Friday, February 29, 2008: Leap Year Day

These days start the same. You know my drill. But this morning on the way out of the comedor, I find the marine iguanas have been seriously thinking about using inflatable lifeboats instead of swimming in the ocean. I get much better pix today of the marine iguanas in lifeboats! This is crazy!

The Library was a happening place this morning. A young woman, a student, who lives in the dorms where I live, is here reading her undergraduate thesis on ecotourism and its effect on marine life. It is 145 pages, and she will be giving a presentation on it on Monday, March 3.

Mandy is here using the Internet connection with her laptop. I told her today that I would definitely house sit for them while they are back in Ecuador.

Two persons came in looking for information on Galapagos bats. We had a total of three articles. I photocopied them and they were satisfied. All of the articles had good bibliographies so that will help them, but I still want to look in BioOne for more. Thank you ECSU and Smith Library!

The guy who came in before with Bryan Milstead, looking for all the world like Indiana Jones, is back and wanting a map of the island of Floreana this time. He lost his map, and will settle for a photocopy. He is digging around in the map case for a good map. Turns out this guy is Dr. Frank Sulloway from UC-Berkeley, a Darwin historian and all around Galapagos writer. The Library has a number of his articles, not the least of which is “Is Lonesome George really lonesome?”

Mandy strikes up a conversation with him, as Bryan has mentioned to her that “Indy” is here and working around the Station. Bryan has described him as: always wearing a green shirt and a big hat. Of course the big tip-off was that he was looking at maps. They talk about the Wittmer family and the mysterious deaths surrounding that name. He asks if there are any books on Floreana, and I just so happen to know where they are. I’m thinking 6 months here and I will know where everything is!

And that was just my morning in the Library! Sticking to my lunchtime routine, I go to the dorms to wash my hands. No water again! Cripes! But I have my stash of dehumidifier water so I can at least wash up for lunch.

At lunch, I sit with the guy who is the Head of BIOMAR and he asks me how the Library business is. I say Busy, and tell him all of the stuff that went on there already today without dropping any names. He indicates that he is glad that the Library is being used. Ah, me too!

I eat a quick lunch and I go back to the room to read. I have to say that Kurt Vonnegut definitely has his very own style of writing. His Galapagos is totally wild. Must be that I haven’t read Vonnegut in a long, long time. I think that he was certifiably crazy. Plus he always relates some character’s experience in his book to his being in the Vietnam War. These are the one or two gut-wrenching sentences that bring the early 60s back into focus for him, and for me. And I write no more on this subject.

I go back to work, open the Library at 1:40 PM and start in with a quick check on email. Luis, Head of Volunteers, has received my email saying that one of the dorm refrigerators is broken. I’d say! The door fell right off the hinges. There was water all over the floor as the frost in the freezer melted away.  Maybe I should write a book about this place using the Vonnegut writing style. On second thought, maybe not!

In the afternoon, 2 more people come in to the Library; one is returning his book, the other a student using the OPAC to her advantage and letting me know when she finds the call number of a book she wants.

I am working on a bibliography of items accessioned and cataloged for January and February. While I compile it, I double check my cataloging in the OPAC. I cataloged 24 items from scratch, added a few PDF copy 2s to the paper copy already in existence, and data entered two books; one on the natural history of Hawaii, the other an Autobiography of Chuck, er, Charles Darwin. Both were already on the shelf but not in the OPAC. In all, not too shabby, for my first time cataloging articles, books, reports and an atlas (all in Dewey!).

I have to shut the Library when nature calls, so I head back to the dorm bathrooms and see Mari while I am there. Tonight is the last night of a 3-night women’s round robin soccer tourney. Mari plays on the Station’s team and it is the consolation game, #3 plays #4. UNIGAL, Municipio, Policia, and Fundación Charles Darwin. I remember reading the email announcement on Wednesday, saying that there would be indoor futbol tourney. Of course, indoor futbol is a misnomer. It is not played indoors and to me it is not football, but soccer!

I ask her, What time is the game? 6 PM, I have to leave here at 5:30, she says. I tell her that I’m definitely going and I will be back in our room by 5:20. See you later.

No one comes into the Library from 4 to 5. I decide to type up the labels for the books that I cataloged, to process them on Monday morning. Sometime over the weekend, I will send my New Acquisitions bibliography out to Paola and Susana for their review, before I send it to the person who will send it to all of the FCD email addresses.

At 5:30, Mari and I start walking to town to the soccer court, and the CDF truck drives by. It stops and Mari and I climb in the back, happy to have the ride. We get to the Police station and there is a basketball/soccer court behind the police complex right on the water(!) There is a men’s game already in progress, and there is a little platform with chairs which passes for the grand stand. We sit and watch as more and more people arrive. I take a few pix. How can you not when this court has one of the best views of Academy Bay? You can see all of the tourist boats in the harbor, and Isla Santa Fe on the horizon. It is dusk and the onshore breeze keeps most of the biting insects away. It is quite the perfect setting.

The soccer game is played on the basketball court; 5 persons to a team, including the keeper (goalie) with a smaller than regulation size soccer ball. Even though the field is concrete and you might think that the players would play soft, but the game is actually played pretty hard and physical. In the game, the goalie can kick the ball into the opponent’s goal to score. Of course on a regulation soccer field this might happen, but I saw it happen on this basketball court/soccer field tonight. Any time the Station’s team almost scores, the Station women “in the stands” squeal. It’s so funny to hear their high pitch screaming. Any time the Station’s team actually scores, the guys from the Station who are standing at the end zone, do the wave! We certainly had fun, and the players played hard and well. Final score: Estación women 11, UNIGAL women 4. I think 75-80 people turned out to watch it. And of course it was a great game, esp. because we won.

When it is over, everyone runs out onto the court to congratulate the team. I give high fives all around. Great game! Great game! Etc. I tell Mari I’m going to head back and I leave the group. This is the first Friday night that I have been in town. There is a lot of activity. An artisans walkway that I have only ever seen closed (during the day) is open. I walk down the sidewalk and take a look. The stands have really ugly souvenirs for sale; little ceramic tortoises, flamingoes, penguins, iguanas, etc. I find a stand with necklaces. One is $3; 2 for $5. The necklace itself is waxed string, but there is a nut of some kind that is carved hanging from it. Again the images are of flamingoes, tortoises, dolphins, and frigate birds; some are flat, but I find one that is ½ barrel shaped. It has the word Galápagos carved on it too and I am out $3 as I pay and put it on to wear home.

Well now that I spent the money that I would have for dinner on a necklace, I definitely head to the Station. Because I will be walking back in the night, I have my flashlight with me. I can’t believe that it is not completely black and dark. I can see well enough to only turn my flashlight on occasionally. I walk in the middle of the road. There are so many speed bumps made of concrete (a nice light color easily seen this night) that I can negotiate the walk easily.

I am halfway from the Galapagos National Park gate to the Station when Juan Carlos bikes up from behind saying Hola Kris! I recognize his voice. He slows and we walk back together. He has not been feeling well as of late and came back to eat dinner. I am pretty hungry myself.

In the kitchen, he heats up some water for coffee and takes out his rolls and mozzarella cheese and makes a sandwich. I have cereal with raisins and peach juice with a real pear that I bought the other day at la tienda.

We talk about the words: spoon/cuchara and roll/empanada. He says Rolla? And I say, Roll. He says, Roll? and then gestures like a wheel rolling, I say Yes. Then he says, like Rock and Roll? And I have to say, Yeah, same word. He shakes his head, smiling. Yep! English sure is goofy.

I say Good night to him and leave him to his coffee and cheese sandwich. I’m going to go read. Ha! I write this blog. Mari is back from town and she and others are going to go back once the team has showered and dressed for a night on the town. It’s 11:10 PM, and they are ready to go out. Ah, to be young! For me, it’s time for Lalaland. Happy Leap Year!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008: Wheels!

Today started like any other day. I shower in the morning, and dress for breakfast. I go and eat my usual fare and open the Library and start working.

At 9 AM, I make the phone call to Graciela and finally she is there. Muy bien. She speaks English so it isn’t difficult to set up a time during lunch break to see the bike. She gives me a better description of the front of her house, so I will recognize it. Stone wall red bougainvillea hanging over it, with a wooden door. I will leave the Library at Noon, I tell her I will be there at 12:30. I have my $50 in my wallet, so I am all set.

Mandy comes in and I tell her that I am going to look at the bike today at lunchtime. She is happy for me, and I am happy for me, we are happy. At 11, the 747 flies overhead so I know that it is raining outside. Mandy has her bike outside, and I wonder if there is anything in it that shouldn’t get wet. Her laptop and backpack are inside, but her daughter’s plastic purse is in the front basket. It is okay to get wet. Mandy has a different luncheon engagement today and won’t be eating at the commodore today. This is the second time I have heard the cafeteria called the commodore. Hmm. I think about this with puzzlement, but then the light bulb lights! It is not a commodore, but a comedor; a place to comer or eat! These Spanish have a different word for everything!

Mandy asks if she can leave her stuff here and just bike (in the rain) to lunch. Most definitely! I surely don’t care. I lock up the Library, and open my trusty OSJL umbrella and walk to town. Since I have better directions with better descriptions, I am sure to find the house today. And I do. There it is as described. The wall and gate are so high I can’t see in. I try to open the gate, but it is locked. I knock on the gate. I knock louder. I stand back to take a better look and then I see two little buttons off to the side of the gate in the stonemasonry. The buzzers for two houses or apartments that must be behind the lava wall. I buzz and the door buzzes back. And, I open the gate to a pleasant front yard, crammed with bikes. They all look pretty nice. Graciela meets me and says This way to the bike. Nuts! It’s not one of these bikes in the front. I see the bike. It is pretty old and the tires are very worn. She says that she is selling it for a friend, who wants $50. I say Fine. But I must look unsure. I know that the seat is too high. I would kill myself getting on and off of it. I ask if she has a wrench to lower the seat (right now). She says her husband doesn’t have a wrench, sorry. I probably look disappointed, because she says, Take it, get the seat lowered, get some air in the tires and if you don’t want it call me and bring it back. I like the idea of me being able to return it, so I fork over the fifty. She says Good luck with it, and walks me to the gate. Gracias. De nada.

