wow

It was really hard to choose which pictures to post. There are more that I´d like to show you, but some need a little editing and the computer I´m on now doesn´t have the software. So obviously I just got back from an AMAZING trip to the Galapagos Islands. I was on a boat for 11 days with 15 passengers (including my dad), a naturalist guide, a tour leader, and the ship´s crew. I have to admit that I was a little nervous about this trip. I´ve never been on "cruise," so I didn´t know how that would work out. Also, the way it works in the Galapagos National Park is that you can´t set foot on the islands without a certified naturalist guide. Not all the islands are open to visitors and the ones that are have marked trails that you have to follow. Those of you that know me know that comfortable yaughts and guided tours are not my normal mode of travel. Well I have to tell you that I was pleasently suprised and very impressed. Our naturalist guide (Martin Loyola) was wonderful and I can´t imagine the trip without him. He was incredibly knowledgable about the animals (terrestrial and marine), plants, and geology of the Galapagos. The islands by far exceeded my expectations. It´s hard to describe just how close we could get to the wildlife. Because of the lack of predators and the constant presence of visitors, the animals aren´t afraid of people at all. It was a wildlife photographer´s dream. Here´s a list of some of the highlights from the trip:

• baby birds everywhere
• swimming with hammerhead sharks
• seeing giant tortoises in the wild
• not getting sick when everyone else on the boat did
• swimming with a pod of false killer whales
• floating in the middle of a pelican/boobie/penguin feeding frenzie
• Martin´s stories
• swimming with a flock of penguins
• always getting to the islands before all the other tourists, just after sunrise
• breaching manta rays
• stargazing at the ecuator from the top deck
• pretending to be a sea lion in the water

lotsa pictures!

mangroves in the morning

lava heron with a yummy sally-light-foot crab

flirting nazca boobies

baby boobie

mmmm... cactus

flightless cormorant

flamingo lagoon

marine iguanas and mangroves

male lava lizard

penguins and blue-footed boobies

bathing giant tortoise

hungry marine iguana

giant tortoise

frigate birds

a new view

Now this is the view from my room

I leave tomorrow for my tour around the Galapagos Islands. I´m sure I´ll have plenty more pictures to post when I get back.

Still in Quito

Every Sunday in Quito there´s an art and craft market in one of the parks. I´ve been struggling to find things to do here when I´m not in my class. There´s a lot of cool stuff to see outside Quito, but you need at least a whole day and I have class in the mornings. If you like old buildings and big churches, this is a great city. I´m looking forward to getting out of the city and finally breathing some fresh air. All the buildings and roads are black from exhaust. My spanish professora says that a lot of cars here don´t have catalytic converters. I don´t know exactly what that means except for more pollution. The city also doesn´t have recycling facilities. I´ve been trained so well my whole life that it´s difficult to throw a plastic bottle in the trash.

The food is great (lotsa yummy soups) and I´ve met some nice people. But I´ll be happy to leave Quito on Wednesday. Oh something interesting I´ve noticed...People are really interested in the U.S. primaries and general election. I was suprised to hear people in Ecuador telling me why they wanted Obama to win, or Clinton. They blame Bush for some of their problems here, especially with Columbia. The fighting between the U.S. backed Columbian government and the FARC rebels just spilled over into Ecuadorian territory this past weekend and people here are not happy about it. Anyway, no more politics. I hope all is well en Los Estados Unidos.

Quito, Ecuador

This is the view out my window at night

And this is the view out my window during the day. I´m staying in an apartment in Quito with my host family: Cecilia and her daughter Patricia. I had my first spanish lesson today and it went really well. I´m just going to take one week of classes to review everything I´ve forgotten. I´ll write more after I´ve done something exciting.

now the blog is official

Somehow a link to my blog ended up on the Worldwide Peace Corps Blog Directory. So anyone that found me through that site: hello! Now this blog is officially public. I'm leaving tomorrow for Ecuador, which should be a good warm up trip before I embark on my Peace Corps adventure. I will try to update this blog as much as I can during my trip and I'll be back in California April 3. Feel free to leave comments.

what I've been up to

I've been so excited since I found out I'm going to Fiji. This whole process from application to departure has taken so long, but now that it's February, I feel like I'm running out of time! My Dad and I decided to take our promised "trip to anywhere in the world that I want to go" before I leave for the Peace Corps. So we're going to the Galapagos Islands for two weeks in March (one of my friends described it as "every biology nerd's dream"). Being a world travel addict, I couldn't justify going all the way to Ecuador for just two weeks, so I'm staying for five weeks. That should get me back to California at the beginning of April, just in time for one month of working as many hours as I can while packing and getting rid of all the stuff I won't need for the next 2 years. But before I leave for Ecuador, the Peace Corps has a list of things for me to do: get a new "government" passport, write a new resume, write a five part "aspiration statement," and write a press release. I'm sure that once I finish all of that, they'll have another list form me.

Completely unrelated topic: the presidential primaries. I'm a little sad that I'm going to miss the election in November. I've had so much fun following the campaigns and elections for both parties. It's been so exciting. "They" talk about how the young people are more involved in this election than they have been ever before, and I can testify to that. Tomorrow is "Super Tuesday" and I can't wait to see how everything unfolds.