GALAPADUMP
OK so we started in Quito. First day roaming around the Old Town. Rocco Rossi take note: there is in fact a mild "war on the car" in Quito, every Sunday is bicycles day and the route is so busy that it's almost impossible to get at anything by car!
After that we made the jaunt up to the equatorial line park, which should have been on Route 66 in Arizona except the equator isn't there. I got a detailed lesson on how to make a shrunken head, plus an award of merit for balancing an egg on the 'equator' (which is actually a few hundred metres off the mark!)
Quito occupies a high-elevation valley between mountains, and it is gorgeous and sprawling.
highlight of this part of the trip, as I've probably told you already, were the two monuments to the work of Oswaldo Guayasamin. I am officially infatuated with this guy, although he's such an institution that they play videos of him at the airport! Google him.
Got an old airplane kicking around? Why not make an adventure playground out of it! At Carolina Park, a short walk from the hotel, which also featured the 'natural science museum' which was REALLY like Route 66 - buy these folks a feather duster! What's that Bengal Tiger doing in there??
Our first impression of Galapagos Islands, by the Baltra airport.
Our catamaran, the Queen Beatriz.
First thing we did was motor over to the Charles Darwin Research Station, where we were greeted on the dock by many more marine iguanas than this!
Also at Darwin Station: GIANT TORTOISES
This guy has a different shaped shell and longer neck than the previous giant tortoise; it's from an island with higher-lying vegetation so it has to crane its neck more. This is, the story goes, where Darwin got this 'evolution' idea from. Outrageous.
THEY ARE BREEDING!
Also also at Darwin: giant land iguanas!
Which could also be found at Cerro Dragon on north Isla Santa Cruz
See?
Frigatebirds flocked alongside the ship for most of the trip. You'll have to wait for the super 8 footage to see them in 'mating mode' - with their giant red bullfrog pouches
(Oh - you're in luck - found one!)
The first sea lion we saw walked right out of the water and into our group, preening and barking and sniffing at us. After about five minutes of aw-cute, our naturalist guide tells us that he's been abandoned by his mother and will almost certainly die because he hasn't been taught to fish. Reality check!
Here Walter our naturalist goes into detail on Pahoehoe or 'ropy' lava, which makes up an immense volcanic field off the coast of one island, only formed in 1897. The patterns this stuff makes are amazing.
Here's the view from the lookout hill on Isla what's-it's-name. Two of us fell on our ass, but after walking around Quito at 9000' elevation, the climb itself was a breeze.
This describes me for most of the trip, with Malcolm's Super 8 camera much beloved.
God sea lions were everywhere! And our camera wasn't waterproof so I can't show you the snorkelling, which was really the highlight of the trip. Swam one-on-one with sea lions, penguins, boobies, giant sea turtles and 2' reef sharks, plus lots and lots of pretty fish.
The aforementioned, legendary, blue footed booby. Too bad we weren't around to see their mating dance, which is why they're legendary (linguistic note: 'booby' is an angliteration of 'bobo', aka 'clown').
If you didn't go snorkeling, this was as much as you were likely to see of the giant sea turtles...
Yes, as if things weren't incredible enough, there was a HUGE pink flamingo lagoon. And yes, I had the Link Wray theme song rumbling through my head as I walked down there!
These are sea turtle tracks - they go inland to lay their eggs.
This ain't a sally lightfoot crab - it's the abandoned shell of a sally lightfoot crab. Even the eye-skin gets left behind!
Nazca or 'masked' booby with scion.
Yes there were pelicans too.
And to finish up we visited more giant tortoises in the wild. Words fail me.