In this fifth episode of the Road Scholars series,
17-year-old Jason Matheson, living a small-town life
in Haliburton, Canada, leaves home for the first time
in his life to travel to the Galapagos Islands. He chooses
to study Senior Biology on the trip, and he finds himself
swamped with prep work well before he leaves home.
At school, he dee-jays with Tal & Ray to produce the
Tal, Ray & Jay Phenomenon doing the morning assembly
announcements as well as birthday greetings and other
wishes. He takes lessons in dancing and singing, and
takes part in competitions in stage performances like
Les Miserables and The Wizard of Oz. He also takes scuba
diving lessons in order to get a licence and get ready
for the sea turtles in the Galapagos Islands. On top
of all this, he already has biology homework to do before
he's off.
On the trip, he experiences the tiny bedroom on the
cruise ship Ambassodor 1, and the even tinier shower-toilet
in it; the biology teacher who wants him to discipline
himself; the Charles Darwin Bay, Charles Darwin Lake,
Charles Darwin everything in the Islands, including
a Charles Darwin toilet hole; the marine iguanas, penguins,
sea lions, and giant tortoises that look like E.T.;
the boring cactus count for his biology report; and
his buddy road scholars who are never dull.
He gets to think about how to write to his folks at
home by putting a letter in a bottle and throwing it
in the ocean. He gets to wonder what the giant tortoises
think in their heads. He gets to question whether all
the save-the-sea-lions people might in fact contribute
to the sea lions dying. And he gets to wonder what will
happen if he bombs his biology exam.
