The Last, Last Days

Tomorrow afternoon we flight back to Quito. Mariana and I had our last run this morning and stopped to enjoy the views at the top of the hill one last time. It is a beautiful, final day here on the Galapagos. Time to head to the beach!

This last week was relaxing and fun!

We hung out at home in the mornings on the weekend. Here is me cracking egg shells in the garden.

Last weekend was also an exciting one here on the Islands because of the extreme Spring Tides.

Waves crashed over the boardwalk area and La Loberia beach had to be closed during high tides.

The streets near the harbor flooded with the tides and it was interesting to walk around town and look at the impacts.

The Malecon (boardwalk area) and surrounding streets were covered in rubble.

On Sunday morning, a few students and I met with my professor to clean up trash on the beaches, stack bricks and dig up lava rocks to move them back into the water. It was great to help out and the hotel owners who lived on the street we were working on were very grateful. However, high tides are predicted to come again May 12-13, so much of the reconstruction has been put on hold.

Many locals and tourists took advantage of the huge waves and surfed at beaches that are normally calm. Here are some surfers (and sea lions) at Playa Mann near the University, a beach that is normally free of waves.

On Monday, we were treated to the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen, followed by the most perfect rainbow on Tuesday morning.

Last night we had our last group dinner together, and today we have a final IES lunch and a final slideshow party (with cake!). We also have a final dinner on Friday night in Quito (so many “final” things!).

This has been such an adventure and I feel good about going home because it had been such a complete experience. I am interested to see how it feels going back to life in the US. Here, a traffic jam is two taxis and a bike, so it will be weird to have many cars and people around and to have everyone speak English again!

In the time it took me to write this, the weather turned and it poured rain. It is clearing up again though. You sure can’t predict the weather here, so I am off to the beach while the sun is still out!