After our Galpageno adventures we all headed off on our own to do internships. I went to the opposite side of the country as everyone in my group and went to Yanayacu Biological Station and Center for Creative Studies --- www.yanayacu.org if you'd like to checker out. While I was there I helped on a project that was started by a man named Lee Dyer about 8 years ago. It is a called: Caterpillars and Parasitoids of the Eastern Andes. I helped collect caterpillas essentially with the gusaneros: Wilmer and Lucho. Wilmer has been working on the project for about 5 years I believe. There are about 1,200 species of Caterpillars that they have collected.
oh yes another thing. A parasitod is a organism that spends part of its life on or attached to a host and eventually kills its host.
We'd do transects to find caterpillars or just look for them on the side of the rode OR beat bamboo with sticks. :D
Then we would enter data on the lil buggers and try to make them adults. some made it, some weren't as fortunate (actually if they make it into the lab they all die :( ) then there are some...actually around 60% that are killed by parasitoids
this stuff is way cooler to tell w/pictures and it takes FOREVER to upload them on here so i will eave it at that for now.
Yanayacu was a really beautiful place but I had a difficult itme there because for 90% of the time I was the only English speaker. All of the Ecuadorians (all guys pretty much from ages 18-24 and one women 27 w/ a baby) were already friends and joked around all the time. I tried being apart of this and even though my spanish has improved it is difficult to speak and understand when it is a larger group of people. When it was a smaller group it was usally ok. I also learned how to play rummy and cuarenta. and I got pretty good at rummy and I enjoyed beating the boys everyonce in awhile.
tomorrow morning I'm leaving here at 4:30 am to get to the airport to fly to Lima Peru. i don't think we have time to go to machu pichu (or dinero) this time through but we still might visit cusco. On may 24 my friend jean and i are going to ARGENTINA
Monday, May 17, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
mas galapagos
i'll just finish up a little on the Galapagos, but I'll make it shorter and sweeter. After our 8 day cruise we returned to San Cristobal and had to do mini group projects much like we did in the rainforest. I worked with my friends Jean and Dana. We studied schooling behavior over sandy and rocky substrate. We hypothesized that there would be more schools over sandy substrate because it is harder to find food there (less niches because lots of stuff can grow in rocks) and also because there are fewer places to hide over sandy substrate. We did it at two different beaches and there was a signficant different at one beach, but not the other. But we did find a lot of other significant differences like size of schools, and were they were located in the water column . there were bigger schools over sandy and were more often found on the surface (plankton?)
Then we had a test. It was really hard. but it was fun snorkeling for the field exam. My prof kicked me during the exam (on accident when diving down) and there were people wearing thong bikinis on the beach as well and those two things don't happen too often during an exam .
for our fun day we went to isla lobo and leon dormiendo/kicker rock. and isla lobo there were tonssssssssssssss of baby sea lions. it is like a little nursery for them while mama goes and hunts. We got to play with the sea lions which was one of the happiest things in the world. They would twist and twirl around you. Then they would swim rigth at your face and you would be worried they were going to collide into you and then they would take off in another direction. It was soooo cute. I loved every second of it. Then after playing for over an hour we went off to kicker rock. This snorkeling site was really deep so there wasn't too many cool fish stuff, but we did see some sharks and rays. but the walls of the huge rock were magnificent! The walls were covered in christmas tree worms, star fish, sea fans, barnacles and it was every color you could imagine.
