Jen and Rebecca Gain a New Appreciation for Birds 12/31/09

R: We went to bed last night already anchored in the Puerto Ayora bay. Puerto Ayora is the largest town in the Galapagos, with about 30,000 people and also the home of the Charles Darwin Research Station where we started our day. We of course got distracted on our walk to the Station, though, by the many birds and other finches along the road. Plus we stopped at a fish market to watch a variety of birds and seals try to steal the fishmongers’ goods.

A brown pelican wins some fish parts after a tug-of-war with another bird.

J: Once we finally made it inside the research station, we stopped to view some more birds. Our group gets exceptionally excited by the sightings of tiny little brown birds. And there are several varieties of them! After each of the little creatures was properly identified and photographed, we were off to see the giant tortoises. Each island has its own species of tortoise so we could see the differences up close here in captivity.

A ground finch. I think maybe it's a medium ground finch. We saw lots and lots of finches.

R: We also got to see Lonesome George, the last remaining tortoise from Pinta Island. They’ve been looking for a mate for George so that the particular type of tortoise doesn’t go extinct, but so far, no luck. George isn’t interested in any of the fine lady tortoises thrown his way. Much to the amusement of my shipmates, I pulled out Emma’s knit turtle that I’d brought along to try to photograph with real turtles/tortoises. One of the tortoises really seemed to like him, probably because the bright green color made him think it was lettuce. We also got to see lots of little baby tortoises that live at the station until they are old enough not to get eaten by predators before being returned to their home islands.

Tortoise eyeing my knit turtle suspiciously

Tortoise agitated by the knit turtle

J: After we finished up at the Research Center, we had some time to wander about town and do some shopping. Sadly, we didn’t find much to buy. I guess that will help keep me under my 20kg weight limit for the flight back to Quito. For lunch, we had some yummy beef and potatoes and then spent the rest of the time before out next adventure relaxing on the boat with the other passengers. The tour operators are smarter than the tourists who sign up for these cruises and they realize that we cannot spend all day in the equatorial sun and survive, so we generally have a 2-3 hour break between our morning and afternoon activities to relax on the boat. The first day it seemed quite long but I’ve grown to appreciate the break.

R: After our break, we loaded the pangas (the motorized rafts that take us to shore) again and headed back to Puerto Ayora. This time we loaded a bus that took us up into the highlands of the center of the island where we walked through was is essentially a rustic tortoise farm, though also a wildlife sanctuary. On the way we were stopped in the road by some men who were dressed as women, we think in celebration of the new year. They let us pass after giving them some change.

J: As soon as we started our walk thru the park, we spotted the elusive vermillion flycatcher. It’s a bright red bird that one of our travel-mates had been wanting to spot. Unfortunately, the little guy didn’t want to sit still long enough for Rebecca or I to get a good picture of him. Onward down the trail, we spotted many tortoises, several more finches and a barn owl hiding in a lava tube (a giant tunnel left behind after a volcanic eruption). The tortoises proved to be the most photogenic, perhaps because they didn’t move that quickly and they weren’t hiding in the dark, so we have close to 20 tortoise shots.

Barn owl

Tortoise in the wild

R: We also saw a variety of plants including a grapefruit tree, a coffee tree, Spanish Cyprus, blackberry bushes (and we each ate one without any ill effects) as well as Galapagos mistletoe. At the end of the trail, we ended up back at the farm house where we were able to have some tea and coffee (with optional complimentary shots of rum) and listened to Juan sing some traditional songs. After the bus ride back to town, we returned to the boat again for dinner (a full turkey in honor of the New Year--plus champagne) Then we headed back to the mainland for some New Year’s fun. Granted, most of the town’s fun wasn’t scheduled to begin until midnight and we had to be back on the boat by 10:00, but we did have some big beers, danced in the courtyard, and saw the various effigies set to be burned at midnight to usher in a good new year. Back on the boat, I loaded up some Juan-endorsed sleeping pills to get through a rollicking night of sailing to our next destination.

