Spring Break: Galápagos Style

The best week of spring semester: SPRING BREAK! Since traveling from the Galápagos is such a hassle, the majority of kids studying here go island hopping to the different islands in the Galápagos Archipelago for spring

Heine's take Galápagos
Heine’s take Galápagos

break. Lucky for me, my family got to visit and I was able to show them around my home of San Cristóbal before we set out on an island hopping cruise.

Although this island is beautiful, it is very small, and getting to leave and see some new scenery was a nice break. And I got to do it with my favorite people! Our cruise traveled to 5 different islands, starting at San Cristóbal and then moving to Española, Floreana, Santa Fe, and ending in Santa Cruz.  Each day, we usually spent the morning hiking around whatever island we were at, and the afternoons snorkeling, kayaking, hanging out on the beach, or hiking some more. However, the absolute best part of the whole week, was that our boat had air conditioning in the rooms and no bugs!! Two luxuries that I do not have at home here.

Snorkeling at Floreana
Snorkeling at Floreana
Nasca Boobies on Santa Fe!
Nasca Boobies on Santa Fe!
Galápagos Hawk (that are apparently not seen often) on Española Island!
Not a bad view to see every night!
Not a bad view to see every night!

One of the coolest things about the Galápagos is that each island has its own wildlife and special things that it is known for.  On San Cristóbal, we saw giant tortoises, Española was home to blue and red marine iguanas, Floreana has the only population of flamingos in the whole archipelago, Santa Fe has yellow iguanas, and Santa Cruz has Penguins! The islands are such a unique place, and it was so cool to explore more of it this last week.

I am now back on San Cristóbal and starting module 4 (of 5!!), which is crazy. I only have 6 weeks left here, and the time is flying by! Starting now, I am no longer taking Marine-based classes, and this module is Global Climate Change: People, Politics, and the Environment. I’m very excited to be studying something new for the next couple weeks, and to make the most of my last month here!

Module 3: Homework, homework, and more homework. Oh and turtles!

Module 3 is complete! This was my hardest class by far, but also the most fun! The class was called Marine Ecology, and we were lucky enough to have it co-taught by one professor from USFQ in Quito, and a visiting professor from Cal State who is on sabbatical doing research.

As part of the class, we helped our professors with their coral research, completed our own group research projects, along with normal class activities. We’ve done research projects in all three classes that I have taken here, but this one was my favorite by far! My group studied the relationship between turtles and the fish that are always seen swimming alongside/around the turtles “cleaning” their fins and shells.

An example of fish "cleaning" turtles. These are Rainbow Wrasse fish eating the algae off of a Green turtle!
An example of fish “cleaning” a sea turtle. These are Rainbow Wrasse fish eating the algae off of a Green sea turtle!
This is a Hawksbill turtle! They are not very common in the islands, so we were super lucky to see one during our research!
Hawksbill Turtle!

We got to go snorkeling and searching for turtles at 3 different beaches everyday for 10 days as “homework” (take notes please, Linfield biology department).

With the little free time I’ve had outside of class the last 3 weeks, I have tried to see the few spots of the island that I have yet to see. On an island as small as San Cristóbal, after about a month of exploring there’s not too much new stuff to see. But, it has been fun to explore the whole island, and really get to know my favorite places.

Here’s a sneak peak of some of my favorite places on the island:

-Playa de los Marinos: This is my favorite beach to go to, and it’s one that people aren’t allowed on! It’s where all the sea lions hang out, so it’s full of mamma and baby sea lions all the time. If you’ve never seen a baby sea lion, they are the absolute cutest animals ever and if I could bring one home with me,  I would.

A cute group of sea lions cuddling on the beach
A cute group of sea lions cuddling on the beach

-La Lobería: This is my favorite snorkel spot on the island, and one of the best spots to see sea turtles and lots of cool fish. It also has lots of cool hiking trails around it that lead you up to cliffs overlooking the ocean.

