Hola de Isabela

The island of Isabela is remote. Not only did it require four flights (4 stop overs) and two days of travel, but there is not access to high speed internet. This is the first time that blogger has loaded for me (I've tried over several days) just to post text, and as such there won't be any picutres until I return state side. I also won't be posting much either.

So far the trip has gone very well; good progress on the research front. Had two days with one of our collaborators, Birgit, who gave us a tour of the mangroves, and described her field work to us. I've started taking ground truthing and other data from some sights easily accessible from town. I've also had a chance to do some "fun" things such as swim with marine iguanas, snokel with penguins and sea lions and all kinds of beautiful tropical fish, snorkels in the mangrove swamps, and I've done lots of photography (approx 700 photos) of all of these things. Todays great delight was watching hundreds of boobies dive for fish just 100 feet off the shore (lots of photos).

I'm eating well (lots of rice with fish, chicken or beef), trying to stay protected from the sun (lucky so far), avoiding the insects (only two fire ant bites) and getting enough work done. Back to the beach!