Gallapagos

Ola,
Arrived on Santa Cruz island via Guayacuil after leaving Quito early yesterday AM.  Took a bus to a wáter taxi to a van to the Red Mangrove Lodge, a rustic dive lodge on the wáter in the town of Puerto Ayora.  We had a bite to eat then headed out in a van with our guide to see the giant tortoises in their natural hábitat and to walk through the lava tubes.  We had lemongrass tea and coffee grown on the island. It is quite humid here but cool, and there are lizards and iguanas and seals sunning themselves on the restaurant veranda, and small lizards in our rooms, many different birds chirping about.  There are exotic fruit trees, cacao, coffee, azúcar, cows, and other flora and fauna not indigenous to the área that were brought in and are controlled today.  There is a fruit that is related to passion fruit but is much sweeter that I am really enjoying here, and the girls are appreciating the fresh fruit juices in exotic flavors as well.  Greg of course is up for any and all adventure, encouraging us as we try on snorkeling gear and sizing our wetsuits to take with us on our 2.5 hour boat trip to the next island later today.

We learned so much about the tortoises from our guide!  How to tell a male from female, a young from old, what they eat, how ´quickly´they move, etc. So interesting.  A Young female of 40 years old or so was chomping on a guava, while an older 80 to 100 years old male was eating the grasses.  Our guide said he knows of a tortoise who lived to over 180 years. We saw a muddy pool where the tortoises were ´frolicking´ if you would call it that, and others hunkering down in leaves for the night. Today the plan is to kayak to see more of the indigenous species along the coastline, then onto Santa Isabel for 2 nights then back here for our last night.

Quite a shift from big city to the islands!  We are excited to see what we can see!