We're Home!

(Fishers, IN)- After 30 days, we're back home, safe and sound. After two days of nearly solid travel -4 planes, three time zones, and all the airport food anyone can handle- we're glad to be back.

Isabel wiggles in one of AeroGal's 737s on Monday's flight out of San Cristobal.

Like the trip, the blog is chronologically at an end, but the posts are not nearly complete. We took over 2,000 pictures in Ecuador and on the Galapagos Islands- not that they are all worth posting, but there are many stories yet to share along with the pictures. I'll post an update announcement at the top of the blog each time I add something.

See you soon!

Helado

(San Cristobal, Galapagos)- Ecuador is a place where you can get ice cream- helado- anywhere, anytime. This is especially true on the Galapagos Islands, where the temperatures always make it a good time to eat ice cream. Certainly, Isabel would agree.

Isabel eats and wears her ice cream. She was beginning to learn that you have to eat ice cream a bit more quickly on the Equator than you do in, say, Fishers. Ame and Isabel on Avenida Charles Darwin, next to the Ocean.

New Posts

(Isla San Cristobal, Galapagos)- I've had the chance to fill in a few more blanks with new posts with pictures. Be sure to check the entire blog, as the posts are filed chronologically as they happened.

We have less than three days left here on the Galapagos Islands, and we're hoping for one more good snorkelling outing. It's dependent upon the weather. After three days of amazing clear waters, there was a swell from a distant storm. It made the surfers happy, creating waves up to 9-10 feet high, but it has meant cloudy water, churning with sand, making for poor visibility and sometimes difficult swimming. The swell has been petering out over the past few days, so tomorrow might be the day.

Various Isabel

(Isla San Cristobal, Galapagos)- These are just a couple of pictures of Isabel, taken at various points around Isla San Cristobal.

Isabel stands on the boardwalk outside the Interpretation Center, at beach Playaman, in view of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.

More Farm Pics

(Isla San Cristobal, Galapagos)- The farm experience was really great fun for everyone. We took a lot of pictures. Here are some more.

Our kindly farmer cuts tomate for us, picked freshly from his tree.

Isabel chases chickens. Ame says that her Grandma Virgie will love this picture, since Ame used to chase and catch the chickens on Virgie´s farm.

You're hired!

Coffee beans on the trees. To eat one is surprising. The seed coat is very sweet, and the bean isn't very bitter- until it is roasted.

Back On The Land

(Isla San Cristobol, Galapagos)- For our second day with naturalist Fernando, we would visit highlights on the land across San Cristobol. We hired a taxi for the day to take us across the island, to tourist and non-tourist sites.

We started with a trip to a working farm. Farming on the Galapagos Islands seems like perhaps something that shouldn´t be done. It requires the clearing of the land, which certainly would mean the destruction of some plants that are endemic to (only found on) this Island. There are heavy regulations for farming, to deal with these sensitivities. For instance, all crops are organic, and all new fence posts are now living trees... rather unlike the photo below.

Isabel rides the donkey with some friendly help. Ame and Fernando trail behind.

We were shown the various crops: coffee trees, 5 types of banana trees, tomate and a wide variety of fruits. Isabel chased the chickens. The farmer picked fresh tomate for us to sample, cut watermelon for us, and had us milk their cows. Ame was really happy about the visit. She liked the idea of Isabel seeing where food comes from. Sure, we could visit farms in the US, but you don´t see many where they clear the lava rock, and you certainly don´t get treated to freshly toasted and ground coffee.

Sitting round the coffee table. The farmer offered us fresh coffee. I do mean fresh- it was roasted earlier in the day and ground by hand. It was STRONG stuff. Makes Starbucks espresso seem like a Tootsie Roll.

It was tough to leave the farm, as Isabel was having a great time running and playing with the girls on the farm. It would be worthwhile, though. We were going to see the giant tortoises.

I´m going to get you!

The tortoises are in a protected area of the island where there are no human settlements or activities, apart from the nature center. Here, new hatchlings are gathered and incubated before returning to the land, as they are most vulnerable to predators when small.

We walked up a narrow path for about two minutes before we encountered about six giant tortoises. Most were quietly eating, although two were having a fight for food and territory. They can move fast when they want to, despite appearances. They weren´t crazy about us getting too close. When Isabel would move quickly within sight, the tortoise would pull its´head back into the shell and let out a loud hiss.

We checked out the incubation center to see the litle babies and then had lunch. You would never guess by looking at the babies that they would become the giants later in life. They look little different than American snapping turtles, except that the lines on the shells are very rigid and distinct, even though the shell is soft.

Hot humid weather on the Island, along with the many hikes left us all tired by lunchtime.

Although we had hired Fernando for the day, we had to let him take the rest of the day off since Isabel took a four-hour nap. All the excitement and activity from the past few days took its´toll on her.

