Burning Desire For FIRE

I was woken at 2AM with the predicted storm lashing the lodge… and my face. Thunder, presumably lightning, combined with rain hurling itself on the roof with vicious abandon. The rain hitting me wasn’t too heavy, so I went back to sleep, only waking a couple more times when a particularly heavy gust splashed me again.
This shot was taken at 5:30 AM during breakfast, when the rain had slackened slightly. The water was still coming down, though.

This was my room. Remember when I told you yesterday that there was no glass in the windows, just fly wire?

Fly wire doesn’t do a great job of waterproofing. I hung my merino t shirt in the wardrobe to air out, and the whole thing was damp when I went to put it on, as were my socks and jeans.
I just told myself that they’ve been washed, and my body heat would soon take care of it.

Val lent me a novel. I started reading it before I turned the light out and I put it on the bed beside mine. It didn’t get wet, but the moisture in the air certainly had an effect!

The plan for the morning was to go on a boat ride to an island, hike for 3 kms, climb a 30 metre tall tower to look at the forest canopy, see a lake and then reverse our steps.

Again, I did the canopy thing in Borneo. It wasn’t raining then, and there was minimal mud. I was weighing things up.

About half the group didn’t even bother to get up, while those of us who did faced Claudio with revolution on our minds. He offered to change the departure time to 8AM instead of 6:30, and also offered the use of rubber boots to cope with the mud.

At 8, it was still raining. Remember when I was in Borneo last year in a raging storm and the motor stopped on our boat and we were swept downstream? I felt like I’ve already had that experience, plus I knew from Borneo that the only things we’d see on the boat ride and walk would be miserable monkeys and sodden birds.
Stephen in our group also made the point that wearing rubber boots for 6 kms would probably leave us with blisters. I have Machu Picchu in a few days!!
I chose to stay home.

I ended up sleeping for nearly 3 hours.

omg.

When the others got back it was exactly how I thought it would be. No animals and plenty of mud.

These plants are indoor plants back home. Here, they grow happily in the garden.

After lunch, we jumped into a boat and headed off to Monkey Island.

Five minutes after we got off the boat, we were greeted by young brown Capuchin monkeys. These are the result of cross-breeding between the black and the white Capuchins.

Many of the monkeys are rescues, most from being pets. These ones rely on the food the lodge brings every day when they bring people like us across.

Their babies quickly work out how to live in the wild.

We were listening to the guide, and this little person was chilling, right behind us.

Depending on where you stand, you can get up close and personal with them. Later on in the trip, some of us were even handing them banana halves.

I tested out the vertical panorama to show you how high the trees were. The spider money retreated to the top of the tree with a full banana. A few seconds later, there was a “thump!” as the empty banana skin landed on the ground beside me.

This is Josephine. She was once a pet and was surrendered with a broken leg.

The lodge had a vet come out to monitor her every few days until she recovered.

The furthest part of the walk was where we were hoping to see the White Capuchin monkeys. Despite the best efforts of our guide, none of them showed up.
That was a little disappointing, but after all, there are no guarantees with wildlife.

The guide kept making a 3-toned whistle, which was being echoed by some birds deeper in the forest. It reminded me of the Mockingjays in The Hunger Games. When I asked, he said they were Tinanou birds, and they were very cheeky.

We retraced our steps and went back to where the spider monkeys were.

On the way, someone asked what the black lumps in the trees were.

These are ants nests. Remember the huge ones I saw in Arnhem Land? I suppose over here, they build them up high so they escape armadillos and ant eaters.

Josephine and a White Capuchin.

White Capuchin, checking who has bananas.

Josephine jumped onto our guide’s back.

“She’s kinda heavy, about 8 kms.”

Their tails are so strong that they can support their full weight.

There are only female Spider Monkeys here at present. There was a male, but he was killed by the Capuchin monkeys, who are more aggressive (and jealous).

There are plans to introduce more males, to keep the colony going.

Happy hour tonight. Two Pisco Sours for 114AUD.

After dinner, we put on our life jackets again and went out on the river to look at the stars. Once we got away from the lights of the lodge, we could see thousands.

We had a two minute stretch where we sat in silence, motor engine off, no phones, and just listened. We could hear birds and monkeys calling from far away, the low, constant hum of insects, and the water of the river flowing.

Val, who clearly has a better sense of smell than me, could smell the forest, and wood smoke.

We did the same exercise in Antarctica, and I still remember the sounds of water dripping into the sea from the icebergs, the wind, and the distant sounds of colonies of penguins calling to each other. The people on that boat sat very still, with no rustling of clothes and drinking from water bottles, which made that experience even better than this one.

