A Little Trip to Sierra Negra

Toward the latter part of my time on Isabela, the other students and I got a visit from our advisor and another faculty member from the geography department who is interested in our work in the Galapagos. So, we decided to take a little break from our usual work and to enjoy some of the tourist sites on Isabela.

First, we took a short trip to the Muro de las Lagrimas - which translates to the Wall of Tears. This is the remanants of a penal colony - one of several that was established in the early days of human settlement on Isabela. On this particluar site, prisoners were forced to carry lava boulders from the site where they were quarried to another site several kilometers away where they were literally building the walls of their own prison. Lovely, no?

Then, the next day, we hiked up Sierra Negra Volcano. If you've been following this blog, you might remember that is where I've spent a fair amount of time over the past two years looking and landscape changes - and particularly guava. This time I was just along to enjoy the hike but I couldn't resist getting some pictures of the guava. Although I did restrain from even brining my GPS unit.

The morning started out very foggy/cloudy, which made it impossible to see much of the crater. But low and behold things cleared up (thanks to the sun) and I got a couple of nice photos.

Yes, I'm GPS-ing Your House

Its always a little interesting when you're walking around a field site with equipment, and this summer was no exception. As part of our project on water & health in the Galapagos, we spent several weeks collecting GPS points (with the new units I was describing earlier) to map the location of every building on Isabela Island - so that we can better describe where people work and live in relation to wells and wastewater sites.

But explaining to someone why you're standing in front of their house/restaurant/office with really bright yellow equipment and jotting down notes, all while standing with a group of 2-3 other people (foreigners) doing the same thing makes for interesting conversation. People were natually inquisitive and we tried to be as polite as possible in explaining - often before anyone really asked - what we were doing and why. I was amazed at how many people knew what GPS units are (because they're used on a lot of the nicer tour boats here) and had no problem with our work.

After a couple of weeks walking around the island doing this, people seemed to care a little less. And we seemed to get a little more creative about collecting the data. Your legs do get tired after standing for hours on end in the lovely equitorial sun (note the chair - what an awesome idea).

Field Gear, Galapagos Syle

 

This year we have new GPS units (global positioning systems) in the lab and we're using them for the first time in the field - in Galapagos. Our new units basically work the same way as car navigation systems and hand-held GPS units for hiking, except that they have a fancier computer interface and are a little more accurate. And while they were designed for use outdoors, I don't think they're necessarily setup for use in remote areas. So we had to get a little creative.

We setup one of the GPS units on the roof to collect data all day long, while we walk around one of the other units at the same time. This creates an inexpensive 'basestation' that helps us to improve the accuracy of the GPS positions we collect. There are several companies that manufacture basestations, but they're expensive and big - so we made our own. The setup is not what I'd call beautiful nor professional looking, but its perfect for the Galapagos.

We set the GPS unit inside a ziplock bag to keep the moisture out, especially since its plugged into an extension cable (the orange one); the extension cable runs off of the roof, through a window, and into my room in the house. These little units run on internal batteries that can be recharged, but they're not meant to last all day long. And we could have hooked it up to a car battery, but that's hard to find on Isabela.

And to keep it hidden from view and to provide a little more protection from rain and critters, we used one of the many items on the roof to create a cover - half of an old cooking oil container. But the problem with this was that the internal antenna wasn't able to get a very good signal through the ziplock bag and oil container covering. So we hooked up an external antenna that sits on top of one last layer of covering to help it look a little less conspicuous.

Even though its not the most beautiful setup, its our field equpment - Galapagos style!

Long Time, No Galapagos

Its been a while since I posted last. As you might have guessed, I'm already back from the Galapagos and hard at work on another semester. But I'd hate to pass up the opportunity to finish describing my summer's work - so over the next few days I'll try to post some updates, replete with pictures (just in case anyone's checking).

Water & Sewer Field Trip

As part of our water & health project, we are collecting data on the water & sewer system for the island. The local municipality was nice enough to take us out to see how the water and sewer sytems work and to let us take GPS points of water pumps and sewer outlets to be included ino our spatial analyse and maps.

Isabela is a volcanic island that doesn´t have any natural surface water like a lake or river. Instead, rainwater that falls in the highlands (up on the volcano) filters through the soil and lava below. This rainwater flows down toward the ocean and the town of Puerto Villamil, where it eventually collects in small underground acquifers (pozos). The water is then pumped directly from these acquifers into large plastic distribution pipes, and eventually to most of the houses in town. Unfortunately, the tap water isn´t treated so most people also have to buy bottled water for drinking and cooking; the tap water is not for consumption - just for bathing, washing dishes, and cleaning the house.

Some of the people who live in the newly built areas of town get their water from the same well, but it first travels to a distribution tank and is then pumped to indivdual houses.

And for the people who aren´t connect to the water system (including all the farms in the highlands), there is a water truck that pumps from a separate acquifer and delivers the water to large plastic tanks outside the houses.

And once all that water has been used, it heads through the sewer system where it is slightly treated and released back out into the ocean. The wastewater treatment plant smells exactly how you think it would.

More soon...