Galapagos Trip - Scenery

Dear Family and Friends,

During our Galapagos trip we just saw a small slice of the Galapagos pie. We saw enough to know that it is a "go back to" place. There is so much yet for us to see and explore. In this post I will share some of the scenery of the slice of Galapagos we saw.

This was a very typical scene since our trip was land based. There were tourist stores about every third store in the town of Puerto Ayora. They carried most of the Ecuadorian crafts we get here, but most of it had Galapagos embroidered, painted or stamped on it. Very few Panama hats there, mostly cloth hats with ties for under the chin. Of course with all the boat trips, these are more practical.

Pelican Bay was in the center of town. This is where the fishermen bring their catch of the day, clean it and sell it. Pelican Bay is a very descriptive name as there are hundreds of pelicans that park themselves nearby in the trees. The boats are fishermen boats.


You can watch the fishermen clean their catch. In this photo you will see it was more than humans who had their eye on the cleaning process.


Here is one fisherman's daily catch. The people of Puerto Ayora just come down and see what is available, buy their fresh seafood and go home and feast.


We had only a couple of days when the sun really came out. Most of the time it was overcast. This had it's good and bad points. When the sun is out, colors are more vibrant and photographs come out nicer but one can get severely sunburned. When it is overcast it tends to be hot and humid but you stand a chance of not getting burned if you use sunscreen. Also, your pictures come out dull.

Here is another shot of the bay.

Chuck and Linda went on a adventure walk to the beach at Tortuga bay. In order to get to the beach, you have to walk 2.5 K through the lava and cactus...on a paved walkway. They came home with grand tales of how this is the most beautiful beach they had ever seen. So, one overcast morning, Larry and I accompanied them to the beach.

Here is a picture of Chuck and Larry admiring a cactus tree on the walk to the beach.


When we got to the beach, it was deserted. Of course it was, it was overcast and on the verge of rain. Since the sun was not out, we missed the beauty that Chuck and Linda had witnessed. This is because the beautiful blue and green ocean depends on the sun to make it so.


The long walk through the cactus and lava was very hot and humid. If I were to do it again, I would pick a sunny day because even though the walk might be very hot, the view of the beach at the end of the walk would be brilliant.

We took a day trip to the island of Floreana. The sun came out and the scenery was fantastic, the ocean was blue and green and the stark rise of lava jutting up out of the ocean was stunning.



Although the islands are far apart, we could see another island off in the distance.


We took a land tour which included a trip to the top of Floreana island. Even though the day was sunny, the top of the island was almost like a cloud forest. We learned that the first human child born on this island was born in a cave. The story told to us was that a German couple was escaping Germany in 1929. They asked to be let off the large ship on this island. The woman was pregnant. They were able to survive on this island, living in a cave. Their child, a son, was born the same year. He is still alive and lives in the Galapagos islands.

Inca Head

Our guide explained how the father, because they were living in isolation, wanted to educate his son. The father caved this head in a rock to teach his son about the Incas who had once inhabited the South American Andes.

Full face...



It is now a very popular thing for people to have their pictures made with.

On the next post I will share some pictures of the flowers we saw.

Of course, I am saving the best to last.

Love,
Nancy