Blogs from Galápagos, Ecuador, South America - page 91

Hello Everyone! I am writing from home, in Oregon, today. It is wicked cold here! I hope that everyone is doing very well and had pleasant Thanksgivings! We spent our wonderful ten days on the Galapagos, acquiring some very impressive sunburns, pictures of lizards, encounters with reef sharks and pelicans, and some very fresh, very tasty fish dishes. The Galapagos were interesting, if not exactly beautiful. Warm and humid, with aqua green water and brightly colored fish. Each night, the gray pelicans would line up on the pier and dive for fish. I sat and watched them dive for a while each night. If you come to the docks early in the morning, you can see blue-footed boobies diving for fish, tucking their wings into their sides, all streamlined-like, and whooshing underwater to catch fish. Tourists ... read more

Nach einem langen Flug ueber den Ozean landeten wir auf den Galapagos Inseln. Mit dem Bus fuhren wir zuerst zur Faehrenstation damit wir auf die Insel Santa Cruz kamen. Dort nahmen wir dann wieder einen Bus ans andere Ende (Puerto Ayora) der Insel wo am Hafen die Merak (unser Segelschiff) auf uns wartete. Ach ja, mit wir meine ich Duncan und ich, das ist ein Canadier den ich in Sucre in der Schule kennen gelernt habe. Zuerst ging es dann aber landeinwaerts zu den riesigen Galapagos-Land-Schildkroeten. Weiss nicht so genau, wie man denen auf deutsch sagt, aber sie waren riesieg, sehr imposant. Die grasten da ein bisschen und liessen sich durch unsere Anwesenheit ueberhaupt nicht stoeren. Unser Guide Eduardino war wirklich ein Spassvogel, er ist ein richtiger Galapagosaner (edemisch). Dann ging es auf der Ladeflaeche eines ... read more

Hello everybody... It seems that the less time we have left the fewer blogs we write... I beleive we left you in Santiago. Well plenty has happened since then.. we only spent 2 days in Santiago, the first was spent in a central park that was basically two small mountains, one with the token huge white statue at the top! We spent the day riding the gondola and hiking around to get different views of Santiago. Unfortunately the Andes that surround Santiago could not be clearly seen because of the smog... But it was a nice walk and a fun day... The next day we spent in the center of the city, although we had the crappiest map ever and opted instead to see a movie in the theater.. I know brutal... The next day we ... read more

Ecuador is a country of four regions, the highlands, the jungle, the coast and the Galapagos Islands. Although this region is only home to 30,000 inhabitants, it is as important to the country of 12 million as the other three regions. The natural history of the islands inspired Charles Darwin to produce his theories on natural selection and survival of the fittest, providing the clues that lead to him being convinced of the idea. The area is a national park, the same wildlife that Darwin studied 170 years ago still provides today the main attraction for the many visitors. After studying Spanish for 6 weeks in Quito, I hoped to get away cities and hopefully dive the waters around the islands. I found a last minute tour, and extended my ticket out by ten days so ... read more

After a mad dash around on the Friday in Quito, we managed to get ourselves onto a 4-day cruise of the Galapagos Islands starting the next Monday. The weekend before was spent relaxing and drinking, culminating in us making a sharp exit from a bar of seriously crazy dutchmen, one of whom was determined to get us to spend the early hours of the morning snorting cocaine, another who claimed to be the nephew of the Palestinian leader (he was whiter than us!) and the leader of their group who was a six and half foot rake-thin skinhead who had a large gun under his leather jacket that he kept flashing. We were both a bit worried about the Galapagos as we suffer from seasickness (and it did happen), but the tour turned out to be ... read more