A turtle seen while snorkeling here!
La Lobería beach

-Sabor Cuencano: Not outdoorsy, but this the only café on the island that has both air conditioning AND wifi, a real rarity here. They also have the best sweet treats to munch on during studying 🙂

-Playa Mann: This is the beach right across the street from my campus, and is one of the nicer beaches for just hanging out and swimming. Although there are lots of beaches around the island, most of them are super rocky and not really the type to go and hang out at.

Sara

 

Quito part two: Where there’s a Whelk there’s a way!

Module 1 and my time in Quito are almost over, but the last two weeks have been full of so many adventures. Here’s a look into my favorite parts:

Teleferíco: A gondola that takes you up into the mountains surrounding Quito. At the very top you’re at almost 15,000 feet of elevation! The views from both the ride up, and once at the top were spectacular. We hiked around the mountains a little bit, but none of us wanted to die from the altitude, so we didn’t do anything too strenuous. We did find a swing on the edge of the mountain that looked out over the whole city!

Top of Teleférico!
Top of Teleférico!
Best (and most fun) view of the city!
Best (and most fun) view of the city!
Riding up the Teleférico Gondola
Riding up the Teleférico Gondola

Coast trip: For my Techniques of Marine Research class, we took a field trip to the coast of Ecuador to do research. We went to 3 different towns (Ayampe, Ayangue, and Canoa), and 5 different intertidal beaches to look at the biodiversity there. My job for the week was to look for whelks (carnivorous sea snails) at all of the beaches, and at the end of each day we would weigh, measure, and identify the species each whelk we were able to find. I did this for over 1,200 whelks by the end of the week! Safe to say I have no interest in seeing anymore whelks any time soon.

One of our study sites from Ayampe!
One of our study sites from Ayampe!
Whelks collected during our research on the coast!
Whelks collected during our research on the coast!
Whelks collected during our research on the coast!
Whelks collected during our research on the coast!

 

Otavalo: One of my favorite places so far! Otovalo is a small town up in the mountains in Ecuador that is home to South America’s largest local artisanal market. My friend Emily and I took the bus up there early in the morning and spent the morning shopping at the market. All of the handmade clothes, jewelry and trinkets were pretty and fun to look at. We spent the afternoon wandering around the rest of the town, and explored a couple old churches and stumbled across what I think is my new all-time favorite ice cream shop.

One of the hundreds of stalls at the Otavalo market!
One of the hundreds of stalls at the Otavalo market!
So many beautiful, old churches in this town! We had a blast exploring them.
So many beautiful, old churches in this town! We had a blast exploring them.

Living with my host mom: I have kind of a unique situation, being one of the only kids in the program that lives with just a host mom, and no siblings. But I sure did luck out with my host mom! Her name is Bernadita, she is very classy and fun, and she is an interior designer. Getting to spend time with her (and her boyfriend Georgito) has been the highlight of this trip for sure. She has been so welcoming and has made my short time in Quito so much more enjoyable.

QUITO!

I have arrived in South America and survived my first two weeks here! It is so crazy to be here in Ecuador. After a whole day on planes from Montana, meeting my host mom, and going to my first weeks of classes, I am starting to get settled. While I am here, I’ll be living in a little “suburb” of Quito called Cumbaya. (It’s a very nice area of Quito, my host house is in a gated community with a guard out front!). This is where the USFQ campus is located, and as someone who’s not a big city fan, it’s nice to not be in the middle of the city.

The first week here was lots of orientations to the University and life in Quito, along with a tour of the city. Quito is beautiful and huge! It is an old city, with so many statues and old churches and buildings to see and explore. We had a blast! The USFQ campus is gorgeous as well, I’d say that the grounds keepers rival even Linfield’s J Of course, we still had classes this week, too. But since we don’t start our first module until next week, this week was an intensive Spanish course. Three-hour long classes are not the most fun, but the class good refresher and gave us an idea of what to expect from classes to come here in Quito!

Now that module 1 has started, I am in my first real class here! I am taking Techniques of Marine Research, so I learned all about marine ecosystems:  how they work, the species that live there, and how best to study them. It has been super interesting already to study something different than my usual biology classes.  And as someone who grew up landlocked in Montana, I don’t know a whole lot about the ocean, so this will be a good learning experience for me!

