Greg's Ecuadorian Adventure

My third and final island of my trip, Isabela . This is one of the youngest islands in the archipelago, as well as one of the most geologically active. I follow the Instituto Geofísico del Ecuador on Facebook, which is regularly posting updates about volcanic activity and temblors. Since mid-June, there have been near constant notices about 'quakes' measuring around 3.0 on the Richter scale. Additionally, the Sierra Negra   volcano has been continuously erupting since June 26 of this year, growing the island. Admittedly, I was a little distressed about this when planning my trip; after arriving, I realized that these two geologic processes posed no real risk. The eruption is occurring on the opposite side of Sierra Negra than where Puerto Villamil is situated, and 3.0 earthquakes are barely detectable. Arriving here was quite the journey, quite the day. I left Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, San Cristóbal by boat at 7 AM to Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz , a boat ride with a durat...

My second destination was San Cristóbal , one of the oldest islands in the Galápagos . My speedboat left in the afternoon, and a couples hours after passing over choppy waters, we arrived in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno . Here I was immediately was greeted by colonies and rafts of sea lions. My goodness! They were everywhere. on rocks, in the water, on the narrow strips of beaches, laying on the malecón . I was worried that I'd not experience hoards of sea lions this after my time around Santa Cruz, especially when guides kept saying the most recent El Niño decimated the population from about 40,000 to 15,000, total. Yet there seemed to exist no shortage of this endemic Galápagos species on San Cristóbal. In Santa Cruz , I was fast losing hope for seeing them since the single one I saw was a juvenile on Isla Bartolomé . However, less than barks and more like dry-retches filled my ears and took me by wonder as I strolled down the muelle  in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. In due time, ...

You know how sometimes we build up the idea of something to the point where we get afraid that the actual experience will be a letdown? That's how I initially felt about the Galápagos Islands. Origin of Darwin's mechanism of Natural Selection for the Theory of Evolution. Home of the largest land tortoises, which used to get carried away ( eggs, too ) by sailors as a food/water/vitamin C source and harvested for their oil to fuel Quito's street lamps. If you want to see some of what I do for my students and learn something in the process, check out my Nature of Science video introducing the mechanism of natural selection.. But I was finally going to the Galápagos Islands! This was a long time in the making; I’ve been saving this trip for four years. You would have thought that this was going to be one of the first places I’d visit. Naturally I had several goals for this trip, including: spend at least two weeks there as to take advantage of as much as possible ( Dar...

As I work on finishing editing the hours of video footage, sorting through the hundreds of photos and writing my upcoming entries about my recent travels, I figured this would be a nice opportunity to dump all sorts of "other" information about going to the Galápagos Islands. Yes, I finally made it to the Galápagos! I knew this would be an expensive adventure but it wasn't quite clear just how so until I arrived. I was aware of several of the major expenses but there turned out to be some "hidden costs" as I hopped from island to island. A disclaimer first — I was having problems with my debit card from  Produbanco  before my departure to the archipelago. My PIN mysteriously changed while I was in North America and, after five unsuccessful attempts withdrawing money after my return to Ecuador, I was blocked from my account. Those of you who’ve held accounts with this  BANK  know the experience. Since the services desks are only open like Ten-to-Four from Mo...

In the past few years, I've really grown fond of doing mountain biking tours when I travel. It's a different way to familiarize yourself with a new place. It's also a fun way to build activity into a trip, rather than simply walking or even riding a tour bus from one location to the next.  I've been in Ecuador for four years and I still haven't been to Cotopaxi, the world's highest active volcano. Three years ago, it started waking up with spewing ash and threatening an eruption. In the end, the volcano simply went back to rest. At work, we practiced drills of responding to its eruption and had to maintain a "survival kit" in the event that we would have to remain for an indeterminable amount of time. Water and food. A buff to help filter ash from the air rather than inhaling it. Blankets and warm clothing in case the temperature would drop, or have to sleep at the school. Nothing like practicing a tornado drill to say the least.  Y...