San Cristobal - Galapagos, Ecuador 2009

April 22nd. 2009
Woke up, Ran 5 miles, and put on my 'we're all in this together' earth shirt and set out to school in the best mood ever.
Morning was a typical morning, I didn't have classes so there was a lot of photos, internet, reading and beach.

"Aubrey you have to race...it's at 3:00...you simply have to" I was told numerous times during lunch.
Apparently there was a really big event planned on the Malecon - a running race to promote reducing fossil fuel use and to encourage walking and biking around town. I was pretty psyched at the thought of some competition so I walked the mile hill home to get my running shoes.

Amanda and I got to the 'event' at 2:45, which was silly because if it was supposed to start at 3 - we should know by now that means 4. We looked around and saw dozens of little kids in their school uniforms, frolicking around to the american carnival music that was playing. (Really....if I closed my eyes it was like I was at the big E). They did an assortment of weird stretches that I've never seen before, I was pretty sure that some of them might cause serious damage if done too frequently.
I was pretty sure that I had gotten the wrong idea about the race, and was very sure that I wasn't going to be running with the 8-10 year olds who were present. Then the Navy boys arrived. There were maybe 16 of them, about my age, maybe a bit younger and they were all eyes on the random Americans who were cluelessly hanging around, taking video clips of whatever was going on around us that didn't make much sense - which was everything.

After a few minutes 10 of my friends showed up with cameras in hand ready to cheer me on. After all the little school kiddos finished it was time for the 'open age' group. The Navy guys lined up and I was told to go out in front of them.
"Quiero correr con los hombres" I repeated several times. "No necessito ir primero" It took some doing to convince the headstrong, macho Ecuadorian man in charge that I wanted to run with the boys - since no other girls were racing - and that I most certainly did not want a head start.

The race offical yelled "GOOOOO" and holy hell that's what those Navy guys did - they took off like a bat out of hell for the first 1km loop of the 3km race. I was trailing behind, certain that this was going to be horribly embarrassing. THEN, it happenend....we turned the first corner after the first loop, I was still behind and starting to cramp up - when I saw five guys walking...... Walking! They took off way to hard and now were hunched over with side stiches.
"Woohooooo" I thought as I passed them. That happened a lot over the next two laps....I felt pretty bad ass, I'm not gonna lie. Every lap I passed the starting point my friends were yelling and screaming for me...I felt so supported it was amazing.

I finished 6th overall....and first for the women (obviously, I was the only one).
While waiting for awards I hung out with some cute little kids who were fascinated with my camera, and of course having their picture taken. At one point I think I had 6 kids laying on my back as I sat on the ground to stretch.
I received a medal, a t-shirt and a coupon for a day boat trip to three snorkeling places on the island (which I gave to Gabby, mi hermana).

Dinner was rocking. We sang to the best of the 80's that was on the radio, threw olives and laughed until my checks hurt.
After Dinner Patrick & Amanda K. gave us a VIP sneak peak of the song they have been practicing (They are playing in front of 1,000's of people here at the political rally in the big park.) They were incredible. And yet again, everyone went down to the classroom to support and cheer them on. We've become such a family. How on earth am I going to be able to say goodbye in two weeks? Ah. Happy thoughts. New Subject.

So. Life = Sweet.
Missin' everyone from back home - It's crazy to think I'll be back in one month.

Love
-Aubs

Another week of travel....Another week with no class....Another incredible Galapagos Adventure....

We spent three days in Santa Cruz, which is the most populated island in the archipelago.
We didn't waste anytime and got to exploring the town right away.
It didn't take long to stumble upon 'The Rock' - which had incredible quesadillas.
I didn't eat white rice for three days. (Which hasn't happened since December).
The first night we went all out. I enjoyed every ounce of the fabulous Quesadillas, Sushi, Pilsners, Margaritas, & 9 shot of Tequila that found their way to me. We went to Cafe Limon - which was a hopping little bar - or at least it was after we got there. Dancing the night away was incredible. Cassie & I closed down the bar and loudly made our way back to the hostel. We went to her room and hung out with a small crew - it was such a fun night.
However, our hike the next day in the highlands was slightly better than miserable. No regrets.

"Highlands Day" - should have been called "Day of wondering, being lost and staying confused"
We went hiking, kind of....until 15 minutes into the hike we turned around because our guide 'changed their mind' and decided we didn't have time to get where we were going. The bus also got lost and stuck on several different occasions. Thank goodness for the ability to take video clips on cameras.

"Tortuga Bay" - Long story short : If you go to Santa Cruz - go here. Mangroves, White-Tips, The softest sand in the world, Dribble Castles, Pelicans etc... A wonderful day with everyone.

YOLITA II. - BOAT TOUR

Rabida - Red sand beaches, cactus, hiking, snorkeling.