also I'm going to take a paragraph or two to rewiiiind back to one of the days on Santa Cruz. Before we got on the boat for santa cruz we went to a farm to look at tortoises and on this da there happened to be a lot of rain. And for once I am not exaddrating ;) . So we took a bus to the farm and it parked while we scurried off to chase some tortoises. We walked adn walked in the rain and then there was more rain and then there were some tortoises. On the way back we had to cross some....streams...no not streams....rivers...no not rivers....more like rapids. Then finally we arrived at the bus..but before arriving to the bus there was a "rapid" right behind it. The bus driver also seemed a little worried...peculiar.... So once we got closer we also noticed there was another raging river in front of us. We were stuck. So while everyone was franticially figuring what to do we were sitting inside dying of hungery (aka really hungry not really dying.) Then Colleen and I decided we were hungry and bored and wanting a good photo opportunity. So we grabbed our snorkel gear and headed off the bus, on the way we came across our professor Cath. Who said we were going to cross the river one by one, and then suitcase by suitcase and that it was getting dark so there was no time to DICK AROUND. let me remind you at this moment I was wearing a mask and a snorkel........but no worries this did not detriment Colleen and I from our wonderful photo op. Then we did exactly what Cath said and crossed the raging rapids one by one and bag by bag. So once we and the bags were across we loaded them up into a gravel truck on the opposite side and then we all hoped in. So all 15 of us are on top of this huge gravel truck filled with gravel and we started bacing up. yup, we were going to back the 15 min drive out of there. Well maybe 3 min into backing up we hear a popping noise and the truck stops. We blew a tire. So we unloaded ourselves. and the bags. The guide said it was a fifteen min walk. We all decided that is a short little jaunt so we grabbed our bags (that were filled with clothes, sun block, snorkel gear to last a month) and started walking up the road. everything this day seem to be "15" min. but this walk was more like over an hour. We were hungry, tired, andddddd a little crabby at this point. To top it off my boats had worn away the skin on my calfs leaving bloody strips. (and I still have marks from them!)
Then we had a test. It was really hard. but it was fun snorkeling for the field exam. My prof kicked me during the exam (on accident when diving down) and there were people wearing thong bikinis on the beach as well and those two things don't happen too often during an exam .
for our fun day we went to isla lobo and leon dormiendo/kicker rock. and isla lobo there were tonssssssssssssss of baby sea lions. it is like a little nursery for them while mama goes and hunts. We got to play with the sea lions which was one of the happiest things in the world. They would twist and twirl around you. Then they would swim rigth at your face and you would be worried they were going to collide into you and then they would take off in another direction. It was soooo cute. I loved every second of it. Then after playing for over an hour we went off to kicker rock. This snorkeling site was really deep so there wasn't too many cool fish stuff, but we did see some sharks and rays. but the walls of the huge rock were magnificent! The walls were covered in christmas tree worms, star fish, sea fans, barnacles and it was every color you could imagine.
also I'm going to take a paragraph or two to rewiiiind back to one of the days on Santa Cruz. Before we got on the boat for santa cruz we went to a farm to look at tortoises and on this da there happened to be a lot of rain. And for once I am not exaddrating ;) . So we took a bus to the farm and it parked while we scurried off to chase some tortoises. We walked adn walked in the rain and then there was more rain and then there were some tortoises. On the way back we had to cross some....streams...no not streams....rivers...no not rivers....more like rapids. Then finally we arrived at the bus..but before arriving to the bus there was a "rapid" right behind it. The bus driver also seemed a little worried...peculiar.... So once we got closer we also noticed there was another raging river in front of us. We were stuck. So while everyone was franticially figuring what to do we were sitting inside dying of hungery (aka really hungry not really dying.) Then Colleen and I decided we were hungry and bored and wanting a good photo opportunity. So we grabbed our snorkel gear and headed off the bus, on the way we came across our professor Cath. Who said we were going to cross the river one by one, and then suitcase by suitcase and that it was getting dark so there was no time to DICK AROUND. let me remind you at this moment I was wearing a mask and a snorkel........but no worries this did not detriment Colleen and I from our wonderful photo op. Then we did exactly what Cath said and crossed the raging rapids one by one and bag by bag. So once we and the bags were across we loaded them up into a gravel truck on the opposite side and then we all hoped in. So all 15 of us are on top of this huge gravel truck filled with gravel and we started bacing up. yup, we were going to back the 15 min drive out of there. Well maybe 3 min into backing up we hear a popping noise and the truck stops. We blew a tire. So we unloaded ourselves. and the bags. The guide said it was a fifteen min walk. We all decided that is a short little jaunt so we grabbed our bags (that were filled with clothes, sun block, snorkel gear to last a month) and started walking up the road. everything this day seem to be "15" min. but this walk was more like over an hour. We were hungry, tired, andddddd a little crabby at this point. To top it off my boats had worn away the skin on my calfs leaving bloody strips. (and I still have marks from them!)