It was a lovely way to end our Amazon forest experience. Tomorrow – Cusco!

Dad joke of the day:

Our alarms went off at 2AM, and by 3AM we were climbing into the bus to reach the airport. There wasn’t a lot of happy chatter.

I was lucky enough to lift my head from my book on the flight, just in time to see this.

We landed in Puerto Maldonado minus a couple of passengers. A husband packed both passports into their big suitcase, checked it in, and then they were stuck when they needed to show both passports and boarding passes for the flights.

Just keep it in mind… domestic flights overseas sometimes require passports, unlike Australia. It’s always best to keep them close.

They were able to get their suitcases off the plane, and took a later flight to join us. They’re still married, by the way. 😂

Imagine our excitement when we saw some sloths in a tree right beside the luggage drop-off in Port Maldonado! This is a mother with a baby in front of her.

Here they are from another angle.

Annette took this video. I like it because you can see the baby’s face.

This was the snack offered to us on the boat taking us to the lodge. Anyone who knows me IRL knows that I can’t stand bananas.
As the boat droned on, most of us fell asleep. I was dreaming…

… when all of a sudden the boat stopped moving.
“A family of howler monkeys on the river bank!” called Claudio, and we all grabbed our phones. I was too late, but someone else on the WhatsApp group was quicker.

After 90 minutes, we arrived at the lodge. We were assigned our rooms. I have the Anaconda room, which is essentially a cabin with fly screens instead of glass, to let the breeze through and the mozzies out.

This will be important later.

I thought this was a capybara, but it turns out it’s an Aguti , which are like squirrels. They hide seeds and nuts in the ground.

This is.the guide for our walk, carrying a machete. Jaguars are occasionally seen here. We were going on a gentle walk to a lake 1km away from the lodge, to try and see caiman/alligators.

Along the way, we saw an Ironwood tree… just a young one of 200 years old.

Our guide did a panorama shot, going up instead of across the. I’ve never thought of doing this. I experimented with the next tall tree we came across and it worked a treat.

I find out something new about my phone on nearly every trip. That’s why I have to keep going; just to get my money’s worth from my phone.

Our guide saw a hole in the ground near the track and invited us to come down with him. Once he mentioned “spider”, only Annette and I took him up on the offer. I brought my wide-legged jeans on this trip and they sometimes touch the ground, so I had sturdy rubber band around my ankles to lift the legs up a bit.

I figured I was safe from any creepy-crawlies running up my legs inside my jeans, so I took up position right outside the hole.

Meet the Chicken tarantula. It’s bloody massive. I was keeping a close eye on where it was going, I can tell you!
Its bite won’t kill us, as we’re too big. Its venom just makes us sick. 

They catch their prey with a claw, bite them, and then butcher them with the claw as the venom takes hold.

It’s called ‘Chicken’, because when she hunts, her babies are behind her. She calls them to her when the food is ready, just like a mother hen.

Here’s the caiman lake.

This is the only caiman we saw. Yes, I promise it’s real.
It was more like a shape under the water, so it was a bit of a fizzer.
It was starting to get dark, so we headed back.

Anteaters and armadillos destroy the trail looking for ants. They think the raised trail might be an ants nest.

This was lying in the path in front of us, with the broken part hidden. Our guide made us stay back while he checked it out, cautiously turning it over with his machete.
it’s a Bell Wasp nest, fortunately empty.

Just before our beautiful dinner, I wandered down to the dock to take these photos.

We’re meant to go on a 6 km walk early or tomorrow morning. I looked at the weather prediction for tomorrow and it was a 95% chance of storms.
Hmmm…

Dad joke of the day:

Here’s me in another life.

“They’ll never believe it!” said Terry, one of the guys in our group, as Liz was taking the picture.

Today was a city tour of Lima. Our group has 18 people this time, most of whom are travelling with friends and family. They all seem great, though.

11 million people live in Lima. It’s the second-driest city in the world, after Cairo. Hardly any rain falls here.

1535 Pissaro established modern Lima. He visited in January, it rained in the mountains and so the rivers were full. It was sunny, and it has a great port. He thought this was the perfect spot for a capital city.

Everything else was the opposite in the rest of the year, except the port.

Oops.

Earthquakes happen here. “ Too late!” said the guide. “ You’re already here!”

Many centuries before Incas… 

… in 1981 they discovered this 5,000 year old pyramid. It’s solid. It was for ceremonial offerings, human sacrifice… always women, “because they had to offer the gods the best they had.”

