Well, today was the first day of school, so I was up and ready early. Walked with Hannah the other girl based at my school and as we were walking, we passed some of her students heading the other way. A little concerned, but not put off, we continued. When we got there, there was a notice on the hut for Hannah's class and we figured it meant that there was no class for her students. We went to see someone in the office and she told us that the teacher wasn't there. Come back tomorrow. My teacher was there, but the woman at the office told me tomorrow as well. A little disappointing, but hopefully tomorrow will bring more luck!

Yesterday I went on a trip with the girls I arrived with to Floreana one of the other islands. We raced down to the harbour in a taxi and a arrived at 8am on the dot, thinking we were going to be late. They left about half past. I think we are still getting used to Ecuadorian time!! The trip was great. We went on the speed boat to the island and then went up to the Tortoise reserve. There were loads of them around. Apparently there are none left that originate from Floreana so they have put about 40 there from other islands that have been overrun with animals that are not native and causing problems. For example goats. Which they are trying to get rid of on Santa Cruz and another island so they can return the tortoises to the islands. Well, it started raining whilst we were there, which caused great fun as we all went slipping and sliding along the path to the pirate look outs. Getting up there was ok, but coming down was quite a feat. We ended up slinding down a mud path and the people who had gone in flip flops ended up just taking them off. Then we had lunch before getting back onto the boat. There were quite a few turtles in the water and we went off to find the Galapagos penguins. They were tiny - see the picture and probably would not come up to your knees. We went snorkling and saw some amazing fish. I have never done that before and some of the fish were very brightly coloured. We also saw sea lions whilst snorkling which was great. And someone claims they saw a shark. I got out not long after. My confidence in the sea is building slowly.... not quite taking sharks in my stride yet!!