Salute

It's about that time to call the Galapagos yet another adventure in the books. I've taken a flight a couple days early to get home soon than expected. But at the same time I feel I came and conquered what needed to be done. I helped with as much GIS stuff as possible and locked in the Google workshop in Sept. It was a great experience and quite different from the norm. Between living/working in a forgein country and I admit there was quite the mental game of being constrained to an island, I have learned alot.

On top of that I was able to complete my Open Water Diver (OWD) certification that due to ear issues was up in the air. The doc helped out with that one but it was a great experience overall. It's an extremely odd feeling being somewhere that humans aren't supposed to be. On that note I'm going to describe my first and second dive...although three and four were 100% better than the first two.

My ears due to the pressure felt like someone first slapped by ears at the same time as a cruel joke then left their hands there and continued to push on my head...All the while my eyes feel like their getting sucked out of my head because of mask pressure that I should of been releasing more often...For that I burst the blood vessels above my eyes like I was out till 4am puking...This is on the way down by the way. So I'm down and now suddenly everything is fine, no pain, nothing just awesome stuff to see. But of course air doesn't last forever so we make our ascent and all of the above start to replay. I get to the surface and my nose is bleeding for the first time in my life...I can't hear anything including myself talk and the pain in my ears is accompanied by a hissing air sound shooting out of my hear at a pace that feels similar to a jet engine. This is what defined to me that the ocean is not a human environment and why we probably crawled out of it in the first place some 2 million years ago.

Dive three and four to Daphne and North Seymour Islands were great. Since I've never dove before my ears have never been through the hell of that much pressure before. But once was enough and my ears sharply adjusted. Diving is oddly awesome and you get to see soooo many things, maybe it was because I'm in the Galapagos but to see a variation throughout the world wouldn't be a bad thing to do.
After diving I wrapped up what needed to be done at work and started to do my last of things. I got my last seco de pollo at the place that knows thats all I order. I went and got my last empanada at the municipal market then went and got my final dessert at my favorite bakery.

As of now I'm sitting in Quito staring out my window at a massive mountain capped in white towers that this message is being sent through. I arrived here at about 3pm, got my room at the hotel, and quickly headed out on the town. I found an open art market with super sweet paintings that I'd love to hang up in my future house. I then wandered around eating street fruit and chocolate buns : ) but then headed to an artisian market. They sell literally the exsact same things as every shop in Santa Cruz does but about $10-15 dollars cheaper.

The plan now is to sleep get up at the crack of dawn for my Miami flight at 8:40am then off to Minneapolis after a massive layover. I CANNOT wait to see rach and eventually the roomies and fam.

I am singing OUTTTTTTTTTTTTT, salute Galapagos

Tick. Tock.

Internets wide open today at the station...I'm not sure whats going on...but it's a GREAT day.

intuition vs. intellect

Your My Philosophy

I went for my scuba certification this weekend to try and wrap up my trip here. Started with book work on Friday which prepared me for the two open water dives on Saturday. I woke up at the crack of dawn (4:30am) in order to get on the boat by 5:30am. We were headed to the island of Floreana, about two hours by boat almost directly south of Santa Cruz.


The water was the choppiest I've ever seen, and we were in a smaller boat that I've been on as well. It was soo bad that out of the 8 people on the boat we would fly off the crest of a wave, 4 of us would get about 4 feet of air (close to a simulated weightlessness in a plane but cheaper) and then SLAM back down no longer perched on our seats. Much like a tangle of Barrel of Monkeys we slowly moved back to our seats just to have it all happen again next swell. While that was bundles of fun we watched the sunset come up as we pull into our dive sit at 8am. Named Punta Comorant dive site one was right off the northeastern tip of Floreana to the East of Devils Crown. Curious sea lions are greeting our boat as the water is clear enough to see the 10 meters to the bottom.

Our dive was to start in the shallow 8 meter area while slowly descending to a maximum depth of 14 meters for the first dive. I'm suiting up ready to get all Navy Seal on the world and enter the water commando style dropping in backwards off the boat. I think pictures would sum up the rest of the day better than me rambling...so enjoy.

 

literally a wall of fish



hammerhead

Overall it was a pretty crazy experience because breathing underwater is quite the feeling seeing that your in a place that humans shouldn't be. You have to be calm while not freaking out so you use up all your air. On top of just crusing around the bottom I was being tested/skills checked for doing things like taking my mask off underwater and putting it back on, or taking out my respirator n just blowing bubbles. We ended up diving twice which were awesome spots to see some wildlife. I just took my exam and passed with flying colors. My ears took a toll however, on the way down the pressure is redicoulous but once you equalize them your content for quite some time. But then on the way back up I felt like someone was ripping the inside of my ear out with a tweezers. Not the most pleasant feeling and it was bad enough that I couldn't hear very well when I got back after the two hour boat ride. As I type this now, I still feel like I'm living in my head...So on that note I didn't dive on Sunday and plan to dive again on Wednesday instead...hopefully my sinuses cooperate because I would really love to take a break and head out of the office on Wednesday. Times winding down and I'm looking forward to getting home seeing and squeezin the people who I miss most.

Google Workshop

The first of the month is always a great day : ) but today on top of the first I had an epic email in my inbox.

Daniel has heard back from Google and after deliberation they have offered two spots for their Geo for Good Workshop. GUESS WHAT THAT MEANS!!! I'm invited to represent the Charles Darwin Foundation at their workshop being offered in September out in Mountain View, California. Although funds aren't provided for the both us, I'm currently trying to find funding through the University while encouraging them that this will benefit not only myself but the University as well as the collaboration between the Geography Department and the CDF.

