Kids & Harpoon Guns.

Certain things on the Galapagos are just accepted. Culturally, religiously, socially or for whatever reason it's simply considered OK for some events to occur.  Here are a few we've witnessed only to do a double take a few seconds later and usually start cracking up laughing.

-While walking along the sidewalk, we saw a boy (no more than 8 years old) snapping white medical gloves onto his hands.  Off to perform a tonsillectomy? 

-Two boys, also no more than 8 years old, hacking away at a small tree with a butcher's knife.  No parents in sight.

- Two enormous holes with construction workers almost blocked the street to passing cars with NO cones, police, or safety measures whatsoever.  I think the workers will be fine though, they whistle at every girl that walks by.

-Small child walking out of the house with a loaded harpoon gun.  

-Cooking a raw chicken, by hand, on stovetop.  Literally stove top. Literally by hand. No pots/pans/or  utensils used.

-Roosters tied to strings that are attached to posts in front lawns.  They're not scary until you get too close.

-Openly training the farm animals for battle. eg  cockfighting.

-Generally anything with unsupervised kids.  We always see them walking home alone, playing in the street, and generally causing havoc. 

-Animals in restaurants  (that aren't  dead and cooked.)  It's usually a family dog or cat, but we've also had salamander and bird visitors.

-People saying "pay me back later" or more commonly just not giving you change in restaurants or stores.  This isn't difficult change either, I shouldn't have to carry around a bag of nickels.

That's all we can think of now.  They literally happen every day, and every time we still laugh or at least make a remark. Thanks to Lori for the help on this one.

Warning: Warming

Welcome to the rainy season ladies and gentlemen.  Contrary to it's name however, it hasn't really rained all that much more. Instead, it's just become incredibly predictable

7am to 11am - Somewhat cloudy, but nice enough that i still walk to school in a t-shirt, shorts, and sandals. (Like I'd wear anything else on the Galapagos, right?)

11am to 12:30 pm- The sun comes out! It's not hot yet, but it's turning into a really nice day.

12:30 pm to 2:30 pm- This is "beach day" weather.  Pretty hot.  A beautiful time to be outside on the beach, snorkeling, or kayaking.

2:30pm to 5pm- See ya later beach day, hello miserable light rain.  It's the worst rain.  Not enough to accumulate anything, but enough of a misty/rainy mess to make you go inside.

5pm to 7pm- Ehh not too bad again.  That rain from earlier has pretty much stopped, but now its getting too cool to do anything at the beach.

7pm and on- Cool. One should wear a sweatshirt to be comfortable outside.  Of course, i'm still just wearing the t shirt, shorts, and sandals combo from earlier.  Partly because it's the Galapagos and I'm morally opposed to wearing layers here, and partly because i haven't had an item of truly "clean" clothing in months.  Laundry never does come out right here.

So take that schedule, and repeat it every day.  Not too bad, except for that overcast afternoon rain.  Ironically, on the one day i do a blog about the predictability of the weather, it changes.  It's beautiful out right now and class isn't until the afternoon.  See you at the beach.

Another Not So Accurate Translation

So, for the last 3 months I've been wearing  my Jonathan Papelbon Boston Red Sox shirt with pride.  For those of you who don't know, it says "Red Sox" on the front, and has a giant "Papelbon" on the back.  Pretty cool right?

Well, little did I know that "papel bon" in Spanish is equivalent to something like "printer paper" in English.  Needless to say I'm not feeling so cool about repping my Bean Town pride with an enormous "copy paper" on my back.

Haha I think it just lends more credence to the DeLorenzo=Crazy translation from the last blog.

DeLorenzo in Ecuadorian Means Crazy

Just wrapped up Isabela/Cruise! Highlights include jumping off cliffs into saltwater lakes on Santa Cruz, snorkeling while blue footed boobies dive bombed around you on Rabida (youtube it, there must be a good video out there), and swimming with PENGUINS on Bartolome.  I've seen more types of birds, fish, reptiles, and mammals than i could ever remember.  Isabela was very relaxing, and included alot of volleyball, bodysurfing, and laying out on the beach.

It was also really cool to snorkel with the Marine Ecology guys.  They know all the fish names, so i could ask them about all the cools ones i saw.  Some include Blue Chin Parrot Fish, Moorish Idols, Razor Tailed Surgeon Fish, King Angel Fish, Giant Damsel Fish, and my favorite, the Giant Hawkfish (or Hieroglyph fish or something).

Unrelated to the cruise, I've found out that my last name means "crazy" in Ecuadorian Spanish.  "Lorenzo" is the name of a mental hospital in Ecuador and is used by locals to mean "nuts/insane/crazy", so DeLorenzo literally means "of crazy."  I kind of like it, but then again I'm insane.

Classes here in Santa Cruz until Thursday, back to "home" on San Cristóbal Thursday afternoon.  The hostel we're staying in here looks like a castle, I'll try to get some picks on facebook.  Unfortunately I think my camera is broken, so i'll have to borrow a friends.

Can't believe I'm only here for 6 more weeks!

Your Crazy Friend,
Joe