Welcome to the Galapagos... here's your machete.

OK, I know I'm about 2 months behind in my blog now, so far behind in fact, I'm not sure I'll catch up before I'm supposed to go back to DC. But in my defense, I have a couple of very good reasons why I've fallen so far behind; the internet has been really back in South America, and I've been keeping busy doing fun things like climbing mountains and diving with sharks, instead of uploading photos. This entry covers my time volunteering with Jatun Sacha on San Cristobal island in the Galapagos, and I will have at least one other post on the Galapagos about the week I spent island-hopping to the other major Galapagos islands.

Giant land tortoises are not the most elegant of eaters

-- Written on March 12 --
A quick show of hands before I get started; how many people out there are a little concerned at the idea of Chris Hunter trying to clear vegetation with a machete? Be honest. I know I was a little concerned myself, knowing I'm not the most coordinated guy in the world, and it's easy to imagine something going wrong while I'm swinging away with a large metal blade. Don't worry though, after a week here on San Cristobal island with Jatun Sacha and several days clearing vegetaion, I still have all my fingers and toes (as do my fellow volunteers).

Part of the waterfront in "downtown" Puerto Baquierzo Moreno

One of our usual Friday field trip spots, Puerto Chino beach

Another field trip beach, Loberia - where we snorkeled with turtles and sat on the beach with iguanas

My only regret is not being able to capture the iguanas spitting salt out of their noses. It's quite a sight.

It's been quite an interesting first week. Some days are really hard work (planting banana and yucca, chopping away invasive blackberry vines), others have been more like tropical vacations (SCUBA diving, laying on the beach with sea lions), and some parts have been more like summer camp (playing card games, preparing lunch for 30 people, cold showers in a concrete outhouse). Every day is different volunteering with this group, which does make the days go by quickly, but it also keeps me on my toes. The Jatun Sacha station is set up on a hillside about 40 minutes by pickup truck from the main town, and there is more than enough to do at the station on a daily basis to keep the volunteers busy. There is blackberry to clear, trails to maintain, painting and fixing up the buildings are all consistent chores, as well as the work for the National Park. While I've been here, the number of volunteers has fluctuated between 10 to 20 people from a wide variety of countries (UK, Germany, Australia, Mexico, India, Denmark) and they've all been a lot of fun to meet and spend time with.

Loberia beach

Everyone's favorite bird of the Galapagos: blue footed boobies!

I honestly don't know how giant land tortoises survive in the wild. They look like they barely have the strength to carry those shells around, and you would think that starvation would set in before they could reach food 

Baby tortoises are really cute though

Almost a heart shape made from iguana tails

The station definitely qualifies as "rustic", with no cell service, numerous spiders, flies, and mosquitoes, bunk beds with mosquito nets, and no hot water. There are also a lot of very entertaining moments that come from the rustic experience, like fitting 8 people into the back of a pickup truck, and then coming across a Galapagos tortoise that had escaped from the park center and chucking it in the back of the truck with the volunteers to return it. The station also has a resident kitten, two old dogs, a horse named Shakira, a pig named Ozzie, and about 3 dozen chickens, all of which provide entertaining moments in their own way... except the chickens. Every morning at 4am, I have murderous plans involving chicken soup for dinner. The downside of the experience so far is that it's sometimes hard to see how the work we're doing will benefit the islands (at least directly). The volunteers spend a lot of time just keeping the station running and clear of blackberry, as well as helping local farmers as community service, but only about 2 mornings a week actually working in the National Park on park projects.

Blue feet!

From one of the nicest beaches I've ever been to, Tortuga Beach on Santa Cruz Island

Tortuga beach birds

Tortuga beach also had baby blacktip sharks hunting in the surf. Not so scary when they're only a foot long

Just an iguana out for a walk on the beach

I've only been on one island in the Galapagos so far, but like the volunteering experience itself, it's not quite what I was expecting. To start with, this isn't the pristine deserted archipelago that I had envisioned. Something like 25,000 people are residents of the Galapagos islands and invasive species are a major concern everywhere. Aside from the plants like blackberry and guava, there are feral cats, dogs, rats, and pigs, all of which wreak havoc on the islands' ecosystem, killing birds and tortoises and spreading disease with the sea lion population. But there is also a wealth of natural beauty here and in a week's time I've seen tortoises, sea lions, sharks (3 kinds), stingrays and eagle rays, marine iguanas, frigate birds, and blue footed boobies. Every Friday, the station organizes a field trip somewhere on the island to see some of the attractions, like the tortoise research center or some of the more picturesque beaches, and last week we also were able to attend a local forum on the sea lion population and status, hosted by the Charles Darwin center and conducted entirely in Spanish - all I have to say is that I understood more than I expected too, and that academic powerpoint slides look the same no matter what language they're in. Aside from these trips, I'm hoping to take my last week and go island-hopping to see some of the other areas and attraction while I'm here since it's surprisingly easy to get between the major islands. Until then, it's mosquito bites and machete practice Monday through Thursday, and beaches, fruit smoothies, and sea lions on the weekends.

Master of all he surveys

On every beach in the Galapagos, you'll find Sally Lightfoot crabs, which can actually jump from rock to rock, something that's a little unexpected to see in a crab

One last bird from Tortuga beach