I try riding it, and test the brakes. It is definitely too high. And I walk it to the bike shop, Benotto’s, on Baltra Ave. I have to gesture to tell the guy to lower the seat. He adjust it to make it level. I indicate, No, the seat goes down. Now he understands, gets a wrench, and adjusts it down. More. More? Si, more. The seat is almost sitting on the frame, and he stops and tightens it. He gestures for me to get on it. It is okay,  just a tad too high, but my toes hit the ground while sitting and that will be as good as it gets. I ask for air in the tires. How much? Fifty cents. Like whoa! I give him 75 cents and I have just become one of his permanent bike customers.

I slowly bike back to the Station. This is an okay bike. I am not sure if I did well paying $50 for it or not, but the bike definitely came to me, so I won’t argue.

It has a basket in the front and a baby seat. And, this is not your everyday American safety baby seat. It is some wooden contraption bolted to the bar that goes across the frame, but padded and with fringe, to make it look like a western saddle seat. When I think “baby seat,” I think some big molded seat that sits behind the pedaller. But not here. The baby seat is between the biker and the handlebars! Very different take on child safety here, that’s for sure.

Well, I bike back to the station, kind of unsure but it holds up and so do I. I am back to work in time. No lunch today, I guess. I’ll grab a granola bar later with some water.

I am psyched to have wheels! When I get back to the dorm room, I show Mari. She says How much? And I say $50, but I can return it if I don’t want it. I still don’t know whether I got a good deal or not, but I got Wheels, baby! Wheels!

Sunday, February 24, 2008: Los Gemelos

I awake at 6:15, and I start today’s adventure with yet again another gorgeous, sunny, bright cloudless sky. The rain from last night has cleared, and there is more humidity and less air movement. The temperature must be around 80 degrees, as usual. Today is the day for Los Gemelos.

I start the day knowing that I won’t shower until I come home, but what I really need to do is my laundry. I looked at the washer last night and it was empty. I want to wash most all of my clothes, so I wait until morning to launder. As I am up at the crack of dawn, I gather my laundry and start the washer. I will add to it as I change out of my ‘go to the bathroom’ clothes for the ones that I wear for this excursion. It makes me crazy how long the washer takes to fill and finally I have solved the problema. I take the hose that is used to do hand-washing and squirt it into the drum of the washer. I can fill that puppy in no time. Then set the machine to wash and it agitates! I let it run the rest of the cycle until it is back to filling again. I open the lid and fill it up. It agitates for the last time and spins. All this in 30 minutes instead of 2 hours. Hooray!

Frida told me to wear long pants because of the fire ants. Yikes! And, bring a raincoat because it might rain. I am prepared. I take everything: bottle of water, long sleeved white shirt, my cheapy raincoat from OSJL, insect repellant, umbrella, sunscreen, toilet paper (you can never be too prepared, right?), camera, baseball hat. Whew! My backpack is heavy, but I can do this.

Not bringing hiking boots, I wear socks and sneakers again. I wear the longest pants I have (capris) and a regular Tee-shirt. I put sunscreen on my face, neck, ears arms and what little part of my legs aren’t covered by pants or socks. I hate the feeling of this stuff, very gooey, oily and yucky.

I meet Frida at the circle and she asks me if I have the keys to the Library with me. No, but I can go get them. She says that there is a good book on Galapagos flora in the Library and we should bring it. I go get the keys in my room, we get the book and off we go with a taxi driver who will be with us all morning. He drives to pick up two more women that Frida has invited to come with. I have always been of ‘the more the merrier’ school, so this will be merry!

Rosemary is Galapagueños; she was born in Santa Cruz. And the other woman is Asian. I missed her name, but I do remember seeing her at the Station yesterday walking around. After I ask, Didn’t I see you walking around the Station yesterday? I tell her that I was sitting at the circle yesterday reading. She remembers me now. We laugh.

The driver takes us up to the Santa Cruz Highlands. We pass through town, then a smaller town to the north, Bellavista. We are in the National Park, but these little towns and their agricultural farms or cattle ranches were here before the Park was formed in 1959.  About 3% of the land area is not National Park; the other 97% is! We drive through an even smaller town, Santa Rosa. If we are stopped because we don’t have a National Park Guide, Rosemary will talk our way out of it because she is a native showing friends the sights (which I don’t think is legit, but I’m along for the ride, right?). Any time you go to any location in the Park, you have to have an official guide. Tourism is the islands only income and Guides are trained and must be used.

The air temperature up in the Highlands is much cooler and it is much greener. More moisture and more rain here support a forest of Scalesia trees, which are relatives of daisies, of all things! Los Gemelos (The Twins) are a pair of very large sinkholes on either side of the road, but can’t be seen while you are on the road. The taxi driver parks and we walk in on the path. Unfortunately, I don’t take a picture of the sign at the head of the trail. Others are already on the trail and at the first crater. I snap some pix. There is another much smaller sinkhole here too.

Rosemary says Let’s cross the road, and we do. No one is on this side. We walk on the trail just a little way in and there is the second twin, much larger than the first. We walk the path and look at the plant life. We find an orchid, but no blossoms. We find moss hanging from the Scalesia trees. We see only one bird, the Galapagos Dove. It is so camouflaged that I can’t honestly get a good picture of it! The walk ends when a fallen tree crosses the path and blocks our way. We turn around and go back. Now we are back where we started looking over the edge into the depths. A Guide comes along with 3 people in tow and says, Here is the other one, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, and they are gone. I am amazed that this is all these poor people got to do; see one, see the other, and be gone. Frida says they are probably on a tight schedule. I’m thinking, Yeah, but did they even know that they were here?! Anyway, then we take another path that follows the crater up to a higher area, good lookout and end of the path. We take a little rest and hike back to the taxi (which you remember is a truck).

Our driver is ready to take us to the Rancho Mariposa where we can see tortoises in the wild, but on a private farm. The driveway is a road that is windy and bumpy, reminding me of the road on Martha’s Vineyard on the way to Tashmoo. Slow going and you will get there. We arrive at the rancho, and it is set on a hill overlooking the Western part of the Pacific Ocean. We can see other Galapagos Islands in the distance. It is breathtaking in its expanse. This reminds me of a house and garden that Karen and I visited in Newport RI. The house was perfectly perched to take in the long view of the downward sloping lawn and then the ocean, complete with sailboats. At least these two persons knew how to sight a home.

There is lemongrass tea or coffee, whatever is your pleasure. I haven’t had a cup of brewed coffee since Quito, and I go for the coffee with sugar and milk. Yum. We pay a guide $6 to take the four of us out into the farm to see the tortoises. Believe me without a guide, you wouldn’t find any, and you’d be lost for on this farm for days! Rosemary reminds us to put on sunscreen and I take out my white long sleeved shirt and put it on instead.

The first tortoise is so crammed into the underbrush we can hardly see it, and it definitely is not snapshot worthy. The guide has his machete out and is cutting down branches as we proceed. The guide finds (or takes us to) two big old males. They are huge, easily 110 years old each; one has lichen growing on his back. I have no idea what they could weigh. These Galapagos tortoises have the dome-shaped shells and eat grass. These two are face to face waging some kind of machismo battle. We sit and watch for a few minutes clicking madly away. Next our guide finds another big male sitting under a tree eating grass. This seems like a perfectly logical thing to be doing on a Sunday morning; relaxing in the shade and eating brunch. Although we can get pretty close, the photos are only good when his head is raised up, and you can see it through the grass. Next our guide finds a female. She is head facing into a huge avocado tree. You can tell that it is a female because her dome is even more pronounced than the male. Since we only get to see her hind legs and tail (and shell, of course), it is amusing to note that she must have been in a muddy pond recently as the top of her dome is clean and dark brown, but she has this rust colored ‘skirt’ around the bottom, including her discolored legs and tail. Very cute, and rather feminine (a two-toned ensemble using solid colored earth tones).

We are done walking the fields and head back to the ranch for one more beverage before we go. I have the lemongrass tea this time and it is delicious. I take off my long sleeve shirt and I am cooler already. We relax, take in the view, feel the on-shore breeze once again, and have a quick preview look at our pix on our cameras. It is noon, and we say good bye and get into the taxi once again. I put my backpack in the back of the truck and we head out on the long driveway. It sure looks like rain, Rosemary says No, it won’t rain, we are headed to [south] into town. So we get on the highway and it starts to rain. Rosemary asks the driver to pull over so I can retrieve my backpack. And, off we go. It really is amazing how you can see the different zones of plant life as we descend. There are seven vegetation zones on just on this one island.

The taxi driver for the morning cost $30, or $7.50 each. Good deal!  We are dropped off near the kioskos, because it is almuerzo (lunch) time! The Asian woman declines, so Rosemary, Frida and I go to a restaurant that has the choice of pollo (chicken) or goat for the fixed price of $3.00. Rosemary wants chicken, I want chicken, Frida wants goat and we are all satisfied. The soup is chicken with rice, potato and carrot. Steaming hot. Both Frida and Rosemary can’t tolerate it (it’s too hot for them, but perfect for me!). The main meal is a small cut of chicken in a very tasty sauce with rice and one slice of fried plantain. The drink is avena, a concoction of water, oatmeal and passion fruit. Sounds kind of gummy, but tastes truly yummy!

Our lunch conversation is once again me trying to solicit advice on how to figure out how a boat tour for George and I in May. At least May is not the high season, and we won’t be spending a major fortune (just a minor one). Frida says come back to my house and we’ll surf the Internet for cruises for you. She knows the boats and many of the tour operators, so I say Yes.

We each pay for lunch, and I buy an extra bottle of water for 60 cents, too. I think of it as Just in case. Rosemary parts company from us and we walk to Frida’s apartment. It is on the 3rd floor of a 4 story apartment building. It looks newly built and her apt. has a little balcony facing south overlooking Academy Bay. Very nice. She used to live on the 4th floor here, where the view was even better, but it was a studio (smaller). This apt has 2 bedrooms. We surf the net and she gives me some ideas.

I thank her for her hospitality, and walk home. It is 2 PM, the heat of the day. I’m not going to stop to put on sunscreen, so I put my long sleeved shirt on again.

