Weather: Sunny for the most part, a couple days this week we've had torrential downpours which make the island a bit cool which is so needed.

So far not much has been going on this week since I've been really busy with my class. We normally have class 9-12 and then again from 3:30-5:30pm. In between we usually get lunch, hang out a bit and head back to class. I was supposed to present on 2 different articles today but my professor asked if I could present on one yesterday since I had the outline done. So I did a presentation on Wed (2/27) and another on Thursday (2/28). The outlines take a lot of time to do which leaves no time for the beach. I've been trying to read as much as I can too but again with having actual schoolwork it's a bit difficult. Since I haven't had the chance to write much I'm going through each of the days this week and providing little anecdotes of what happened.

Tuesday (2/26), we had a woman named Maria speak to us and she works for the government at the regional level. The regional office works with the president and they have this entitlement that goes with them just because they talk with the office of the president. I didn't absorb much of her presentation because she was primarily talking about the items that are being banned here in the Galapagos along with the exceptions to each rule. She also didn't seem to have an overabundance of knowledge when we asked questions and she didn't go into detail about how the government works here (because all 3 layers to the government are in constant battle so nothing gets done). For example, straws are banned however, Coca Cola made a payout to some politicians here and an exception to that rule is juiceboxes. All the juiceboxes here are sold with straws. There are several things like this happening within the islands, it doesn't help that none of the laws or ordinances are followed. For example, there's not supposed to be hotels here, but the daughter of Ecuador's former president paid off someone and now instead of a hotel she calls it a "residence." We pass this "residence" on the way to school everyday and there's tourists going in and out and getting dropped off by taxis. The daughter said she has "cousins" visiting a lot and that was enough to get the government off her back. It's madness. My professor talked about all this, Maria never said anything about this.

Wednesday (2/27)
Tonight I was able to get a run in with Nicola which was really great although my stomach hasn't been feeling good, and it's not because of IBS this time. I've been having actual stomach pains, bloating, and nausea. Everyone here is getting sick and Paco's son threw up last night which was so not pleasant. I also still don't know if his name is Kenneth or Kevin, I swear Paco calls him both. His name could actually be both because for some reason Ecuadorians tend to have two first names. For example, Helena is also called Sofia and Ines was also called Sonia. I'm just confused because I thought Paco's older son is named Kevin so I can't imagine they'd have the same name but who knows lol.

Just a side note, it has downpoured today and yesterday so much it's crazy! The street in front of the school completely lifted and bricks were everywhere. So much of the sand on the beaches eroded away so apparently they will dredge and bring sand back to some of the beaches. The ocean turns a brown color from all the churning of sediments in combination with the runoff. Needless to say I didn't miss the beach too much this week.

Thursday (2/28)
My stomach feels a bit better, I'm not nauseous and I had an appetite today. I am no longer convinced I have giardia or another parasite which is nice however, my throat has been bothering me a bit but I'm hoping it doesn't turn into anything. Everyone is sick, one girl did have a stomach parasite, some have the flu, others have viral coughs. It's been a blast trying to avoid getting hit with any of the above. I had class 9-12 and then for the second round of class we had a guy named Santiago Isuategui aka "Plastiman" come speak with us. His speech was really intriguing in that he has been cleaning up the beaches here on San Cristobal for 19 years now. He talked about how when he first started cleaning up trash he faced a lot of backlash from the locals. The locals here are lazy (some not all), and most of them don't believe in evolution and they don't understand just how bad plastics are for the environment. Coming here my expectation was that the people living here would be very environmentally conscious however, that is not the case which is quite depressing. The plastiman's focus was the fact that the environment needs to come first not only because plastic is bad, but if the Galapagos gets destroyed with plastics and all the wildlife dies off, tourists won't want to visit, and the economy will tank. A lot of people here are motivated by money so going forward I hope he sticks with that approach and maybe he will be able to make a bigger difference. He was thrilled because last year he got 40 people together to help out with a beach cleanup. It's certainly a small number, but it was nice to hear he's made some progress and changed the minds of some locals. He understands the politicians here are useless so he wants to start with his neighbors and create a domino effect. It was an uplifting speech and I hope his movement gains more traction soon.

Friday (3/1)
Today class went on, I went to Fresco for lunch per usual and got some walnut raisin toast with a side of butter and homemade strawberry marmalade. It was delish and hit the spot as I wasn't too hungry. I have been eating so much bread here, I think when I get back to the states I'm not gonna want to look at bread lol. Before I came here I was only eating bread out at restaurants because the loaves of bread from the store wouldn't agree with my stomach all too well. After lunch, I went back and rested for awhile at home because my throat was still bothering me, and I wanted to continue reading the second book I've started just for fun. I finished the first one pretty quickly, and I hope I can continue to knock out books left and right through the rest of the semester. I know when I am back and I start a Summer job I will no longer have time for fun reading so I'm enjoying it while I can.

Before class, I treated myself to a donut from a bakery that's about a 7 minute walk away from my house. I have been wanting to try one since I got here, so I finally did it. Donuts here are more bready and they're usually cut in half with filling in the middle. This donut was pretty good but very rich and dense. I was only able to eat the top half of it because it was a bit bigger than a dunkin donut. It was great and a great treat before our speaker Ernesto Vaca. Ernesto started talking with us around 4:30 and was supposed to only go til 5:30pm. I didn't get out of his talk until 6:30pm...

I wouldn't have minded if it was an uplifting talk however, this man literally said his goal was to depress us. Most of what he talked about we already understood because we are environmental science majors and we're aware the world is in trouble. He was the most negative human being I have witnessed and it was almost like he liked being so negative. It was like he was putting on a facade or an act for us which I didn't vibe with at all. Throughout his speech if you could call it that he was basically complaining to us and telling us how awful things are now but yet he didn't offer a single solution that may fix the problems here. He used the word "bullshit" probably 20x throughout his talk about everything. Don't get me wrong he made some good points and he talked about the true colors of the politics here. What made me hesitant to take anything he was saying to heart was the fact that he himself is coaching a candidate. He said he isn't involved in politics and then talked about how great his candidate is and how corrupt the others were. I know the other politicians are corrupt but I'm willing to bet his candidate has something to hide as well. Ernesto also talked about how he is anti-conservationist which I didn't understand because he is a guide here on the islands. This is another situation where he didn't go into detail as to why he is that way. He said all fisherman here should die because of how they exploit fish (which you'd think from that he'd be an extreme conservationist) but then he went on to talk about how he respects them because the boats they use are barely boats they are just simply things that float. I don't want to bash him entirely because he did have a couple good points and what he did divulge about the politicians was interesting. The election is at the end of March and everywhere you look you see signs for the different politicians. Overall, I was happy to be out of there when 6:30 rolled around and normally Tammy goes over our speeches so I'm curious to see what she has to say about it (apparently he speaks to all her classes here).