Isabella Island - Thats right, the Galapagos

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Hola , Como estas?
Wow see how the Spanish just flows!! Actually, in case I did manage to fool some of you, the Spanish is not going so well and I really need some more practise, the losing weigh and getting fit has also been a bit of a failure (probably due to me stuffing copious amounts of buttery cakes, pastas and numerous chocolate bars into my face!) and my final task to be completed in the first three months i.e. get a tan! Well I wont really go there, but after my week of agonising sun burn last month I still managed to revert to a lovely shade of creamy white only this time with less skin attached to me.

However (my complaining has a point!) I am now in the perfect place to work on all three, I have arrived Safely in the Galapagos Islands and they are every bit as beautiful as other people make out!

I arrived on Santa Cruz on Monday like a child who had eaten too many blue smarties! I was really excited! My friend Richard and myself were met by our tour guide (the lovely Christophe) who spent the first day showing us around Santa cruz and probably thinking that I have never left the house before, due to my constant gasping, pointing, tugging at his t shirt and stupid comments such as "its another bird" every 2 minutes.

Instantly, on my arrival, I realised that the Galapagos Islands really are as beautiful as everybody reports them to be. The beaches are absolutely stunning and the strangest thing is, you can sit on the beach for an hour and be the only person there (got a bit tricky actually, as I had to take my own photos of myself naturally posing in the surf, looking completely unaware of the timer I had just set !!!")

We were taken to see the Lava tunnels on Santa Cruise, formed by fast flowing Lava which cooled on the surface but continued to flow underneath creating the large and very dark tunnels.
We also visited a ranch in the middle of the island and it was here I had my first encounter with (its suspected) the most uninteresting animal on earth. I used to wonder why people kept stick insects as pets but I have now realised the only other "slow" option would have been a tortoise and the stick was the better of two evils!!!!

I´m joking of course, we went to see the Giant Tortoises in the wild and they are pretty great, you do become a little jaded after a week cleaning up their poo but they are very impressive in the wild, galloping across the plains!!!! We were even lucky enough to see a couple mating in the wild, sadly not to the benefit of this endangered species as after much wowing and gasping and being very "at one with nature" we realised the male was carrying out his business at the wrong end of the female... obviously not the brightest animal! I also got to see "Lonesome George" which was quiet good. (if you don't know look it up!)

On wednesday we left Santa Cruise and headed for Isabella Island the largest of all the islands in the Galapagos and my home for the next four weeks! Isabella is beautiful but about 80% of it is national parkland and you cannot really enter with out a guide. Most activity is concentrated in the Port area and the town surrounding. When we headed to Isabella it had been hinted that there wasn´t much to do and not many places to hangout, but I have to contradict these reports. There are more restaurants and clubs and bars than a lot of places the main problem seems to be that there are absolutely no people.

This can be a wonderful thing as it was on Isabella that I have walked on the beach for an hour and have met no one, however when you really would fancy some company in the evening it can get a little lonely. There is one bar on the island that seems to attract a regular crowd (5 or 6 people most nights) and so it is here I have found a small piece of comfort!

I am a little surprised by how much building is going on on the two Islands I have visited so far. Santa cruz is very much designed for the tourists and Isabella is heading the same way and I cant see how this can be anything but detrimental to the wonderful wildlife and incredibly rare species. I guess the money wins out in the end! This is not to say the Islands are not beautiful. Apparently the weather at the moment is the worst the Galapagos have ever had and a lot of the locals walk around in jumpers and coats but its not unlike a pleasent British summer (probably why I´m alone on the beach - the locals are having a right laugh at the big white brit lying there!)

I have so far seen numerous finches, Frigate birds, Pelicans (my favorite), of course the blue footed boobies are great. I have seen land Iguanas, sea Iguanas and Lava Lizards galore. I have snorkelled with Turtles, Manta Rays, Sealions that swim right up to your face and hundreds of beautiful fish. The animals really are amazing and because they protected at all costs they are completely fearless and you can get so close for pictures (not allowed to touch!)

And mainly I have seen hundreds of Giant Tortoises whilst working at the breeding centre. We start every day at 8am and clean and feed all the babies (one month old and upwards) and all the older guys too (90 years to 150yrs) Its not the most interesting work but its quite cool to hang out with the tortoises and no joking, they run at you when you´ve got the food, fair enough it takes about 15 minutes for them to reach you but I can see the ravenous look in their eyes!
We were hoping to be part of a team that were going to repatriate 80 tortoises back to the wild but the conditions are not good enough at the moment. As much as I love the tortoises I´m thinking of leaving a week early and booking my self onto a boat cruise of some of the other islands (becoming one of the tourists , I know, but I don´t think I could stay here and only see two of the islands.) It seems I have simply gone from being covered in monkey poo to being covered in another animals feaces...a bit of luxury wouldn´t go amiss...I will keep you posted!

I hope everyone at home is ok ... working hard (snigger)!

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Comments

[Lewis]

sorry to hear your spanish isn't going muy bien, to be honest i think you may want to look at your english first- some of your spelling is terrible, (and which is it- santa cruz or santa cruise? make up your mind!) but all that aside, as i type this at my desk at zurich about to start another day's work, i am looking out thewundow and it is cold and grey and i am quite jealous of your wonderful travels, hope you continue to enjoy it hasta luego!