Lazy Days

The last two weeks have been crazy calm. The weather’s getting a slight bit cooler as the transition to the cool season begins, courtesy of the Humboldt current making itself known– we get some breezes and cloud cover during the day. On occasion it gets a little chilly at night; I wore a sweatshirt for the first time in three months. The water is frigid. I’ve picked up a slight phobia of swimming in it, since people have had weird sores and armpit infections popping up: most likely courtesy of the town’s sewage dump site’s alarming location between the most popular beaches, surf and snorkel sites. The town’s nonfunctional hospital is currently overwhelmed with Dengue Fever, to which only one of us (the students) has managed to fall victim. So far. I’m doing independent study for a professor rather than sit in a stagnant 80° classroom through the mornings. Instead, I get to chill out watching lobos four hours a day. Evenings have included a lot of fire spinning on the beach and the fishing pier, resulting in a rather large quantity of singed arm hair and eyebrows as I take advantage of the opportunity to pick up some new tricks from a friend much more badass than myself. I know, life is hard.

In the absence of anything super exciting to report, I figured I’d throw out a few more fun facts:

• It takes approximately 30 minutes for a frigatebird to inflate his pouch and 45 for deflation. I think. He will site in the same place for up to three weeks, without eating, to wait for a mate.
• Hammerheads are one of three species known to tan in response to sun exposure, the others being humans and pigs.
• Our resident scalloped hammerheads are among those known to attack humans.
• On a similar note, Galápagos sharks happen to be closely related to great whites, hence the previously noted stalking of groups of snorkelers including yours truly at right around dinnertime.
• Don’t ask about black-tips; I don’t know the answer.
• Blue-footed boobies’ feet are like flamingos’ feathers: they change color in response to their diet. Blue is “unhealthy;” turquoise is fantastic.
• The vampire finch, a subspecies of the sharp-beaked ground finch found only on Darwin and Wolf Islands, supplements its diet by drinking the blood of nazca and blue-footed boobies.
• A giant tortoise will outlive yourself, your children, and quite possibly your grandchildren.
• The temperature inside the nest determines the sex of turtle and tortoise hatchlings. So, if climate change keeps up, we’re gonna have rather a lot of females on our hands.
• Multiple species of Scalesia are members of the daisy family that have morphed into giant trees.
• Galápagos hawks are polyandrous.

I hear it's getting warmer in the states– hope everyone's enjoying the sun.