Boobies, Boobies Everywhere

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"I´ve had it up to here with these boobies." -Peter

I never thought I would hear that sentence come out of his mouth.

But it was the second time he almost stepped on a nesting blue-footed booby in about as many minutes. These birds (what did you think he meant?) were nesting everywhere. They´re not the brightest birds in the world, besides their comically unbelievably blue feet, and refused to move even when they were in danger of being squashed. They don´t have any predators, like many animals on the Galapagos Islands, and so they lay their eggs on the ground with a circle of guano to protect them rather than hide their eggs in trees or shrubs.

That is how close we got to the animals in the Galapagos--we nearly stepped on them. Iguanas, lava lizards, sea lions, masked boobies, blue-footed boobies, red-footed boobies, tortoises, frigates, albatross. They seemed to have no regard for creatures that are bigger and scarier than they are. It´s amazing.

One of our best memories of the Galapagos was snorkeling with the baby sea lions. During the day, the sea lion moms are out to sea, catching fish so the babies (about 20 of them) are left with the dad to babysit. He usually manages to keep them within an area of the bay. If you don´t do anything threatening to the babies, he´ll generally leave you alone. He´s usually a 500-700 lb monster that basically patrols the area. The babies, like kids everywhere, just want to play all day. And if you look like you want to play with them, they´re that much happier. They´ll swim under, over, around you. One baby sea lion hurtled straight at me, stopped within 5 inches from my face, did a loop-de-loop and swam away. Another one bumped Peter from behind, surprising the hell out of him. To see how graceful and fast these animals are underwater is really one of the most incredible things we´ve ever experienced.

Needless to say, the Galapagos will be hard to beat. It was our splurge trip for South America ($1300 per person for a 7 day cruise on a tourist class boat, not too much for working folks but a lot for us) and worth every penny. Anyone who loves animals needs to go to the Galapagos. Anyone who wanted to be a vet as a kid needs to go to the Galapagos. Anyone who has ever landed on a nature show while channel surfing and then been inexplicably caught up by the Wide World of Walruses or something ought to go to the Galapagos. Everyone needs to go to the Galapagos.

We can´t emphasize enough how much fun we had. Our itinerary for the 7 days was pretty much as follows:

6 - 7 am: Wake up, eat breakfast
7 - 9 ish: Easy to moderate hike on one of the 13 islands that comprise the Galapagos (the ones you can get on anyway). Flora and fauna vary considerably and are explained by the naturalist that works for the boat. Most islands are desert-like with cacti or lava landscapes while others are lush. Observe about a thousand birds building nests, diving for fish, feeding their young, fighting with each other, etc. Same with sea lions, iguanas. Take a million pictures.
9 - 10 ish: Snorkel or swim with white-tipped reef sharks, manta rays, sea lions, sea turtles and numerous fish either off of the boat or off of the beach.
10 - 12: Fall asleep on deck while the boat sails or motors to another island. Wake up when someone spots a whale or something.
12: Eat lunch.
2 - 7: Repeat the 7 - 12 schedule.
7-9: Eat dinner.
9 - 10: Play shithead with shipmates. Lose. Have husband or wife tease you for the rest of the trip.
10 pm: Fall into your bunk, exhausted.

Have we mentioned how great the Galapagos were? And how everyone should go?

Oh yeah, we also went to Quito. That was nice.

Peter has talked me into a 5-day trek on an alternate Inca Trail, starting tomorrow.

I think he drugged me, like Hannibal used to drug Mr. T on the A-team to get him on an airplane.

The classic 4-day Inca Trail is booked 5 months in advance now because they only allow 500 people on the trail at any given time, including guides and porters. The trek we are doing is harder and takes us up to the highest pass in the region (4500 meters, don´t ask me what that is in feet) and then down to jungle before ending at Machu Picchu. There are 7 turistas in our group, 1 guide, 1 horse master, and 2 cooks or porters. The horses will carry all our water, food, equipment, etc. There is one emergency horse.

I´ve called dibs on the emergency horse.

I hope our travel insurance covers medical evacuation by horse.

Say a prayer for me.

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Comments

[Coca Grandmaster]

chew the leaves
in case y'all were contemplating not chewing on the coca leaves, do it, it'll help with the altitude. peace

[clark]

Galapagos
So I take it you enjoyed the Galapagos Islands? I saw them on the new High Def Planet Earth series. It looks amazing. I hope to get there someday. Glad to have you reporting on all your worlds travels. It is amazing to read your journal while you are on this amazing world wide tour. Incredible. c