Island Living

OK, so sorry it has taken me forever to get back into the swing of things.  I stayed in DC an extra week after returning from Ecuador and then was stuck in Kampala for a few days upon returning to Uganda, finally made it back to Gulu and promptly got food poisoning (or something...) which made me feel awful for days.  And then we were without power and I had a dead battery!  But now, I am feely nearly all better, am seated at the lovely Coffee Hut with a power generator, and am ready to jump back into my regularly scheduled blogging.  First order of business:

G A L A P A G O S ! ! ! ! 

I will admit, before Barbara first told me taking a beader to the Galapagos Islands was a possibility, I’d never really considered visiting them.  There are just so many places in the world to travel to that islands in particular have never really been at the top of my list.  The Galapagos just seemed so remote I’d never really thought about them beyond Darwin and his finches.  But I have repented of my ways, and I am here to tell you, islands, these islands in particular, are totally worthwhile.  I saw:

Sea Lions!!  These little guys were all over the deck at our hotel.  I guess it used to be their turf before our hotel was built, and they just didn’t let a few people and some deck chairs deter them.  They scoot themselves right on up the deck and hang out between the tables, swim in the pool and nap on the benches.  I was laying in the hammock one afternoon reading, and there was a sea lion sleeping a few feet from me.  He woke up, looked around and spotted me, turned around, scooted towards me, pushed my rear with his nose, decided I wasn't very worthwhile and waddled off to take a dip in the pool.  It was crazy!  I loved them!  And I had Feist’s Sea Lion Woman stuck in my head all week (which, if you haven’t heard it, you should go look it up right now.)

Isn't that just the cutest little face you've ever seen?

Gorgeous white-sand beaches.  I was not expecting this, but was plesantly surprised.  Because there just aren’t many people on the Galapagos (particularly in April) I felt like I had the beach to myself.  The sand was really soft, the water was really warm, the waves were perfect for diving, and it was a riot to take Sarah (the Ugandan woman I brought with) by the hand and lead her into the ocean for the first time in her life.  She was a bit timid at first, but she’s a brave woman and eventually felt perfectly safe hanging out in that big water (which, by the way, she notified me was in fact bigger than Uganda!) 

Crabs!  They hung out on rocks everywhere and their colors were just magnificent.  I have some video footage of them, but after my last video footage fail, I won’t promise I’ll be able to get it posted.  Anyhow, they were everywhere, they were fun to watch, and I even saw my first fiddler crab.  He’s called that for his crazy-long arm.  I’m not sure what the purpose of the mutant arm is, but I think it just makes him look pretty awesome.  Like, "Don't try anything funny because though I may have eight good arms, I only need one to mess you up."

Land Iguanas!   These suckers get to be huge!  After being at the beach my last day I started walking back and saw one enormous one, which I was more than a little afraid to pass by.  I got a picture, but unfortunately all I had was my disposable underwater camera.  I will hopefully be able to get those pictures digitized this week, but for now you have to settle for just seeing these little(er) ones.  

Pink Flamingos!  I’m sure I’ve seen these in a zoo before at some point, but my only real memory of seeing pink flamingos is in the opening credits song for Three’s Company (do you all remember that show??)  And of course the tacky ones people put in their yard.  (Please don’t be offended if you are one of those people!)  Seeing them in really life was pretty awesome, I have to say.  Did you know they’re pink because they live off a shrimp diet?  Who knew??

The Wall of Tears.  Back when the islands were still uninhabited, Ecuador decided it would be a good idea to send their prisoners over.  Since there weren’t really any structures on the islands, they also thought it would be a good idea to make the prisoners build their own prison, so they had these men carry enormous stones to build a wall that would enclose their prison.  They did it with no shirts on their back in the unbearable heat and humidity.  It was horrifyingly inhumane and thankfully, after only one side of the wall had been built they decided to do away with the ridiculous program.  Since then the phrase “The Wall of Tears, where brave men cried and weak men died" was coined.  

My very most favorite!  Turtles!!  Anyone who has known me long knows I have always had some strange love for turtles.  I have no real idea where it comes from, but I have just always thought turtles were some of the greatest animals out there, so I was in heaven!  I had no idea how enormous the turtles on these islands got, but they are HUGE.  I mean, they came up to my hip, huge.  Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of the ones that big because I only saw them from a distance, but these others were still pretty awesomely large.  I have also decided that I am going to get a turtle when I get home.  I’ve been thinking for years I wanted a dog (and still do, really) but I think I want a turtle before I get a dog.  And I want the kind that will live forever.  Or maybe just 75 years.  Our photographer/guide told us that some of these turtles probably met Darwin.  How amazing is that?!  (By the way, many photos were taken by a couple photographers that I'm hoping to get my hands on.  I got very few pics of myself, but I know there were plenty shot.  If I ever get them, I'll post!)

Isn't he just awesome?!

I couldn't resist!  Thought I did get dirty....That's a real shell from an old and gone turtle, and it's not even the biggest of the lot!

I actually got to see the mating process take place several times in a turtle rehabilitation center on Isabella Island.  It's pretty hilarious because the females runs full speed (which is pretty darn slow) from the male to make sure he's strong enough and good enough to catch her.  Gotta make sure you're breading with good genes, after all.