Sunday, May 2, 2010
before more galapagos perhaps a little culture overview?
Ok so I guess I never gave the run down on how things happen here. Here are a few little quirks and phrases
1. people are usually late...no suprise we are probably one of the only countries who are on time
2. People use the word America/Americans for people here (naturally) so people could be offended when I say I'm from America or what have you. but i've never ran into this problem
3. There is a lot of soup
4. Sometimes there is meat in the soup but the meat has a bone...I never know the proper way of eating it
5. the meat is very tough...I think Ecuadorians have stronger teeth or something I can never rip it to chew a smaller piece.
6. Catcalling is common and many women whom are not cat called are actually offended. common calls: hola nina, guapa, princessa etc
7. I'm a staggering 5 feet 4 inches and taller than many men here.
8. People point with their lips
9. a finger wag is also a common way to say no
10. they dont' eat peanut butter and jelly. :O.............. and peanut butter is used for sauces (one is on potatos and it is DELICIOUS)
11. Cheese and Jelly is the pb and j equivelent here
12. Common card game: cuarenta.
13. you can make anything with platano (banana thing)
14. Gringo/a/ito/ita can be used as a term of endearment. (gringo is white person or foreigner) gordito/a can also be (more or less means chubby)
15. If you sneeze once you say salud (health), twice it is dinero (money) and third time it is amor (love)
16. they really love salsa de tomate (ketchup) and mayonesa (mayonese). a lot. I have even found bags of potato chips that come with packets!
17. Gordito/a is used for a term of endearment as well (means chubby more or less)
18. Hair Gel is pretty much a must for men
19. Men's jeans often have designs on the backpocket while women's jeans often lack backpockets
20. Lunch is the bigger meal
21. After a big lunch with families or friends they usually drink a little post dinner shot. But they sip the shot.
22. it was hard to find chocolate chips
23. They sell stuff on the street. Anything from fruit to brooms, sunglasses to cellphone charges. There are also a lot of street entertainers that juggle knives, balls, fire or dress up poorly as a robot
24. Rice is served at 90% of the meals. and I'm not even sick of it yet
25. To greet you kiss one time on the cheeck, this is also to say good bye
26. When people arrive somewhere they say hello to everysingle person individually and do the same as they leave. no big GOOD BYE with a wave here
27. Being a gringita the taxi drivers love to try and ripe me off. Unlucky for them I know better than to pay 10 bucks to get home (it should only be about 3 and 5 at the most) I also have improved my arguing skills.
1. people are usually late...no suprise we are probably one of the only countries who are on time
2. People use the word America/Americans for people here (naturally) so people could be offended when I say I'm from America or what have you. but i've never ran into this problem
3. There is a lot of soup
4. Sometimes there is meat in the soup but the meat has a bone...I never know the proper way of eating it
5. the meat is very tough...I think Ecuadorians have stronger teeth or something I can never rip it to chew a smaller piece.
