We are at the bird sanctuary for Blue Footed Boobies and Frigate Birds. We stop on the path just feet away from a couple of Blue Foots doing their dance. The male swishes his tail feathers, and lifts his feet up and down to show off just how pretty they are. Every once and a while he taps the female’s beak with his. They don’t seem to notice us whatsoever. We obey the rule that says we must stay at least two meters from the wildlife, but sometimes the animals break the rules and come to us.
Everything here is unique and fascinating. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom.
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Every day we see Marine Iguanas, and every day I’m excited to see them. Each one seems to have a different colour and personality. Some seem to smile and others really look evil. The iguanas have just the right colour to camouflage themselves—red if the sand is red... black if the sand is black...grey if the sand is white.
After a few days you learn to tell when they are feeling threatened. They bob their heads and hiss salt from their nostrils. Sometimes this means you need to back up. Sometimes they are just angry with another iguana. Tomorrow we are going to see land iguanas. I wonder how they will be different. You are Always in my prayers. Love Mom. What does a typical day look like? Eat—hike—snorkel: Repeat. So, with two hikes and two sessions of snorkelling a day we are getting a lot of exercise and eating a lot of delicious food. Let me share one story from our afternoon of snorkelling.
As we snorkel along the red rocks we can see huge green cacti blooming with yellow flowers above us. Jennifer is my swimming partner. All of a sudden something is coming right at us. She heads straight at Jennifer then makes a quick left. Now she right in front of me—a giant female sea lion. Did she think we were sea lions too? What a surprise for her and us. Our guide is calling us to come quick. Oh my goodness—sea turtles. We are now swimming with really big turtles. Dad dives down to get a closer look. It looks like they are feeding. There are seven of them in total! Everyday is something new and fascinating. Every island is so different. Having a blast. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. We are heading back to Isabela Island to see the breeding centre for Giant Tortoises. Early settlers, and ships travelling through, once used tortoises for food. We see two huge Giant Tortoises right inside the gate. It is exciting that we are this close to the largest species of tortoises in the world! They seem to be mostly sunning themselves, but when they move of is impressive to see that much shell lumbering around.
Look, the friend of our guide is here today. He is taking us to see the eggs and the newly hatched babies. The babies are no bigger than the palm of my hand. It seems impossible that something this small can grow so big. Galapagos tortoises live over a hundred years. It would be interesting if they could tell us their stories. In the mean time we will just have to use our imagination. You are always in my Prayers. Love Mom. As our plane approaches the runway we see giant cactus trees dotting the barren landscape. We get our bags and head off in a dingy for eight days on the Monserrat. What—snorkelling already? Fitted for our wet suits we immediately motor out to find the White Tipped Sharks. Is that one? Another one? Five White Tipped Sharks! We are swimming with the sharks—how cool is that? A bit of rest and snack and off to an island to visit the sea lions. Some of them are scrapping and playing. Most are snoozing in the white sand. There are so many—babies, mommas, and really big males. Occasionally they bark at us if we get too close to the pups. Back to the boat to watch the Sunset set from the top deck. We can see several Galapagos sharks just under the surface of the water around our boat. What an amazing day. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. We practice our Spanish with our Taxi driver on the way to the TelefériQo. He is happy that we have returned to Quito—he is proud of his country. The 18 minute cable car takes us up the side of Volcán Pichincha. We are high up...very high up...about 4100 m above sea level. Then we start to hike..higher and higher. We don’t quite make it to the summit, but we are above the clouds. One minute sun, next mist, then tiny pellets of ice rain down. The weather changes very quickly this high up. We can feel the wind take our breath away. Tiny finch scrounge for food in the high altitude grasslands. It is a perfect day.
Tomorrow we fly to the Galapagos and board our boat. This trip is already awesome. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. We are heading off on another adventure starting February 15th! We will be visiting Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands and then making our way up through Colombia. It is a life long dream to see the wildlife and reserves of the Galápagos Islands. We have a top-five wish list —what do you hope we see?
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Ray & Diane
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