I decide to walk up to the house I think is Graciela’s, the woman selling her bike. I think I have found the house, and I knock at the wooden gate. No answer. It is very warm and very sunny on the rest of my walk back to the Station. I stop several times to drink my water. I decide to go straight to the Library, to return the flora identification book to the shelves and to cool off in the air conditioning and read and write emails. It takes my body a long time to cool down. I write Lolly, Judy and George. Today was the Slater Museum of Art (Norwich, CT) reception for their annual art show. George had two pieces in it. I am sorry to miss it, but he wrote to tell me about it. I write Marion. I write Marcia who lives in Guayaquil to get the email address of her best friend’s daughter who lives and works in Galapagos (I am hoping Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz where I am).

The Polish woman told me that I should definitely read Vonnegut’s Galapagos, a novel, if I haven’t. It is on the library shelf and I check it out to myself, lock up the Library and head back to my room. I think that I might go swimming again, but I talk myself out of it.

I take my laundry off the washline, bring it back to my room and fold it. Mari is resting; remember she had to work today.

I unpack my backpack, and read Vonnegut. He has a very peculiar writing style that I really like. He tells you what is going to happen as he writes about what is happening. An interesting approach. I have given up on Stephen Fry for awhile.

At 6:30 PM, I eat my cereal and raisins with milk for the first time in a long time. It tastes so much better than cream and cereal, it is amazing! It never did rain, and the stars are out. I can see Orion, the Big Dipper, etc. I need to get online and see the Southern sky constellations to name more. Mari asks if she can recharge her MP3 player on my computer. Wha? Yes, you turn on your computer, I plug the MP3 player into a USB port and my MP3 gets recharged. I’ve no problem with that and so my computer is now on, and I start to blog.

As I consider Los Gemelos, I am reminded of what my friend Meg says, Well, well, well; three holes in the ground. And she is absolutely right, I saw three sinkholes in the ground today myself! Well, well, well.

I wash my face and brush my teeth. It is 10:15 PM now, time for Mari and me to head to dreamland. It was a great day in tortuga-land for me today. Well, well, well.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

There was an all-night party next door last night. I am talking loud music, loud voices. Too much cane sugar alcohol, I think. I think it was a direct reaction to someone (I heard it was a research scientist) complaining about the last night loud noise in our area.

Mari and I tried desperately to sleep, and we ended up closing the wooden door to keep the sound just a tad softer. It made the room warmer (no cross-vent) plus the noise, and it was a pretty rough night for dreamland.

I’m up at 6:00 and the day is yet another picture perfect morning in paradise. It reminds me so much of the morning sun in Arizona. It hits the cacti and other vegetation with that rosy-orange-pink brightness at sunrise. Gorgeous.  I lie in bed and read from a book that I checked out of the library last night called A Traveler’s Guide to the Galapagos Islands, by Barry Boyce. It is the 3rd ed., 1998. It has contents like Choosing a tour, and Tour Operators Index. Good stuff to read and learn about, esp. if you haven’t booked a Tour, which of course, I haven’t.

I know that breakfast is served later this morning than weekday mornings so I take my shower, fighting the mosquitoes for the showerhead. I tiptoe around the room as Mari is asleep and I don’t want to wake her. Today is her only day off, and she needs her rest.

I decide to follow one of the group tours to the torguas and listen in as the Guide or National Park Ranger tells of the tortoises here. I listen in at an interpretation building to the tortoise history. There used to be 14 species, now there are only 11. National Park Galapagos (NPG) staff go into the field and take the tortoise eggs and bring them here to incubate and hatch. There are too many introduced predators for them to survive in the wild (really inside the Park). We will see the hatchlings later. I feel like an intruder, plus the insects have found my just-showered body and I decide to walk further up the path to the next pen.

In here, there are 6 giant male tortoises. The guide says that the group can walk in, but don’t walk on the cement platform that these 2 tortoises are on. You can walk around them, don’t touch them, great photo ops here. These are the ones that I saw on my first day here, but I learn that the males and females are only brought together during mating season. I have no idea where the girls are, and never did learn when mating season was. It is hot and windless. I am swatting flies and mosquitoes, and I know that it is time to go. These tour groups are backed up, two are in the tortoise pen, and another just came up the path to get in there also. Whew! Just for the heck of it, I snap a picture of the tourists! I will try another tour another day, to (hopefully) see the hatchling. I regret that I didn’t visit Lonesome George, but he was going to have lots of company today without me.

I go to the Library instead of typing at my laptop in the room. Being a good do-be, I dump the dehumidifier water on the plants as previously directed. It makes me happy to do this; my little part of preserving a piece of Darwin’s Galapagos.

Being in the Library means that I am in air conditioning and I have Internet access. Being a librarian does have its perks. I read and write some email. At 8:45 AM, I lock up the Library and head for breakfast. Fernanda, a tall slender beautiful student from my dorm, is already there and I sit with her. We make conversation, not the least of which is, Did you sleep last night? I say, Some. How about you? Not too much at all.

Seems the boys next door kept everyone around us awake last night. She says that the party ended at 5:20. This morning? Yep, this morning. Whoa! I know that I awoke several times last night, but never realized that the party lasted until dawn!!  Fernanda and I watch Porky Pig cartoons as her roommate comes in and joins us. Breakfast is now always the same for me, and the waitress knows it, so I don’t have to order any more. The juice, hot milk and fruit salad come first. Then the same round ball of whatever it was just as last Saturday. I tell the waitress, No thanks. Fernanda says, You don’t like it? I ask, What is it? She says that it is plaintain. Raw? No boiled and then ground up and fashioned into this ball, with pieces of cheese rolled in for extra protein (and calories). Hmm. Maybe next Saturday I will try it again. Right now I am asked if I want a tostada or a roll. Tostada, por favor.  The cook is very accommodating, and I am very spoiled by the service. What will it be like to back to eating oatmeal and coffee every morning? Hard to say. Anyway, I eat pretty fast because I am hungry!

Fernanda tells me that the group is going to Las Grietas this afternoon, if I want to come. I thank her, tell her that I was there last weekend, and I will stay here today. I want to call about the bike and maybe go to town to see it. I have to wait for my encebollado delivery at the circle between 10 and 10:30. I want to take out my camcorder and see if I can figure the darn thing out. I want to surf the net and find some Galapagos Tours that aren’t too expensive (as if that was possible!) So much to do, and so little time! Not to mention that it is a glorious day, and I am thinking of spending much of it inside.

I go back to my room. I grab my new library book and my Stephen Fry book (not knowing what I am in the mood to read) and head to the circle to await delivery. I read Boyce because it has info that I am going to need and use to either book us a Tour, or not. Time might be of the essence. Boyce says that most of the big boats are booked a year in advance. If that is so, then George and I are so completely out of luck, it is scary. The prices in Boyce are from 1998, and I know that everything has gone up dramatically, probably three-fold if not more. Too bad too because I really like those 1998 prices!

Every time a taxi pulls into the circle I look up. Nope. No delivery. Then Mark Gardener bikes in with his daughter Molly in the bike baby seat. I say Hello. He says that it is moving day for them, and I know from Mandy (his wife) that the woman, Graciela, who is selling her bike lives only a few doors down from their new house. I ask Mark for directions. He draws me a map and explains the directions. I will find it now, if I ever get connected to Graciela. He is riding off, and I go back to reading and await delivery.

It is 11 o’clock now, but I am patient. A man comes from la tienda, carrying a plastic container and asks me if I am Kris. Si, gracias. He hands me the container with a slice of lime and a plastic spoon. The fish stew is still warm. I thank him again and head to the room. I find a plastic bag and put everything in (even the spoon) and walk it to the refrigerator in the kitchen. I have to say that having it in a bag keeps anyone from seeing it, taking it and eating it. Plus you wouldn’t want it just out on this refrigerator’s shelves!

I am free to do what I want for the rest of the day. I tell Mari that I will go to the Library and read/write email etc. I will see her in the cafeteria for lunch. And I’m gone.

I hit the Amazon.com and Alibris.com websites looking for two books. Boyce’s latest ed. (2004) and Lonely Planet Galapagos Guide. The Lonely Planet book is selling here for $36. I can buy it on-line for $17, but then it has to be shipped! The cost of shipping to an international address is $18.99  for the first book and every book thereafter on Alibris. Darn. No savings there unless I buy them and have George send them FedEx, which is a good possibility. Wonder if Puerto Ayora has (or needs a bookstore)?

Anyway, it’s time for lunch and I don’t want to spend all of this beautiful day in the Library. I see Mari as she is leaving the cafeteria. She already has on her bathing suit, and is going with the gang to Las Grietas this afternoon. I eat lunch (cerviche) on the porch facing the harbor. Again, it is a fabulous day, and I am NOT going to spend it in the Library… but I go back to the Library to do more research.

I have a Google alert set up to come to my Gmail account whenever there is mention of the Galapagos on the Internet or in a blog. This is why I have so many Gmail messages. I search my Gmail archive for emails having to do with “Baltra,” which if you remember, is the island where my Quito flight landed. I read several entries and go to their Travel blogs to see if any mention the boats they were on. Several mention different boats and between their blog entries and good old Boyce, I find a few decent Travel tours. Many, many include the flight from Quito or Guayaquil to Baltra and return. I don’t need this. Mostly because I am here already, and George will travel to join me here. Some packages include the international flight too! Aiyee! Boyce says that it is hardest to be in Puerto Ayora and book a good tour. Great, like I need this!

I find a great tour that lasts for 7 days and tours 9 or 10 islands. Now we are talking! I review the itinerary online and it starts on a totally different island, and not on Santa Cruz, where I am. Of course, the cost is upward $2,700 per person. A lot of cash, actually. Coming in around $350 per person each day. I suppose if you consider the boat, the crew, the staff, the berths with private bath, the food and the guides for only 16-20 persons in one week, I guess that it’s not too bad, just expensive.

If we stay in a hotel, eat and drink, and do day-trip touring without guides, etc., it would be cheaper, but not as tidy. The idea, I guess, is the “package,” not the Chinese menu that we would get if we just made it up as we went along. Plus, if George and I tour for the first week, we’ve blown all of our (non-existent) money, and what do we do the second week (that won’t cost us anything!)?? Such is my dilemma.