Jen and Rebecca Meet Their New Cachalote Family (12/30/09)

[Finally updating the blog from our trip--we wrote all the following posts while on the boat with no internet access...]

R: We made it to the Galapagos! An early morning taxi ride got us to the aeropuerto with mucho tiempo to spare. A rep from the travel agency met us as expected - yay, our expensive tickets weren’t a scam - and we were able to nap on our flight to Baltra (with a stop in Guayaquil in southern Ecuador) despite the woman in front of me who kept her seat reclined into my lap the whole time. Our naturalist guide, Juan, met us at the small open-air Baltra airport where we walked through a wet mat to rinse off our shoes before entering the island. We then met the others in our party, a family from LA with three college-aged children (2 boys and a girl), one couple about our age, one mother-daughter couple with a daughter also about our age, and two couples from Italy. (We were surprised that there are actually more people under 50 than over in our group.) We boarded a bus for the harbor, and were ferried out to our boat, the Cachalote, luggage coming separately. But not before we already spotted some iguanas, pelicans, and herons on shore.

The Cachalote

J: After a delicious lunch of red snapper (possibly caught fresh that day), we were assigned our cabins. Rebecca and I are sharing a spacious room with 2 bunks and small bath. Unfortunately, it’s below deck and was exceptionally hot when we arrived, so even if we had room to move, I don’t think we’d want to spend any time in there. But, there is ample deck and salon space for the passengers to gather in.

J (cont’d.): We left the boat at 2:30 for our first island adventure to South Plaza. Once there, every passenger on the boat became a professional photographer - at least in our own minds. Within 5 minutes of landing, I had taken approximately 30 pictures of sea lions, sally lightfoot crabs and iguanas. (Over the 2.5 hours on the island, I racked up an impressive 84 snapshots. Rebecca surpassed me with 100).

The Cachalote family ready with their cameras to take pictures of flying birds.

R: Yes--30 of my pictures alone included at least one iguana! Jen discovered that taking photos of moving birds was highly challenging, though we did manage to see flying frigate birds, red-billed tropic birds, yellow warblers, finches, and blue-footed boobies, though you really couldn’t see their blue feet while they were in the air. The island itself is not inhabited by people. It’s a pretty small island and you have to keep to the paths so as not to trample vegetation, but fortunately all types of wildlife--including the sea lions-were directly on parts of the trails. I think Darwin had a good-time getting reacquainted with the Galapagos today.

Darwin on South Plaza. (Actually, the real live Darwin never landed on this island.
But I figured it wasn't too late for him to see it.)

One of Rebecca's 30 iguana pictures.

Yellow warbler

Sea lion napping inland

J: Once we got back to the boat, things got a little rough. And some folks turned a little green. Several passengers, Rebecca included, lost their lunches. Luckily, the passage from South Plaza to Santa Cruz did not affect me. But I did have some trouble walking a straight line at times (for once without alcohol to blame). Dinner consisted of chicken, asparagus and rice. After a brief discussion of the day’s activities and tomorrow’s itinerary with Juan, we were all off to bed. The equatorial sun really does take it all out of you!

Jen and Rebecca Survive the Galapagos

Despite sea sickness (Rebecca), a migraine (Jen), itchy heat rash (Rebecca), and colds (Jen, Rebecca, and everyone else on their boat) we survived 7+ days on a boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We managed to avoid being eaten by sharks, stung by stingrays, and bitten by sea turtles, though we were barked at by sea lions and spit at by iguanas. (Fortunately we were out of the spit trajectory.) Though we still kind of feel like we´re on a boat (perhaps due to the cold medication), we are, in fact, back in Quito in mainland Ecuador, and in an awesome, huge room at the hotel! We will post more about our exploits later after we´ve enjoyed some Quito nightlife (er, late afternoon life.)