Day 7 - Twin Craters & Guayaquil, Ecuador

On the way to the airport we stopped at the Gemelos, which are a pair of craters about 30 meters deep as a result of a volcanic explosion or because of magma chambers inside earth, it is not completely known how they formed.

We flew back to Guayaquil, and then had free time to explore the major city in Ecuador. The city had lots of pretty architecture, and had renovated the waterfront in 2000. The waterfront had everything - restaurants, shops, boats, outlook points, sculptures, inspiring poems, and more.

But also right across the street, was the contraband market which was surprisingly organized into food, pants, shirts, toiletries, video games, and music sections. Everything was so cheap, but there was also the feeling that someone was about to steal your money and run away into the maze of illegal goods.

Day 6 - Wild Tortugas

Its one thing to see tortoises being raised from eggs to full-grown adults and another to look for them in the wild brush. We took a long bus ride to the highlands, and saw about 10 tortoises. They were in the mud, in the trail, and hiding in the bushes. They didn't really mind humans, but if you came too close they pulled their heads back into their shell and made a hissing noise.

On the way back from wild tortuga searching, we stopped at the recycling center. They had a pretty well-done display about recycling and how it's done on the islands, but it really should have been displayed in a more prominent place like in town.

After dinner we were treated to folk music and dancing. The group had drums, bongos, recorders, blowpipes, singing, and overall it was interesting to hear another culture's music.

Day 5 - Charles Darwin Research Station

Today we went to the Charles Darwin Research Station. There they are trying to restore the Tortoise population after humans slaughtered them for oil and introduced species that compete for the same food as the Tortoises. Tortoise eggs are incubated, and then juvenile tortoises are raised until they ready to be released into the wild. There were tortoises of so many different sizes at the station. I read that the tortoises only move .16 miles/hour. It appeared that the babies moved faster than the older tortoises!

Then a representative from the station talked to use about what exactly the Charles Darwin Foundation does and then answered our questions. Later in the afternoon we talked to city officials about how they maintain the town.

In the evening we went to a very sketchy ferris wheel, which was a complete surprise, I never would have thought that there would be a ferris wheel there! But looking back, I could picture the headlines "30 MIT STUDENTS DIE ON FERRIS WHEEL IN 3RD WORLD COUNTRY". The ferris wheel used horribly smelling diesel fuel, rotated on a normal care tire, and was powered by an ordinary-looking engine. A bunch of us got on the ferris wheel, 3 to a tea cup (which was the theme of the seats), it got through one rotation and stopped working. The tea cups also happened to spin, so everyone started spinning around in their tea cups, and you could just see the metal structure of the ferris wheel shaking side to side. We were stuck up at the top of the ferris wheel for 10 minutes, which was nice because we got to see a high-up view of the town. Also to get to the ferris wheel we had to walk through the more residential part of town which was a nice change. When the ferris wheel started running again, it rotated quickly, and when I got off I was dizzy from all the spinning and overwhelming diesel smell.

Day 4 - Tortuga Bay, Lava Tubes

Today, we went to the real Tortuga Bay, which was a pleasant, calm bay surrounded by mangrove trees. The first time we went to Tortuga Bay, we were actually swimming in the rough pacific ocean, that apparently had a dangerous undertow. But the sand was so beautiful and soft, and the water was equally amazing. It was nice to relax in such a paradise. Again we saw Marine Iguanas everywhere.

In the afternoon we took a bus ride to the lava tunnels. The Galapagos Islands has many active volcanoes, and when volcanoes erupt the lava flows and the outer part of the stream gets cold and hardens, but the liquid magma within continues to flow. When the lava stops flowing, empty tubes are left behind. This is what happened in Santa Cruz several times, leaving an island full of lava tunnels. The tunnels are very dark, in fact when the entire group turned off all their flashlights, we were literally blind.

Day 3 - Bartolome

After rising early to take a 2.5 boat ride to Bartolome, we were treated with an afternoon of great views and snorkeling. We hiked to the summit of the island which gave us a nice panorama of everything in site. Things seen include: the double sided beach of Bartolome (where we later went snorkeling), volcanic towers rising out of the water, and Santiago in the distance. There was little vegetation on the island. It was cool to see the island and surrounding area in many different perspectives. What you see from the boat, compared to what you see from atop the island, to what you see when snorkeling are all very different perspectives of the same exact scene. While snorkeling, the water was perfectly clear, so I just dove right into schools of fish to take pictures with my underwater camera. There were also two penguins perching on a rock and sea lions. Sometimes it was hard to believe I was actually in the Galapagos, right up close to animals, with a beautiful backdrop, but I was

In the evening, I went to this yummy bakery that sold chocolate bread. I also tried a chocolate-coconut pastry. During the course of the trip I also tried different kinds of ice cream. Technically we weren't supposed to eat food from the restaurants because we could get sick. After all, you can't drink the tap water there, and are forced to drink bottled water. I got sick anyways toward the end of the trip.

