Day 4 of Camping

Friday we got up ad drove 40-50 minutes to Sierra la Laguna National Park, stopping in this cute little town (Santiago) on the way. Sierra la Laguna is kind of a chain of oases that provide water for a large portion of Baja California Sur. It was originally preserved because it provides all that water and because there are so many endemic species-species that are found only in that place.

Once we got to the parking area we had a rocky downsloping hike for 10-15 minutes to this awesome oasis with a waterfall. We had a distracted lecture with Vero for 10 minutes, then got to swim for awhile. It's soo nice to swim in freshwater when you're used to going to the sea. It's like taking an hour long bath when all you've had is like sponge baths. It was cool too, there were a lot of species that I'm used to seeing in PA ponds, like the dragonfly larvae my lab works with, and the snails that my friend Emily works with, as well as some diving beetles and we even found a tadpole in a stream! I didn't expect to see any tadpoles when it's surrounded by desert! I managed to jump off this high rock, but I needed some major help from Poncho & Chilaco, the pangueros. Chilaco eventually jumped with me. After we ate lunch we walked for another 10-15 minutes (another semi-mountainous hike) to a small lagoon. It was funny, I was thinking "it smells so good here, what is that? It reminds me of home" and eventually realized it was leaf litter on the ground, since we were in forest.

I got a little burned because you aren't allowed to wear sunscreen if you swim in the lagoons, since it's someone's drinking water and they can't exactly filter out chemicals. A couple of us also got a little dehydrated and felt pretty shitty until we stopped in Santiago and loaded up on Gatorade.

In other news, I started the book Lolita and so far I love it, even if it is kind of weird. Once we got back I just layed around in the shade and listened to music and watched people play volleyball. It was nice, I didn't have to walk far away to feel by myself.