Too Busy To Write

I’m alive, despite the fact that this poor blog has sat empty since I left Santa Cruz Island for Isabela Island. Its not that I didn’t want to write – its just that I’ve been very busy and that internet gods have not been smiling down on me. The high speed internet (well, relatively speaking) we’d grown accustomed to and the promise of DSL (aka “Banda Ancha”) on Isabela Island all came falling down with my arrival more than a week ago. But I’m not actually the problem.

The high speed internet place is now open but only so that the sole employee can proclaim that there is no internet (or phone) signal, but that it will be back up tomorrow (yes, always tomorrow) . And at the same time they promise that DSL will be available in homes and businesses here within a month. They’ve been saying that for a couple of weeks, so my guess is that it will be December before its really here. There are still a few places to access the snail-paced internet – the only problem is that they are open while I’m working during the day. What’s a girl to do?

So, we’ve been working. By we, I mean the group of UNC students that are here in Galápagos for varying amounts of time this summer. There are several different projects going on – a study of mangroves on the island, a study of water and health issues, and a study of guava near Sierra Negra Volcano. I’m working on the last two, but so far have spent most of my time with the first topic – water and health.

Hopefully I will find a way to update everyone a little more in the next few weeks. I think that I say this every year.

I'm Here - Yes, Again

I'm back in the Galapagos for the fourth summer in a row. On Tuesday, one of my classmates and I flew to Quito for the first leg of our trip. After a few hours of sleep we headed to the airport in Quito to take our flight to Galapagos. Using almost all forms of transportation available on the islands (plane, boat, bus, car, and a little walking), we finally made it to the town of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island. After spending a day and a half here to get ready for field work and to say hello to some old friends, we are leaving for Isabela Island this afternoon where we'll be working for the next few weeks.

The internet is a bit slow on Isabela, but I'll try to post pictures and updates when I can.

Ciao,
Amy

In Case You're Wondering...

...I did make it home safely. I've been so busy prepping for a class that I'm co-teaching this semester and trying to sort through all the data I collected, that I completely failed to update this blog. If you read through the past posts, you'll see that this isn't anything new.

But I do have some photos to make up for the lack of posts. Before I left Ecuador this summer, I spent a few days in Santa Cruz and Quito (both working and a little bit of relaxing):

A parade in Santa Cruz for Ecuador's Independence Day.


Hanging out with tortoises at the breeding center in Santa Cruz.


Quito from my room.

Old town, Quito.

I climbed up into the bell tower of this basillica.

Now, its time to get to work analyzing all of the data that I collected and working on my dissertation. And with any luck I'll have the opportunity to get back to the Galapagos Islands soon. Thanks for following along with me this past summer. Feel free to check out my other blog for less-exciting updates on my work throughout the year!

On The Road Again

This is my last evening in Galapagos! Tomorrow morning I will head to the airport and fly to Quito where I will spend the next few days. I've got most of my stuff packed up (and copies of all the important files and documents that I spent the last month working on), so the only thing I have left to do at this point is to eat dinner! And what better way to end a trip to Galapagos than to eat the kiosk of Familia William.

There is a block here in Puerto Ayora that has small open-air restaurants that are arranged side-by-side on both sides of the street. Each restaurant is owned by a family that prepares a particular food, and grilled meats seem to be popular. But my favorite is owned by a family that is originally from Esmeraldes, on the Ecuadorian coast, that specialies seafood encocado (basically, cooked in coconut milk). I am not that into seafood, but they always have a fantastic grilled- or baked chicken dish served with rice, and this is key, menestra. Here, menestra is a bean or lentil stew that is somtimes served as a side dish, and if its done correctly it can be delicious!

I don't have any grand plans for my time in Quito. Thursday morning I have to go to an Ecuadorian government office to buy some aerial photographs of the Galapagos that were taken in 2007. But after that, I am free to rest and relax a little...and take in the city that I am usually just passing through on my way to other destinations.

I may not have another chance to update the blog until I am back home - so, thanks very much for following along with me. Its been nice to get emails and notes of encouragement from everyone. I feel rather lucky that I've had the opportunity to do my dissertation research in such a wonderful place and I can't wait for the chance to return!

(FYI - I will at least try to post some pictures of Santa Cruz and Quito when I get home, so look for at least one other update).

Ciao Isabela

All good things must come to an end - including field research in the Galapagos. Saturday afternoon I finished up the last bit of data collection I had left in Isabela - just a couple of more GPS points and a quick visit to the higlands. It feels great to be at this point since I feel like I know so much about the island and how its landscape is changing, but at the same time I am sad to be leaving the tranquil place that was my temporary home for almost a month. And I was sad to say goodbye to the wondeful people that made my research possible and fun!

At 6:00 am this morning my classmate and I boarded the boat in Isabela to return to Santa Cruz Island. When we arrived we were suprised and delighted to see one of the park guards who had been working on Isabela with us. It turns out that he was getting ready to get on a boat himself to head to Alcedo Volcano to do some work. We were also greeted by a parade to celebrate Ecuador´s Independence Day.

I will be in Santa Cruz for a few days to work on a quick field report for the Galapagos National Park (who issued my research permit) and to do some research in the library at the Charles Darwin Station. It looks like the weather here has been just as cool and rainy as it was on Isabela, but maybe I will get lucky and the sun will come out so that I can relax a bit at the beach.

Here are some pictures of Isabela from my last few days there:

"Isabela Growing For You"

A lovely farm with irrigation.

A local marine iguana.

Sandy streets in Isabela.

Aletutu, the boat that brought me to Santa Cruz.