Sara Heine

My view flying in to Quito!
My view flying in to Quito!
Walking through old town Quito
Walking through old town Quito
Views from old town Quito
Views from old town Quito
Church and Convent of St. Francis
Church and Convent of St. Francis
Church and Convent of St. Francis
Church and Convent of St. Francis
View of Quito from El Panecillo
View of Quito from El Panecillo

Hola from Galápagos!

Hola from Galápagos! Here is a look into the first couple weeks of my study abroad experience! 

After a adventure-packed and quick month on the Mainland in Quito, I have finally made it to the Galápagos!  I am staying on the island of San Cristóbal, and attending the University of San Francisco’s extension program here.  I am on the Marine Ecology track, so I get to spend the next 3 months learning all about the marine wildlife here on the islands and doing research to know more about them. Traditional class schedules aren’t offered here, instead we take 5 classes in intensive, 3-week intervals (kind of like mini Jan Terms!).  I am currently taking a Marine Life class, which includes lectures in the classroom about identification, anatomy, conservation status, and other facts regarding endemic species of the islands, and then time spent out on the island and in the surrounding ocean studying the species.  Earlier this week our class took  boats out to scuba dive and snorkel with hammerhead sharks and manta rays (let me add that there were no cages present, we were free diving with sharks and I was terrified)! 

Aside from school, life in San Cristóbal has been a blast. It is obviously very different from the United States, and even mainland Ecuador. With only 6,000 people, it is a very small, tight-knight community where everyone knows everyone.  So much so that you can get into a cab, tell the driver the last name of the family who’s house your going to, and they will know exactly where to go! I live with a host family here, which has been another adjustment, but also one of my favorite parts! I have had kind of a unique experience, and only had host moms both in Quito and here in San Cristóbal, with no host siblings. However, spending time with my host moms has been the best way for me to get immersed in the Ecuadorian and Galápagos cultures, and has presented me with so many learning opportunities. You become so close in such a short time! It is also summer here right now, which means heat and humidity. Much different than the polar vortex that is the United States right now, but it’s not too big of a problem when campus is right across from the beach! 

Here’s a couple photos from my time here:

The view of San Cristóbal on the flight in.
The view of San Cristóbal on the flight in.
El Junco!
The view from our hike to El Junco.
A Galápagos tortoise from the nesting center that we visited.
A Galápagos tortoise from the nesting center that we visited.
This my new best friend. Sea lions are ALL over the island and are super curious and friendly!
This my new best friend. Sea lions are ALL over the island and are super curious and friendly!
Puerto Chino
Some friends from my program and I explored the island a little last weekend and found our new favorite beach, Puerto Chino!
Sunrise on San Cristóbal (the ONLY good thing about being up at 5:30 am)
La Loberia! We hiked about an hour and a half over rocks to these cliffs to observe marine iguanas and sea birds for my marine life class. The view was just as cool as the wildlife!
La Loberia! We hiked about an hour and a half over rocks to these cliffs to observe marine iguanas and sea birds for my marine life class. The view was just as cool as the wildlife!
(This one's from Quito) But as everyone knows, Linfield is around the world!
(This one’s from Quito) But as everyone knows, Linfield is around the world!
My classroom for the next three months!
My classroom for the next three months!

 

 

I am enjoying island life more and more every day, and am so excited for all the other adventures that await me in the coming months! 

 

A trip to the Amazon forest

Time here does not wait for anyone. It has been so hard for me to take a minute and catch a breath between classes, homework, commuting, host family events and travel. Recently I spent a weekend in Tiputini, the Amazon rain forest. The trip to Tiputini was about 12 hours in total jumping from bus to boat to chiva to boat, etc. This kind of gives you an idea how deep into the jungle we were. Although the commute was long, the trip was an amazing opportunity because this trip was not a typical vacation or tourist attraction. It was a trip organized by my school to allow students to visit the schools research station in the middle of the rain forest. This is definitely not a place where just anybody can visit. We were the only tourists for miles and miles since the station is mainly used by researchers.

