August 29, 2006 - Ecuador, Day 7 (morning)

A new airline for us - Tame.

Not sure which volcano this is. Tall, though. It may be Cotopaxi.

Cool mountain.

As we travel to Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, on the way to the Galapagos, we travel out of the Andes, which are hugged by clouds like water holds the seashore.

GYE - Guayaquil airport.

Our first glimpse of the Galapagos - probably one of the Seymours.

We land at the former US Marine air station on the island of Baltra.

we took a quick ferry from Baltra to Santa Cruz, which has an actual town on it. This is just the ferry 'port' where we wait for our bus.

One of our first booby sightings (blue-foot style).

A sea lion plays in the water in front of us.

The islands are basically desert. As we approach the highlands on this little island, the flora really livens due to slightly increased precipitation.

Galapagos mockingbird.

One of two craters on Santa cruz, this was a collapsed volcanic cone.

It has a prehistoric look to it.

In the middle of Santa Cruz are fields with wild Galapagos Tortoises.

Two more in the distance.

This dude is going to TOWN. These are all males, which get up to 600 lb. The females are smaller and stay in the lower country, where the males go during mating season.

Jill poses with one of them.
(We can't get too close. Unbeknownst to some of the people we saw in the islands, they are so pristine because of the respect with which the Galapagos is treated.)

Nice side.

Watch for the turtle "luck."

Neck Ho!


Later - the boat and Charles Darwin Research Station