gorgona 06

here's the story:
field trip. grade 9 biology. sept 25-29. isla gorgona 5 hours off the pacific coast of colombia. humid rainforest. beach. migrating humpback whales. 38 14-15 year olds. me, my principal, my director, a marine biologist named hector, and the park staff. wildest field trip i have ever been on!
highlights include:
-listening to the same songs over and over and over on the 7 hour busride to the coast. grade 9s everywhere are the same.. except these ones love reggaeton hits and this great song by julio called hasta los huesos. haha.
-a 5 hour speedboat trip to the island. actually this was not a highlight. i thought i was going to die, the ocean was so rough. my kids just hung out the boat the whole time, getting windblown and soaked. they loved it, i did not. however! as soon as the island was in view.. and we could see the palm trees draping off the cliffs.. it was all worth it, 100 times over..
- my grade 9 tough boys being weenies about the bats. so hilarious.
- the old prison - gorgona's prison closed 25 years ago and has since overgrown sooo much. it was an incredible tour of these 'ruins' of sorts. and we even went back one night, very late, to tell ghost stories. my principal and i snuck up on the kids at one point that night and scared them real good. it was awesome.
- snorkelling! i really only did an hour of it, the rest of my time was spent swimming with the kids and acting as a support/ saving a few tired kids from the waves - the ocean current was pretty strong and these kids aren't the best swimmers. but hey, this is colombia - just let them swim, they don't REALLY need supervisors, or buddies... uuhh.. WHAT?! needless to say the diversity was incredible, and our guide, hector was a walking (well swimming) encyclopedia. super.
- swimming in the bioluminescence at night. the kids had a dance party in the water, it was so great.
- hiking 4 hours up and over the mountain to the other side of the island, where we hung out at this breathtaking white sand beach... totally isolated. thirsty? use this machete and chop up a coconut, no problem.
- boat tours to see the dolphins and whales. oooh they are so beautiful.
- my girls falling in love with a scuba diver on the island. they gawked and followed him everywhere... it was the funniest thing. and these girls are not shy.
- sleeping in the same room as my snoring director... ugh.
- the monkeys! they followed us everywhere. so funny.
- and of course, the snakes... wow. we found a few boas which were just beautiful, and incredibly strong... it was a cool experience trying to pick them up.

i got home on friday night, exhausted, sunburnt and smelling like the ocean. i was sad to have left gorgona.. but at the same time SO happy to be back home in the cool mountains and home.. sigh. but what a wonderful trip for my kids to experience. seeing them get so excited about "ballenas! ballenas!" (whales), running from the dining hall to the beach to get a closer look made the trip so worthwhile... and i'm sure they will remember it forever.
here are a few (of the one million, i swear) pictures that i have.

fiesta time.


the gang in the prison.

giggly kids on the boat.

our isolated beautiful beach.. and the waves.

this is one of my student's pics. yep, that's me and my boss. awesome.

more photos to come.