Housemates:
It took several weeks, but one of my roommates finally bought not just a single roll, but a 4 pack of toilet paper! Woohoo! Now if I can only get someone else to empty the bathroom wastebasket, it’s like punishment!
We have a third roommate for November, Zoe, from England and who works with Paola at Bongo. She’s rarely here, so it’s a great arrangement as she shares with Paola, yet we are still all paying only a third of the rent. It’s all good now, except my Spanish is suffering with Paola understanding English, and Zoe and I are near useless when speaking Spanish.
Battle of the lone bike continues, but I feel I have more of a claim on it now as I was the last one to get it fixed (flats are common occurrences here, and fortunately, only $.75 to repair).
Life in Galapagos:
Here’s a new discovery in Galapagos, without power, also means without water. The water is pumped electrically into the house. It’s a good thing I finished my washing and used the toilet before the last outage, what a nightmare. What a shame too, because power goes out so frequently here, for minutes to hours!
Healthcare…well, I think I mentioned before that the healthcare here is sub par in quality to say the least. This past Monday, our friend, Ben, was injured during frisbee. Upon getting x-rays at the hospital (which I was surprised they actually had a radiology department), he was told nothing was broken. After a couple days of increased pain and swelling, he proceeded to follow up at the “good doctor” Gabriel Idrova (and also the father of one of my students). This doctor was not convincingly any better than the hospital as he believed there to be a fracture, but was only able to speculate, with the help of the x-rays, on where it actually was (although I'm told the equipment is far less than par). He did, however, continue to cast him in the office (mind you Ben’s foot was still quite swollen so now the cast is loose on him). As he was setting the cast, he indicated it would have to stay on for about 4 weeks, and then thoughtfully inquired on how long Ben will be here. Once Ben replied about 2 more months, the doctor showed some concern while admitting as he doesn’t have the proper cast cutters to remove the cast. To add insult to injury, Ben had to walk out of the office, as there are no crutches to be found on the island. To his relief, he’s able to still get around on his bike [BEN'S CAST]
We’re pushing 4 months or so since the presence of cable. Apparently the island has cable, but since there are now 2 options (where there was only one before), it’s taking time for people to decide which service, and then there’s the issue of the hardware, which is virtually non-existent, so we wait still. This is a quite a record for me without TV! [Special shout out here to Bacon, who has generously provided me with 5 whole seasons of Gilmore Girls!]
Speaking of TV, Ecuador is so hyped for the World Cup Qualifiers here, that they broadcast 3 hour pre-shows leading up to the matches, what’s up with that? Who needs that much blabbing before a game!?
So, I’ve learned to kill mosquitoes from Mr. Amagi, I’m so accurate I can kill them with chopsticks! Actually, I just crush them with my hands, but I’m still quite proud of that. Who knew there would be a day that I’d let a spider live in hopes it’d protect me from another creepy critter? We’re also allowed to kill geckos (awww) and wasps (good) because they’re invasive species. [WASP AND GECKO]
Phones are crap here, and hardly ever work. There were days where my prepaid phone wouldn’t send or receive calls or messages. What is this place coming to?!
Credit cards are also virtually useless here, when they actually do “accept” them, they may not be able to process the transaction, due to the poor phone signal required for the machine. I imagine American Express is paying off my life insurance policy at this point as they think I’m dead it’s been so long since I’ve charged anything!
But all in all, I think I’m getting used to this place, and it’s beauty, and enjoy being a “local” of sorts. [RANDOM PHOTOS OF PA]
[La Estacion Beach]Immigration:
So, I will be charged a fine of $200 because I was illegal for 6 days between the expiration of my tourist visa and the activation of my volunteer visa. The school will have to pay this, of course, but the stranger thing is, that I’m supposed to “activate” my volunteer visa within 30 days of the original date to get what they call a censo (ID card). The problem is, that they don’t have the system. In fact, they didn’t have it in Quito either for some time. Then, they tell me that I’ll have to pay a second $200 fine because I didn’t get it done within the 30 days. But of course, this is no fault of mine or the school’s! So after several conversations, a translator, and several calls to the mainland later, they “did us a favor” by waiving the second multa (fine). How generous of them!
Despedidas:
On Steph’s last night, we attended a local street party in barrio Scalesia, as she had local friends who invited her, and seeing as it was her night, we had to go. I think we were supposed to feel privileged to witness a scantily sequin-clad singer perform.
Since my last blog, I’ve also met and said goodbye to 2 Irishmen and Anna, the Swede. Expecting another one in the next week as my friend and colleague, Lauren, is planning to leave as well. Very sad times. [ANNA’S GOING AWAY (me, Case, Anna and Ipo)]
Speaking of the Irish, It’s hard to believe this is the only place I’ve been that has no Irish bar!? Something’s wrong with that, any takers?
