Santa Cruz Island (Day 3 - Red)

I expected to be tired, but was instead very well rested.

We went to bed later than we expected but we knew that we would be waking up after the Blue footed boobies which made it infinitely better. Even if we got less sleep than them

I expected the drive to be long to the beach, turns out it was long.

Some say time flies when you are having fun. This is wrong. Even if you are having fun, being on a cramped bus in the Galapagos heat ties a bowling ball to time.

We expected to get sunburned, planned accordingly, and were still cooked to medium rare.

In this area of the world, the sun can turn from being a life-giving orb in the sky to being the death dealing sphere of destruction. No matter how much sunscreen you put on, the sun will find a way to burn your skin to a red crisp. The beach we went to had very little shade so many of us resorted to using our towels as makeshift umbrellas and capes. Some of our group decided to go kayaking which while fun, left them resembling lobsters.

We expected the lunch to be chicken and potatoes, and what do you know, it was.

 It seems like no matter where we go for lunch, we end up with a very similar dish. That dish is chicken. We’ve had it grilled, fried, grilled and grilled. Although we’ve had a bunch of times, it never stops being tender and tasteful. Although, the deserts have all been extremely unique and sugary. Today we had some rich vanilla ice cream with a naranjia smoothie to top it all off.

We expected the lava tunnel to be far away and slightly boring but were surprised to find that it was interesting and expansive.

 We drove up expecting to be restricted to a distance and forced to wonder what it would actually look like. Instead, we got to climb into the tunnels carved by lava.

We expected a museum but instead we arrived at a zoo.

The Charles Darwin Research Center sounds like a museum where you learn about Darwin and his life. Instead, it was filled with a bunch of tortoises and iguanas. The tortoises in particular turned out to be an endangered subspecies of Galapagos Tortoise called the Española tortoises.

We expected the town to be run-down, but instead it was actually pretty lively.

 When you hear the term “town” used to describe an island community, the first term you think of usually isn’t modern. There were tons of shops selling anything from toy (red and blue footed) boobies to neon t-shirts with turtles and iguanas.

We expected a dinner. Instead, we got a birthday!

 Unknown to most of the students on the trip, we had 3 birthdays (Gleith and Merrit today,  and Kennedy tomorrow). We were surprised to find homemade appetizers, piñatas, music, BBQ, and cakes on our return to the camp. We celebrated their birthdays, Played games, and ate candy.

- Dylan P., Thompson B., William A.