Sombrero Chino 'China Hat' - Fur seals, Sally-May Crabs (the really bright red ones), Galapagos hawks, Snuggling Sea Lions, Sunset, A random woman trying to spoon a sea lion, and good friends : )

Bartolome - The most photographed place in the Galapagos. You know that scene from 'Master in Commander' w/ Russel Crowe - when the doctor is out collected things, and he gets to this high point and looks to his left and sees one group of ships in one bay, and on the other side is the other group of ships - and he has to leave all his specimens to warn his captain. Well. I was there. & It was beyond incredible and beautiful.
We snorkeled here too! I was about 12 inches from a herd/gaggle/school of penguins swimming by! Definitly a life high point!

North Seymour - The island of birds. Never have I seen birds like this in my life. Frigates, Pelicans, Blue-Footed Boobies....EVERYWHERE. The blue-footed boobies nest on the ground, because they don't have any predators - so they were every ten feet or so trying to court each other. They pick up their feet one at a time and stomp them around, saying in bird language ' Hey pretty boobie bird lady....look at my blue feet, yeah, they're sexy....you know you want to nest in this really comfortable dirt with me..." It was so cool to see happening. The Frigates were everywhere too - with their red marshmellow things all puffed out on their chests - saying similar pick-up lines to the frigate lady birds.

Baltra - Last morning. Baltra has nothing. A Military Base & an Airport. Being at the airport was really strange. Well, it was familair only in the fact that nobody knew where we were supposed to be or what we were suppose to be doing. It was strange because it was the most people I have seen in one spot since Quito. it was so loud and overwhelming. Someone gave their 4 year old kid and whistle, and he was wondering around alerting everyone to the fact that he had a new, shiny and LOUD whistle. I mean, really? Come on. We finally had some direction and piled onto a bus - definitly over the maximum capacity, then to a ferry where all our stuff was through unsecured on the roof of it, then a jam packed two hour boat ride back home (to San Cristobal).

Highpoints:
-SNACKS!!!! (All the time)
-Girl Movie night 'Ever After'
-Sleeping under the stars for three nights
-Panga ride with Libby, Alex, Danny, Emily & Sam ----> When we filmed in short segments what will become a world famous oscar winning movie about a group of students were stalked and attacked by a group of Endemic Galapagos Monkeys. It was beyond hilarious. If anybody should star in a self-narrated adventure/survival series it should be Danny (As long as he wears his rambo bandana and broken aviators. Hilarious.

Is there really only 19 days left? How does that happen?

Un beso grande,
Aubs

Isabela
After 3.5 hours of roof-top boat travel.....with 4 of your most incredible and best friends......
80 huge waves that left us drenched with salt water.....and a pod of 500 traveling dolphins.....
We arrived to the island of Isabela.

This is the largest island in the archipelago (its looks like a sea horse on the map). When we got off the boat in Puerto Villamar I had not idea that the next six days would be the most amazing that perhaps I had ever had.
We snorkeled with penguins, stalked flamingos, hiked the second largest volcano crater in the world, had tea and bread snuggle parties, went skinny dipping in the ocean under the stars, walked barefoot on sand streets....it was amazing.

Fun Story:
So the hike to Sierra Negra & Volcan Chico was 16km in total (9ish miles). We set out with our trusty guide, and our group quickly spread out, everyone finding their own pace. The first hour and a half or so was walking along the rim of the 2nd largest crater in the world (9km by 10km in size). You could see different eruptions by the coloring of lava. It was wild. I popped in the I-Pod and found a pace so I could hike with no body in front of or behind me. This was the first time I've been alone, outside, for a long time. Had a quick lunch with the group and we all headed out for the last 1/2 to a lookout point - Volcan Chico. I was blazing over the volcanic rock on my own, pausing for great panoramics, attempting to follow the trail markings....which because we are in Ecuador....looked similar to bird-poop. Long story short, I wondered off the trail - or lack there of. It was a pretty scary minute or seven. I looked around and literally saw nothing, and no one.
Ended up finding my way - took lots of pictures - and headed back with Amanda and Lea, signifcantly behind everyone else because of our fun photo session! We also ended up mildly misplaced, because of a missing 'turn here' marker. So we walked back amongst a herd of tourists on horseback.....haha.

So. Isabela was unreal. Incredible. and all those other really powerfully greatly descriptive adjectives.

Life
The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land. ~G.K. Chesterton
That pretty much sums it up. With May just around the corner (how did that happen!?) I'm already starting to get nervous about returning home. I feel like its going to be a different world...because it will be. And that scares me.....and the worst part is nobody will understand. Ok. no more talking about that.

• Also on a 'Life' side note....“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain.

Friends
Not much more can be said beside I have the best friends here ever. ever. ever. (ever.)
We also have met some people by chance (and by people I mean the coolest couple ever who are sailing around the world).
It's funny how you can know so little about someone but feel like they have truly impacted a little bit of who you are and what you think.

Adventure
“Adventure is a path. Real adventure - self-determined, self-motivated, often risky - forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind - and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” - Mark Jenkins

Our next adventure is to Santa Cruz for three days..adn then a 4 day boat tour.

Peace, Love, Adventure, Dream, Laugh, and assorted other hip and inspirational words go here....
-Aubs

"We are going to sink" I said to Tiana-Rae as we both sat shin deep in water on the dive boat.
We looked at each other and our eyes said that we knew we were in some trouble.

