The Galapagos Islands

"Cause institution's like a big bright lie
And it blinds you into fear and consuming and fight
And you've been in the desert underneath the charging sky
It's just you and God
But what if God's not there?
But his name is on your dollar bill
Which just became cab fare"

I spent a week in the Galapagos Islands -- home of Darwin's theory of Evolution. Home to a great deal of what I studied for many years at UW. It was extremely thought provoking for me.

At first I debated whether I wanted to go out to the islands, because to see them properly requires quite a lot of money. I certainly have enough to afford the trip, I am just trying not to spend too much too soon or too much in one place. Nevertheless, the trip was absolutely worth it.

It all happened in a bit of a whirlwind at first, as I realized I needed to get moving through Ecuador and on to my next country. From the orphanage outside of Manta, I took a bus to Guayaquil. Guayaquil, at 2 million people, is the largest city in Ecuador and therefore quite different than the areas I had been in for the last week and a half. I was only there for one afternoon and night and managed to book a flight to the Galapagos the next morning. Things continued to work out from there, as I managed to snag a discounted last spot aboard a cruise around the northern islands for four days and three nights. I was able to visit the islands of Rabida, Bartolome, Seymoar, and Tortuga Negra Bay back on Santa Cruz. I saw amazing volcanic formations, great frigates, loads of finches -- all with specially adapted beaks -- sea lions, fur seals, sally light foot crabs, and of course the infamous blue footed boobies. I was also able to do loads of snorkeling (and I have the sun burn to prove it, despite swimming with a t-shirt on). While snorkeling I saw many amazing fish, sting rays, turtles, penguins, sea lions, and white tipped reef sharks! I felt that I spent just about the right amount of time on the cruise. Not only was the sun winning in my perpetual fight against it, but my guide was getting a little too friendly as well. Mostly, I began to feel isolated on the boat, because most people had come in pairs and because I really feel that being in the Galapagos brought out the academic side of me that only some people appreciate.

Often, I am a very adaptable, personable person. I get along with lots of different people and make at least casual friends easily. Other times, however, I fall into an awkward, inescapable part of my personality and therefore feel somewhat isolated from the people I am around. This part of my personality most often manifests itself as “overly serious nerd” or, more specifically, “overly serious science nerd”. For example, while undertaking a particularly arduous hike down a very steep, large hill in the Andes of Peru, I told the other girl I was hiking with about having pet beta fish in my neuroendocrinology lab at UW. I explained that we named the fish after chemical compounds and wrote the names and symbols on index cards under their bowls. When they died, we kept their cards on the wall with their date of birth (purchase) and date of death. This explanation was followed by a brief moment of silence on the part of my companion, followed by a comment to the effect of “wow, you are a nerd.” This was not a problem though -- we were the only people for miles around. She was stuck with me until we returned to town and she had already purchased a bus ticket with me for that night. Insert evil laugh on my part here. In contrast, there were enough other people on board the boat in the Galapagos that I couldn´t really get away with forcing myself on people. Me, being in my Galapagos-induced state of bewildered awe, forgot that not everyone wants to know, for example, that a fur seal is not actually a true seal (i.e. within the phocide family) but is in fact in the otaride family along with sea lions. The problem is, I forget that some of the knowledge I enjoy so much is in fact rather esoteric. So instead of just sounding really excited, I sound pretentious.

Once off the boat, I felt more comfortable reveling in my nerdiness by myself. Although I slept less comfortably as I was trying to save money on the expensive islands and agreed to stay at the apartment of the guy at the tour agency who set me up with my cruise. He was very kind, unassuming and didn´t ask for anything in exchange. He just wanted to make sure I enjoyed my self while on Santa Cruz. The day after I got back to the main island, I undertook what has remained my most proud achievement thus far on the trip. I went scuba diving at Gordon Rocks. For those of you who have not been diving in the Galapagos, this will mean little. To those that have, this will mean intense jealousy! I, myself, didn´t really realize what Gordon Rocks entailed until it was too late to turn back and didn´t get the full picture until after I had completed the dives.

Gordon Rocks is an underwater volcanic crater that is considered one of the best dive sites in the Galapagos. It is the best place to have a chance at seeing hammerhead sharks. It is also a site for advanced divers only, due to it´s strong currents. My dive guide figured out I only had four dives, but decided that since I had learned in the Puget Sound, I would be fine. We did an initial "test dive" in which my mask leaked a lot, so I felt pretty apprehensive, but tried to pretend everything was under control. My dive guide bought my acting, but also gave me a better mask before the first real dive. The dives went spectacularly! Though I didn´t see any hammerheads, I did see lots of fish, turtles and a GIANT sting ray. I could definitely feel the currents, but didn´t have a problem with them. The problem with the currents there is not that they are difficult to swim against in a linear fashion, but that they can sweep you up or down quite quickly, changing your buoyancy dangerously. I was so proud of myself for the rest of the day!

During my last two days at the island, I ran into a few friends I had made in Latacunga -- Brian the Canadian and Lisa and Fanny, two of the girls from Holland. Brian was going diving the next day and told me that he wanted to dive at Gordon Rocks, but the company he was using wouldn´t let people with fewer than 25 dives go! Was what I did a little stupid in hindsight? Yes. Was I still ridiculously proud? Yes! We celebrated my last night on the islands that evening with my original group of friends, some new people they had met on a cruise, two Swedish boys from my cruise, and a German guy I had met on Santa Cruz. The Swedes succeeded in getting into a fist fight with a local drunk guy, but they didn´t really start it and luckily the bartenders realized this. Exciting, but sad in a way because we Gringo (or at least Gringo-appearing) tourists are always stirring things up whether we mean to or not.

I left the Galapagos a day early, only because I have so many more places to go and people to see. I was and still am filled with the awe of witnessing text book examples of evolution and I continue to philosophize, for fun, about evolution, education, religion, god, my place in the world. And my cab fare leaving the island was indeed one U.S. dollar and god´s name was on that dollar bill.