Note: We skipped El Junco Lagoon. This was the most highly touted site in the Lonely Planet guidebook. We skipped it because it is closed. This is an extinct volcano, the crater of which forms the only fresh water lake on the island, or on any of the Galapagos Islands. It is closed because tilapia were illegally introduced to the Lagoon, and they have begun to take over, killing smaller fish that eat algae, changing the balance of the water... which happens to supply the town below with drinking water. The talapia are being removed. It would have been cool to check it out, as a unique site. Alas.

Kicker Rock

(San Cristobol, Galapagos)- For Monday´s activities, we had hired a naturalist and a boat for the day, and were to see many of the worthy sights along and near the westerly coast of San Cristobol. Kicker Rock was easily the highlight.

Ame and Isabel at the dock, at Puerto Baqueirizo Moreno. In the window above them, you can a few sea lions lying on the staircase. You have to step over them to get to the boats, at times.

Kicker Rock is a formation of volcanic ash. The proper name of it is Leon Dormido, or, Sleeping Lion. Over time, the fragile rock has split, with the result being this incredible formation. It´s about 200´high, and 700´wide, with the channel about 30-40´in width. The hammerhead sharks especially love to pass through this channel. We especially like snorkelling. Perfect!

As we approached Kicker Rock, we began to see all sorts of birds: frigate birds, the rare Nazca boobies, and the blue-footed boobies. We took lots of pictures in the quest for the perfect shot of the blue-footed booby. (These will be on another post.)

Ame prepares for the snorkeling at Kicker Rock. Jellyfish ahead, but hammerheads and white tipped sharks below, along with eagle rays. The coloration of the barnacles, sea urchins, and plants attached to the rocks below water level cannot be described.

When they tell you that you´re about to dive into one of the best diving and snorkelling spots in the world, you nod knowingly, because you paid for the trip, and those you hire always try to make you feel like you´ve gotten the bargain of the century.

Well, they weren´t kidding.

Mike fumbles with his mask. Ame isn´t waiting around!

The water is so clear you barely need to jump in. Of course, with a good mask, you can really see things clearly underwater. Immediately, you notice the angel fish and that you are being stung all over your body. There were millions of tiny jellyfish in the waters surrounding the rock. Once inside the channel, there were very few.

The next thing you notice once inside the channel are the brilliant colors attached to the walls below sea level. There are barnacles, sea urchins, and a variety of sea plants creating a mosaic of color, kind of like a stained glass window. The fish hide beneath the plants, so if you swim near the walls, suddenly several will dart out into view.

The sharks were the big draw. It´s hard not to feel a little worry when hovering above six hammerheads, but the naturalist, Fernando, assured us that they feed very well with so many fish about, and besides, they feed in the evening. Hammerheads are pretty small- about 2-3´in length.

The white tipped shark is a bit more fearsome: about 7´long. One came up to get a look at me, so I decided to start to get into motion just a bit. To where? To safety? Anyhow, just as I was putting that guy out of my mind, I turned to face two large stingrays- eagle rays! At that point, I just worked to get the attention of Ame and Fernando so that they could enjoy the view.

We enjoyed the site so much that we went at it a second time on the return trip. It´s so good, I´m entertaining the thought of hiring a boat again for another look. If we do, we´ll definitely bring the underwater camera. Sigh.

Ame looks back at Kicker Rock. Isabel is more hungry for lunch than sad to leave.

Sea Lions

(Isla San Cristobol, Galapagos)- As advertised, the sea lion population on San Cristobol is enormous. You don´t have to work very hard at all to find them. Just go to the beach and be still for a moment. If their movement doesn´t catch your eye, you will soon enough hear their barks, or smell them, if there are enough out of water.

Two sea lions play in Academy Bay, with the police station in the background. To the left of this scene, there is a boat that is beached in the sand, under which some dozen or so sea lions always can be found hiding from the sun. At night, 200-300 sea lions congregate here on the beach.

Ame´s photo of a baby sea lion, full of curiosity. In the water, the younger sea lions (especially) will try to get you to swim with them.

In Transit

(Guayaquil, Ecuador)- I'm sitting in the airport at Quayquil, between flights to the Galapagos, and enjoying the best internet connection I've had in two weeks. 

The flight from Quito to Guayaquil was great viewing- Quito as the city between the mountains, and the terrible flooding in Guayaquil. The latter scene was awful, but something to observe from the air.

Welcome!

Ame has wanted to do a Spanish immersion abroad for some time, to augment her language skills with her work as a midwife, where many of her mommas speak Spanish exclusively. While I am pretty open-minded about travel, I had two criteria: no overwhelming humidity, and no mosquitos. That ruled out Costa Rica, which was the first choice. Actually, it ruled out many locations and pointed us to Ecuador.

Quito is situated in the Andean highlands, between two ranges of the Andes Mountains. The altitude is a great factor in negating the humidity. When we started researching and discovered that the Galapagos Islands are a part of Ecuador, and that Quito is the springboard for travel to Quito, our minds were made up pretty quickly.

So, the purpose of this blog is to share pictures and observations from our travels.

Depending on our access to internet (and speeds), I may be posting all of the pictures to our page on www.myphotoalbum.com. In any case, I will be online almost daily, and will try to post frequently.