Ecuador - the Galapagos

I get to the marina when we arrive from Quito to Baltra (the entry point to the Galapagos) and I'm taking a picture of the boat, not even seeing what's sitting on the benches...


The only way one can see these islands is by cruise ship (and by order of the Ecuadoran government, access is completely regulated in their attempts to maintain this fragile ecosystem. Read more about this here). I'm not at all a fan of cruises for a myriad of environmental reasons, but a compromise is needed in this case...so a'board, me maties!








The islands were each different from the last. Some had sandy, dusty trails and others had broken shells and marine debris. They ranged from dark red-brown to whitish to black pebble. While once these islands were over the joint of the Cocos and Nasca tectonic plates, they now have drifted to the East and are no longer volcanically active.







We're at the Darwin Research Center in Puerto Ayora. This is where they are doing the breeding and repopulating of tortoises, plants and insects. This is also where they are spearheading the efforts to eliminate the invading populations of rats, dogs, cats, birds and other entities that have decided this is a pretty easy place to live, raise young and decimate the stuff that's supposed to be here. Being such a dog-lover, though, I wondered how good I would be at putting a gun to that effort.

How could this be the very same color as a tortoise?!

First, they let the little guys ingest their yolk sacks for a month and then, they put them out in the pen together where they number each one.




Here's the first step to learning the rocks... oh,oh - here it comes......the nose dive.










Well, and Brian's at it again. He says to Jose, the guide, "I'm sorry, it's a reflex!"












These Americans are killing me!













Of course you wanted some iguana poop!I'll admit that once I had my memory card back in action, my love affair with the shapes of lava began!




Okay, now before you start ripping on Brian for smiling with his mouth full, you have to remember that this guy has been in the jungle for 6 months, eating more sad box lunches than he cares to recount. So give the guy a break...but don't get between him and his coconut ice cream, either!