Lolly writes me about the snowstorm, and I answer her email and tell her that I am going to the beach today, come hell or high water. George has written me also of the Friday snowstorm. He stayed home from work and will work on Saturday to make it up. He also wrote to say that my daughter, Ali, was in a car accident. She was not hurt, Thank God! But there is some damage to her car. Poor kid! More adult responsibilities to take on, and this, an unfortunate one.

It’s 2 PM and I shut down the computer. Hooray! For me. I go back to the room and Mari is sleeping. Hmm. I thought that she would have already left, but maybe she didn’t go with. Unlikely, but possible. I quietly organize my beach bag and change into my suit. The beach that I go to is very close to the dorms. It is like a giant tidal pool with sand (instead of volcanic rocks) leading right into the water. There is a family of five, and a mother and her two children already in the water. I’m sure they are wondering why I would choose to come here. I don’t have a little child, so it’s a rather peculiar choice.

I don’t care, I just want the sea, salt and sun for a half hour. Against all of the advice from all of the professionals, I don’t wear sunscreen. I won’t stay long as I can see the storm clouds building over the central mountains behind me. It will definitely rain soon. I peel off my Tee-shirt and shorts and sit in the water. It is heaven. The waves crash just enough over the rocks so the pool is calm but moving. I sit and watch two kids on surf boards out in the bay riding any wave that looks good. The young boy is having a great time just being in the water with his mother and father, baby brother and big sister. The big sister is 8 or nine years old and is trying to shore up some cute little fish that doesn’t want to be caught. I join in. Every once in a while a bigger wave will crash, and the water will rock me. This is what I am talking about! Heaven.

After 40 minutes of unprotected sunshine, I stand to dry off and walk the little beach looking for shells, but finding only fragments. I dress and walk back to the dorm. Mari is gone, and so is everyone else. The place is quiet and I have it all to myself. I hang my bathing suit, Tee-shirt, and wrap around on the clothesline, knowing the final rinse will come with the anticipated rain. And I start to blog this entry.

The rain starts with a little shower at 5:30, and continues with a light rainfall. The temperature is a bit lower with the rain. Not cool by any stretch of the imagination, but feels cooler. It is 7 PM, and Juan Carlos is back, and singing. Other bikes arrive and so too will the rest of the group. I will go to have my famed cereal dinner and read tonight.

Tomorrow I am off on an adventure with Frida.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Glorious morning today. In the east, the sun is rising and in the west, a huge cumulous cloud is all pink and beautiful with the sunrise. It is so stunning, I take a picture. Today’s weather gets only better. It is the perfect day in paradise.

But then there is work! Mandy comes into the library to look at the aerial photo again. And gives me back my $50. She gives me the phone number of the woman who owns the bike and draws a map to her house. Mandy and her family will be moving to a house right down the street from there as soon as it has been prepped for occupancy. The Gardeners will be staying for the long term.

At lunch, I sit with Eduardo, Juan Carlos, and then Frida joins us. I ask her where she is going on her vacation. She looks puzzled and I tell her I read about it in the CDF email. She says, Oh, it is my boss who will be taking leave, and the email said that I am covering for him. Least he could have done was ask me. Oh, I say. I really need to read instead of skim my Spanish emails!

Frida asks if I would be up to do something together this weekend. You bet. She will set it up to take a taxi to some highland place and we will hike around somewhere. Great!

After lunch, I go back to the dorm to read Stephen Fry, and repack my backpack for the long email marathon that I am planning in the Library after hours tonight. I grab my flashlight (really George’s flashlight that he uses for tying flies and negotiating in the dark on the river), a bran granola bar (believe me, “granola” bar is a stretch), a candy, and some gummy bears. Fabulous meal, wouldn’t you say? Yeah, me neither! But so it goes…

In the afternoon, Bryan comes into the Library with some Aussie looking bloke. Even though he introduces himself, I don’t recall his name. Bryan and Aussie-bloke start rummaging around in the famed locked cabinet where the aerial maps are. I stand clear, and then sit and work while they search. They certainly are finding maps, but not the ones from the 40s. Then, I think they hit paydirt. Yes, these are what I am looking for. All’s well that ends well. Now Bryan will tell Mandy about them.

At 5:15 PM, a staff member comes in and asks me if I want to buy some encebollado. This is the food fundraiser that I read about in CDF email. Two persons on staff are raising money for some unfortunates by making and selling this fish soup on Saturday. I asked Frida about it at lunch. It surely isn’t that I know what this is! The cost is $4, including home delivery! I say that I live at the Station, but if they would deliver it to the circle, I would gladly buy one. He says, Yes, we can be here at 10 AM or so. I pay and now I have a dinner meal that won’t be cereal!

After he leaves, I lock the door and head over to la tienda to buy some necessities. Today, I need milk, new box of cereal (definitely going back to corn flakes with a touch of honey), and raisins. I find a box of milk that says “50% libre de grasa” (Woo hoo!); half fat is better than all fat, esp. since I have been using cream on my cereal as of late. And, I buy a soda. I go for a coke again today. Uh-oh, this might become habit forming and I will stop buying soda as of today. Promise.

I truck everything back to the Library. And start in on emails; both Gmail and ECSU email. In the Library, there is one window behind me to my left, and the clock is on the wall facing me. I know that today was a gift weather-wise and I look to see what the evening is doing. I decide to take a break during twilight and grab my erstwhile described dinner and head to the walkway where I can eat without inviting critters into the Library. While I’m standing there, Mark Gardener walks by, in wet trunks and a towel. He stops, and asks me if I am burning the midnight oil. If he only knew! He has just gone for a swim, and says the water is fabulous. I have only been in the water once here at the Station, and that was a pretend bath!

I say Buenos noches, and go back to emails. My friend, Lolly, writes that she was on a conference call this morning with many of the staff (physical therapist, head nurse, social worker) of the convalescent hospital where my mother is recuperating. My friend, Judy, is on the ground at the convalescent hospital and has organized this meeting. It lasts for an hour and a half. Wow! Lolly is esp. knowledgeable as a nurse (in a previous life) and can and does ask the medical questions. Judy has gathered the troops to assist my Mom to get her health and strength back, to find out why she is not improving as she should be, that is, to keep food down, to walk solo, to climb stairs, and to return to her home in (possibly) three weeks time.

Another dear friend, Marion, is also local to Fairfield, and she and I grew up as friends (almost as sisters, as I have none) since the day that I was born (as my mother and her mother were friends to start with). She visits my Mom as well and sends me email reports on my Mom’s status. As you can read, I have very devoted friends, not only to me, but to my mother as well. I am fortunate to have them, and for them to care so much about my Mom. I am truly blessed.

I read that the meeting went well. I can go back to the dorm with the knowledge that a plan will be forthcoming to assist my Mom recuperate on all fronts. I feel both relief, and regret because I feel helpless being so many miles away. My saving knowledge is that she is in many good hands.

I gather my things, lock up the Library, and head to the dorm. There is a full moon, and no clouds in the sky. I don’t even need a flashlight. I send up a prayer of thanksgiving and keep on walking.

I get to the dorm and Mari is out. I decide to zone out with my Rise of Atlantis game for an hour before bed. I have much to think on, be thankful for, and dream on.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

I awoke today at 4 AM and when I went to wash my hands, no water again. Boy! Does this get old fast.

This time I fell asleep until 6:20 AM. I got up and fired up the computer to work on my blog entries. The cloud gods have decided not to rain today, and I am glad. No sun, but no rain either.

Yesterday, I decide to take an empty gallon water bottle to the Library and pour the dehumidifier water into it as my own private water stash. This morning I throw on some clothes and head to the Library to get the jug of water. I will use it to wash my face and hands, etc. Luckily one of the sinks in the bathroom still has one of those old fashioned sink plugs on a beaded chain. I can plug the sink, pour water in, and luxuriate in no salt water! Actually, this might as good a place as any to discuss that my face absolutely does not like salt water as a permanent washing medium. I truly look forward to a real, well water shower and cleansing on one fine day in the middle of May.

I dress for breakfast now, pack my computer, backpack, baseball hat and walk the path to the Library to dump my computer off, and head further down the path to the cafeteria. The tide is incredibly low. Dennis follows me in and says to sit outside on the porch. I agree. Lo and behold if it isn’t a big old sea lion sitting in a foot of water with her head stretched way back enjoying herself. I can’t believe I don’t have my camera with me. I truck the darn thing everywhere, but not today. Then we see a Great Egret (all white) checking out the intertidal volcanic rocks for snacks. Then we see a Great Blue Heron. Then we see a shore bird that is not in my Wildlife of the Galapagos book. Dennis thinks it’s a curlew, but I will have to look this up. This why it is important to have Internet access while writing! I can verify my facts and hyperlink to cool things. Anyway, it was quite the morning for wildlife and I didn’t have my camera!

It is 7:58 AM and the Library opens at 8. I gotta move! I usually talk to all of the marine iguanas on my way from the cafeteria to the Library. Me and Dr. Doolittle, I guess. I see a man turn into the walkway to the Library, and Whoops! I’m not at my station. I yell to him, Here I am! He says the first door is unlocked, but the Library door is locked. Hmm. What he doesn’t know is that it has only been unlocked since I dropped off my laptop less than 20 minutes ago. So he introduces himself as Brian Milstead, Head of Something, and he is looking for aerial photos. There were aerial photos taken of the islands in the 1940s when Baltra was a big military base (fortified to protect the Panama Canal). I am at a total loss. He says that they are in a locked cabinet. Well then, there ya go. I don’t have a clue what’s what. They are not in the regular map case, so I’m no good to him. He says that he will write Susana (you know, pregnant in Quito) to find out. I ask him to cc the Biblioteca when he does. Okay, thanks. Good to meet you. Ciao.

Mandy comes in to look at the other maps and asks if it is okay to bring in her laptop to plug into the hub. Sure, the more the merrier. She goes and comes back. I tell her that I have been reading the Outlook Inbox since I arrived and that the Biblioteca is on the Foundation/Station distribution list. There are 880 emails in the Inbox. Within the last year, no one has ever deleted spam, or announcements, or any such rubbish. I have been doing this since I found Outlook on day 1. I tell her that there are announcements for internal presentations (which seem to happen once a week), bingo, bikes for sale, etc. She mentions that she knows of a bike for sale. I jump on it. Oh yeah? Someone she knows in town wants to sell one. A girl’s bike? Yes. How much? $50.  Like Whoa! I tell her I am interested. She says that after I am done with it she would like to buy it from me. A perfect situation. I say that I don’t carry that kind of cash around, but will get it at lunch. Good. We will see.

