Chillin' in Canoa

thatch-roofed bars and restaurants along the beach

This past weekend, I travelled to Canoa, a small town on the coast, to have a brief change of scenery and get one last round of surfing in before I leave the country.  On Friday night, I boarded one of the overnight buses and began my expedition (I had planned to leave on Thursday, but all the spaces on that bus were full).  The ride ended at 5 am in Canoa, leaving me pondering what to do til I followed a couple other gringos to their hostal, and the owner let me hang out there until it was light and I could find my own lodging.  When the sun rose, I walked to the beach and followed the beach-front road, asking about availability until I found Hostal del Jardin, a little place half a block from the beach, and with a room for the delightfully low price of $10 a night.  Considering I ended up using the room for almost 2 full days, it was quite the bargain!

hostal el jardin

Base camp established, I explored the beach, looking at the rows of canvas awnings with chairs under them right by the water, and the thatch-roofed bars and restaurants lining the dirt road that separated town from the beach.  Then came the time for the real objective: finding a board.  Thankfully, that didn't take long at all, as 2 surf shows were withing sight of my hotel, and I was soon equiped to venture into the surf.

my armory, with my weapon of choice on the left (hint: not the broken board at far left)

Compared to the Galapagos, the waves were amazing!  With surfing, you ride during a set of large waves, then use the lull between sets to paddle back out to where the waves start breaking.  If the lull is too short, you won't have time to paddle back out, and if it's too long, you spend a lot of time waiting on the board.  In the Galapagos, the problem was that the sets were really far apart, so it'd sometimes be 20 minutes between ride-able waves.  In Canoa though, the timing was perfect.  A set of 6 or 7 good waves would come through, giving me the chance to choose which wave I wanted, then there would be a lull of 5 or 7 minutes, giving me just enough time to paddle back out, so I didn't have to wait very long at all between sets.  With so many good waves, and all day, I got pretty of practice- while in the 2 months of surfing in the Galapagos I could only kneel on the board (as opposed to laying flat on it when I caught a wave) a few times, here I could at least kneel on every wave, and stand on a lot of them!  It was super fun, and definitely something I want to do more of when I get the chance again.  

boats

hanging out in a hammock (pun intended)

On Sunday the surfing was still fun, though not quite as great- the waves were almost constant, which meant I had plenty of waves to ride, but that I had to fight out through the breakers after each one I caught.  I also walked as far north along the beach as I could, ending at the line of cliffs a mile or two from town.

cliffs

At the end of the day, I had a tasty fried fish dinner at one of the little shacks on the beach, packed up my stuff, and took a bus to Bahia, a town a few miles south, to catch my overnight bus back to Quito, ending a great sea-side adventure!

Chompiras

 World, meet Chompiras, my host-brother's puppy

looking down at the pool & main courtyard of the castle, from the balcony

view from the balcony

....and my host family from the Galapagos

Tarantulas & Castles

Back in Quito (well, Cumbaya).  A tad bit different from the Galapagos, in the pace of life, elevation, and especially, the traffic.  I'd forgotten that buses in Quito don't stop for guys.  I'm not saying they don't let guys on, they just don't come to a complete stop-  the bus slows a little, so I can jump at the door and hope for the best.  It's worked out so far.  After spending my first weekend back on the mainland at Hotel Walther in Quito, I moved into the Castle, with Mateo, another USFQ student, as my host brother.  A group of 10 GAIAS students lived here before we left for the islands, and his house certainly lives up to it's name.  Built into a hill, the Castle is seperated by a high white wall from the Avienda de los Conquistadores, which is the curvy back road from Cumbaya to Quito.  Inside the wall, a pool and a series a gardens border the buildings.  The main house, where Mateo, his mother, and I live, is three stories- the bottom floor is bedrooms for rent, second is his mum's apartment, and 3rd has Mateo & my bedrooms, kitchen, living room, and the hammock room.  To the side of it, are a couple smaller buildings that are being rented out.  Inside, the walls are either white-painted brick, or bare stone blocks. Paintings, pottery, and a plethora of masks are hung on the walls and in alcoves.  I'll admit, the masks made getting a drink my first night here a little unnerving.

