March 2015
Mid-March
was our second to last excursion with Rotary- Galapagos!
If
you are how I was before I went on exchange, you probably had no idea that
‘Darwin’s Islands’ were owned by Ecuador. But yes, quite to my surprise The
Galapagos Islands have been a part of this small South American country since 1832
when they were annexed by then President Juan José Flores and have been under
the country’s ecological protection ever since.
The
majority of the archipelago is just an ecological reserve. But there are also
many people who live on the islands; more than just tourists, researchers and
National Park rangers. I hadn’t realized that there would be such a large
resident population and was quite surprised to encounter supermarkets,
hospitals and schools.
Another
thing that surprised me about the islands was how dry they generally were. There
were some rare parts of lush green vegetation, but the majority of the time it
was all cactus and low shrubs, especially near the shore and on the volcanoes.
We
spent three action packed days exploring as much of the islands as we could (the
average distance between islands is 2-3 hours in boat- so a good amount of the
time was spent traveling.) A few of the many highlights include: petting
tortoises in the Charles Darwin National Park, climbing a volcano and
snorkeling with sea turtles! It was all a dream come true; I feel so
unbelievably lucky to have had such an incredible opportunity to explore one of
the natural wonders of the world.
For
anyone planning to take this trip in the future I have two main
recommendations: sunscreen and water. And a third, but less easily applied
piece of advice: try to be sure that you’re only eating fresh food. It was an
unforgettable trip, however for some members in our group it was unforgettable
for the wrong reasons. Several ended up in the hospital with second degree
sunburns and another handful suffered from heatstroke and dehydration.
Additionally, nearly everyone went home with food poisoning. But they say that
it’s always the rough parts that make the story better!
In
my last report I mentioned that I would shadow a Peace Corps worker. The Corps
volunteer who lived in Otavalo was named Herman, his mission was to decrease
the rate of teen pregnancies in the largest public school in the city. In order
to achieve this objective he trained groups/teams of students to be the ‘youth
leaders’. These teams, under Herman’s guidance, then in turn taught the larger
student population sexual education. Additionally, there were obligatory
meetings held for the students’ parents, in order to inform them of what their
children were learning and how they could reiterate it in their homes.
I
think that this is a rather ingenious method- to have the information come from
the students’ peers, and not some ‘distant authoritative figure’. And the proof
is certainly in the pudding; in just one year of having implemented these
classes the frequency of pregnancies in the high school was halved (from 20
pregnancies a year to 10).
This
is a really wonderful initiative that has touched the lives of many in my small
city. I am very thankful for my host mother who arranged the opportunity for me
to see this project first hand. 
Me and my Brazilian friend, Leticia, in front
of a Rotary wheel in Galapagos.
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