Day 7 in Ecuador!

 Hey, y'all!

It's the end of our first week here in Ecuador, and to be honest, I thought I'd gotten the date wrong-this has proved itself to be the trip of a lifetime, and I can't believe we've only been here a week (let alone the fact we'll be here another three). It was our first full day in the Galapágos, and we started off with breakfast at our hostel. We got snorkeling equipment fitted after that, then headed back to the Interpretation Center. There, we learned about the natural and cultural history of the islands and Darwin's expeditions that led to his theory of evolution. That was followed by a hike to Frigate Bird Hill and Darwin's Bay; I thought it was kind of brutal considering it was mostly hills, but it was absolutely worth it to get to see the frigate birds and Kicker Rock.

 After our hike, we got to go snorkeling, and holy cow-it was unbelievable. Sea lions swam right up to us, wanting to play. Everyone (including me) was able to get within just a few feet of these gorgeous animals, and it was so hard not to reach out and touch them. I wanted to so badly, but it would've been hypocritical of me, given why I'm here in the first place, so you know... But seriously, they were the highlight. We also got to see a sea turtle, and I went into today really hoping we'd see an octopus. I was told they're very hard to find, so I'd accepted that it probably wouldn't happen. I'm happy to say we ended up finding two! Quite a few of us brought GoPros and cameras to take pictures of everything we saw, and I'm so glad we did-it might've been the coolest thing I've ever done, and I know I'll want to remember every second of it.

 After that, we had lunch and got to work setting up the iPads for our first day of surveys tomorrow, then had some downtime. We spent it going to the beach, grabbing ice cream, and taking a much-needed rest from all the excitement. :) We'll let you all know how tomorrow goes!

See you later!
-Hannah