(Our guide for the city tour was a woman.) 😂

They can restore, but not rebuild. We didn’t get out of the bus for this, which was annoying, particularly as I was on the wrong side of the bus.

1746 earthquake and tsunami. It was 7.9 on the Richter scale.Nowadays there are little tremors all the time. The buildings are built like the ones in Japan.
The older buildings are pretty much left abandoned after the 2nd floor, as people are scared of the risks of earthquakes.

The first thing we did was go to an ATM to get Peruvian Sol. I bought a crocheted Llama key ring from this girl, purely to get some coins. It’ll be my Peruvian Christmas tree decoration.

La Mercy church. 64% of the population is Catholic.

In Peru they celebrate Incan traditions in the Catholic Church. In order to get people on board, the Spanish had to become a little creative. I’ll show you a painting later on that illustrates this perfectly.

Still La Mercy church. She looks like she’s thinking about hurling herself off the balcony.

4,000 different kinds of potatoes are grown here. I love spuds, so Peru had me at “Land of the potato.” Come for Mucho Picchu, stay for the potatoes!

Back when the Spanish invaded, their culture was heavily influenced by the Moorish (Muslim) people who lived in the south of Spain. The women were not allowed out in public unless they were swathed in fabric like this, with only ONE EYE exposed so the poor things could actually see where they were going.

Balconies were built so that the women could see out onto the streets, without being seen themselves. Heaven forbid a man loses control if he sees a woman looking at him with two eyes…

Vultures on top of the cathedral next door.

The main square was fenced off because there was a political protest going on a few streets away. We could hear the yelling.
There’s a fountain here that, on their Independence Day, runs with Pisco Sour instead of water.
Damn! We came in the wrong month!

On the walk to the cathedral, look who I saw?

I’ve visited his tomb in Florence!

Atmospheric, isn’t it?

This is a statue of St Francis of Assisi in the Convent of San Francisco. Here, monasteries are where nuns live and convents are where monks live. The monks who live here are Franciscans and are dedicated to a life of service.

Every day, they make lunch for 400 needy people, and also provide medical care as well.

This place was founded in the 1530’s and has withstood many earthquakes.

The tiles used in this church were made in Seville and transported here in the early 1600’s.

Diego de la Puerto’s famous 1696 painting of The Last Supper — notably featuring guinea pigs and potatoes on the table. 
When the Spaniards first arrived and started spouting the gospel to the South Americans, they were met with very little enthusiasm. The Inca people worshipped the sun, moon, stars and nature in general. How could a man be God?

Quickly, the Spanish changed their propaganda, turning from sculptures to paintings, which can easily tell a story. The Incans conflated Mary with Mother Nature, which is why Mary is more central than Jesus to South American Catholics. Many Incan special days are celebrated in Catholic churches here.

Then we went down to the catacombs. Or over 200 years people paid to be buried here. The were wrapped in shrouds and all bundled in together. When the archaeologists found them, all the bones were mixed together.

Honestly, these were very sanitised. This arrangement was the only interesting part. It fell far short of the Paris catacombs.

See? It was a little dull.

”They had to pay to be buried here. Now the tourists pay to see them. It’s still a business.”

In a little street off the main square is this monument for all of the indigenous people who were killed by the Spanish.

Weirdly, it’s about 30 metres from a statue of Pissarro, the conquistador who started it all.

Our guide was raving about this ice cream called Lucuna, made from a Peruvian fruit. Amazingly, it tasted just like golden syrup.

Most people went to lush with Claudio, our guide, but I came back to the hotel. I’d locked my passport in the safe in my room, and I couldn’t open it. I definitely wanted to get it sorted out!
Once done, Liz and I met up with everyone and we walked to a viewpoint of the Pacific Ocean.

The Love Garden. Couples reproduce the statue.

I, of course, just had to cuddle myself.

The Love Garden is a popular place to propose. Unfortunately, too many rejected lovers were jumping off this bridge, so huge protective barriers have been put in place. Even so, there’s a policeman on either side of the bridge, just in case.

I’ve never been into Paddington, but it makes sense that he’s here. He came from Peru originally, after all!

Early night tonight. We leave the hotel at 3AM for our flight to the Amazon jungle…!

Dad joke of the day:

Not much to report. We left Quito, flew to Lima, met the new group ( they all seem nice) and went out for dinner.

The guy who drove us in from the airport recommended a few Peruvian dishes and also pointed out a restaurant a block from the hotel.

I ordered one of the dishes. I can’t remember what it’s called, but it’s like a lasagne of mashed potatoes, avocado, tuna, mashed potatoes and shrimp on the top. Around 14AUD.