6. Catcalling is common and many women whom are not cat called are actually offended. common calls: hola nina, guapa, princessa etc
7. I'm a staggering 5 feet 4 inches and taller than many men here.
8. People point with their lips
9. a finger wag is also a common way to say no
10. they dont' eat peanut butter and jelly. :O.............. and peanut butter is used for sauces (one is on potatos and it is DELICIOUS)
11. Cheese and Jelly is the pb and j equivelent here
12. Common card game: cuarenta.
13. you can make anything with platano (banana thing)
14. Gringo/a/ito/ita can be used as a term of endearment. (gringo is white person or foreigner) gordito/a can also be (more or less means chubby)
15. If you sneeze once you say salud (health), twice it is dinero (money) and third time it is amor (love)
16. they really love salsa de tomate (ketchup) and mayonesa (mayonese). a lot. I have even found bags of potato chips that come with packets!
17. Gordito/a is used for a term of endearment as well (means chubby more or less)
18. Hair Gel is pretty much a must for men
19. Men's jeans often have designs on the backpocket while women's jeans often lack backpockets
20. Lunch is the bigger meal
21. After a big lunch with families or friends they usually drink a little post dinner shot. But they sip the shot.
22. it was hard to find chocolate chips
23. They sell stuff on the street. Anything from fruit to brooms, sunglasses to cellphone charges. There are also a lot of street entertainers that juggle knives, balls, fire or dress up poorly as a robot
24. Rice is served at 90% of the meals. and I'm not even sick of it yet
25. To greet you kiss one time on the cheeck, this is also to say good bye
26. When people arrive somewhere they say hello to everysingle person individually and do the same as they leave. no big GOOD BYE with a wave here
27. Being a gringita the taxi drivers love to try and ripe me off. Unlucky for them I know better than to pay 10 bucks to get home (it should only be about 3 and 5 at the most) I also have improved my arguing skills.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
La Costa y Los Galapagos
long time no talk.
soooooo March 6-March14? My familia was here and we all had a swell time in the galapagos and in banos. and My dad bought many many things in Otavalo (suprise suprise) sooo I'm going to fast forward a bit toooooooooo what happened next.
On the 18 of March we arrived at the coast. WE first stopped at a place called Piqueros Patas Azules ( blue footed booby ... well blue feet. and piquero is for the way they dive) and we checked out some of the intertidal life there like limpets and oliva, urchins, vacitas del mar ( super cute slugs, but means little cow of the sea), also saw lots of sea stars and sun stars etc. all that good stuff. All of it was also on very slippery rock. AHHHHHH. no worries. I didn't fall.
We did lots of intertidal jazzy stuff and look at cepholods, more slipper rock . got a little sun burtn and all and all had a good time.
AND THEN (oh man, you better be excitied for this....(my spelling is getting worse (and so is my punctuation use ))))))))))) we went to a FISH MARKET. It smelt bad. There were fish. ze end.
(i'm tired) No actually the fish markte was really cool and interesting because you get to see deep sea fish that you usually odn't get to see. Plus it was a small artesinal business so it is more or less done sustainably although some fish/sharks should not be fished. At the fish market we found some Dorado, all sorts of tuna, sea robin, hammer heads and other sharks. The current president unbanned shark finning (dumby). We also saw a flounder , calamari (at some of this too, but not at the market), swordfish, rays and manta rays, pufferfish .
AND THENNNNNNNNNNN
ze Galapagos!!!!!!
We stayed on San Cristobal and we had families here as well. Once again I had an awesome family. They had a 12 year daugher and a 21 year old son, but the son is in the navy/marines? so he stays in guayquil . They also had another gringa staying with them. She spoke very little spanish which is a shame. they also had a superrrrrr cute dog. We were on San Cristobal for maybe threeish days practicing our snorkeling skills and working on intertidal zones then we whent on an eight day boat trip. vahoohoo boat. and camera two died somewhere in here. i turn out to be a little bit of a butter fingers (or perhaps it was all that sunblock) and dropped the camera...but it was fine....until i brought it into the water. the drop made it the opposite of water proof......my bad. SORRY MOM
The boat venture started on Isla Santa Cruz. We looked at plants etc and then got on the boat. I also told a really funny joke that day about a girl and a swing. If you haven't heard it yet make sure I tell you RIGHT when I get back. It is a good one.