Many yellow-lipped fish.  I got to go snorkeling for the first time in my life on my last day there.  It was a blast and I have serious intentions to go many more times before my life is over.  I saw fish of many stripes and colors, but the fish that were just everywhere were these little brown fish with blue eyes and yellow lips.  They were awesome and we all became great friends.  They really didn’t seem to be afraid of me in the least, so if I would just hang out really still, they would come right up to me or swim by as if I weren’t there at all.  Amazing!

Pictures Coming Soon!!

I also saw a lot of bird life.  I didn’t manage to get any photos (I am just a terrible photographer!) but I saw loads of the famous finches, blue-footed boobies (and red-footed as well) and about a zillion other birds that I have no idea what they were.

Of course, it wasn’t all just watching wild-life.  In fact, not nearly as much as I would have liked!  But the people we met as Sarah taught people to bead was also pretty awesome.  We taught a group of elementary school kids and two groups of artisans how to make the beads.  I think it is safe to say they all loved it, and I think those artists will come up with some amazing projects on their own.  And Sarah had a blast.  I don’t think she’ll ever be the same.  In fact, as I watched Sarah up there dancing a traditional Acholi dance to some Ugandan music at the end of one of the sessions, I knew this trip was worth it, if for no other reason than that Sarah’s life was made better.  She had an entire room of adults clapping and cheering for her and smiling and laughing.  They gave her gifts, numerous hugs and cheek-kisses and more respect than I believe she’s ever received anywhere else.  I think for maybe the first time her potential was realized.  Not only in what she was doing, but she herself understood what she was capable of.  And if she didn’t understand, well, I did.  And I can say it will help me to understand better what all the other women I’m working with are capable of as well.  And even if I can’t do much to help them understand it, I can treat them the way they deserve. 

Little ol' unsuspecting me on the way to the big ship.

One other note-worthy event was our boat ride from one island to the next.  Turns out, ladies and gents, I am not the sea-fairing type.  We had lunch on one of the large Linblad ocean liners before taking a rubber dingy to our speed boat.  It had stormed all night the night before and was still pretty windy that morning, so I started feeling queasy on the large ship.  I took some Dramamine which promptly knocked me out.  While the rest of the group took a tour of the ship, I sat down and fell asleep on a deck chair.  By the time we made it to our speed boat I felt really woozy.  I had never taken a long ride on a speed boat before, so I sat right up front.  From the moment we started off on that boat I knew it was bad news.  I felt like I was driving on a crazy pot-hole-ridden Ugandan road at 100 mph.  I’ve literally never been shaken and tossed so much in my life.  After about 15 minutes my brain truly could not conceive another two hours of this.  I pulled out my iPod and started listening to a little This American Life, hoping Ira Glass would calm my nerves and my stomach.  Or at least take my mind off the situation a little.  It didn’t work very well however, and after about an hour I knew I was going to throw up.  I got a bag in which to do so, fought it off for another hour, but about thirty minutes before our destination, I threw up four times.  All the while still being shaken and tossed.  That wretched captain didn’t even slow down at all, even though I was sitting directly across from him and there was no way he missed it.  In fact, right after that, when I was trying desperately to clean myself off and tie off the bag, he hit the biggest bump of the trip, all the passengers lifted off their seats and many screams were let out.  And me?  I threw water on the captain.  Folks, they say our true character revels itself in our weakest moments, and I’m sorry to say, my character has some room for improvement because if that captain had been within reach I would have socked him.  He looked over at me like he couldn’t believe I’d had the audacity to do such a thing.  Then he saw there was now vomit on the floor of his boat because it had spilled out of the bag, so he finally slowed down and told his friend to get rid of the throw-up bag.  I kind of hope there is still vomit ground into the floor of his boat.

After leaving the islands I got stuck in Guayaquil because the US embassy screwed up on Sarah’s visa.  Remember what a nightmare it was the first time around just to get the visa?  Well, itinerary in hand, they gave Sarah a one entry visa even though they knew full well she needed two.  We had to go through the whole lovely process of re-applying, re-interviewing, and re-paying for another visa.  Roar!  But, I did get to see some sights in Guayaquil, which was pretty great.

One night we got caught in the craziest storm.  There were enormous amounts of water in the streets, I was afraid if our engine didn't up and flood, we would eventually just start floating down the street.  I wish the picture were better so you could fully appreciate it!

Lastly, food of course.  Because the Galapagos cuisine caters largely to the tourists who are visiting, I didn’t eat much indigenous food other than plantains.  Which is the same thing I eat here in Uganda, only I liked them better because they were fried in all sorts of ways, and well, frankly, everything tastes better fried!  But they did have the most amazing drink I’ve ever tasted in my life.  Naranjilla juice.  Oh yum.  It tastes like nothing I’ve ever had before.  I guess Naranjilla is only grown in a few South American tropical countries and it can’t be imported because it looses something when it’s transported….er, or something....  Anyway, it’s green, it’s amazing, it’s citric, I couldn’t get enough.  It helped that there was a beautiful, curly-haired Ecuadorian man behind the bar serving me :-)

This was actually taken in Guayaquil rather than on the islands, and it was less green there for some reason.