Delicious.
I made the rookie error of ordering a couple of glasses of red wine without asking the price. My meal came to just under 60AUD.

OUCH.

Dad joke of the day: Walking Dead fans. 😀

Pretty, isn’t it? I didn’t buy any, but I probably will in Peru.

I have a day in Quito before I fly off to Lima, Peru, tomorrow, to join up with the people that I’ll be travelling around South America with. Val, Liz and I said goodbye to our Galápagos group, and we’re hoping to catch up with them in the Amazon rainforest.
(What a ridiculously glamorous sentence to say!)

Today I took a city tour with another group who are Galapagosing tomorrow. Liz and Val thought the tour started later and so we missed them, which was a shame.
This was the first viewpoint, called Mirador. The gateway to the journey towards El Dorado. Yes, this way lies the Amazon.

I then had a little goal for this trip fulfilled. I’ve never seen a hummingbird. You might remember that 2 years ago Megan got buzzed by one in Alaska, and boy, was I envious!

I was crossing my fingers I’d see some over here. To my delight, the trees just below the lookout were full of them. I wasn’t listening to the guide… I was drinking in the sight of all the hummingbirds. They were moving so quickly!

And then one landed on a wire.
Ok, it’s not a great photo, but this is MY hummingbird.

This guy with the amazing hat was the first Spanish guy who discovered the Amazon. Quite a few other people who lived in the area had realised it was there before he came along.

Later in the day, our guide told us a sad story about one of the first Amazonian expeditions. The leader – maybe this guy, maybe someone else – had the brains to know that he knew nothing about the countryside he and the other Spanish were heading into. He conscripted 4,000 indigenous people to go with them.

Unfortunately, these indigenous people were from the mountains, so they knew nothing about the Amazonian jungle either. Most of them died.

Our next stop was the Basílica del Voto Nacional, which was a crazy mishmash of all sorts of building styles.

Despite all of the gothic trimmings, it’s the newest church that they have in the country, built in 1874.

The thing I really liked was that the gargoyles are animals of the regions. Tortoises, iguanas, dolphins, you name it. In one tiny section, they have proper gargoyles, just so the people can see what they’re like.

Here’s a different view from inside the church.

It looks like the Rose Window at Notre Dame.

We climbed the Condor Tower, which is 90 metres high. Fortunately there’s a lift that covers most of this. Our guide kept asking if we were ok with the altitude.

Zoom into the top of the hill. That’s our next stop.

There aren’t any Incan remains in Quito because the Inca had just conquered the Quituns and were just building a new city when the Spanish arrived. The Spanish killed the Incan king so in retaliation the Inca burned the brand-new city to the ground. Fun times.

16 volcanoes surround the city. Volcanic soil is excellent for agriculture, so this place has been inhabited for 10,000 years.

As an aside, Christopher Columbus‘s granddaughter was educated here, which shows just how important Quito was.

Virgin of Quito. Made from 4,000 metal pieces, covered with concrete.

3 metres taller than the statue in Rio. The Brazilian one just looks bigger because it’s on top of a bigger mountain, apparently. I’ll judge for myself in a few weeks.

The snake is on the top of the world, and Mary has a chain, tying it up. She is known as the Apocalyptic Virgin, keeping evil from destroying the world. Or something.

One thing I liked here was that the shopkeepers have built kennels for the homeless dogs.

Many window boxes have geraniums.

On the way to the Golden Church, we popped into a Panama hat shop. We saw how the hats were made.

Here’s a fun hat for a short person. It’d be wasted on anyone too tall for anyone else to glance down and see the top of the hat.

A dull- looking church from the street. Otherwise known as the Golden church, or St Ignacio’s church

1587 the Jesuits arrived in Quito. Every church currently there was bigger than the next, so they wanted to outdo everyone else. Hmmm… what could they do?

Our guide made us form a line, holding the shoulders of the one in front. We shut our eyes. She led us into the church. On the count of three, we opened our eyes.

You can’t top an over indulgence in gold leaf!

This is one of the important religious guys when he was young. He looks like he’d be great at a party.

This is him with a few more decades on him. He looks miserable…

This church has an interesting feature, quite apart from all the gold. There are two paintings either side of the entrance. On the June solstice, light falls from above and travels along this painting of the Revelation, or end of days. The last thing the light covers is Jesus.

On the December solstice, the same thing happens on the other side of the church, except this time, it’s a painting of hell. It’s being restored at present, but here are a couple of images from the larger work:

Dirty rotten adulterers.

