Life could not be more fabulous down here on the equator

Hello All!

Hope everything is great in Dallas.  My trip started with a month in mainland Ecuador.  I lived in Quito on the Universidad San Francisco de Quito's main campus, but traveled to Riobamba, Coca, Otovalo, and the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in the Amazon rainforest. 

I took Population Ecology and really enjoyed the class.  Our classes are in three-week module formats. We (I'm in a group of 22 students mostly from the US, but also from Ecuador, Bolivia, Austria, Norway, and Canada) came to the Galapagos Islands on February 4 and have been living in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno (population 6000) ever since. 

I live with a host family, which is wonderful for improving my Spanish and getting to know the local population.  My "dad" is a fisherman and also my family owns a small pig farm in the highlands of the Island.  I have traveled to Espanola, an uninhabited island full of wildlife. Blue-footed boobies, iguanas, sea lions, frigate birds, and other amazing marine life is so abundant.

This Thursday,I will be going on an eight-day boat trip around the Islands. I have been scuba diving about six times and am getting advanced certified. Also, I took my second class, Evolutionary Biology, here on the islands. These three weeks, I decided to not take a class and only volunteer. I volunteer at a summer camp for children aged 6-12 teaching English in the mornings and in the evenings, I volunteer at the local hospital. I have had so many opportunities at the hospital including observing two births (one caesarean and one natural) and doing my first injection. 

All of these experiences have also really helped my Spanish improve. Pictures should follow soon; my memory cards were in a purse that was stolen, so the task is a bit more difficult than it seems.  Also, internet connections on the Islands are pretty shaky.  Besides that, all is so well. I'm feeling great and learning so very much.

Thanks for all! 

Adios

Laura Mirielle Anderson