Easter finery

It’s Good Friday and I’m sitting on the deck of the Red Mangrove Inn http://www.redmangrove.com/   The Station is closed today and I miss my and this deck has a nice ocean breeze and a good view of the harbor.  It’s much nicer then my stuffy apartment with a view of the clothesline.  Here, there are iguanas crawling across the deck and sea lions sleeping in the shade.  I can see a frigate with something long in his beak. The fish must be struggling.  He dropped it than swooped around to catch it again.   He is struggling to stay aloft and keep the fish.  There is a small stream the flows down and into the harbor just to the side of this property.  It makes the water there a bit less salty.  The birds seem to like the spot.  I’m watching the pelicans bathing there then sitting on the rocks to preen themselves for Easter weekend.

There are only a few frigates and boobies in the air just now.  It seems to be siesta for almost everything. 

As I was coming down the hill today I passed a hermit crab in a smooth brown snail shell trying to cross the road.  There are quite a few cars and bikes that use that road.  I hope he made it. 

Ceviche sale

Thursday I got an email announcing a charity Ceviche sale this weekend for a local girl with a brain injury.  It’s kind of like a local car wash or bake sale but they sell fresh ceviche instead of cup cakes.  The donation also includes delivery to your house - it's a very small town.  It comes with plantain chips and popcorn.   I know that sounds strange but it’s the usual way ceviche is served here.  - In Ecuador they use popcorn the way Americans use chips.  At restaurants you get a bowl of popcorn on the table instead of chips but you still get salsa to dip it in.   

BTW, the ceviche was very good.  

Baby tortoises

It has been an interesting week.  We’ve had rain several times, which makes it muggy when the sun comes out and brings the mosquitoes.   We’ve also had a couple of power outages.  When it happens the whole island goes dark, not just a neighborhood.  It happened one evening when I was just about ready for bed anyway so I brushed my teeth by flashlight and woke a couple hours later when the lights & TV came back on.  Friday it happened again at about 11 AM.  The library has no windows and the computer I use has no battery back up, so I found my keys and closed up the library.  I walked around the station while I was waiting and found the tortoise nursery.   They collect the eggs on each of the islands and bring them to the station.  They incubate the eggs and keep the babies in the¨nursery¨ to protect them from predators then return them to the wild on their island of origin.  The numbers on their shells tell which island of origin.

Los Greatas

Today a friend and I took a water taxi across the bay to Punta Entrata and walked to Las Griatas.   Griatas are volcanic fissures and these are filled with seawater.  The water is very deep, crystal clear and freezing cold.  It felt great after 45 minutes of hiking and climbing over a blazing hot lava rock path.  The sides are very steep and the kids climb the rocks and jump off the cliffs into the water.   Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera but here’s a web site. http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Attraction_Review-g297533-d2415993-Reviews-Las_Grietas-Puerto_Ayora_Santa_Cruz_Galapagos_Islands.html

Eagle Ray

I went kayaking in a protected area off the eastern shore of the island.  Just looking for marine life and enjoying the day.  We saw plenty of sea birds and iguanas, several sea turtles and an eagle ray.   The crystal clear water above the white sandy bottom looks turquoise but it turns to cobalt when the bottom becomes the black lave rock.  

Islands

I went to Cerro Mesa, one of the high points on the island where there is a great view out across to most of the major islands.   There were clouds in the sky but the air below them was clear.  

Tortoise

I finally saw one of the big Galapagos tortoises in the wild. Sunday morning we drove out to “Cerro Mesa,” one of the high points on this island.  On the way we saw one of the big Galapagos tortoises on the side of the road.   Everyone was driving careful in case he should decide to start across. 

 

Darwin’s Finches like apples

This afternoon I was standing on the patio by the library enjoying the breeze and eating an apple when a little finch started fluttering around me.  When I stood very still he landed on my hand and tried to help himself to the apple.   We’re told not to feed the animals so they don’t become dependent on us.  That might change the finch’s entire evolution.  What would that do to Darwin’s theory?  :-)

Since I frequently complain about wet cold weather I should at least comment when the weather turns out to be quite pleasant, like today.  There was a light cloud cover that came and went keeping the temperature in check.  The temperature was still close to 80 F and a bit muggy inland but there was also a nice breeze off the ocean so it felt very comfortable near the water.