Deceitful people, I guess.

We walked to a fabulous restaurant for lunch. On the way we passed through the main square.

This is the spot, outside the Presidential Palace, that President Gabriel Garcia Moreno was assassinated. He was a devout Catholic by day, but a dedicated womaniser by night. As you can imagine, this didn’t make him popular with husbands. I don’t know how the wives felt.

Anyway, he fell in lust with a young wife, so he sent her husband to the wilds of the Amazon. This guy smelled a rat, and came back to Quito with murder on his mind, and a sharp machete in his hand.

Men on the other side of politics also hated him, so after the husband had his go with the machete, the other guys shot him, just to make sure. Sounds a bit like the murder of Rasputin.

For some reason, this poster caught our eyes…!

No, it’s not the KKK. On a holy day, penitents walk the streets in their thousands, dressed like this. Oh, and they’re also whipping themselves.

Atheists don’t do this. Just saying.

Liz, Val and I met up for drinks before dinner. I had such a huge lunch that I’m foregoing dinner. If I get hungry later tonight, I’ll have a protein bar from Australia.

Tomorrow, we fly to Peru!

Dad joke of the day:

Tonight is an introvert’s evening. I had dinner on my own and I’m going to bed with a book.

But look- when we arrived at the Sheraton in Quito, I was given a suite!
I feel so fancy.

Here’s a quick tip for travellers so you can avoid the hassle Tom34 and I have had over the last 2 days.

Just before I left, I had to change my credit card as mine got hacked. This wasn’t a travel card; it was the one I basically live my life through.

I forgot to let my internet provider know. My beloved dog sitters require internet. Obviously.

I received an email notifying me that the direct debit had bounced, and if I didn’t pay, then my internet would be cut off at the end of June. Hell’s bells! I’m not back until mid July.

No matter how Tom34 and I tried to pay, they insisted on sending a text to my phone for verification.

My phone that is overseas, on an eSIM and can’t receive texts.
It was starting to be a drama, until I messaged the company on Facebook. The answer was : pay by BPay.

Tom34 was able to take care of it in seconds.

Hopefully, this will save someone from stressing. Good old BPay.

Quito tomorrow!

Dad joke of the day:

We had a free morning, so after breakfast I walked down to the waterfront to watch sea lions. I’m in this photo, can you see me?

I really hope you can hear the slurping sounds of the baby suckling.

It looks like Mum is getting a bit sick of him … he’s pretty big. Liam was telling us later that they feed their babies until they’re 2 years old. They won’t look after any other baby. If a mother is killed when she’s at sea, her baby will die on land.

He’s had a hard Saturday night on the turps. Here he is, sleeping it off in the gutter.

This beach is on the main drag. There’s only a low chain link fence between us and them. This is only a small section of the beach and the sea lions.

It’s incredible. There are more sea lions than people here on this island.

I can’t believe I was standing right over these two. Look at how she’s cuddling her baby.

It’s plain to see why I like the sea lions so much. They remind me of Hazel and Scout. He’s wearing an Ecuadorean shirt, because later today, Ecuador is playing in the World Cup.

We were waiting on the dock for our boat to take us to Isla Lobos. The brown seal at the top of the stairs is totally dry. The other, darker ones, are still wet.

Sound definitely ON for this one!

Sound on for this one, too.

We had lunch on the boat as it took us to the island.

Our first activity was a hike. It was very short, but challenging in that the whole ‘ trail’ was made of black rocks. Definitely not for people with limited mobility, so a few people stayed on the boat.

While we were off, the boat people were taken for a ride in the zodiac. Liz from NZ took this shot of a Blue-Footed Booby in flight.

This is the beginning of the trail. Sea lions were nonchalantly lolling in our way. See how close he was to me?

Almost immediately, Liam was pointing out this frigate bird.

It takes 2 to 3 hours for the male frigate bird to inflate that red balloon under its beak. Once they mate it deflates.

Further along, we saw a nest with a frigate chick!

Later, when we were snorkelling, the air above us was filled with Frigates. It felt a little like something from Jurassic Park.

Then came the Boobies.

A Booby with an egg.

A Booby with a chick.

Parents with a chick.

Then we came up to a couple on the trail. The dad was being super protective…

… because their egg had only just hatched. We were able to walk around him, but the little bugger tried to peck me.

It’s a problem here that the Boobies nest on the ground. Rats ( introduced by settlers and pirates) are able to swim across from the neighbouring islands and the babies are easy pickings. Rangers patrol this island all the time.

Definitely an older baby!

How crazy that we are able to get so close to these animals and birds. The Galápagos is truly magical.