On the way to Tiputini there was a stretch of the trip where we needed to enter a petroleum site because it was the only road available to get where we needed to be. This part of the trip really opened up my eyes to the controversies between the indigenous communities and the petroleum companies. This section of the trip I was not allowed to take any photographs or videos in case the photos I take are used to exploit the oil company. When we first arrived to the petroleum site, our group was forced to watch a video that presented people from the Yasuní community explaining that they agree fully with the oil companies saying things like “these people are our bosses” and “they have full rights to the land”. The video explained if anyone ever wanted to enter the land, they need to go through the petroleum company first. Previously in my culture class we learned a lot about the relationships between indigenous communities and petroleum companies in Ecuador. At this time I had many questions and speculations running through my mind but overall I was just so grateful and intrigued to be able to be there and witness this relation in person since I studied it so much before. On the way through the petroleum site we had a 2 hour bus ride and about half way through the site, we were stopped by not only the Yasuní , but the exact people that spoke in the. Our bus of students were not allowed to pass unless we got out and looked at their crafts. Although the video explained the agreement and accordance these two groups have, actions being took told me different story.

This topic is very controversial and can have many different perspectives. I just wanted to know so much more and ask questions especially because it was hard for me to fully understand the exact dynamics especially because they keep nus in the dark about many things. I also wanted to do the right thing in the situation when we were forced out of the bus, but I didn’t even know what the right thing was Do I buy a souvenir from the community or does that just add to the support of their behavior? I ultimately decided to buy a small braided bracelet because the way I saw it was I already supported the oil company by using their roads and transportation so I wanted to support the Yasuní as well since I side with them a bit more. I could go on and on about my opinions and views, but I know that it is a sensitive topic and want my blog to be more informative rather than political. If this is the first time you are hearing about this type of thing however, I really encourage you to take a minute to look into the topic because educating ourselves about controversies like these is the best thing we can do.

When we finally  arrived to the Tiputini research station I was in so much awe. We were just living in the middle of a rain forest in tiny little huts. I can honestly say I have never done something quite like that before. After a long journey, a few of us decided to take a dip in the Tiputini river and as we were swimming,  monkeys just casually flew overhead throughout the trees. The many species of monkeys I saw were one of my favorite parts, especially when we were able to see baby monkeys hanging from their mothers back.  It was hard to wrap my mind around the fact that these animals are just living in their natural habitat, they weren’t just placed for tourists. It’s one thing to see animals like this outside their habitats but it was an extraordinary feeling to feel like the outsider and the intruders for once.

The following days there were crazy as well. We had an awesome tour guide who took us on excursions showing us different plants that could be used as medicine. He even put a vine that smelled like mango on the arm of my friend who was stung by a bee (the swelling and pain went down in a matter of minutes!). We also saw every type of insect possible:  from a spider who wraps up its prey in 5 seconds to  large hairy tarantulas, ants that could kill in one bite to ants that tasted like lemons (yes I ate live ants from a tree in the Amazon). Another plant our guide showed us was popular among the indigenous groups and was used to dye fabrics. Though it only looked like a green stem, I chewed it and my whole entire mouth was blue for the rest of the day. Everywhere I stepped, there was some type of new species of plant, insect or animal. Another bonus to the trip was the food prepared for us at the station. It was some of the best Ecuadorian food I have ever had, I even tried yucca for the first time which reminded me of a chewy potato.

My last night in the Amazon was the most surreal. My group went out on a boat along the river at night with only one spotlight. As we strolled scanning the shore, the faint outline of the jungle trees were against a night sky lit by the moon and the brightest stars I have ever seen overhead, I felt like I was in a movie. Our group was so lucky that during the whole stay we had clear skies and no rain in the rain forest. When we returned that night, a couple of us decided to stargaze out on the dock with the sounds all around us. We said hello to the lightning bugs flying by, talked about life, counted the shooting stars we saw, enjoyed the fresh jungle smells and all the songs of all the Amazon critters. A memory I will never forget.

