Scuba Diving & Carnaval

Hello to all my chilly people! (muhahaha)


Ya girl in the Galapagos is sweating her booty off in her 90 degree bedroom writing this, but is super stoked because she is fully SCUBA (self contained underwater breathing apparatus for those not in the know) certified!

Over the last two days, I completed four open water dives off the coast of San Cristobal. I did my pool session and classroom back in NY, and now that I did the dives, I am completely done. The first day was pretty annoying with going down to do all the skills, but today was really cool. We did our first dive at 18 meters to do a skills test. Then, we did our second dive at 12 meters, and we got to explore a shipwreck! The ship was completely open, so we didn't need a Wreck Diving certification. It was one of the most mind-blowing things I have ever experienced. The current was super strong, so we had to go down on this rope that was attached to the sunken ship. I am kicking myself for not bringing my GoPro, because it was straight out of a movie. As soon as I flipped backwards into the water, I lost my snorkel because the current was so strong! I'm kind of annoyed about that because now I have to go buy a new one, but I am thankful that it wasn't my mask or one of my fins. I will try to put this into words. So as soon as you flip into the water, you have to grab this rope. You're hanging onto the rope, but the current is so strong that your entire body is being pulled in the other direction. I was one of the last people to go down, so there were a bunch of other people in front of me hanging onto the rope, and the bubbles from their regulators are flying into your face, and all you can see are these bubbles, the algae covered rope that you're hanging onto for dear life, and the water zooming by. You're inching down this rope little by little, and the you can't hear anything except the roar of the current. Suddenly, you're out of the current and it's super peaceful. We saw tons of fish, sting rays, sea stars, sea cucumbers, and more. It was incredibly surreal. Then, you have to go back up the rope to get back up to the boat. I probably would have enjoyed the whole thing a tad more if I wasn't so pissed about losing my snorkel, but it was still an absolutely amazing experience. The divemasters were taking pictures the whole time, so I'm going to go see if I can get my hands on those later. So now, I am officially Open Water certified!

The place where I did my pool and classroom back in New York has monthly seminars, and they told me that they would love to have me come give a talk about Marine Life in the Galapagos after they found out that I was studying biology here. That cracked me up/made me cringe at the same time because they thought that I was a biologist. Which I am...I guess. (Please don't make me turn into an adult).

Today is the start of Carnaval. It's the biggest fiesta on the island, and I believe it's a similar concept to Mardi Gras. There are people running around throwing water balloons at each other and spraying each other with shaving cream. When I got home from my scuba class, a bunch of my host cousins were hiding behind the porch, and as soon as I walked up, I got egged. Thank goodness I had my bathing suit on! My host abuela looked a little horrified until she realized that I was a good sport. She handed me some eggs of my own and the hose so I could get the little stinkers who egged me back! Apparently today is just the beginning. I was really weirded out when I walked outside of my house this morning and my neighbors were drinking beers (it was 7:40 am), but apparently this is the norm during Carnaval! And the party just gets bigger! I am going diving at Kicker Rock tomorrow with my class, but on Tuesday I will be able to take part in the festivities! There is a Miss. Carnaval pageant which I jokingly told my host family I wanted to enter, and they really want me to do it. So we'll see if that happens. There are people celebrating from 8 am to midnight all day every day. Wednesday is the really big party. Unfortunately, I have a midterm on Wednesday, and a presentation on Thursday, so I probably won't participate too much in the festivities, but I'll report back with what actually happens.

On another note, as awesome as it is to be able to sit on the beach and study, it is not a conducive learning environment for me, and I definitely know now that I need to go to med/grad school somewhere where it's not 80 degrees year round. There's definitely something about being in the library in a crewneck sweatshirt with a cup of coffee while listening to jazz music that really just does it for me.