Just before we got back on the boat, we hung around with this family. The male was HUGE! There are a couple of females sleeping under that bush, too.
Liam was saying that at this time of the year, the groups coexist well together. But when it’s mating season, each group picks a corner of the beach and sticks to it!

Interestingly, young males who don’t want to be kicked out of the colony – because life is precarious when you’re not part of a group – never develop mature male characteristics. They stay immature, and therefore not a threat to the dominant male. He leaves them alone.

I have no photos for the next part, which on one hand is a shame because I can’t share this with you. But on the other hand, it allowed me to live in the moment.

The next couple of hours were some of the best travel hours I’ve so far spent.

I swam with sea lions and sea turtles.

What a wonderful sentence to be able to type.

“Will we see sea lions?” we asked.
He answered matter-of-factory, “Oh yes, you will.”

For the first ten minutes, there was nothing. We were bobbing around, seeing some fish. I was starting to get despondent, when to my left I saw a sleek brown shape flash past us. The sea lions were here!

They stayed with us for half an hour. There were adults and babies, all so quick and graceful. One came swimming right up to my face, checking me out. Happiness and utter gratitude for this whole experience welled up inside me. How lucky I am!

The sea lions were playing with us, zipping and twirling, always staying just out of reach. It was so joyous.
When we were told to head back to the boat, we all obeyed, though no one wanted to.

We went to a small inlet where there was a beach. We could go swimming or – gasp! – snorkelling.
I was surprised that only 4 of us grabbed our masks and flippers again. Lyn, Brad and I jumped in, while everyone else headed for the beach.

Proof! Lyn has an underwater camera and caught me, a graceful mermaid, with my blue flippers.

She’s just posted these onto the WhatsApp group. See how wonderful it was?

I first saw this sea turtle and I followed him for ages, coming up twice to breathe when he did, seeing his little head poke out from the waves. I kept looking for Lyn to signal to her, or indeed to anyone, that I had something interesting.
Finally she was looking the right way and saw.

I felt as proud as when I saw the grizzly bear in Canada!

And finally, a shot that Bruce caught in the morning.

WHAT a wonderful day.

Dad joke of the day:

There’s going to be a protest against fairy bread today.

Police are expecting hundreds and thousands.

If I was Charles Darwin, I’d want to kill myself after seeing this statue. We saw this on our walk to the Charles Darwin Research Centre this morning.

They’re big on all things Galapagos, but tortoises seem to be the main game.

The Charles Darwin Research Centre opened in 1959 to protect the environment from black rats, pigs, dogs, etc.

These were the first baby tortoises we saw. These ones are between 5 – 7 years old. The carapaces are still very soft. When they are 6 – 10 years old, they’re released into the wild when their carapaces are strong enough to protect them from predators.

There are over 9,000 individuals here at the Centre. The tortoises are counted every day. People try to steal them to sell them. Can you believe it?

When the tortoises bury their eggs, the temperature of the sand determines their sex. A higher temperature of 29.5C  produces females. 28C makes males.

At the moment, the Galapagos is going through El Ninã, so more females are being born in the wild. The Centre are able to manipulate how many eggs are female and male.

These two look as if they’re posing for me. Saddleback tortoises from the highlands, with long necks to reach cactus flowers.

Females reach sexual maturity at 16; males at 20. 

These babies are from Florian’s Island and were born in 2024.

Less than 10% of baby tortoises in the wild live to see their first birthday. Here? 80 – 90%.

These ones are from the same island, but were born this year. They are careful to avoid mixing the different species together.

We had to stay in a Climatisation room for 2 minutes before entering the room to see Lonesome George.

They thought tortoises were extinct on Pinta island. In 1972 rangers hunting goats found him trying to hide in the vegetation.

They tried to find him another female. They introduced many different females of different species, but he wasn’t interested. It’s believed he was 120 years old when he died in 2012.

Once George was taxidermied, it was found that his sperm duct was blocked. A simple operation could have corrected this.

Oops.

Another famous giant tortoise who lived to tell a happier tale was Diego.

A tiny population of Española tortoises was found in the 1970’s. 12 females and 3 very old males. A search across the world began, to try and find a viable male.

Diego was taken from the Galápagos in the early 20th century and lived in the San Diego zoo for over three decades. He was moved to Santa Cruz island in 1977 to join a highly successful breeding program. He fathered roughly 900 offspring, essentially saving his species. 

He officially retired and was returned to the wild on his native island in 2020. 

After the Charles Darwin Centre, we had a couple of hours to kill before we got picked up for a boat ride to our next island.

