Day 7, Tintoreras

This morning we had a breakfast of fried plantains diced up into little bits and mixed with cheese. These were served in about an ice-cream scoop size mound alongside a fried egg. May sound strange to Americans, I know, but it was really delicious.

We skipped lunch because we knew we'd be on a boat ride and then snorkeling. Brought lots of snacks with us instead. We left for Tintoreras, another island right near Isabela. That island is a microcosm for the entire Galapagos. We saw penguins, white-tipped sharks (for which the island is named), an iguana nesting ground (so lots of babies), sea lions, and many different kinds of birds. After about an hour of hiking, we got back in our water taxi and went to another smaller island and coastal area where we went snorkeling. This time we were greeted at the boat by a sea lion who wanted to play. At first we kind of panicked and Livya hopped back in. Then the guide took Liam and me to a shallowish reef area  where we saw a ton of different kinds of fish (the guide even saw a sting ray, but we weren't quick enough). But best of all a sea lion came swimming up to us and played around.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment!

Baby iguanas on Tintoreras

Baby iguanas on Tintoreras

Big Daddy on Tintoreras 

Sea lion poop  :)

Say "cheese!"

Swimming with a sea lion off of Tintoreras

Doing tricks for us

Beautiful tropical fish

Liam (age 10) and me snorkeling in Galapagos

Video of a friendly sea lion swimming all around us—he's definitely showing off!

Day 6, Snorkeling with critters

After a fabulous breakfast of pastries, eggs, and a fried mashed potato and cheese thing, we went snorkeling. Saw all kinds of fish, but the best thing was swimming with a huge green sea turtle and then spying a sea lion showing off for us! Can't describe how amazing this place is. We are already planning our trip next year.

Liam in his snorkel gear

A napping iguana near the beach

Angelfish swimming nearby

Spread your (manta) wings!

Day 4, Galapagos

We took a 5-minute taxi to a bigger boat that we took to the Island of Isabela. This is the largest of all the islands, but only has a permanent population of about 2500 people. The boat ride was very bumpy and about half our group puked continuously.

After our arrival we settled into the International Oceanographic Institute (IOI) and had an orientation. IOI was founded by a University of Miami grad. Yesterday the group had a great bike ride up to the Wall of Tears. Livya and I hiked most of the way with our own personal guide. He showed us how to track tortoises--see the footprints, find the scat, watch for the various tracking keys. It was all very cool. We finally found one near the end of our trip up--it was a smallish tortoise about the size of our kitchen sink and was about 6 years old. Along the way we saw yellow warblers, mockingbirds, and a lot of other birds and small lizards. We recorded all the sounds we could capture before heading back.

Liam joined us on the trip back and nearly took a dive into the ocean when he tripped on a  rock. All is well and we ended the day with a flock of flamingos flying overhead.

More later today, if we have internet!  :)

Spreading our wings with the flamingos in Galapagos!

black sea urchin nestled in the rocks

group of sea lions laying on the dock in the morning

the boat taxi, before everyone puked!

marine iguanas hanging out at the beach

Day 2-3, Arrival in Quito, Ecuador and Santa Cruz Islands in the Galapagos

Intermittent internet access doesn't allow for daily blogging here in the Galapagos, but this is an amazing other-worldly place. The kids are doing great--we hiked several miles today and saw tortoises, marine iguanas, and flamingos. Having a ball back working with college students, but also exposing my own children to this country. Wow. Nothing much more to say. I'll post more ASAP about all our adventures.

Graffiti in Quito

Volcano outside of Quito

Cactus at the airport in Baltra

Water Taxi

Recording the sounds Galapagos tortoises make

up close and personal

tortoise poop

We are having an amazing time. Food is great—each lunch and dinner begin with soup (usually vegetable or cream-based), then fish (usually albacore tuna) or chicken, rice, French fries, and veggies. Every meal lunch and dinner is nearly the same. 

Breakfast consists of bread and jam, eggs, fresh fruit. Today the owner picked bananas off the tree right at our table.

