Camping and a Dessert Party

A post from Sarah Ziomek

We spent this past week in Santa Cruz for class, so I will write all about that, but first here is a short post on some fun things we did before.

On Saturday before we left, we went camping at Puerto Chino.  It is a very nice and small sandy beach about a half hour away by taxi.  We had to get a permit from the national park to camp (it was a huge pain – I went to the park offices 4 times….things are so much more difficult for people who follow the rules).  We bought food, rented surfboards, grabbed the blankets off our beds, and met up at 2 pm to take taxis to the beach.  Taxis here are all white pickup trucks.  The taxis dropped us off, and we told them to pick us up at 8 the next morning (there is no cell reception out there).  We set up camp then went to play in the waves and surf.  Our beach doesn’t really have good waves to play in, plus there are a lot of rocks underneath the water.  Puerto Chino is all sandy underwater, so it is one of the few places on the island to surf.    I tried surfing.  it is pretty difficult!  I got up on my knees a few times, but since the waves there break really close to shore, there wasn’t much time to get all the way up.

Afterwards there was some garúa (the misty rain), so we all stood around the table under the trees eating our PB&Js and apples.  Then we all sat in the sand and talked.  By this time (a little after 5:30 pm), the sun was going down.  After what felt like a really long time, we looked at the time and saw it was not even 7 pm!  Our friends in town were just heading to dinner, but it felt like it was so late!
We then played sardines on the beach.  It was a lot of fun because it was super dark and there was no moon.  Even with flashlights, you could hardly see, and the waves covered the sounds of people running.  There were lots of rocks to hide behind, so it was a lot of fun.  We talked some more and then went to bed around 8:30 pm.  So early but it felt like it was past midnight!

We all woke up at 5:30 and climbed up a rocky hill to watch the sunrise.  It was so beautiful!

sunrise

blue-footed booby

the beach

our campsite

waiting for the taxi the next morning

our group :)

the beach and our campsite

huddled around the table eating dinner

my host family!!!

When I got home, the power was out, so I couldn’t take a shower or charge my computer to study for my final exam.  Most of the electricity on the island is generated by 3 wind turbines on the island.  Occasionally there are electricity shortages.  Three hours later we got power, so I showered and got ready for a party at the university.  It was for all the students and their host families.  Each family was asked to bring a dessert.  Jazmin (my host mom) brought a delicious chocolate cake.  It was a fun afternoon.

my host family!!!