These woven tapestries were for sale in a very expensive gift shop just down the street. Nice colours, though I wasn’t going to shell out nearly 2K for one.

This mosaic garden was also just down the street. I was there with Lyn and Jason, a great couple from Darwin. We were taking photos, and then I heard a weird noise, almost like pigs. The dividing fence from the house next door was a chain link one. I peered through to see the pigs.

Nope! There were 2 sea lions on the back verandah, just hanging around.

In the afternoon we had a 2 hour “ferry” ride to San Christine Island. I put ferry in inverted commas because it was a small boat that only fit 40 people.

Speaking of sea lions, we decided to go and find some shade on the waterfront, where there’d be a breeze. These guys had beaten us to it.

Toofs sticking out.

This one is out to it.

This is a frigate bird, the ones who look like pterodactyls when they’re up in the air. This photo didn’t need me to zoom in. He was actually cool with letting me step up right beside him.

The red balloon on his neck means that he’s a bachelor. Still out there looking for love…

We had a few people in the group who are prone to get travel sickness, but no one succumbed.

Me? Travelling in Antarctica and Greenland means that any bumpy seas or air turbulence puts me to sleep. I find it comforting, as if I’m back in the womb. I had a very restful crossing.

When we arrived on the new island, we were greeted by happy sea lions.

On the drive through town on the way to our hotel. Liam was pointing out places to go for dinner, when , almost as an aside, he said, “If you go down this road beside the naval station and turn to a right, you may see some Boobies.

Well!! That was enough for me. I threw my bags in my room, grabbed my phone and water bottle and headed out. Liz, Lyn and Jason came with me.

We wandered down as it was getting dark and Oh My God:

There was only one. But this one bird was literally 6 inches away from me. I never thought I would ever be this close to a Blue-Footed Booby. Yet here we were.

Here’s a still image. I walked off to dinner feeling so damned happy. After yesterday’s debacle with my camera, I can now show you all the bird I was most keen to see here.

I suppose that tomorrow we’ll see a thousand of them. But I don’t care. This one is MY Booby.

Dad joke of the day:

This is where we’re staying for 2 nights. Blogless Sandy will find this amusing, because she knows how lazy I am. There are no lifts. I’m on the top floor…

We hopped in the bus early in the morning on our way to the pier. We drove through such clean streets. The main boulevard is called Charles Darwin Boulevard which I think is really cool.

Ecuador is the only country in the world that gives animals and even the water right so basically all the animals here are protected. Liam was saying it’s like a paradise in this island. There are no homeless and everything’s clean. Weather is really good. It’s lovely.

These are Red Sally crabs.

Me being a tourist.

Sea lions exercising their legal rights.

Awwwwww.

From what I learned in the Antarctic, they’re not just having a nap. They’re digesting their food.

Frigate. They have 2 species here but it’s hard to tell the difference.

When they’re in the air, they look like pterodactyls.

Argh! So annoying.

This is a Blue Footed Boobie, chilling. In my book, it doesn’t count unless you can actually see their blue feet. Three minutes before this shot, I SAW A BLUE FOOTED BOOBIE STANDING UP. I saw the blue feet.

I frantically started prodding my phone to get a shot. Instead, I cleverly switched the lens so I was taking selfies.
omg.
By the time I realised, the boat had sailed past where it was.

I’d better get another chance at seeing a Blue-Footed Boobie, or I’ll be LIVID. What a stupid thing to do.

We landed on another part of the island for a short nature hike.

I never thought of cacti being a Galapagos thing, but here we are.

They’re all over the place. This one is a candelabra.

The cacti grow taller on the islands that have giant tortoises. The tortoises love eating the flowers, so over millennia, the cacti have adapted by growing taller.

Prickly pear… the inside is like honeycomb with water. It’s very popular with tortoises and rats.

Yes, the islands have black rats, thought to be introduced by the pirates back in the day. They’re a huge problem here.

The Galapagos animals evolved without any major predators. Now that they’re here, the indigenous species have no defences.

Cactus with a huge bite taken from it.

Our end point – the beach. Take notice of the colour of the rocks. The marine iguanas blend in beautifully.

A congregation of iguanas. They stood so still and we were very close to them.

The marine iguanas were all over the place. So captivating.

Look at the spines of the one on the right. He’s the Dad.

Blue Heron. There’s a reason the baby marine iguanas were scuttling from hiding place to hiding place. They’re a blue heron was hungry.

I took a stupidly high number of photos of marine iguanas. In my defence, it was impossible not to.