To frame this story...You'll need a bit more background information.
Just another Saturday - Amanda, Patrick, T-Rae, Me and the other Aubrey set out for a day of diving.
We were joined by two guys traveling from Germany. The day seemed pretty normal - ocean was a bit choppy, but there was going to be incredible visibility. We get to Kicker Rock - and receive the worst dive briefing I have ever heard of. It consisted of what marine life we could expect to see - no depth, no clear route, no time, no emergency briefing, no anything of importance. (Red Flag #1). We then began setting up our gear, with zero space to do anything. We started our way to our drop off point - with people still setting up in the chop (Red Flag #2) Now, I'm not an experience boat captain or sailor, however, I did realize that when the 10 tanks we had on board for the second dive were all on one side of the boat we were pretty frikin' lopsided and were taking on water....a lot of water....None of the crew were doing anything, and they were not listening or understanding us when we were concerned (Red Flag #3). The next series of disorganized, chaotic events happened pretty quickly....but not too quickly that it could have all been avoided a thousand times (and by "it could have all" I mean - our boat sinking)

The engines ended up flooded, and all the crew were trying to fix them, putting all their body weight on the low side of the boat - while remaining to be completely oblivious to the fact that there were still divers on the boat. We helped and took care and communicated with each other - and thats the only reason we are all fine.

I remember holding up Amanda's tank so she could get into it - while with my other hand putting on T-Rae's last fin, while we were starting to pitch forward. As the boat hit the tipping point - literally - T-Rae rolled back into the water, I lounged forward jumping out and to the right of her....When we turned around I grabbed Amanda who was still in the boat as it was upside down and pulled her away from the boat, as T-Rae grabbed Aubrey and pulled her to us as well. We got in a group of four with linked elbows, fully inflated our BCs, put our snorkels in and accounted for the other members of our group.
(Thank you rescue training).

You know that movie that has the divers bobbing in the open ocean, left behind for a days? Well. That could have very easily been us - we were lucky enough that a Cruise Ship (The Tip-Top IV) was in the area and they were immediately in their panga boats assisting us and getting divers out of the water. (Which is why we didn't ditch our weight belts)

The crew did their best to recover personal belongings on the boat while we were fed Cheddar Cheese sandwiches and watermelon juice on the cruise ship. After a couple hours they were able to flip our boat back over and it was towed to shore behind the Tip-Top.

Needless to say....
This studying abroad thing has been an epic adventure.
However....I think I've had my fill of near death experiences for a while.

Because we are in Ecuador...and everything here is ridiculous.
The boat captain is going to jail for two weeks. I guess because of his ignorance handling the situation - there is now 100's of gallons of gasoline, and a bunch of gear and trash polluting the Marine Reserve. Interesting.

Peace Out,
One Rescue Diver with a Ridiculous Story to tell when she's an Instructor.

Sometimes I sit here and think about going back home....not in the way of wanting back home, but in the way of "what is it going to be like to transition back to life in Massachusetts, life in the States, life in little 'ol Southwick?"
Will it be tough to go back home, jumping into a life of responsibility and expectations? Will it be hard to not live across the street from a beach? Will I be able to eat a meal that doesn't have white rice in it and be content (that's an obvious yes!), What will it be like to not be with this group of people from breakfast to late at night every single day? Will I be a bad snuggler who hogs all the blankets.....whoa, sleeping with blankets? weird? So many things. In any case, it's still just March so I have some time to ponder these thoughts while I drink a batido (milkshake) on a beach somewhere.
Life in general here is so different. In good ways and bad. There are things I will never again take for granted at home. Things that we, at home don't even think about - - like Drinking Water & Electricity. These two things frequently go out here, with no notice and no type of communication as to how long it will last. Initially frustrating, now it's just part of life, part of life that I will always be conscience about upon returning home.

• Sidenote: If you are seriously drinking bottled water at home instead of from the tap, shame on you. I hope you realize how unbelievably lucky you are to have the luxury of drinking tap water that is SAFE and clean. I am living in an Archipelago of 25,000 people - who do not have that luxury and survive every single day by buying bottled water or boiling from the tap. I haven't brushed my teeth with tap water in over two months.

Something I think we (The US) can learn from the Galapagos is this simplistic lifestyle. There is a carefree, mellow attitude here that surrounds everything people do. The fast, chaotic and stressful ways of home are non-existent. I think it's important to realize that no matter what - things will get done and things will be OK. It is not worth anything and it is not good for anyone when people overwhelm themselves - that is when you end up reorganizing the things that truly matter (like family and loved ones) and they become de-prioritized, which is never ok. One thing I will walk away from this program with is a new appreciation for everything people who are lucky like us take for granted on a day to day, minute by minute basis. When you are feeling like you don't have all you want or you are unhappy - take a look at the things that really matter (your basic needs are beyond met, aren't they?) and all the unneccessary fluff you do have.... and be thankful.
Advice:
Travel to somewhere completely different, enrich your spirit, learn a language, have an ice cream cone, lay in the sun, watch the birds fly and the fish swim, hug your parents, make a homemade breakfast and appreciate all that is around you.
Much Love,
-Aubs