Finally, miss Lauren, my fellow American and English teacher and good friend is leaving me Sunday. She will be missed, but I'm sure she won't miss the chaotic ear piercing bus rides! [LAUREN ON THE SCHOOL BUS]
School:
Wow, only 5 more weeks before vacation, and after that, there’s only about a week’s worth of class, most of which is exam week. I’m over the moon, I’m so unhappy with the lack of motivation of the kids at the school. I do like them personally, and they are cute when they talk about their band, Anakes, and how they’re going to be famous some day. They even performed in a concert! [ANAKES]
I did make a big mistake recently allowing them to watch a movie, which lead to me having to explain “strap on.” That will teach me to screen the movies next time!
Events:
A while ago, I attended a birthday party for Floreana (the family with whom my former roomie, Bianaca, used to live before living with me). Oddly, many of my students, as well as my landlords, turned up. It was quite strange, as my students don’t often hear me attempting to speak Spanish, so of course I was getting harassed endlessly. It also came out in front of all the parents that I’m a massage therapist working at the new local and posh Chi Spa. This was quite strange, as I’m here on a volunteer visa, so I was trying to keep it on the DL, but, as I keep rediscovering, this town is way too small for secrets! [FLOREANA’S BIRTHDAY]
Halloween was fabulous! I dressed up in a white-sheet created toga with 2 other friends (Case & Jen), and we ended up meeting three Romano clad guys, and ended up winning 3rd place in the costume contest (a bottle of Sky Vodka, that’ll do!). [HALLOWEEN]
[in Galapagos, we make do with make shift pumpkins]
I should mention that some of the restaurants have TV, so we went to Hernan’s restaurant for the election, because we absolutely couldn’t miss the history-making event! There were about 20 of us that went, and what a night it was, celebrated by Americans and foreigners alike! [ELECTION DAY]
Last Friday, there was a big concert in PA (Puerto Ayora), where there were about 25 bands, and apparently the Vice President was there along with some press. It brought out the whole town, and even the highlands, as I got to see Marissa and Larissa and family for the first time since the Independence Day parade. It was so good to see them! There’s not really homeless people that I’ve seen in Galapagos, but I do think I found the town drunk, who, despite peeing his pants, seemed to be having a great time at the concert! [CORAZONES AZULES CONCERT]
[I miss Larissa and Marissa terribly!]
[local town drunk]
[friends Sebastien, Andreas and Marta]Activities:
After much trouble, I finally finished my Open Water PADI course here. It was a long, and complicated event as we (there were originally 6 of us) ended up going to some shady dive shop who had a Dive Master (NOT an instructor) teaching the course, and we were missing several crucial exercises necessary for safe diving. But, we’re all certified and feel much safer now, and I’m just waiting on my permanent ID card! Can’t wait to go on some real dives and see some hammerheads, white tips, rays, eels, etc. [DIVING]
I played ultimate frisbee for the first time last week with some friends from the Station (Darwin Station), and it damaged me so badly, that I haven’t played since. I do LOVE it though, it’s really amazing, and I must say, I’m not half bad. We play on a hard court though, so my feet were full blisters, and it felt like my arches were collapsing, not to mention my whole body was falling apart (thankfully I got a massage from Marie-Lou and took a hot therapeutic bath the next day). I hope to play again today, especially since soccer was a washout last night with only 3 turning up.
The Station/volunteer crew (just a bunch of people, mostly English speakers) also went camping at Garrapatero last weekend. There were about 17 of us, and a ton of fun, except for the abundance of scorpions, and the scare when Anna discovered and announced, ever so calmly, that she had one on her leg! [SCORPION]
We had about 7 tent (some of which didn’t have enough parts to assemble, requiring rocks to set up), and the beach to ourselves. It was great! We played some beach rugby (at which I’m useless), swam, explored and just hung out. We even saw sea turtle tracks (the come up on land to lay/bury their eggs at night). And of course, we had a campfire and even made smores (yes, they have marshmallows here believe it or not!). [GARRAPATERO]
This may be over ambitious, but I’m hoping to swim the Itabaca Channel this weekend, as I am hoping to gain confidence in entering the swimming leg of the triathlon here, only if I can get someone to do the cycle and run as well, of course. It’s only 600m, but there’s apparently a LOT of current there, so it’s quite difficult, and seeing as I’ve not been training for anything in particular, it might prove beyond my means at the moment, but here’s hoping I can do it!
Spa:
The spa is good, it was busy for a while, and is now quite as they hired a salaried therapist who has more qualifications than I do as she’s an esthetician, and since she’s salaried, it’s more beneficial to the spa to give here the massage treatments in the afternoon that they’d normally give me. I still get a number of requests, so I’m not bothered, and it gives me more time to spend with all my friends, and hopefully do some more diving. I’ve been getting some generous tips from the locals (who are the ones who request me), shockingly, so financially, it’s working out nicely as well.