Day two we went to Isla Genovesa. We looked at lots of birdies. Such as boobies ( haha I saw boobies and tities on my study abroad. teheheheheh) there were lots of baby boobies and they were cute and fuzzy. There were also tons of frigate birds , many of the males with their pouches inflated to attract the females. The snorkeling at Genovesa was really awesome. Genovesa is shaped kindo of like a bowl with a bite taken out of it and along the walls were tons of christmas tree worms. Christmas tree worms are these darling lil sea worms that are all brightly colored and come in more colors then a crayola box and they look all spikey. If you wave your hand over them though they suck in their spikey things. While snorkeling we also say blue ching parrotfish, king angel fish, white tip sharks, a lobster, girant damsel, Morish Idol ( who can also be seen in Finding Nemo he is the one with the scar on his face), Blue and yellow snapper, Mexican hogfish, Razor Surgeonfish, bumped head damsel, and a hawksbill turtle (they are a lot harder to find). and yes I can still Id all of these fish. We also saw the Red-billed tropic bird. that more or less doesn't have legs, or legs that function wells so when it langs it just kind of crashes. we didn't get to see it crash though.
We also saw some fur sea lions different then galapagos sea lions, they have more fur and different noses.
Isla Bartolome-Isla Santiago (Sullivan bay) was our next stop.
At sullivan bay we looked at lava formations. There are seven different types I do believe. They are all black and they are all really hot. but Pahoahoa lava was the most common lava formations and it was smooth and kind of looked like ropes. We also "made snorkeling" here and saw a box fish, barber fish, white mouth moray, guenea fowl puffer, flag cabrilla, and a hierooglyphic hawkfish.
Then we were off to Isla Sombrero Chino- Isla Santa Cruz (Cerro Dragon)
At Sombrero Chino we had to do a field activing measuring different types of coral: Pavona, Pocillopora, and Tobastrea. The galapagos doesn't have very much coral and the current was also very strong that day making it difficult to swim in a straight line for transects. But we did get to see a blue starfish which was really pretty. On Santa Cruz we did some bird watching and also saw three land iguanas. They are a lot bigger than I had thought, and more yellow. Two of the iguanas were deep into a dual and one of them was rather bloody and got trapped in the burrow that the guide thought they were fighting for. It was a pretty good show.
Day Five we went to Isabela and visited the Breeding center. There were lots of tortoises and the babies would all climb over eachother to get places. We also checked out some flamingos and some more mangroves. Fun Fact: tortoises have a four month incubation
Day Six: Isla Fernandina and then back to Isla Isabela (Tagus Cove)
On Isla Fernandina we got to check out all of the marine iguanas online and then while we were snorkeling we got to se a few feeding as well. It was weird to see iguanas swim I wanted to be like hey you silly what are you doing in the water? but they can swim and that is where they get there food. While we were iguana watching on Isla Fernandina we also saw some Manta Rays jump out of the water in the distance. Our guide told us that it is though the females do this to try and out run the males during breeding, but my prof told us that it was males displaying. who knows? but they can jump REALLY REALLY REALLY high. you should probably youtube it. WE also saw the flightless cormorant which is a ridiculous looking bird. They just have shorty stubby little wings and they also have very thick feet for swimming. We also did some snorkeling here, but I'll stop listing all the species I see unless it is something super amazing. (which in truth should be everything I saw but this bad boy is getting pretty long)
Then in the afternoon we headed over to Tagus Cover for some more snorkeling ( we decided to skip our second land excursion this day and for a very good reason). One person counted that we saw over 50 pacific green sea turtles here.and I saw a loosetooth parrotfish. which isn't that pretty, just has a fun name. Then we were back on the boat and on a look out for whales and dolphins. What luck we had, becase we saw hundreds of Common Dolphins jumping, playing, frolicking in the beautiful Galapagos sunset.
