$15 for 3 Amazing Places

Today: Sunny, rainy in the afternoon, humid, and 85

Even though today was absolutely incredible, it didn't start off that way. Just when I thought I was getting used to being here and getting used to how different it is compared to Quito, I was wrong. This morning I was actually really sad and ended up talking and sobbing to Mom for about 40 minutes. I couldn't tell you why I was sad but it happened of course I didn't want to be sad but it was good to get the emotions out rather than bottle everything up. I think a combination of coming down from the altitude in Quito may have something to do with it. I have also been comparing this experience to the two weeks I spent in Kauai. I was infatuated with Kauai right off the bat and the fact that I wasn't immediately in love with San Cristobal scared me a bit. Mom calmed me down and made me realize that I was in full vacation mode in Kauai and Kauai is a lot more modernized than here. I am here for 3 months so it's a much bigger adjustment than a 2 week vacation.

After the talk with mom, I felt a lot better and was ready to take on the day as well as the rest of my time here in the Galapagos. Today 12 of us took 3 taxis to El Junco, el Centro de Crianza de Totrugas Terrestres, and Puerto Chino. I'll get into what they are in a bit, but for a 4 hour trip each taxi is 60 bucks so we all paid 15, and we got to see 3 amazing places of San Cristobal. At each stop the taxi driver would wait til we were ready to continue to the next stop, it was literally having a personal driver for 4 hours.

1st Stop: El Junco
El Junco is the only fresh water lake on the island. It's on the top of a hill so we had to hike and then we got to a set of stairs that took us to the top. The views going up and at the lake were breathtaking. On the hike up we could see the coastline and the highlands all at the same time. At the top we could see the entire lake, it was smaller than I thought it would be but it was gorgeous. If you looked over the lake you could see the ocean. We walked down to a deck that overlooked the lake. I just soaked it all in as it was so relaxing and calming. There were a lot of frigate birds flying overhead which were so cool to watch. We headed back towards the taxi after looking at the lake for about a half hour and got on our way.

2nd Stop: Centro de Crianza de Tortugas Terrestres
Down the road a bit from El Junco was the tortoise breeding center for San Cristobal Island. We got there in about 5 seconds because our taxi driver was a speed demon. It was a bit scary at times and he made Boston drivers look good. The road was windy so we were all swaying side to side in the backseat, it was pretty funny but glad I made it back safely.

The breeding center was all outside and there was one trail that took you through the entire tortoise reserve. Right when we got there we saw a tortoise feeding. We continued along the trail and saw some cute finches and more tortoises. There were a couple that were huge but most of them were pretty small. They live up to around 180 years which is crazy! I think the breeding center releases tortoises after 2 or 3 years of raising them. It's a pretty cool process and the babies were really cute.

3rd Stop: Puerto Chino
Our last stop on our 4 hour excursion was Puerto Chino which is a beach about 1-2 minutes away from the tortoise breeding center. Once we arrived we walked for about 10 minutes on a path that lead us to the beach. When we arrived we signed in with the ranger and the beyond the tree line the beach just opened up and it was absolutely gorgeous. The water was bright blue and completely clear. The sand was super fine and packed down. We all went right for the water since the heat was getting to us hardcore and it was like bath water. It was really refreshing and there were blue footed boobies up on the cliff overlooking where we were swimming. It was so cool seeing them as they're my favorite bird. I have yet to get a picture of one but I know it'll happen before I have to leave. We hung out at the beach for a bit over an hour and it was really relaxing. My friend Olivia and I tried getting pictures of the boobies by following a trail

that led to where they were sitting. We were too lazy to put on our shoes so as we climbed up the trail the lava rock was so hot our feet were burning so we turned around and realized we'd have another chance soon for a picture of them.

I definitely will do this whole trip again before I leave for the states. Puerto Chino is so beautiful I plan on taking a couple day trips there on the weekends. It was such a good day and I gained a deeper love for the island. It was also nice to see different spots and change up my routine a bit with some of my closest friends here.

When we got back, we grabbed lunch at the place across the street from campus. I had a veggie empanada and a banana smoothie. Both were delish and I headed home after that. As soon as I neared my homestay I felt something warm drop on my arm, I looked down and there's a hunk of bird poop right on my left forearm. I was thanking those above that I was home and I wasn't walking to school. I washed it off with the hose and headed inside a tad bit grossed out. I know getting pooped on is good luck and I ended up submitting an application for an internship in Alaska I really want, so I'm hoping it's a sign. Later in the evening I headed out for dinner with Olivia, Lily, Sara, and Audrey. We ended up going to the one pizza place on the island called Calypso and we got a gigantic size pizza to split between all of us. It was 30 dollars so split it wasn't bad at all and also really nice to have some sort of familiar food. All of us walked to the pier to see the animals under the lights. We saw lots of rays and fish, they're attracted to the light which was super cool! Afterwards, Audrey and I ended up walking around the center of town for a bit and then around 10pm I headed back home and crashed.