This info also helps in those occasional moments where I'd rather not be attacked or stuck in a crossfire between animals, like when I'm at the beach and get surrounded by young but big and hormonal male sea lions who are on the verge of fighting each other.

And by host mom is absolutely great!  They have a strong accent here on the islands so it makes interpreting a little difficult, but she's able to manage my pescatarian diet and is a chef at one of the restaurants here.  One of her favorite things to say to me is, "Carolina gordita es bonita", thus always giving me enough food for 2 or 3 of me.  We have a simplistic humble home that she keeps well tidied and is perfect for me.  She's taken me to her land up in the arriba which are the highlands of the island for a picnic where we roasted whole fishes over a fire and stuffed ourselves full till we had to be rolled down the road back to town.  We've also gone to the only fresh water lake in the archipelago and the land turtle reservoir where the tortugas range from the size of an egg (literally) to the size of a boulder.

This is all I can write about now, have a fear that if I include too much stuff I'll have probs uploading.

Galapagos shark at Leon Dormido

Hawksbill sea turtle 

 

view of Leon Dormido from the arriba

 Mexican hogfish