Halloween y San Cristobal

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Trying to work out where I last got to with my blog has been quite a challenge as I haven’t updated it for over a month. A lot of great things have happened in the last few weeks and I have been rereading my travel journal to remind myself of everything I have been doing.

The last entry I wrote was when a friend got back from a guiding trip and that seems like a long time ago. Since then a lot has changed as I moved in with two girlfriends, the other volunteers I was working with left and I have been working up at the farm a lot more.
Firstly the change of apartment has been great as I am now living with a Chilean called Paola who I work with at Bongo and Teresa, an American volunteer who is working at the private school on the island. It’s really nice to be living with two girls and the house is so much better, with hot water, a fridge, stereo, cooker and a lot more space.

Vadim and Diana left at the beginning of November and I managed to persuade a friend who had finished her first volunteering stint at another charity to work with me for her last couple of weeks. She ended up bringing her friend Leigh too and the three of us spent a week at the farm building fences around the Esclesia trees that are endemic to Galapagos. It turned out that Leigh was a top chef in Australia and we had some great food for the days he was up there with us. We brought a whole chicken on the Thursday and made a roast dinner with all the trimmings followed by chocolate cake. Sadly Leigh left after that week and Anna and I returned to the farm with banana and tuna sandwiches and fried eggs. Not quite the same as the food we had been eating.

Halloween was one of the highlights of the last few weeks too as we organised a huge party at Bongo. I spent the day decorating the bar with spider webs and balloons and then we all got dressed up for the evening. It was the busiest I have seen the bar and hard work but was a great night.

Last week saw the return of my friend from his dive trip to Darwin and Wolf. It was a great week as we went surfing with Anna and the guys for a couple of days and also went up for trips to his farm in the highlands. It also meant that I was lucky enough to eat at the two best restaurants in Puerto Ayora which was lovely. I also had my first experience of sushi and raw fish, which was delicious.
The past few days I spent in San Cristobal the other main island which is actually home to the capital of Galapagos even though it’s smaller than Puerto Ayora. It was great to see another island and to spend a few days on the beach and relaxing. The beaches were amazing there with a mixture of sea lions and humans sunbathing and swimming.

I now only have two weeks left in Galapagos and I can’t believe how quickly it has gone by. I am going to be working at Fundar for this week then I plan to have the last few days to myself so I can spend time with people and maybe head over to Bartolome and Española before I go. I am looking forward to meeting Alice and Alice in Buenos Aires but it will definitely be hard to say goodbye to Galapagos!!

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