Going with the flow

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Well I´ve been away for 2 weeks now and I´m finally getting into it. Have had a hard week the past week, realisation of were I am, frustration about the isolation, lack of electricity and home comforts and the expoential level of mud and bugs but it´s amazing what a couple of days can do to change your thoughts, especially since the arrival of Cesar, the staions owner and all round Galapogean wonder. The guy emits postiviity in bucket loads so the next 4 weeks are shaping up to be fun filled & action packed, I just know I´m going to learn a lot from this guy. I´ve had the freak out which I´ve heard happens to a lot of voulnteers but I´ve embraced now as the weeks are flying bye and the only way is up. The snorkel tour last week was fantasic. First stop was Leon Dormido, otherwise known as Kicker Rock, a 140m high eruption out ot the Pacific ocean, two gorges run through the rock and if the journey there wasn´t fab enough a school of bottlenosed dolphins decided to join us and escort us to the rock its self. Never seen anything like it , must have been around 100 dolphins, playing, chasing and racing just below the bow. Unbelievable creatures and sitting on the front I had a prime view of the whole affair, that was the decider for me, 10 days from sitting on a sofa in Liverpool to swimming with dolphins in the Pacfic!! The water was bloody freezing though. And the first guy I saw when I put my head under, a hammerhead shark, needless to say my heart skipped a few beats. After the Hammerheads and swimming through both gorges, we moved to the next beach Los Lobios where there were rays as big a table, sea turtles and playful sea lions (biggest brown eyes I´ve ever seen especially when they are half a meter away from your face ) and 1000´s and 1000´s of colouful fishes like little lights gliding through the water. The nature is seeping in through my pores and it feels fabulous. Monday was spent digging holes, Tuesday I laid 12 rows of pig poo down in the greenhouse, Wednesday we went litter picking at the local school and had a few games of football with the kids, then watched the last chance for Ecuador to get into the World Cup, the place was like a ghost town when they went out, gutted for them. More hole digging on Thursday and Friday a walk which turned into a hike, then shimmy down a sheer rock face to a secluded beach with a fresh water pool behind. Could have passed for a beach in Wales, then you notice the blue footed boobies, and cacti gracing the cliff edge and it hits you all over again exactly were you are!! Back in town to dry out this weekend, visited another beach Las Loberia yesterday, got accosted by a randy sealion and narrowly missed stepping on some marine iguanas, than some mojitos watching the sun go down and finally bar Iguana Rock, the only place to be on a Sat night in Puerto Bazique. Loving the work at the station, no thought, political implications or negative effects to condsider, everything you do is beneficial, told you I wanted to work with real shit, easy to handle and even easier to clean up!! One more trip booked, a 4 day tour of the other islands, so I can see Lonesome George and the martian landscape of island Isabella, thats 31st Oct-3rd Nov, hope everybody is well, keep smiling, mine is getting smugger as the days pass by!!!!!! Love x x x x x x x x x x x x

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