Magdalena

A new beginning in Quito, Ecuador

Since arriving in Quito my life has seemed to be such a world wind but I could not be happier. In the beginning, I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say the most nerve racking part about coming to Ecuador was when our group arrived in Quito and we had to go our own ways to meet our host families for the first time. These nerves didn’t last long at all after I was welcomed with a big hug from my host mom and a host brother who offered to take my bags for me. From the very moment I met my host family I knew right away that I was going to feel right at home. After my first night in Quito my family has had nothing but kind, caring and understanding attitudes that really helped take stress off me in the first couple weeks. I also think the fact that they remind me of my big and outgoing family back in the states is a bonus because it really makes me feel like part of the family.

Once our group had attended a long orientation and our classes started, we began to settle into our new life in the big Ecuadorian city of Quito. At first the routine of public transportation and full spanish immersion was a bit overwhelming. The staring eyes everywhere I went took a little while to get used to as well, especially when I was still trying to figure out my way around the city. Now that it has been a couple of weeks I would say that I am super confident in my routine here in Ecuador. A typical day for me includes classes Monday-Thursday usually finishing around 4:00pm. To get to and from my University in Cumbaya I take 3 buses each costing $0.25 and taking me about 1hr 15m. Luckily, I have since met an ecuadorian friend who lives nearby and can drive me sometimes which only takes 25-30 min to get to school, saving me time and money.

Ecuabuddies is one of the programs here to meet and interact with ecuadorian students. The Linfield group and I have had some fun times with ecuabuddies, especially the pickup fútbol games on wednesdays, but I still felt I was missing the raw immersion. One of my biggest fears about coming to Ecuador was not being able to immerse myself enough into the culture and the people here, but I have figured out a couple ways to branch out since then. First thing I did was take an extra art class that won’t count towards my Majors but allowed me to have a class with full ecuadorian students, unlike my other classes that were all for international students. Considering that I am not that shy of a person I also decided to join the salsa club on campus, allowing me to meet some really fun, interesting people and practices my already awesome dancing skills. Last, I just decided to just step out  of my comfort zone and try as much as I could.My decision to ask a girl I didn’t know for help with my computer has gained me a bunch of ecuadorian friends here in Ecuador and has really made my time here that much more amazing.

Although the first couple of weeks were time for us to settle into our new home, we still found time to do some pretty amazing things. Our program provided us with a trip to centre historico in Quito. I was excited because I knew that Quito was the first city to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so I knew it was going to be beautiful. Here we got to visit an indigenous museum, Basilica del Voto Nacional, plaza de la independencia and the fully plated gold church of San Francisco, Quito. The entire Linfield group also planned to visit Mitad del Mundo (the middle of the world) together. First we stopped at the huge monument placed in 1736 by the French Geodesic Mission then we went to the current location 250 meters away in the rad Museo de sitio intiñan. I am not going to brag but I was the only one that could balance an egg on the equator. Next up was the Ecuador vs. Columbia soccer match. I am so glad I was able to have this experience. The energy was unlike any game I have ever been too I will probably go back to another, but next time learn the lyrics to the famous song they sing “Yo te diré.” Last I want to wrap up this post talking about my amazing experience taking the TeléferiQo and submitting the 4696m high Rucu Pichincha Volcano. I am not going to lie when I say that this hike was probably one of the hardest hikes I have ever done. It also probably didn’t help that I was not super adjusted to the high altitude of Quito yet but, I will say that this hike was 100% worth it. I love hiking back home in the states so, having the opportunity to hike such a beautiful new place and have a view of a volcano and Quito was a vision I won’t forget.

I can not believe the amazing time I am having here. I think that its been filled with such rich adventure that I never got the time to be homesick. I really believe that I am learning so much and growing as a person. I am so blessed to be able to have these experiences and I will not take them for granted. Although my time seems to be going by so fast, I am trying to embrace every part of it. If you want to continue with my crazy adventures in Ecuador, you can look forward to hearing about the beach, the amazon forest and the Galapagos islands! So until then…

Nos vemos y saludos,

Magdalena McGuire