Busy Day (26 Nov. 2008)

Galapagos Board of Education (11-26-08)
Howdy, all.
Today was the first day of the program where we’ve gone 24 hours without a flight or an upcoming flight the next morning. To make the most of it, the day was cram-packed.
After a great breakfast of eggs, ham, tofu, and toast, we walked to GAIAS again to meet with the Board of Education of the Galapagos.
In the meeting, we talked a lot about the pressures facing the Galapagos and the things they are trying to do to fix those problems. The key idea in Galapagos is tension: tension between conservation and tourism, tension between the inhabitants of the island and immigrants from mainland Ecuador, and tension between the tourists and the residents.
Galapagos, like any ecosystem, needs balance, and due to laws, policies, etc., it is harder and harder for balance to be found. The most promising news on this front is that there is beginning to be increased cooperation between the government of Ecuador, the school system, and the Charles Darwin Research Station, and UNESCO.
I am continually amazed by the things I see here. Stepping off the plane, yes, it was awesome, but it wasn’t the biological wonderland I’d been picturing in my mind. Sure, the wonders are here, but they are against a backdrop of construction, paving, poverty, and degeneration. One of my very first glimpses of the islands from the airplane was of a bulldozer razing half of a small mountain. This scares me the most because I see so many similarities between the Galapagos and the Smokies—similar tensions, similar biological diversity, similar problems. Seeing unrestricted growth, here or back home, scares me senseless. Fortunately, a lot of work is being done now in schools on the islands to create awareness of the issues and to foster ownership of the islands and stewardship for the islands. It’s my hope that when I get back, we’ll be able to do more at school to help foster those attitudes.

The Farm (11-26-08)
Stinkin’ awesome. That’s all I’ve got to say.
After leaving GAIAS this morning, we took the bus into the highlands, crossing the island. Our destination was an organic farm in the mountains. The road was muddy and steep, so, after the bus got stuck, we had to get out and walk up to the farm. It was great to get out of the bus and into the green. Whereas most of the island we’ve seen so far has been brown and dry, the farm was in the higher, wetter regions, so it was lush and inviting.
Along the side of the dirt road were planted corn, bananas, coffee, and bamboo.
Once up to the farmer’s house, we got to see and sample many different locally grown fruits---tree tomatoes, oranges, and bananas. Never has a banana tasted as good as the one I picked from the bunch today. It’s no comparison to the “reduced for quick sale” bananas back home. So far, I’ve succeeded in having locally grown bananas at every meal for the past two days! It is definitely my new favorite fruit. I also learned that the little black seeds in bananas are almost always sterile, and that the plants multiply by sending out shoots from the main plant. So, the banana orchard (?) we saw was composed of plants that all shot off of a couple of plants.
At the farm, we also got to milk a cow and taste some coffee beans fresh off the tree. Coffee is part of the same family of plants as cherries, so the fruit doesn’t taste at all like coffee.
They also roast their own coffee at the farm, and today I drank coffee that was grown, collected, sorted, dried, roasted, ground, and brewed all on the same property (a feat worthy of Sam… who’s already done it J ). We also drank water from a stalk of bamboo that is reported to be good for the health of your kidneys. Bamboo is not native to the Galapagos, but it is good on the farms because it grows quickly and can be used as building material, fencing, etc., and it can also serve as shade for the coffee trees.
The best part of the farm was the family. The husband, wife, uncle, and kids were all very gracious and exuberant and happy. They bent over backwards to make us feel comfortable and to show us the things they do.

El Junco (11-26-08)
After leaving the farm, we hiked up to El Junco, a freshwater lake in the crate of a volcano. Being on islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the Galapagos don’t get much rain. That makes it doubly impressive to find such a massive lake in the mountains that is filled entirely by rain and mist (called garua… it’s like a wet fog).
The pictures say more about El Junco than I ever could, so I will post them soon.

Restaurant Voluntidad de Dios (11-26-08)
I have no idea if I’ve remembered the name of the restaurant correctly, but I will keep in my tradition of describing meals. There’s just something cool about walking in to see chickens running free range all over the property, knowing, “hey, I’m going to eat some of your kinfolk in a minute.” It sounds kind of gruesome, but it sure beats the American meat system where the birds are cram packed into small spaces with their beaks cut off so they can’t peck each other. We had fried chicken, baked potato of some sort (very small, very fluffy, very sweet), and rice. The restaurant was in a beautiful setting. Probably one thing I will miss the most about the Galapagos is how all of the buildings let the outside in. Very few have completely sealed walls/ceilings. Even the school buildings don’t have gyms; they just have basketball courts with a large tin roof over them. I’ll also miss the fact that a 12 oz Pepsi in Quito is twenty cents.

Cerro Colorado Giant Tortoise Breeding Center (11-26-08)
Before leaving the highlands, we went to the Cerro Colorado breeding center for the giant tortoises. Walking around the trails we were able to see three tortoises roaming free, in addition to some baby tortoises in protected areas. There was also an abundance of tortoise scat.

AL Phone Home (11-26-08)
After trying desperately for an internet connection at the hotel since arriving, I finally bit the bullet and went to the internet café to find out how much access is. 45 cents for 10 minutes. THEN I found out how much international calls are: 30 cents per minute. Needless to say, I was on the phone before you could say “roasted guinea pig.” It was nice to get in touch and just hear everyone’s voice after so long.
After the internet café, I went to eat at La Playa. Once again in range of the sea lions, this time I opted for arroz con pollo with grilled plantains. I frequently order arroz con pollo at home, but this was a different creature altogether—and sooo good. Chicken, onions, peppers, rice, plantains, and a great sauce. Add that to a few of the papas fritas I grabbed from the appetizer plate and you’ve got a pretty solid meal.

Goodnight (11-26-08)
Even though I got a little bummed out and homesick after we got back from the tours today, things are definitely looking up. Getting to talk to Jodie and Bailey and Myers really helped boost the old morale. Gotta love international calls for only 30 centavos un minuto.