Island Adventures

Last weekend, I went to Isabella Island with two other volunteers. Isabella is the largest island, but it doesn't have a very large population. All of the streets are dirt and there are no ATM's and only one bank, which you can only use if you have an account there. We went for three days, staying in a hostel/surf camp that was located right on the beach. It included a bar, hammocks, a volleyball net, and even had bonfires on the beach most nights. We spend our days surfing, climbing the local volcano, which had an amazing view of the island, and visiting the famed Wall of Tears, built when the island was used as a penal colony. The trip was one of the best I've ever had, but it was especially made so by the adventures that we had Sunday night.
After a day of hiking, we were sitting around the fire, enjoying a few stories and some music until about 9 o'clock (because the sun sets everyday at 6 here) when the hotel decided it was time to put it out the fire. Still feeling like it was relatively early, we decided to go for a walk around town. Afterwards, we returned to our room around 10 only to discover that the door was locked and the key was inside. We tried to go to the front desk, but the door was locked and no one was there. Luckily, we had seen the owner of the hotel sitting at the only open restaurant in town, so we decided to go to him for help. He was sitting alone at this very small restaurant which only could seat about 8 people, watching the cartoon The Pink Panther, eating a sandwich. When we told him our story, he barely looked up from the tv, finally responding "Well, you've got a problem." He then told us that the only person with a key was at home sleeping, so there was nothing he could do. We realized that he had no interest in helping us, so we left to see if we could find our own way in. As we were leaving, he calls to us "Just remember, if you break it, you buy it!" With those words of encouragement, we walked back to the hotel to discover that the windows were very secure, and we definitely weren't getting in that way. We then visited the local police station to see if the only attending officer could help. He listened to our story with his hand on his gun and a very serious look on his face. He told us that he did in fact have a key which could open the door, but he couldn't use it because it was private property and he didn't have the authorization. At this point, we were just tired and since it had been about an hour and a half, we had begun to accept that we just weren't going to get into our room, so we asked the cop to please not ticket us for sleeping on the beach. He nodded his head and said that yeah, sure, we can sleep on the beach, but it's pretty dangerous. People get robbed quite often on the beach at night and he didn't recommend it. With that knowledge in mind, we had no choice but to take our chances in the wet hammocks and hope that no one could see us there. After returning once again to the hotel, one of the other volunteers, Kit, went inside the hotel to use the public bathroom, while Becky and I went to find a couple of hammocks that were only moderately soaked. Suddenly Kit started calling out to us very excitedly, so we went to see what he had found. Turns out, the ceiling of the bathroom was really just a large blanket, weighed down on top by bamboo and rocks and the wall next to the shower was adjacent to our room. With help from the two of them, I climbed up the shower and pulled back the "ceiling." There was a narrow gap, through which I could climb over the wall. Above our room was just a large piece of plexiglass and I was able to pry it up with my fingers and awkwardly slide under it. When I finally got my body under it, I was hanging into our room by my fingertips, which were cut by the pinching of the plexiglass coming down on me. I came out with some battle scars, but I don't know if I have ever had a moment as triumphant as the moment I opened the door to see Kit and Becky on the other side. We had a small celebration in the hallway, which apparently disturbed some other guests, who came out into the hall to tell us to be quiet. I felt a little guilty, seeing as it was 12 at night, but those other guests had no idea what we had gone through for that achievement.

Feelin Settled In

I've definitely fallen into a groove these last couple of weeks. Most days, I just go to school, then a massive lunch followed by a Spanish lesson. Afterwords, I spend a few hours in the travel agency, helping them with their English and any tourists that come in who don't speak Spanish. These last few weekends have been incredible though. Last weekend I went to the island of Floreana, which only has about 100 people on it. There, I hiked up to a pirate cave, swam with sea lions and sea turtles, and saw an incredible view from the highlands. The weekend before that, I went to Isabella, the largest of the islands, where I saw flamingos, penguins, and of course, more sea lions and sea turtles. The day trip there definitely wasn't enough time, so I think a group of us are going to go visit one of the other volunteers on Isabella next weekend. We want to climb the volcano and go to the lava tunnels, which are supposed to have amazing snorkeling.

Recently, two new volunteers have moved into the house, and I have also met some other volunteers who live nearby from the US and from Germany. We pretty much spend the weekends together, going on day tours to the other islands for one day, and packing as much as we can into the other day. We go surfing, rock climbing and hiking, trying to see as much as possible. Last weekend, we went to Las Grietas, which is basically a massive fissure filled with water. I've now been there about 5 times, and I can't wait to go back. There, the water is crystal clear and about 35 feet deep, and the cliffs are about 45 feet high. You can snorkel, cliff dive, and rock climb. We even found a cave about 30 feet up the rock face that we had to climb to. We brought headlamps and explored the narrow chasm, which was so thin you could wedge yourself between the walls and climb. All in all, the other volunteers are a blast to hang out with, but I'm definitely speaking a lot more English these days. My Spanish has gotten a lot better, but the English is taking its toll. But it seems pretty worth it to me. They've really pushed me to spend as much time as possible enjoying what the islands have to offer. Whenever I have free time, there's always someone up to do something fun, which is probably the biggest reason I haven't posted for so long. Well, that's it for now. Until next time!