Paola comes in to ask me, How are you doing? I get some of my Library cataloging questions answered and Paola shows me where the aerial photographs are locked up. Mandy is there and she wants to look them over. I immediately write Brian Milstead that Paola showed me the locked case, and Mandy was here at the time. The convention at the Station is to read email after 5 PM. Of course, that’s definitely not me, and I will use it as I need it. At Eastern, I leave it open all the time. Here, I open and close it maybe 4 times a day.

It is lunch time and I always go to the dorm to wash my hands, well, yeah, there’s still no water. But I have my private water stash. I can wash my hands and do, and head back to the cafeteria WITH my camera this time, just in case. I sit with Frida, Frank and his wife, Frauke, and we have a fine conversation, mostly about Windows XP and Vista, and printers, etc. There was a big run on lunch today. The chicken choice is all out, and there is beef or fish. Frauke chooses fish as do I. Frank will eat whatever is ready. Men!

Lunch is over, not one specimen of wildlife to take a picture of, either. Hopefully tomorrow morning there will be a repeat performance. I head back to the dorm to brush my teeth and read. I remember my $50 bill and put it in my wallet and head to the Library again. The Library is a happening place. It must be my karma.

The Polish woman comes in for her last day in the Library and she has brought me thank you gift of Polish cookies: E. Wedel, Delicje Szampanskie Pomaranczowe. They look to be vanilla cookie with an orange topping and chocolate covered. Wow! She left me her business card and I gave her mine. Maybe I will get a copy of her book on the Galapagos in Polish someday!

A woman working on her thesis on her laptop is in the library. At 5:20 PM, I tell her that the Library will close in 10 minutes and she starts to clear out. Paulina, my direct boss, comes in for a chat and to see how I am doing. I tell her about my introduction to Brian was this morning. I tell her that I have never been a solo librarian and it is very different from being a head of a department.

OMG, I almost forgot! This morning a CDF gofer walked in with 3 new Charles Darwin Research Station STAFF shirts for me. Like Whoa! One golf shirt; two V-neck Tees, one white, one dark blue. Yeow! I tell Paulina thanks for the shirts.

Again, my early evenings are filled with checking my Gmail and answering them. I tried to get to the Z:/ drive at ECSU tonight. I’m sure that I will need the Sistemas guys (like Juan Carlos) to help me. Ugh. I walk home in the almost pitch dark tonight. Mari is in the room. First question asked: Do we have water? Yes. Excelente!

If tonight is the night for the lunar eclipse, there is no chance that the cloud cover will clear at the right time, or for long enough for me to see it. Drats! Now that would be one for the blog! I eat dinner (yeah, this time cereal, raisins and cream!) while watching a soccer game with Dario. I wash my bowl, and take a hot shower. This time, water, even saltwater, flowing out of the showerhead feels great.

Back in the room Mari asks me, What are you doing tonight? And I tell her, You know. Write my blog. She finds something to do, but eventually everyone is outside our door playing bongos, guitar and singing.  Someone either has or has fashioned a castanet, and that is added to the musica. It’s great to have them playing outside, and esp. outside the screen door as I type. Wonderful rhythms and then some song that everyone knew and sang together. Just like camp!

It is 10:35 PM. Time to hit the head and wrap it up. If Mari stays up a little longer (and outside), I will read until she comes in for lights out. Yet another good day.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

I awoke today at 3:30 AM, when the skies opened up and it poured. This must be what it is like to live in the tropics with 360 inches of rainfall per year. I try to resume sleep but can only think of my Mom. I toss and turn, and finally sleep. I wake up just finishing a dream about my mother and some party that we were attending. I think that it was a celebration of her being home again. She was back to her old energy and I could not get her to slow down or rest. That is definitely my mother!

I decided to write her a letter to tell her about my dream, and email it as an attachment to my close friend, Judy, who is doing all of the work that I should be doing for Mom in Fairfield.

It continues to pour. I bought and brought 2 of those compact, cheapy plastic rain ponchos at Ocean State Job Lot (OSJL). Today is the day to open one. I open the package to find that it is built more like an extra long windbreaker; over the head, long sleeves, and with a hood. It will serve my purpose well. I get my backpack on, and hike the poncho over my head, I get it over my backpack, then I grab up all of my computer gear to my chest and wriggle the plastic on down in front. I have my OSJL umbrella and I am ready for the elements. As I walk out the door, Dario has just come back from biking down to breakfast. It is 7:40 AM or so, and he tells me that there is no breakfast. The door to the cafeteria was closed. So I turn on my heels back into the room, grab a bran granola bar (out of the box that I bought here) and my last little box of raisins to eat for breakfast. I have a bottle of water in the Library to drink.

I go to the Library. Although I am supposed to be there at 7:30, I am usually 20 minutes late. Since breakfast now starts at 7:30, you know where my priority lies. I am always at the Library at 8 AM, which will sound shocking to most of my ECSU Smith Library colleagues. So I get there and it is still pouring, I manage to open the first door and put my computer down. I stand outside under the overhang and munch my on-the-go breakfast. Here is one library in which I will never eat; way too many critters to invade the library and wreak havoc in this locale.

So I am early today, and because of the weather I expect to see no one until the rain subsides. I fire up my laptop as well as the two in the Library and read my Gmail. Hey! I’m early and I’m taking advantage of it. My friend, Judy, has sent me an email saying, maybe you should write your Mom a letter. The cosmos must be aligned! I write and tell her that I have just written one and I attach it for her to print out and give to Mom. Sweet! Thank you Judy! Esp. for all you have done and will do. God bless you, amen.

As predicted the morning was slow. I am more and more comfortable with the collections and what it is that I should be doing. Actually, I should be doing more cataloging. But I find the hunt for articles in JSTOR, BioOne and Academic Search Premier too attractive. Mostly I look for freebie PDF of articles on Opuntia (Giant Prickly Pear Cactus). There is a researcher here working on these.

It’s noon, and I am definitely ready to eat lunch. I walk to the cafeteria, and sit on the deck with Eduardo and Dario. They are facing out to the ocean, I’m facing them. We talk and laugh and one little girl is standing at the railing looking down. Eduardo points and there is a seal. I wonder if it is Stinky. Say, don’t I know you? Weren’t you at the Red Mangrove Inn for lunch the other day? Ha! Now I know the local animals by name.

In the afternoon, I lock up the Library for a few minutes while I go to la tienda to buy milk and a cold drink. The shelves are slowly being depleted. I remember Dennis told me that a freighter was headed here from Ecuador but it had too much cargo and it started to list. The Captain in his infinite wisdom, decided to off load weight into the ocean in order to continue to sail. I wonder how much of what there was onboard was coming to Puerto Ayora, probably all of it. I wonder what’s at the bottom of the ocean now…

Anyway, I look on the shelf for a box of milk, I see the name brand that I bought before and haul it down along with a box of what I think is peach juice. I buy a cold Coca-cola in a glass bottle, too, and drink it on the spot. I remember that I had an early rising and this jolt will (hopefully) pick me up. Now I will have milk for my cereal tonight.

The day goes by, the 5:30 to 7 PM emailing frenzy is over, and I lock the library for the end of the day. It is almost dark, but I can see well enough to take the path back to the dorm. I drop my stuff, and off to the kitchen/lounge I go. There are three volunteers in the kitchen cooking up a storm. I walk in find a bowl, dump the cereal (Frosted Flakes, yuck!) and raisins. I cut the spout out of my boxed milk and start to pour it out. It is all curdled looking and very thick. I smell it and it smells fine. I look again at the box and find that I have purchase crema, not leche. Heavens! It’s like drinking a cholesterol heart attack! At home I am a skim milk drinker. Here, there is no such thing, but cream? OMG. What a mistake, and a new lesson learned. Read the darn label!!

I wash my bowl out in the sink, and head to the bathroom to brush my teeth. One fluid movement of eat and get ready for bed.

I am reading Stephen Fry’s Moab is my Washpot. An autobiography. I loved him as Jeeves, so this should be a fun read.

And off to bed.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Since I go to bed so early here, I rise early also. Of course, this is no news to farmers, but it is definitely news to those who know me well enough to know that I almost always watch the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and then sometimes the Colbert Report. I am not quite going through withdrawals, but the Ecuadorian TV is just not the same. Especially if you consider the TV in the Lounge gets, maybe, 4 channels.

I am a little panicked about March Madness though. Maybe I will fill out my brackets and email them to George, and he to me. I will be hitting the ESPN.com website as much as possible, reviewing Bracketology, some video replays, etc. Okay. That is still a month away.

Monday morning is the best because the cafeteria is open again, and I am served breakfast. Today, I have my one boiled egg, watermelon juice, fruit salad (pineapples with grapes) with the sprinkle of granola, splash of yogurt, a cup of hot milk and an empanada. Yum!

Today the Library was very busy. Okay, that means that six people came in throughout the day, plus I got an email request for journal articles. I am please to say that the Smith Library gateway has helped me at least be knowledgeable about periodicals. The journal locator is definitely worth its price.

Dennis (volcanologist) brought me his pared down ‘Galapagos’ citations from his CV and told me that if the library didn’t own them already, he had the PDFs. This is how it is supposed to work. You do research at the Station, the library gets a copy of your output for its archives. Then he stuck around to browse a particular thesis. The library has many researchers in all disciplines and any theses that are Galapagos related are expected to be donated to the Library for posterity, too.

Mandy Gardener, the wife of the Head of Botanica, was in the Library looking for aerial maps. There is a big map case, but none of the maps are cataloged, I think. She spent some hours opening drawers and pulling out maps. I found some CD-Roms with aerial photos, and we found another program that might help her. She is here with her husband and daughter. She asked if there were any children’s books in the library and, Yes, there are some; maybe 8 or 9 that this library owns. She says that she is interested in writing a children’s book about the Galapagos, and I say that I am too. She asks me if I can draw, and I say no, but my husband can(!) And that pretty much ended that. I guess that it is something to think about.

