Galapagos: Part 1

I´ve decided that since it would take me forever to blog about all that i did and laughed at in the Galapagos, i´ll do a bit each day until its done.

So we arrived in the Galapagos and it was HOT!!!!!! The sun here is already really strong because we´re at the equator but then we added the element of tropical island weather.

We island hopped...

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To Santa Cruz...

where we saw beautiful forests of scalesias...

and giant craters that had collapsed...

A few of the girls in my group together in front of the crators

We spent the night in this cute little hotel that had a boat. Not sure why, because it honestly didn´t look like it could possibly be used. Maybe they just take decorating to a new level here...

A picture of the bay...

And an iguana crossing the street. No big deal. It happens every day.

 

We saw these sealions on a private dock. After reading (and apparently just ignoring) the area restricted sign, our guide ushered us in to take photos.

Taxi´s here are all just boats... we were frequenters on them as we toured around

If you look closely you might notice something that does not appear to belong... no, the bird didn´t step in wet paint. They have this species of birds called blue-footed bubi. As a lover of the color blue, i was impressed.

We went for a short walk to a place where we went cliff jumping. One of the scariest things of my life. You jumped and then the water took forever to come. FOREVER! Fortunately i landed in a perfect pencil dive, but others who landed on their butts or a bit on their backs were not so lucky and had huge purple welts...

Then we headed to some lava tunnels. As lava flows out of a volcano, it does so in veins like these. There´s apparently tons of them on the islands, but you can´t actually tell they exist until part of it collapses and reveals a tunnel, like this one.  We walked aways through it, even had to crawl for part of the way. The guide told us if we had positive attitudes, it wouldn´t collapse while we were inside. I guess we must be optimists or something.

Contrary to popular belief, "Galapagos" is not actually the name of the islands. The real name is the Archipiélago de Colón, though Christopher Colombus never actually visited. Go figure. But anyway, everyone calls it the Galapagos because of its inhabitants: the galapagos (tortoises like the one seen above). For every volcano (natural land barrier entre the , there is a different subspecies, so there´s 15 different kinds, 4 of which are extinct. Sadly, because of introduced species, the tortoises are dying out, so they have different hatcheries on the islands to repopulate them. No one knows exactly how long they live, but some estimate at least 100 years.We visited a ranch that had tons of turtles, and got to witness a rare event: tortoise sex. Let me tell you, it was an interesting experience. Apparently it takes at least 2 hours. But we realized the reason why. After about 20 minutes, the macho looked like he was quitting and dismounted. Then the head of the sembra popped out. Wrong way dude! Other side! I had a video to upload but it wont upload!!! :( i've spent 2 days trying to get it to work, so i'm just going to give up for now and move on with my life.

They had an old turtle shell there and there was a challenge out to walk 150 steps in the shell for the girls and 250 for the guys. After completing the challenge, i completely understand why turtles walk so slow. With a 25kilo (about 55 pound) shell, it was a rough walk in an uncomfortable position. Only two of the girls and one of the guys in our group finished.

Me chillin on the bow of the boat. BEAUTIFUL taxi ride!!!

We then headed out to an island where iguanas are in the middle of their ´´laying egs´´ time. All the females (hundreds of them) are up on the beach and digging holes to lay their eggs. 

Some get lazy and don´t want to dig a hole. So they try and fight another iguana for theirs, as seen in the video above. Once again, the video wouldn't upload... :( maybe i'll figure it out later...

My hole!

A pretty bridge under the mangle trees

Me with a baby sea lion. And no, its not dead. I swear. And yes, in case you were wondering, I did get a bit burnt. (yes mom, i did reapply with the 50 spf) The only person in our group that didn´t burn was the girl who brought 100spf and applied liberally countless times. She stayed the exact same color as when she arrived. Even the one african american and all of the asians got burnt. It was an epic attack by the sun. And I lost. But i do have some more color now. I´m pretty sure that i´m tanner than i usually am in the states. My brother last night called me negrita, which here is a term of endearment like gringita, gordita, flacita (also terms of endearments). I guess there´s a first time for everything. I never thought in a million years i´d be considered negra.

And the flamingos... just because they´re cute.