The workshop presents Google's mapping tools and their application to non-profit organizations. By spatially enabling non-profit's decision making the power of data backed solutions sky rockets. Whether it be conservation efforts in Uganda or showing the impacts of genocide in Darfur, Google is proving to organizations that their tools can create positive change by taking on a geographic perspective to issues. Currently focusing on Africa, Google wants to expand their outreach to South America and what better than to start with the biologically complex Galapagos Archipelago. Their goal is to help and implement their toolsets to create a larger awareness of this sensitive ecosystem. By increasing awareness and data management it should empower better conservation management practices.

Super neat stuff, can't wait to see what comes of all of it but you have to start somewhere and this isn't a bad place to begin!


*Found this awesome photo rendering program on my computer. I haven't become that good at painting but the previous post as well as this the photos were taken on Isabela then changed to look like colored pencil drawings!

Villamil Artwork

My oh My

As the weekend comes to a close I've got to say it was one of the most relaxing places all summer.

This weekend the whole group decided to head south to a large island called Isabela. It's the one that looks like an L in the Archipelago. Taking off early on Friday our ferry left at 2 to blue skies and the sun on our backs. This boat, much like the one I took to San Cristobal has about 15 people on it getting pulled around by a 3, 200hp engines. I'm enjoying the huge swells of the open ocean, as this German guy looking white in the face insisted on coming to the back of the boat. Two minutes later he was throwing up and a half hour later I have this man on the right dry heaving over the side while Joe is now to my left is regretting eating lunch an hour ago. As I pretend not to smell the grossness surrounding me, were cruising by these massive volcanic cones sticking out of the open ocean. To get a sense of size...imagine a football stadium about a mile long and equally wide sliced open like a pie, delicately coated in a layer of bird shit. Huge features that puts into perspective this island chain and whats going on.

We cruise into the port of Villamil, the only town on the entire island. Mind you this town is only about 2 miles long almost entirely on the coast. But as we pull into the harbor penguins curiously greet the boat at the same time looking at a massive beach with palm trees waving in the wind. I already feel far removed from Santa Cruz which is great. We eagerly get picked up by some guy who says his hostel is the best! Doubtful, but we went anyways which brought us to the outskirts of town to this small hostel with about 5 rooms. Joe and I got our own rooms, had a kitchen, bathroom, shower, wifi, the Olympics on tv, and hammocks strung on anything that would support the weight of a person. Not bad for $10 dollars a night. Still antsy with light in the day Joe and I set out to look around. This town is strictly centered on the people who come for the weekend. Bars, hostels, hotels, and restaurants...that's about it. Were walking down the main strip and stumble upon this bright pink surf hostel that has the best atmosphere in the entire Galapagos. We quickly put our names down for Saturday and Sunday and planned to move in the next morning.

I wake up on Saturday to pouring rain...the most we've seen the entire trip down here. But we were eager to go and took a taxi to Casa Rosala our new place. Our room was basic, two beds, no bath, or shower. The lobby I would say is more like the ultimate living area. It had a living area with leather couch's, a huge kitchen with island in the middle, dinner table, a bathroom that looks more like a giant roman washroom. As instrumental hip hop is bumping at the perfect level I sank into the comfort of a real couch and read as many Dr. Seuss books as I could. As the rain lightened up I walked into town for some break fast...This town by the way has roads made of sandy gravel, so I haven't worn shoes all weekend...again the best town ever. As alot of people were discouraged by the weather, I put on my yogo attitude on (You Only Galapagos Once) and went snorkeling at a small cove about a two mile walk. Not much to see but it was great cruising around in the chilly water. From there the weather turned from rainy to cloudy...which was enough for the rest of the day to walk around and check out the beach. I also somehow taught myself to slackline on the line rigged up by the outdoor bar.

By the time the night rolls around our room is soaked flooded and smells like clean laundry...something broke in the room next door and creeped into our room. Lucky for us we got upgraded to a pad on the second floor with a balcony overlooking the ocean. BOOM. However, a rat ran in our room as we were quietly watching a movie...not cool it scared the hell out of us. So now we have the ladder of our bunked bed conveniently blocking the space under the door.

Today we woke up slow to a cloudy yet not rainy sky. I slacked in the morning jamming to some tunes as the tide was coming in. From there we were headed up to a place called the "Wall of Tears." Back in Isabela's history the Ecuadorian government tried setting up a penal colony for prisoners. Using an old US Military base, operating as a radar station during the construction of the Panama Canal, they constructed a prison to house 300 inmates and 30 guards. The man in charge was an odd fella and decided to have his prisoners build a wall, yet with no reason why. Just a wall, that still stands, about 25 feet high and 50 yards long. They were to built it, disassemble it, then build it again. Aimless work to further torture the sanity of the prisoners. Hiking a pretty unmaintained trail past the wall we were able to get on top of one of many old parasitic cones littering the coast of Isabela. With a view spanning over the entire, now dwarfed city, we had a surprisingly picturesque view of how uninhabited as well as large this island actually is.

Cruising back down the hill on the way back we were flying by giant land tortoises, probably could of went over some of them but that's probably highly frowned upon. Beat from hiking, and biking, I slacked some more and to a point where I can now walk backwards. But as I tried not to nap I quickly fell asleep in the hammock. This island paradise has more hammocks than it does people.

Between the beach, hammocks, bakery, food, supa good Internet, slackline, hostel bar, one of the coolest places I've showered, best place I've went to the bathroom, palm trees, atmosphere, and more Isabela is thee coolest island ever.