My favorite library user today was some poor graduate student wanting to use a PC in the Library to continue to write her thesis. The Head of Volunteers, Luis Molina, sent her to the Library to work. She has her data on a flash drive. The only other PC in the library (that’s not the Librarian’s) doesn’t have a place to put a flash drive. It’s just some old CPU that supports the OPAC, not a newer generation anything. But I saved the day and unpacked my laptop and set her up with it, and she was good to go. She was very happy to have it.

At lunch time, I walk up to the dorms and go into the kitchen and turn the tap to check to see if we have water yet. Nope, nada. Nuts! I think that after lunch and before work again this afternoon, I might just have to go swimming and ‘pretend’ to take a bath. And, that is exactly what I do. This is the beach that I found on my first day here when I had to get lost because Eduardo was moving out of the room. It’s only a few minutes walk. There are marine iguanas on the path, on the beach and digging in the sand. I think of them as ever-present as squirrels, but on valium. They are everywhere, and as I walk by them, I still can’t believe that they aren’t going to run up to me and bite me. It is a very odd sensation.

Even in the afternoon, the Library is busy! Quite the day. Paola, the botanist who worked in the library before I came, visited me and worked with me for over an hour and a half. I cataloged three items last week and she and I went over it together. Unfortunately, it is true that they have an OPAC that you can enter data directly into (with a template) *and* they maintain an MS Excel spreadsheet as a backup. This double entry really sucks. It definitely slows me down.

I have used Worldcat and Library of Congress catalogs for some Dewey numbers and Subject Headings. I must say that I wish I had more biological Spanish terms in my repertoire. They use both English and Spanish subject headings, and of course, there is no thesaurus per se. They use the index in the back of the Bibliografia de la Galapagos instead, so they aren’t reinventing any new schema.

The Polish woman who is writing her articles/book came in again today. She is looking for statistics on the animals here. She wants current information, but there really isn’t any big overarching statistical data that I can find. What I would call “The Count” all truly depends on the location (which Island) and the weather. If El Nino is bad, and populations die back, then the stats are down. If the weather is ideal, then the population flourishes. I’m not sure that anyone could grasp the whole picture annually. Most of the data is very specific to place and time, not generalized, as she is looking for.

A dorm mate came into the library looking for a citation at 5 PM, her first time in the Library. I say, This is where I work every day. Welcome. The citation was for her boss/researcher, and the PDF was right there on the web (Thanks Google). I ask her if she knows if we have water back at the dorms yet. Yes, we do. Alleluia! Then I ask her if she wanted me to print this PDF at 15 cents a page. She leaves to check with her boss. Then her boss comes into the Library, while I am downloading the file. I ask her if I should print it out for her and she says, No email it to me. She stands over me so I get the right “To:” in the email address, and I attach it, and send it on. It is no problema for me if she wants to print it, read it, or save it. (I am ecstatic we have water!)

Dinner was cereal, etc. then on to blogging this entry. It is 9:30 PM and time for a last minute walk to the bathroom, and then on to bed.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

A lazy day. I wake up and read Hillerman. I am hungry and go to the Kitchen/Lounge for, Yep, you guessed it! Cereal with raisins and milk and a glass of water. None of the others are awake in the compound. Mari has had to work both yesterday and today, and tomorrow starts her week of work again. Poor kid! So I have our room to myself. I play my Rise of Atlantis computer game; starting with 5 lives and giving up when I have only one life left. I better be more clever for this level, or lose all of the territory that I gained; back to some other ancient city to start over again.

At 8 AM, I can hear the touristas over at the tortugas; a loud bunch. I’m sure that they don’t even think that we are living over here; maybe they think our bldg is the iguana hatching station, or some other wild biological experiment. Ah which, when you come right down to it, it is.

I read and write some blog entries. I try desperately to understand Picasa by Google, my photo software program. I can load the pix fine, but finding them again is quite another thing! I download the pix that I took yesterday at Las Grietas.

The weather is warm and breezy, but also drizzly. I have no energy (remember that I am totally solar-powered), and my amount of activity and enthusiasm is diminished.

At 1 PM, Mari comes back from work (starting at 5 AM, she shouldn’t have to work ‘til late). I tell her that I was just thinking about going to town for lunch and she wants to go too. Yea, someone to walk, talk, and eat with. She is soaked and wants to shower. Go ahead, I’m in no hurry.

There is little coolness to the air, and I debate a long-sleeved shirt. Who the heck am I kidding? It’s not like it’s 65 degrees. It might be 72 or so. I’m good in a Tee-shirt, for heaven’s sake. I take my umbrella (thank goodness for the $5 special at Ocean State Job Lot) and money and leave the backpack behind.

Mari is very tired, but she is a trooper. We walk in the rain to the street of the kioskos, and we sit and eat where I ate yesterday with Frida. Hot lentil soup, blackberry juice, pollo (chicken) in a mushroom sauce, [the ever present] arroz (rice), and coleslaw(!) for a salad. Muy bien! All this for $2.50 (and you don’t have to leave a tip!).

We go to the ice cream shop for dessert. I pass. Mari needs to buy bread to make sandwiches because she is out in the field every day for lunch. The mercados (markets) are very much cerrado (closed); the bakery is closed. It is a like someone literally rolled up the sidewalks. We walk home. She exhausted, me just glad to have had the company.

We part at the room. I want to go the Library (read: Internet access), and she wants to nap. Perfecto! I will be back just before dark, for cereal (again) for dinner.

I tried on Friday to upload a video that I took from my webcam in the library onto YouTube. No luck. I tried again but a javascript error on IE occurs and stops the upload. Darn! For all of my media, I sure am helpless behind the Station’s intranet.

I read and write emails to George and my friend Judy, regarding my Mom’s health and progress from her surgery. She is still in a convalescent hospital, and it is still very slow going for her. I pray for her every chance I get. Lord, let her get her strength back. Amen.

I googled ESPN on Saturday and found out the Huskies won their 20th game (on the road and by the last basket). Woo hoo! Now I sign up for ESPN.com, and have a look at the video that shows (maybe) 2 minutes of the game, and the ever-present talking (sports) heads, but the Huskies win!! Unbelievably, 20 wins and 5 losses, #17 in the country, Third in the Big East. You gotta love it!

Between my laptop and the Librarian’s PC, I upload my blog entry for my first day here. Wish that I could upload pix too. But, I am stuck with the written word only. I’m done for the night and head back to the dorm.

I take plastic glass, spoon and food to the kitchen only to find out we don’t have water. None, zero, anywhere on the Station. This is the second time this has happened. So much for a shower, or anything coming close to feeling clean. Luckily, I have my new gallon of water from yesterday. I eat but leave my dirty bowl in the sink, I take my spoon with me and head out.

I plug the bathroom sink with the stopper and pour in some water. I was my hands and face, I brush my teeth. This is as good as it is going to get. Yuck. I go back to the room and read. Then off to sleep…

Saturday, February 16, 2008: Las Grietas

I start my adventure today with a gorgeous, sunny, bright cloudless sky. Ambient temp has to be at least 80 degrees. Today is not a day for work, but play.

Yesterday at lunch, the information that the cafeteria was open on Saturdays was reconfirmed. Sweet! I take a shower, get dressed and head to the cafeteria. It is 7:45 AM, and the door is closed. I know that they just adjusted breakfast to start at 7:30 AM on the weekdays (instead of 7 AM), and yesterday they said that they’d open on Saturday a little later than during the week. Well their idea of a little later and my idea of a little later are rather different.

While I was walking back up the path, their truck was driving down it, so breakfast will be starting soon, 8 AM I guess. I go back to my room, fire up my computador, and re-read my Monday, February 4th entry in preparation to post it on my blog either today or tomorrow.

Some of the folks from the dorm are grouping outside and they are headed to breakfast. I follow in a few minutes. In the cafeteria, there is a big TV set. During the weekdays it is turned to the news. For the weekend, there are Warner Bros. cartoons on from the 1950s and 60s translated into Spanish. Porky Pig & Daffy Duck in Spanish. Unbelievable!

I order my new regular breakfast, uno huevo duro, one hard-boiled egg which is already out of its shell(!). Of course that comes with a cup of hot milk (in which I am now putting Nescafe instant coffee), fresh juice, mixed fruit salad with a splash of yogurt and sprinkle of granola, and some bread thing; a roll, empanada, or tostada. Today we had something completely different as “bread,” some rolled up ball of meal, I think. It was difficult to decide whether I liked it or not. And because the cafeteria has several resident birds that fly about (in and out of the windows), this morning I tossed more than usual to the Yellow Warbler, named Maria, who has the most beautiful song.

After eating, I hit the Library to empty the dehumidifier. I feel guilty not doing it, so I do. And, while I’m there, I might as well long on and read my gmail. I don’t stay very long because a British woman, Frida, who has lived here for 3 years now and works for the Station, invited me to spend part of the day with her scrambling around on some volcanic rocks somewhere.

She and I will meet for 12:30 PM and do lunch on the street where all of the restaurants are. My roommate, Mari, has been telling me about this street for days now, and finally, I will get to see it, know where it is, and even eat there.

I take one more bathroom break before I head to town. And I discover quite the scene of domesticity: Dario and another woman doing their laundry by hand at the laundry basins/sink. She says that she doesn’t like the way her laundry feels afterward if she uses the washing machine. Me? I don’t know the difference. I’ll take the machine every time.

Dario and Roberto are outside my room. Dario has found a teeny gecko, and he wants a picture taken. Roberto goes and gets a camera. I get mine. I take a pic of Roberto taking a close-up pic of Dario’s arm where the gecko is pretty much happily sitting. Then I take a picture of the gecko on Dario’s arm. Both are keeper pix, I think.

At 11:15 AM, I am ready to go. I have my 4 postcards to mail if the Post Office is open. I have my baseball cap, sunscreen, bug repellant, camera, umbrella, money, wallet, water bottle, small roll of toilet paper (Hey! You never know), a mini-map of the island, and extra batteries. I feel like I am carrying everything but the kitchen sink in my backpack. I have on socks and sneakers for the first time since I arrived. They feel good to wear, but it’s almost too hot to have them on. I walk to town.