Day Seven. Santiago Island (Puerto Egas)- Isla Rabida
Puerto Egas used to be a hot spot to find pirates and whalers who were looking for water, instead they found tortoises. So they would gather up as many as they can and just store them on their boats because tortoises can live along time w/out food or water and then once the sailors wanted a tortoise steak they could. Snorkeling here one of the cute things I saw was a barnacle blenny which is a really small fish that lives inside of barnacles and they just peep out. At Rabida we did a snorkeling activity to compare fish diversity and abundance over rocky and sandy substrate. Rocky substrate one by far.
Day eight. we went to a mangrove. we stayed in the lil zippy boats the whole time and looked at stuff from above the water like sharks adn eagle rays etc.
to be continued.....
including cute stories about playing with sea lioooooooons
soooooo March 6-March14? My familia was here and we all had a swell time in the galapagos and in banos. and My dad bought many many things in Otavalo (suprise suprise) sooo I'm going to fast forward a bit toooooooooo what happened next.
On the 18 of March we arrived at the coast. WE first stopped at a place called Piqueros Patas Azules ( blue footed booby ... well blue feet. and piquero is for the way they dive) and we checked out some of the intertidal life there like limpets and oliva, urchins, vacitas del mar ( super cute slugs, but means little cow of the sea), also saw lots of sea stars and sun stars etc. all that good stuff. All of it was also on very slippery rock. AHHHHHH. no worries. I didn't fall.
We did lots of intertidal jazzy stuff and look at cepholods, more slipper rock . got a little sun burtn and all and all had a good time.
AND THEN (oh man, you better be excitied for this....(my spelling is getting worse (and so is my punctuation use ))))))))))) we went to a FISH MARKET. It smelt bad. There were fish. ze end.
(i'm tired) No actually the fish markte was really cool and interesting because you get to see deep sea fish that you usually odn't get to see. Plus it was a small artesinal business so it is more or less done sustainably although some fish/sharks should not be fished. At the fish market we found some Dorado, all sorts of tuna, sea robin, hammer heads and other sharks. The current president unbanned shark finning (dumby). We also saw a flounder , calamari (at some of this too, but not at the market), swordfish, rays and manta rays, pufferfish .
AND THENNNNNNNNNNN
ze Galapagos!!!!!!
We stayed on San Cristobal and we had families here as well. Once again I had an awesome family. They had a 12 year daugher and a 21 year old son, but the son is in the navy/marines? so he stays in guayquil . They also had another gringa staying with them. She spoke very little spanish which is a shame. they also had a superrrrrr cute dog. We were on San Cristobal for maybe threeish days practicing our snorkeling skills and working on intertidal zones then we whent on an eight day boat trip. vahoohoo boat. and camera two died somewhere in here. i turn out to be a little bit of a butter fingers (or perhaps it was all that sunblock) and dropped the camera...but it was fine....until i brought it into the water. the drop made it the opposite of water proof......my bad. SORRY MOM
The boat venture started on Isla Santa Cruz. We looked at plants etc and then got on the boat. I also told a really funny joke that day about a girl and a swing. If you haven't heard it yet make sure I tell you RIGHT when I get back. It is a good one.
Day two we went to Isla Genovesa. We looked at lots of birdies. Such as boobies ( haha I saw boobies and tities on my study abroad. teheheheheh) there were lots of baby boobies and they were cute and fuzzy. There were also tons of frigate birds , many of the males with their pouches inflated to attract the females. The snorkeling at Genovesa was really awesome. Genovesa is shaped kindo of like a bowl with a bite taken out of it and along the walls were tons of christmas tree worms. Christmas tree worms are these darling lil sea worms that are all brightly colored and come in more colors then a crayola box and they look all spikey. If you wave your hand over them though they suck in their spikey things. While snorkeling we also say blue ching parrotfish, king angel fish, white tip sharks, a lobster, girant damsel, Morish Idol ( who can also be seen in Finding Nemo he is the one with the scar on his face), Blue and yellow snapper, Mexican hogfish, Razor Surgeonfish, bumped head damsel, and a hawksbill turtle (they are a lot harder to find). and yes I can still Id all of these fish. We also saw the Red-billed tropic bird. that more or less doesn't have legs, or legs that function wells so when it langs it just kind of crashes. we didn't get to see it crash though.
