I never thought this would happen, but this has been the first week in which we have actually missed home. Not that the islands have become less beautiful or less unique, it's just that this week has been a difficult one for the progress of the project. Not that it's in trouble or anything but we haven't been able to go to either Floreana or San Cristobal yet. The ride back from Isabella was particularly brutal. With the arrival of winter, the seas around the islands are becoming rougher. The boat was tossed around like a toy and almost everyone on board was on the verge of sea sickness. Even though we didn't get sick we were bounced up and down so much we arrived very sore and took the rest of the day to recuperate. That was the first time we decided to put off the Floreana tour. We figured we would give both our bodies and the weather a little time to improve. Unfortunately, the very next day we both got a minor case of food poisoning. From what, we can't really say, but it was definitely not pleasant and made it so that we were very careful for the next two days. We had to stop eating as much as we had been, which was hard within itself, but also we obviously couldn't leave our room that much either. Mostly, I sat at home reading the sources that the Charles Darwin Foundation had given me about their successful efforts in the eradication of invasive species, while Derek glued himself to the T.V. to watch the French open. Occasionally I would read a chapter of Percy Jackson out loud too.
One morning around 6am my cell phone rang so I picked it up. It was a lady asking for Yulika. I said no sorry this is not Yulika's phone. She asked me who I was so I hung up. She called five minutes later asking for Yulika again, this time I immediately hung up. She called back immediately twice, at which point I turned the phone off. Two things about this worried me. One, how does someone from here have my telephone number and why did they think that it belonged to Yulika? Either way, it was too early to care and I went back to sleep. The following afternoon I was feeling much better so I went and spent time with Yulika and her mom while they were home on their lunch break. When I went to check on Derek he reminded me that the phone was off and that I should probably turn it on. When I did there were four text messages. Considering the only person that texts me in this Island is Yulika that's a lot. I open the first unknown number and read a horrifying message basically calling me a whore and to stay away from married men. This is never a nice thing to read especially when you have no idea why you're getting these messages. Thinking about the morning’s mysterious caller I decided to tell Yulika and her mom. They were shocked and furious, and with good reason. So her mom gets on her own cell phone and asks me for the number that had text me; the lady had called from more than one. She calls the first and is answered by the woman’s friend who apologizes saying she had just lent her phone to her friend. At the end of the conversation she very snidely suggested that Ivonne would do well to know who her daughter is dating. Considering the number was from Isabella and Yulika lives in Santa Cruz and is married the lady was promptly put in place by a very angry Ivonne. Then, Ivonne hung up and called the other phone from which the lady had called me. A man answered this time and when Ivonne explained the situation he turned out to be the tour guide that we had for the Isabella bay tour! We had given him our number so that he could try to hook us up with another tour. He apologized saying that his wife was a crazy jealous woman and that she must have thought the number was a mistress of his. She must have asked who he had given a tour to and someone probably said Ivonne Guerra's daughter Yulika since I had been referred by them to the Hostel we were staying at. All in all it was a pretty ridiculous experience. That said it did give me some insight on the culture and what it would be like to live in such a small community like the one in Isabella. Obviously the lack of extracurricular activities forces them so look for other types of entertainment.
On a lighter note, we've been getting to know Santa Cruz better. I’ve been walking around photographing my familiars and the way that people construct houses here. They use local tree bark as support columns. The houses are constructed in a very open manner which is pretty much the opposite of American homes. Often windows don’t even have glass just screen to keep the bugs out. All the roofs are made of corrugated metal. Most interesting to me is how some rooms will include one or two clear panels of roofing to allow for natural sunlight for the room during the day. The sun here is so bright that it acts even better than a ceiling light! While this is nice sometimes, it does present problems. Although all of the walls are concrete they are all connected to each other and have screened windows near the ceiling for ventilation. In the morning this could make it hard to sleep, especially because everyone starts their day around 6:30 am here.
Yesterday, as we were taking a taxi up to the post office I started up a conversation with the driver. He was a nice old man from Quito. I had started it by asking how many schools there were on Santa Cruz because I saw so many children with different uniforms. He said that there are six primaries and six secondaries. Primary here in Ecuador is like Elementary school, Secondary is both middle school and high school in one. I was really surprised by how many there were for such a small island. He then went on to tell me how when he had first arrived to live here there were only four schools period. I asked him how long ago that had been and he told me 1986. He said the big population boom came in the 90’s when people started to realize that people in the Galapagos’s got paid more, something that is still true today. This is due to the high cost of living because of import costs.
Today, were supposed to go to the ministry and the library to get some old photographs of how things used to be. Tomorrow we would like to go to the Lava Tubes. Hopefully nothing else gets in our way.
Photographs later!
-Cristi
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