By 3 minutes of 12, I arrive at the P.O. and it is open. Yippee! Postage on one postcard is 50 cents. I bought and wrote these cards on my second day here (so much for mailing them in a timely fashion). I sit in a shaded plaza to cool off a little. That onshore breeze is the best.

The Post Office, supermarket, and the Dock are all here. I see boats and more boats. I get up and cross the street to get a better look. They number of boats in this bay is incredible. The big boats can’t come in close so they have these little boats called pangas. Pangas sit maybe 6-8 people and they ferry touristas from the big boats to the dock to disembark and see the town and the National Park and the Research Station.  I take some pictures of the cliffs opposite, and the boats coming and going.

At 12:30, I meet Frida. She looks like she is going on a big hike; bush hat, hiking boots, backpack with 2 bottles of water, and a telescoping walking stick. Yikes! I look like I’m going for a walk in the park in comparison. She says Shall we eat? And I say Yes, lead on. We turn off of Darwin Ave. onto Baltra. 2 blocks up, we turn to the left and lo and behold! The street with all the restaurants on it! We walk the street looking at the menus posted. I see the Polish woman who has been working in the Library doing research for her book. We say hello and she is gone. How about that? I am recognizing people on the streets of Puerto Ayora! Just like a native, huh?

Frida eats occasionally at the one kiosko we choose, so I feel good about eating there. It is a fixed meal with a fixed price: $2.50. You can choose between chicken or pork. I get the chicken, she the pork. Every meal starts with soup. This one is hot, exactly the way I like soup! Our conversation ranges all over the place and we eat and talk. She gives me the lowdown on why it is important to arrive at a restaurant early (rather than late) for lunch. All of the plates are already made up and the earlier you get there, ah, the fresher the dish. Great advice!

My stomach starts to feel a little queasy; all of the hot food hit it all at once, I think. I tell her that I’m not so good, so we sit a few more minutes. I feel better, but just in case, I will use the bathroom. It is an unusual room. The door is on the level of the rest of the restaurant, and it sweeps just semicircular to open and close. As soon as you open the door, you step up to the toilet, sink and tub floor. Very strange, but it worked fine.

That done, we head out. She asks me if I like ice cream. Sure enough, I say. She points out two helado shops that are good; but this one is better, she says, because it is more hygienic. Like Whoa! I guess that I will need to be careful eating out.

During lunch she told me that we would be taking a water taxi to get where we are going. It’s called Las Grietas (The Crevices). We get on the water taxi and the only other passenger asks how long we’ve been in the Galapagos (a really good way to start up a conversation around here). Frida says that she has been coming here for the last 15 years but lives here now. She was spending a heck of a lot of money flying back and forth, she says. The guy asks the water taxi driver (should he be called a cabbie?) to drop him off at the blue boat. So this guy has sailed this gorgeous new sailboat from the Caribbean to Galapagos for the owners. Not a shabby gig, I think. The cabbie drops him at the back of the boat. I am very impressed at how the cabbies can control their boats; ease in and use reverse to just get close enough to kiss the landing. Must be their years of experience. We see a Blue-footed Booby dive into the water. My first sighting! Woohoo! When he comes up, he swoops over the boat empty-beaked. His face is very distinguishable, but did I see the blue feet? I’m not sure. They nest on the cliffs that I photographed from the dock earlier. Cool.

The boat ride costs 50 cents each and Frida pays. She says she is the one with a salary here. Fine, I let it pass. We start to walk down a pathway toward a beach, a hotel called Finch Bay, and the trail to Las Greitas. The hotel looks very, very nice. I think I will have to find out their room rates for when George arrives. Frida says maybe we would stop in for a drink on the walk back. Great idea.

 We find the trail. It is very well marked and incredibly volcanic. I told her I had sneakers, and she said that hiking boots would be better, oh well. Mostly, hiking boots would be good support for your ankles, just in case you missed your footing and t-w-i-s-t. It very sunny and I have to stop and put more sunscreen on my arms.

I explain to her that my flush face may look like I am about to have a coronary, but that is how my body works. I get red-faced, but still have the endurance to go on. Frida still insists upon a sit-down break when we find some shade to sit under. As we sit, we can hear the men & boys jumping off the high ledge of the crevice into the water below. We are close.

We head on and we arrive. There are two sets of steep stairs to climb down, then scramble over some very big volcanic rocks and there is one little place to enter the water without jumping. Frida, who knew what we were going to do, has on a swimsuit. I, on the other hand, completely clueless, find a shady spot to sit and watch. The water is cold, I can tell because everyone hesitates and says Frio! Some people have brought their snorkels, a family is here with the Mom sitting and watching as her husband and two kids swim, most of the men/boys jump from various heights.

Frida is out of the water, air drying. We watch the jumpers. I snap picture after picture of the jumpers, then put my camera away. Then Frida says These two guys are going to jump at the same time! Indicating to me to get my camera out, but fast! I do, but it is too late. Drats! Even though I take lots of photos, intend to keep only one or two of the best ones. A double jump probably would have been a keeper, though.

The longer we stay the more people come. There are 25 persons here now, and Frida asks if I am ready to go. You bet! I am all sweaty (yes, Karen, sweaty) and ready to return to a refreshing drink. We head up and out. On the way back, I snap a pic of Frida as she turns and stands. I can’t wait to send it to her as an email attachment. The trail isn’t very long on the way back. You know how that is, it takes forever to get to a place that you’ve never been, and the return trip always seems shorter.

There is a new building that we passed on the way in that Frida had never seen before. It is a bar, and we decide to sit and have a drink here. We sit at it for maybe 10 minutes and no one comes to serve us. Actually, no one was in sight anywhere(!) It was a good break, and we head back toward the water taxi station. When we get to the beach, I walk near the shore rather than the boardwalk. I say to Frida Are these Darwin Seagulls, because everything is named Darwin this, Darwin that? She says that they are Lava Gulls. I hear their cry. It is like Bru-ha-ha-ha; a very unusual “song,” I think. I have heard these birds at the Station and wondered who had that mysterious sounding birdcall.

This time I pay for the return trip. Frida has invited me to her apartment for tea before I head home, but the skies are looking ominous, it is definitely going to rain. I tell her Thanks, I will go to the supermarket buy some things (a gallon of water and a drink), and try to make it back to the dorms before the sky opens up.

On my way back, I see that there will be a music festival in the plaza tonight. The banner says it starts at 6 PM. When I walked past the plaza this morning, Cerveza vendors were setting up by putting bottles of beer into refrigeration. Now at 4:30 PM, the food vendors are setting up their stands.

I am glad to have had my Tampico (name brand) citrus punch (orange, mandarin and lemon) to fortify me on my return trip. Of course it’s made mostly of sugared water with a citrus flavor, but it hit the spot.

Just as I am at the end of the circle at the Station, it starts to rain. I stop briefly under the Admin bldg porch to get my umbrella out. False alarm. I walk to my room and unload my backpack. Whew!

My roommate is there and asks me what I did all day. I tell her. I have just carried a gallon of water that came out of the store refrigerator through town. I am a little warm from the walk, and it is just too tempting to open the new jug and have a quenching cool drink of water. I do it, and I am refreshed. Ah…

I’m thinking about taking a shower, but there are only a few hours left of daylight, and my only Internet access is you know where. I go to the Library, log-on, read and write emails. When I am in the Library and it rains, I know this because it sounds like a 747 taking off over head. And, that’s the sound I hear. I was right about the rain, just wrong about the timing.

It’s dark and I leave the Library. Time to head into the kitchen for cereal, raisins and milk for dinner. I go to the door and it is closed, lights are off (both inside and out). Hmm. The gang is watching a video (The Pathfinder) on a computer screen. Whoops! Sorry. I turn on the outside light which gives me enough light inside to find a bowl and “make” my dinner. I watch as much of it as I can stand, finish up, and go to take a shower, for the second time today!

I start this blog entry, and read a little. Mari had to work today and she will work again tomorrow. The researcher that she volunteers for lost too many days at the beginning of the week. So they are working all weekend. Poor kid. She gets up at 4:30 AM to be in the field before sunrise. At night, she is pretty exhausted, esp. because the rest of the dorm gang goes to town late for dinner, and then has some other activity planned. She wants to be part of the group, but has this dreadful schedule (you know, for a young person).

As I lay in bed, Dario (next door) has Frank Sinatra singing “New York New York” blaring out and he is singing along with it! I smile to myself, thinking that I take a chartered bus to the Big Apple four times a year from Willimantic, and can take Metro North any other time that I want. Spoiled much? When his music quiets down, through the window I can hear the sound of the music from town over the sound of the crashing waves. I drift off…

I start my adventure today with a gorgeous, sunny, bright cloudless sky. Ambient temp has to be at least 80 degrees. Today is not a day for work, but play.

Yesterday at lunch, the information that the cafeteria was open on Saturdays was reconfirmed. Sweet! I take a shower, get dressed and head to the cafeteria. It is 7:45 AM, and the door is closed. I know that they just adjusted breakfast to start at 7:30 AM on the weekdays (instead of 7 AM), and yesterday they said that they’d open on Saturday a little later than during the week. Well their idea of a little later and my idea of a little later are rather different.

While I was walking back up the path, their truck was driving down it, so breakfast will be starting soon, 8 AM I guess. I go back to my room, fire up my computador, and re-read my Monday, February 4th entry in preparation to post it on my blog either today or tomorrow.

Some of the folks from the dorm are grouping outside and they are headed to breakfast. I follow in a few minutes. In the cafeteria, there is a big TV set. During the weekdays it is turned to the news. For the weekend, there are Warner Bros. cartoons on from the 1950s and 60s translated into Spanish. Porky Pig & Daffy Duck in Spanish. Unbelievable!

I order my new regular breakfast, uno huevo duro, one hard-boiled egg which is already out of its shell(!). Of course that comes with a cup of hot milk (in which I am now putting Nescafe instant coffee), fresh juice, mixed fruit salad with a splash of yogurt and sprinkle of granola, and some bread thing; a roll, empanada, or tostada. Today we had something completely different as “bread,” some rolled up ball of meal, I think. It was difficult to decide whether I liked it or not. And because the cafeteria has several resident birds that fly about (in and out of the windows), this morning I tossed more than usual to the Yellow Warbler, named Maria, who has the most beautiful song.

