Dear familia,
This will surely be one of our final posts, as we have only one more excursion on the Galapagos Islands (13 island total). Yesterday (Thanksgiving in the U.S.) we spent the morning at the Charles Darwin research center and the afternoon in the highlands walking among the extraordinary giant land tortoises. It is incredible to see these tortoises for the first time. They are truly giant - 300 pounds or more, and old! Many are over 100 years and average life span in 180 years. They walk slowly and the islands revolve around protecting them. Our guide told us with the utmost seriousness and reverence for these beautiful creatures, "If you hit one, you go to prison....as you should." It is special to see the tortoises in the research center, but once you get in the highlands it becomes amazing. The bus drives along the road and you begin to see them all along the countryside, one after another. Incredible!
A second wonder of the islands is this adorable bird named the blue footed boobie. These birds are endemic to the islands (in other words, you can only see them here) and they have great personalities. All the wildlife here is protected so the animals smile, pose, and act naturally when you are near them.
We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner last night, highlighted by an Ecuadorian musical concert afterward (in the lounge on floor 3). B and I have also made some wonderful friends on this cruise, and we all tend to eat together, hike, listen to music and more. Overall, A+ experience.
We woke up this morning to our 6:15 am stretching class on the rooftop. Lovely breakfast, and incredible hike (captured in the photo below). On this hike, we saw the Chatam mockingbird, one of 4 mockingbird species on the islands, collected by Darwin and essential to his theories of evolution. WOW!
This may sounds insincere, and know it is not, but we miss you mucho! Love you all and we will be stateside in about 36 hours (B) and 72 (K).
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| Giant Land Tortoise |
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| Blue footed Boobie on San Cristobal |
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| Peridot Beach, Galapagos, 2019 |
The blue footed boobie may be my favorite so far!
ReplyDeleteOkay, Wednesday might have been my favorite day (thanks for the vivid detail), but today's is my favorite post!!! First off, I liked seeing "endemic" used twice in the same week, yet I'm wondering why you felt the need to define it for us in your most recent post. ☺ Also, I can't wait to see more of the smiling, posing animals. Finally, I'm so happy to hear that they played the music in the lounge on floor 3. The other lounges can sometimes be drafty, too bright or otherwise echoey. Continue to live it up!!
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