Las Islas de los Galápagos

“Hasta ahora, el futuro de los humanos dependía de las islas. Hoy, el futuro de las islas depende de los humanos”

[Until recently, the future of humans depended on the islands. Today, the future of the islands depends on the humans.]

This past weekend we traveled with IES to the Galápagos Islands: my favorite weekend of the semester so far. The four and a half days were spent on four islands– Santa Cruz, Bartolomé, San Cristóbal and Isla de los Lobos. As much as I love living in Quito, it was a wonderful change exploring the islands. Our days were filled with learning about the history and geography of the islands, observing the wildlife, swimming, and enjoying the quiet and laid back environment. On land we saw sea lions, blue footed boobies, turtles, lizards and finches. Snorkeling we saw starfish, penguins, sea urchins and stingrays. We learned about the various types of plants and animal species found on the islands: endemic (only found in the Galápagos, due to adaptation), native (found on the Galápagos as well as in other areas of the world, not harmful to the environment) and introduced (damaging to the endemic or native species). My favorite part was seeing all the wildlife, especially after living in a city for the past three months.

Experiencing the different climates of Ecuador has been a wonderful part of this semester: the Amazon Rainforest, the Andes, the coast and now the Galápagos. This weekend opened my eyes to an incredible part of the immense diversity in Ecuador.