Return to Academia...

Well, after taking that big jump two years ago, I am returning to academia. Yes, you read correctly. For the next two weeks I have been hired by the University of Miami as a visiting adjunct prof to assist with a class traveling to the Galapagos Islands! What a gig! We are leaving tomorrow afternoon out of Miami flying to Quito, Ecuador for two nights and then off to the Galapagos Islands.

I will be trying to connect with local schools in the hopes of developing an exchange program with Atala. Who knows if it will work, but it's worth a shot.

I will use this blog as a daily diary while I'm away. So please return (and often) to see what we're up to. We will be focusing on acoustic documentation of the trip, while two other professors will be concentrating on written documentation of our surroundings. You may wish to visit http://www.themiamiplanet.org/ to see what the entire group is doing on any given day.

I'll definitely be spreading my wings these next two weeks to see what this beautiful worlds holds!

Why Women Leave Academia

Interesting article just posted:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2012/may/24/why-women-leave-academia?fb=optOut

They were discussing why so many female PhD candidates don't want a career in academia. Loads to talk about on this one.

I had a fabulous academic career, actually. I loved (and hated) the three universities where I taught. The students were always the reason for staying, but the faculty was always the reason for leaving.

I put off having children until 35 (second one at 39) so I could advance my career, travel, and research. But once I hit my stride and started getting promoted (Associate Prof, Associate Dean, offers of Deanship at other institutions), I was not able to spend any time with my husband and children. I would get looks from other Deans and Associate Deans who planted their butts in their expensive executive chairs by 8:30 am on the dot and didn't leave the premises until 5:00 pm. When I "strolled" in at 9:00 am because I wanted to drop my children off at school myself, I was glared at, gossiped about, and ultimately made to stay late to pay back the missing time. (isn't it funny how some horrible emergency cropped up nearly everyday at 5:15?)

Academic administrators need to get real: men and woman are leaving because once you play that ballgame long enough, you will likely be promoted. It's all very heady for a while (more money, trips, new "friends") but once you realize that you now rarely get to have lunch with the real friends from your home department, that you rarely teach students anymore, and that your life is now completely devoted to you job, most people aren't satisfied. Life is much more than sitting at a desk all day pushing papers around. I got into academia because I wanted to make a difference through teaching.

I bet I can count on one hand how many administrators really teach any more. How many administrators know any students' names (except for those budding political science majors hoping for a political career so they get involved with student government hoping to meet the college president and receive a great recommendation for grad school)?

In many universities, academia is broken. Education is also broken in many of our elementary, middle, and high schools around the US. I wanted to make a difference so I joined a team of four other women and we created our own school: Atala.

Spread Your Wings!

What a fantastic couple of weeks this has been! Just when I was down in the dumps about finding a permanent home, we have begun to build the school in other ways. We have been interviewing all week for three Middle School positions: a full-time teaching assistant, a math/science teacher, and an English/history teacher. We had a lot of resumes sent our way via word-of-mouth and newspaper ads. And so far we have made two offers and had two acceptances. I am so very happy that all our Atala kids are going to have the best!

We now have 67 children registered and already 54 have re-enrolled for next year. I'm guessing we'll be around 80 for the 2012-13 academic year.

Atala is undergoing accreditation this year and next (two different groups) and if successful, we will be able to offer more services to additional families. (accreditation brings with it a lot of bonuses in the elementary/second education field)

My own two children are doing great: Liam won the Atala Chess Club tournament this year and Livya tied for third. (I have to brag occasionally). I'm so proud of everyone in the Chess Club (I'm the coach). We became an official US Chess Federation affiliate and will begin competing next year!

Next week I'm traveling with the Upper Elementary/Middle School class and taking everyone to Clearwater to see Winter the dolphin from the "Dolphin's Tale" as well as Tarpon Springs (a Greek sponge-diving community), Sarasota's Ringling Estate, Science Museum, and then ending with a search for shark's teeth at Venice Beach. Can't wait! What a great end to a fabulous second year!

Spread Your Wings!