2 Weeks on Island Time

Weather: Sunny, 82, and hot per usual

Today marks 2 weeks here on San Cristobal which means I only have one more week of my strategic management class. I say this a lot, but it feels like I have been here longer. At the same time, it's hard to believe I have 5 days left of this class and then I move onto the 3rd module. When you look at it from module perspectives time is truly flying since we only have 5 in total.

Yesterday, a group of us headed to Punta Carola which is about a 20 minute walk from campus. It was scorching hot and virtually no shade so I immediately headed for the water to cool off. I tanned a bit afterwards and then headed back in with my snorkel because we saw some turtles surfacing. When I got in I saw a rainbow fish which are a beautiful teal and pink color, you can see them from really far away too. It was hanging out with other bigger fish but I'm not sure exactly what they were. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something big moving so I got really scared and then I turned my head and realized it was a sea turtle! The visibility wasn't great but I was still able to get some good shots on my GoPro. I went from being low-key terrified to amazed in 2 seconds which was pretty funny; it was so beautiful and majestic. It was feeding on the algae that was all over the rocks. I ended up seeing another one before getting out of the water. This one wasn't as big but it seemed to be missing part of it's fin which was odd. Post snorkeling I went back to lounging on the beach but it didn't last long because it was so hot. We all ended up leaving and heading to lunch which was at Nicola's host moms friend's restaurant. It was very good. I asked for the vegetarian option and I got grilled fish...I ate it because I do need the protein but I just thought it was funny that was they consider vegetarian here.

The rest of the day was pretty low-key. Around 10pm, Nicola, Steph, Kayelyn, and a bunch of other girls from my program went to Baquero which is a bar that has a lot of board games, pool tables, jenga, and a cool relaxed atmosphere. It was a great time, but it didn't take long before we had a 40ish year old Galapagan dude hitting on us. He bought everyone several drinks and proceeded to sit with us the rest of the time we were there. It was really creepy yet hilarious at the same time. He wouldn't tell us his age but I could tell he definitely wasn't in his 30s. It's hard to tell how old people are here because they all look so much younger than they are. Later in the night an American dude that was 37 and lives in Hawaii started buying drinks as well. It was like he was trying to show up Andreas (the Galapagan guy). I was sitting there wondering what these guys lives are like that they are flirting with girls half their age. My friends obviously appreciated the drinks but that was all they saw these guys for. It was a bizarre experience and definitely something I'll

remember for awhile. On a side note, my stomach hasn't been as good on the islands as it was in Quito and I think it's attributed to the fact that I'm eating more dairy, rice, and fried foods than in Quito. I told my host dad I don't want to eat patacones anymore (which are fried plantains) because they upset my stomach. They really just made me bloated but I was getting them quite frequently. So far he's respected that, and I've been getting fruit more which is fabulous. Anyways, I don't like to drink and with my stomach the way it is, I don't like to drink here. I gave my drinks to the other girls and as soon as 1am rolled around we left and went to dance at the discoteca. We only stayed for a half hour, it was so crowded you could barely move. Here, most people don't go out to the disco or certain bars til 1 or 2am. It's crazy and not my thing as my host sis is usually screaming at 6:30am.

Today was a relaxing day, and I had nothing planned. I just hung around and grabbed a smoothie with Sara and Megan. The smoothie had more milk in it than a smoothie in the states would. It was basically milk with some fruits in it so I only had a few sips to keep my stomach from getting upset and gave the rest to Olivia who met us there. Before dinner, I met Paco's two sons from a different relationship. They're staying with us for a week and their names are Kevin and Kenneth. I don't know which one is which so I'm hoping their names will come up again lol. One is 17 and really quiet, he didn't say much at all to me. I guess he wants to be a doctor though so he's gonna have to come out of his shell a bit to communicate with patients. The other is 10 and immediately ran up to me and shook my hand. It was pretty funny. He talks so fast in Spanish I can barely understand what he's saying but hopefully I'll get there.