Day 2 - North Seymour, Las Grietas

Today we took a boat over to North Seymour, and viewed the variety of wildlife unique to the Galapagos. It was amazing because all the animals were right in front of us, unafraid of humans, lazing the day away. Although we had to stay 6 feet away from the animals, and on the path, the animals could approach us. It felt really special to be the only group of people on the island, surrounded by animals, and the water. There is actually a limit to the number of people that can visit the islands per year, which is noticable. I have visited numerous national parks and felt that my experience was dimished by the hordes of visitors. To feel completely isolated on such historic islands was such an amazing feeling. I saw blue-footed boobies performing their characteristic mating dance, land and marine iguanas, sea lions, Magnificent and Great Frigatebirds.

Male frigatebirds have a gular sac that inflates like a giant red balloon during their mating period to attract females. Plus, while walking the trail, a humongous land iguana walked practically right over my feet!

In the afternoon, we returned to Santa Cruz and visited Las Grietas. It was a slightly rocky hike to Las Grietas, a swimming area in the middle of a rocky gorge. Unfortunately, by the end of the day I had severe burns on my shoulders. Even with my frequent application of sunscreen, I had missed a some spots, and considering the strength of the sun in the Galapagos, by the end of the day my shoulders were bright red. This turned out to be very painful a few days later.

Galapagos Day 1

Today we flew from Ecuador to Baltra, Galapagos. Getting off the plane it was incredibly hot, and then I learned that the sun is 4 times stronger in the Galapagos than in Boston because of its proximity to the Equator. Baltra was very barren and desertlike. We then took a short bus ride Canal Itabaca, which was our first glimpse of the paradise that most of us were expecting. The water was a vivid blue-green, birds soar above us, crabs were crawling all over the rocks, fish swimming about, and a slight gentle breeze blew. We took a short 5 minute ferry across to Santa Cruz, where we'd be staying. We then took a bus from the boat dock on a twisty road through the lush, green, sweet smelling hills of Santa Cruz to Puerto Ayora. On the way to our hotel in Puerto Ayora, we stopped at a municipal waste site, where there was basically a bunch of burning trash.



After a lunch of we had free time to explore the town of Puerto Ayora. Meals in general over the course of the trip consisted of fish, rice, vegetables, dessert, and fruit juice. Our hotel was located near the water and near the playground, and near all the tourist shops. Venture further and you found more typical stores that sold cell phones, applicances, groceries, and clothing. I was actually surprised by the degree of civilization on the islands. The hotel I stayed at, Hotel Castro was nicer than I expected, although a little lacking in the hot water department, but it had air conditioning. All the stores used American money as currency, and there were internet cafes all over the place. Despite all these comforts, Puerto Ayora still maintained a quaint, rustic feeling.

Before dinner, we went to tortuga bay to swim. After a very long walk (3 miles!), we were finally greeted with gorgeous scenery and water. At the time, although we didn't know this, we were swimming in the Pacific Ocean and not Tortuga Bay which was further down. The water was the perfect temperature but the saltiest water I have ever experienced. There were marine iguanas all over the place, many well camoflauged against the dark rocks.

Galapagos Introduction

Introduction

I visited the Galapagos Islands as part of a program for MIT freshman called Terrascope. First semester I took a class called 12.000, Mission 2008: Solving Complex Problems. In this class we had 3 specific goals to accomplish:

1. To develop a new preservation strategy for the Galapagos that builds on the current management plan for the Galapagos National Park and Galapagos Marine Reserve by designating the two as a "World Scientific Preserve" that would be managed by an international commission and funded by a multinational trust;

2. To design and deploy a network of environmental sensors to support a comprehensive program of ecosystem monitoring on the islands and surrounding waters

3. To design an idealized "village" for permanent residents and visitors that would ensure the lowest possible human impact on island ecosystems.

Our solutions required us to work in teams of about 7 students and conquer the problems involving the Galapagos Island by combining knowledge from a variety of different disciplines. Each team was given a specfic island to study- I was on team 2, and we focused on Fernandina and Isabela Island. Then the entire class reorganized into new teams to accomplish the 3 major goals above. I was part of the environmental sensor group. At the end of the semester we had to present our semester's worth of work to an international comittee of experts, which was quite intimidating. Here is my team's final website and the final presentation.

Second Semester, the purpose is to convey the special aspects of the Galapagos to a wider audience. The class is called 1.016, Communicating Complex Environmental Issues: Designing and Building Interactive Museum Exhibits. Along with 5 other people, I am designing, engineering, and building an interactive museum-style exhibit about the unique animals of the islands.