After eating, I hit the Library to empty the dehumidifier. I feel guilty not doing it, so I do. And, while I’m there, I might as well long on and read my gmail. I don’t stay very long because a British woman, Frida, who has lived here for 3 years now and works for the Station, invited me to spend part of the day with her scrambling around on some volcanic rocks somewhere.

She and I will meet for 12:30 PM and do lunch on the street where all of the restaurants are. My roommate, Mari, has been telling me about this street for days now, and finally, I will get to see it, know where it is, and even eat there.

I take one more bathroom break before I head to town. And I discover quite the scene of domesticity: Dario and another woman doing their laundry by hand at the laundry basins/sink. She says that she doesn’t like the way her laundry feels afterward if she uses the washing machine. Me? I don’t know the difference. I’ll take the machine every time.

Dario and Roberto are outside my room. Dario has found a teeny gecko, and he wants a picture taken. Roberto goes and gets a camera. I get mine. I take a pic of Roberto taking a close-up pic of Dario’s arm where the gecko is pretty much happily sitting. Then I take a picture of the gecko on Dario’s arm. Both are keeper pix, I think.

At 11:15 AM, I am ready to go. I have my 4 postcards to mail if the Post Office is open. I have my baseball cap, sunscreen, bug repellant, camera, umbrella, money, wallet, water bottle, small roll of toilet paper (Hey! You never know), a mini-map of the island, and extra batteries. I feel like I am carrying everything but the kitchen sink in my backpack. I have on socks and sneakers for the first time since I arrived. They feel good to wear, but it’s almost too hot to have them on. I walk to town.

By 3 minutes of 12, I arrive at the P.O. and it is open. Yippee! Postage on one postcard is 50 cents. I bought and wrote these cards on my second day here (so much for mailing them in a timely fashion). I sit in a shaded plaza to cool off a little. That onshore breeze is the best.

The Post Office, supermarket, and the Dock are all here. I see boats and more boats. I get up and cross the street to get a better look. They number of boats in this bay is incredible. The big boats can’t come in close so they have these little boats called pangas. Pangas sit maybe 6-8 people and they ferry touristas from the big boats to the dock to disembark and see the town and the National Park and the Research Station.  I take some pictures of the cliffs opposite, and the boats coming and going.

At 12:30, I meet Frida. She looks like she is going on a big hike; bush hat, hiking boots, backpack with 2 bottles of water, and a telescoping walking stick. Yikes! I look like I’m going for a walk in the park in comparison. She says Shall we eat? And I say Yes, lead on. We turn off of Darwin Ave. onto Baltra. 2 blocks up, we turn to the left and lo and behold! The street with all the restaurants on it! We walk the street looking at the menus posted. I see the Polish woman who has been working in the Library doing research for her book. We say hello and she is gone. How about that? I am recognizing people on the streets of Puerto Ayora! Just like a native, huh?

Frida eats occasionally at the one kiosko we choose, so I feel good about eating there. It is a fixed meal with a fixed price: $2.50. You can choose between chicken or pork. I get the chicken, she the pork. Every meal starts with soup. This one is hot, exactly the way I like soup! Our conversation ranges all over the place and we eat and talk. She gives me the lowdown on why it is important to arrive at a restaurant early (rather than late) for lunch. All of the plates are already made up and the earlier you get there, ah, the fresher the dish. Great advice!

My stomach starts to feel a little queasy; all of the hot food hit it all at once, I think. I tell her that I’m not so good, so we sit a few more minutes. I feel better, but just in case, I will use the bathroom. It is an unusual room. The door is on the level of the rest of the restaurant, and it sweeps just semicircular to open and close. As soon as you open the door, you step up to the toilet, sink and tub floor. Very strange, but it worked fine.

That done, we head out. She asks me if I like ice cream. Sure enough, I say. She points out two helado shops that are good; but this one is better, she says, because it is more hygienic. Like Whoa! I guess that I will need to be careful eating out.

During lunch she told me that we would be taking a water taxi to get where we are going. It’s called Las Grietas (The Crevices). We get on the water taxi and the only other passenger asks how long we’ve been in the Galapagos (a really good way to start up a conversation around here). Frida says that she has been coming here for the last 15 years but lives here now. She was spending a heck of a lot of money flying back and forth, she says. The guy asks the water taxi driver (should he be called a cabbie?) to drop him off at the blue boat. So this guy has sailed this gorgeous new sailboat from the Caribbean to Galapagos for the owners. Not a shabby gig, I think. The cabbie drops him at the back of the boat. I am very impressed at how the cabbies can control their boats; ease in and use reverse to just get close enough to kiss the landing. Must be their years of experience. We see a Blue-footed Booby dive into the water. My first sighting! Woohoo! When he comes up, he swoops over the boat empty-beaked. His face is very distinguishable, but did I see the blue feet? I’m not sure. They nest on the cliffs that I photographed from the dock earlier. Cool.

The boat ride costs 50 cents each and Frida pays. She says she is the one with a salary here. Fine, I let it pass. We start to walk down a pathway toward a beach, a hotel called Finch Bay, and the trail to Las Greitas. The hotel looks very, very nice. I think I will have to find out their room rates for when George arrives. Frida says maybe we would stop in for a drink on the walk back. Great idea.

 We find the trail. It is very well marked and incredibly volcanic. I told her I had sneakers, and she said that hiking boots would be better, oh well. Mostly, hiking boots would be good support for your ankles, just in case you missed your footing and t-w-i-s-t. It very sunny and I have to stop and put more sunscreen on my arms.

I explain to her that my flush face may look like I am about to have a coronary, but that is how my body works. I get red-faced, but still have the endurance to go on. Frida still insists upon a sit-down break when we find some shade to sit under. As we sit, we can hear the men & boys jumping off the high ledge of the crevice into the water below. We are close.

We head on and we arrive. There are two sets of steep stairs to climb down, then scramble over some very big volcanic rocks and there is one little place to enter the water without jumping. Frida, who knew what we were going to do, has on a swimsuit. I, on the other hand, completely clueless, find a shady spot to sit and watch. The water is cold, I can tell because everyone hesitates and says Frio! Some people have brought their snorkels, a family is here with the Mom sitting and watching as her husband and two kids swim, most of the men/boys jump from various heights.

Frida is out of the water, air drying. We watch the jumpers. I snap picture after picture of the jumpers, then put my camera away. Then Frida says These two guys are going to jump at the same time! Indicating to me to get my camera out, but fast! I do, but it is too late. Drats! Even though I take lots of photos, intend to keep only one or two of the best ones. A double jump probably would have been a keeper, though.

The longer we stay the more people come. There are 25 persons here now, and Frida asks if I am ready to go. You bet! I am all sweaty (yes, Karen, sweaty) and ready to return to a refreshing drink. We head up and out. On the way back, I snap a pic of Frida as she turns and stands. I can’t wait to send it to her as an email attachment. The trail isn’t very long on the way back. You know how that is, it takes forever to get to a place that you’ve never been, and the return trip always seems shorter.

There is a new building that we passed on the way in that Frida had never seen before. It is a bar, and we decide to sit and have a drink here. We sit at it for maybe 10 minutes and no one comes to serve us. Actually, no one was in sight anywhere(!) It was a good break, and we head back toward the water taxi station. When we get to the beach, I walk near the shore rather than the boardwalk. I say to Frida Are these Darwin Seagulls, because everything is named Darwin this, Darwin that? She says that they are Lava Gulls. I hear their cry. It is like Bru-ha-ha-ha; a very unusual “song,” I think. I have heard these birds at the Station and wondered who had that mysterious sounding birdcall.

This time I pay for the return trip. Frida has invited me to her apartment for tea before I head home, but the skies are looking ominous, it is definitely going to rain. I tell her Thanks, I will go to the supermarket buy some things (a gallon of water and a drink), and try to make it back to the dorms before the sky opens up.

On my way back, I see that there will be a music festival in the plaza tonight. The banner says it starts at 6 PM. When I walked past the plaza this morning, Cerveza vendors were setting up by putting bottles of beer into refrigeration. Now at 4:30 PM, the food vendors are setting up their stands.

I am glad to have had my Tampico (name brand) citrus punch (orange, mandarin and lemon) to fortify me on my return trip. Of course it’s made mostly of sugared water with a citrus flavor, but it hit the spot.

Just as I am at the end of the circle at the Station, it starts to rain. I stop briefly under the Admin bldg porch to get my umbrella out. False alarm. I walk to my room and unload my backpack. Whew!

My roommate is there and asks me what I did all day. I tell her. I have just carried a gallon of water that came out of the store refrigerator through town. I am a little warm from the walk, and it is just too tempting to open the new jug and have a quenching cool drink of water. I do it, and I am refreshed. Ah…

I’m thinking about taking a shower, but there are only a few hours left of daylight, and my only Internet access is you know where. I go to the Library, log-on, read and write emails. When I am in the Library and it rains, I know this because it sounds like a 747 taking off over head. And, that’s the sound I hear. I was right about the rain, just wrong about the timing.

It’s dark and I leave the Library. Time to head into the kitchen for cereal, raisins and milk for dinner. I go to the door and it is closed, lights are off (both inside and out). Hmm. The gang is watching a video (The Pathfinder) on a computer screen. Whoops! Sorry. I turn on the outside light which gives me enough light inside to find a bowl and “make” my dinner. I watch as much of it as I can stand, finish up, and go to take a shower, for the second time today!

I start this blog entry, and read a little. Mari had to work today and she will work again tomorrow. The researcher that she volunteers for lost too many days at the beginning of the week. So they are working all weekend. Poor kid. She gets up at 4:30 AM to be in the field before sunrise. At night, she is pretty exhausted, esp. because the rest of the dorm gang goes to town late for dinner, and then has some other activity planned. She wants to be part of the group, but has this dreadful schedule (you know, for a young person).

As I lay in bed, Dario (next door) has Frank Sinatra singing “New York New York” blaring out and he is singing along with it! I smile to myself, thinking that I take a chartered bus to the Big Apple four times a year from Willimantic, and can take Metro North any other time that I want. Spoiled much? When his music quiets down, through the window I can hear the sound of the music from town over the sound of the crashing waves. I drift off…