We also saw some fur sea lions different then galapagos sea lions, they have more fur and different noses.
Isla Bartolome-Isla Santiago (Sullivan bay) was our next stop.
At sullivan bay we looked at lava formations. There are seven different types I do believe. They are all black and they are all really hot. but Pahoahoa lava was the most common lava formations and it was smooth and kind of looked like ropes. We also "made snorkeling" here and saw a box fish, barber fish, white mouth moray, guenea fowl puffer, flag cabrilla, and a hierooglyphic hawkfish.
Then we were off to Isla Sombrero Chino- Isla Santa Cruz (Cerro Dragon)
At Sombrero Chino we had to do a field activing measuring different types of coral: Pavona, Pocillopora, and Tobastrea. The galapagos doesn't have very much coral and the current was also very strong that day making it difficult to swim in a straight line for transects. But we did get to see a blue starfish which was really pretty. On Santa Cruz we did some bird watching and also saw three land iguanas. They are a lot bigger than I had thought, and more yellow. Two of the iguanas were deep into a dual and one of them was rather bloody and got trapped in the burrow that the guide thought they were fighting for. It was a pretty good show.
Day Five we went to Isabela and visited the Breeding center. There were lots of tortoises and the babies would all climb over eachother to get places. We also checked out some flamingos and some more mangroves. Fun Fact: tortoises have a four month incubation
Day Six: Isla Fernandina and then back to Isla Isabela (Tagus Cove)
On Isla Fernandina we got to check out all of the marine iguanas online and then while we were snorkeling we got to se a few feeding as well. It was weird to see iguanas swim I wanted to be like hey you silly what are you doing in the water? but they can swim and that is where they get there food. While we were iguana watching on Isla Fernandina we also saw some Manta Rays jump out of the water in the distance. Our guide told us that it is though the females do this to try and out run the males during breeding, but my prof told us that it was males displaying. who knows? but they can jump REALLY REALLY REALLY high. you should probably youtube it. WE also saw the flightless cormorant which is a ridiculous looking bird. They just have shorty stubby little wings and they also have very thick feet for swimming. We also did some snorkeling here, but I'll stop listing all the species I see unless it is something super amazing. (which in truth should be everything I saw but this bad boy is getting pretty long)
Then in the afternoon we headed over to Tagus Cover for some more snorkeling ( we decided to skip our second land excursion this day and for a very good reason). One person counted that we saw over 50 pacific green sea turtles here.and I saw a loosetooth parrotfish. which isn't that pretty, just has a fun name. Then we were back on the boat and on a look out for whales and dolphins. What luck we had, becase we saw hundreds of Common Dolphins jumping, playing, frolicking in the beautiful Galapagos sunset.
Day Seven. Santiago Island (Puerto Egas)- Isla Rabida
Puerto Egas used to be a hot spot to find pirates and whalers who were looking for water, instead they found tortoises. So they would gather up as many as they can and just store them on their boats because tortoises can live along time w/out food or water and then once the sailors wanted a tortoise steak they could. Snorkeling here one of the cute things I saw was a barnacle blenny which is a really small fish that lives inside of barnacles and they just peep out. At Rabida we did a snorkeling activity to compare fish diversity and abundance over rocky and sandy substrate. Rocky substrate one by far.
Day eight. we went to a mangrove. we stayed in the lil zippy boats the whole time and looked at stuff from above the water like sharks adn eagle rays etc.
to be continued.....
including cute stories about playing with sea lioooooooons
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