And today, I started on my research project on tarantulas.  Working with Alejandro, the grad student I'm helping, we started examining the preserved body of the female of unknown species.  It was awesome how Alejandro described her as like a pet in the 2 years she was in the lab before she died.  She was a big girl- since her legs curled up in death,  I don't know her full size, but her body alone was over 3 inches, and each leg at least that long.  Her fangs where bigger than the canines on a lot of dogs.  The main objective of today was to classify what type of urticating hairs she has- the barbed hairs tarantulas of the new world family Theraphosidae use for defense.  These hairs sit in little sheaths on the tarantula's abdomen, so when she's threatened by a big predator like a dog (or researcher), she spins her back to the threat and uses her back legs to flick the hairs into the air at the attacker's face.  While they are irritating to human skin, they can be lethal to animals like rats, because they don't have to travel far to get lodged in a rat's lungs.  There are 4 types of urticating hairs, and the combination varies between species, meaning that they are an important tool in classifying tarantula species, which are generally quite similar in appearance.  After sampling from several spots on her abdoment and examining the samples in a microscope, we found that our girl had hair types III and IV.

silhouettes of the 4 types of urticating hairs 

A second feature we examined were her tarsal scopulae- the hair on the bottom of her feet (the end of a spider's leg is called a tarsus), another technique for identifying species.  Because of their size, all tarantulas have fine hairs on the bottom of their feet that they use for traction (a new study has found some species that at least one species produces sticky silk on the bottom of it's feet to make gripping easier), and these patches of hair are either divided or undivided.  In undivided scopulae, the whole tarsas is covered in 1 type of hair, while in divided scopulae, the first type of hair is divided by a line of a second type of hair.  Our girl had undivided scopulae.

an example of divided tarsal scopulae, with the line of Type B hair running down the middle of the tarsus

After our examinations for the day were done, I got to see something awesome: baby tarantulas!  The female of unknown species was evidently pregnant, and laid eggs right after she was caught, so now the lab has a dozen or so 2 year old juvenile tarantulas.  And if you're thinking "2 years old?  That's old for a bug", for a tarantula, it's really not.  Currently, the oldest tarantula lived to be 48.  Being youngsters, these guys are anywhere from and inch to 2 inches long, each with his own container in the lab.

Last Day in the Galapagos

playa corola at sunset

And so begins my last day in the Galapagos.  I just finished my final exam for my maritime communities class, and with my final paper turned in yesterday, I'm done with all academic work and free to enjoy my last day on the islands.  It's a weird feeling knowing that this is the last time I'll be on the Galapagos for a long time, possible ever.  The first part of the semester in Quito was a lot of fun, but San Cristobal is absolutely my home in Ecuador.  I've always been a mountain person at heart- before I came here going to the beach for the sake of the beach wasn't on the top of my to do list- bu now I'm definitely going to miss living right by the ocean, and  being able to jump in the water whenever I want.

the harbor, from the roof of the university

And the wildlife is gonna be a big transition- the flighty squirrels, songbirds, and occasional deer are so different from the fearless animals of the Galapagos.  Yesterday I went snorkeling at Playa Corola, and got to swim beside a pair of spotted eagle rays, right off shore.  They were completely unconcerned by my presence, and would swim so close I could reach out and touch their wingtips.  Probably wasn't suppose to do that, but when else would I get the chance?  For all the tourism that comes through these islands, and how much they've been changed since the Spanish first found them in 1535, the wildlife and scenery is incredible- not what I'm used to, but so much more impressive than what I was expecting.  From the boobies to the giant tortoises to the sea lions lazing in the water off the beaches, I think I've spent more time with wildlife than anywhere back at home.

with my host-brother Ivan

All in all, the Galapagos have been amazing.  There are a lot of things I want to do, and leaving the islands isn't one of them. Off to the beach for one last romp!

sunset at Shipwreck bay

the malecon at night

Darwin