Liam has the map of the Galápagos Islands tattooed on his arm. He uses it as a reference whenever someone has a geographical question.

Red Lava Lizard. Much smaller than than the marine iguanas.

We went snorkelling after that. No pictures, because there’s no way I’m risking my phone by putting it underwater. But unlike Borneo, there was actually fish everywhere!

I was the last one back in the boat. I wasn’t keeping everyone waiting… I was right behind the second last guy, but for someone who doesn’t swim, it shows how engaging it was.

Then we moved to another island, where we went for another hike, and ended up at this flooded ravine.

We swam here for around half an hour. I wasn’t expecting to swim again, so I didn’t have a towel with me, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me!

The sea water when we were snorkelling was 25C.
This water was cooler, but it was so damned refreshing. It must have been very salty, as Lynn (I think) said that it was impossible to duck dive to the bottom.

It was beautiful. Liam jumped from the cliff, just as he did as a kid. He suddenly appeared with a huge splash behind me. I wish I had been facing the other way to have seen him suddenly appear.

When we got back into town, here’s what we found.

Look at me. Have I peed myself? Or do I just have my bathers on under my clothes?

After lunch, most of us jumped onto a mini bus to go to the beach. To be honest, I almost went back to the hotel. My back was really sunburned from the snorkelling and Liam said that there was no shade on the beach.

I was torn. But I followed my rule of always stick close to the guide, and I’m so glad I did.

Where else in the world are you going to have a giant tortoise block your way?

He’s big.

A bit further down the road, we found this bad boy. We were rushing to take photos, when Liam said, “Take your time. The tortoise won’t move!”
He’s young… more than 50.

The tortoise, not Liam.

As they get older, the carapace gets smoother. You can see that this one has lots of texture.

We’re walking through the poison apple forest on the way to the beach, like something out of a Grimm’s fairytale.

Galápagos Mockingbird.

Also known as Darwin‘s muse. This was this bird that made him start to think about the differences in animals and birds from different places.

The Pacific Ocean.
Liam mentioned that there was a brackish water place 2 minutes walk away, and there might be flamingos there. He didn’t seem to have much faith, saying, “Let me know if you see any.”

A few of us wandered up before we had a swim.

Liam came racing back when Linda went to tell him what was here.

First one… then two… then three.

Not nearly so many as I saw in Africa last year, but when I heard that there are only 300 flamingos of this species in the world, I had to lean into this experience. Because look what happened next:

One Percent of the world’s population of Galápagos flamingos were right in front of me!

How wonderful.

Dad joke of the day:

As we were leaving Quito , we saw this sculpture. It’s called “The Man in the Mirror.” We could hardly wait to get to the airport, because today was the day that we fly to the Galápagos Islands.

Speaking of sculpture, this was at Quito airport.

After two flights, we finally landed on the tarmac. We were promised lunch, and it was already 1:30. (2:30 if you go by Quito time.)

There’s quite the palaver to get into the place. There’s all sorts of paperwork, a $200US National Park fee and all sorts of checking luggage etc.

They take their responsibilities seriously.

Galapagos land iguana. If you can have a look on his shoulder, you can see that he’s moulting. Judging by his size, he’s around 30 years old.

Big claws for climbing up the cactuses to get the flowers.

During WWII, the US had a base here to keep an eye on the Panama Canal. While they were there, they used the iguanas as target practice and wiped them out from this island. Recently, some have been collected from other islands and brought here to try and fix that mistake.

Lava lizard. Female, because of the red head.

Lava gulls… considered one of the rarest breeds of gulls in the world. Liam, our guide, was very excited when he saw them.

Then, after a boat ride, a bus ride up into the highlands and a delicious lunch (Finally!), we donned our raincoats and gum boots and went to find some giant tortoises.

There were heaps of them. Sometimes when people turn up, there aren’t any to be found.
The tortoises aren’t caged in. They’re free to roam as they will. The fences dotted around the place are left open at the bottom so they can move freely through them.

The people who run this ranch were originally pig farmers, but they realised that it would be far easier to have a habitat for tortoises and feed tourists than it was to raise pigs.

It was a wise decision. Every day, this place is seething with tourists.

I was thrilled!

Remember when I refused to go on the hike in Croatia because it was raining? It turns out that if you dangle exotic wildlife as an inducement, I’ll do it.

They look as if they’ve had a fight. One is facing one way, while the other is facing another.

I thought it was chasing me. Slowly.

I was looking forward to this day for ages. I saw giant tortoises in Zanzibar last year, but these ones are wild and free.
That makes it so much better.

Dad joke of the day: