Darwin would be amazed at his influence here. He had no idea when he was here in his 20s what ideas would develop from his visit. But it´s pretty impressive!
Foreigners and outsiders (non-Galapagos people) who lived here over 25 years ago were grandfathered in and were allowed to remain living here. Now you can ONLY move here and live and work if you marry someone from here. Too many Ecuadorians and others were crowding in so they changed the rules.
Many people we met, like Rafael and his wife, were born there and lived their lives here. People here lived a much longer life than the average Ecuadorian, they say because of the climate.
The waters here: ¨¨The Humboldt (cold) current from the south, the Panama (warm) current from the north, and the Equatorial (cold) current from the west all meet in the Galapagos which provides a wide variety of food for vast numbers of species.
Weather seasons: ¨The rainy season is January to June, which coincides with the Panama current and they 50 - 1000 mm of rain. During the rainy season, the air temperature is warm and moist, and there are more insects, therefore, that is good for all land animals and birds. It is NOT good for the marine species because that means fewer nutrients, plankton, small fish, and food. The food chain is directly affected, therefore. In fact, during the worst El Nino years (1997 to 1998) 30% of the marine iguanas died off because of the warmth of the water. There was increased reproduction of non-marine species, however.
Dry Season: From July to ¨December and it´s called the Garua. The Garua produces colder, murkier water with more plankton. Misty rather than really dry conditions exist, as the Cromwell and Humboldt currents dominate. At this time, the air temperature is cooler and drier, and the water temperature is colder: therefore the food chain in the water is richer and the marine life is benefited.
Volcanic geology: The Galapagos Islands are one of the few volcanic ¨hot spots¨in the world - Hawaii and Yellowstone National Park being two others. Those hot spots are areas where the earth´s magma is closest to a think earth´s crust. On the other hand, most volcanoes (99%) are due to plates colliding with one another. In addition to being on a hot spot, the Galapagos Islands are located near where the Nasca Plate slides under the Continental Plate which is under South America. Altogether there are 26 active volcanoes in Ecuador. New volcanic islands form here and move with the plate SW toward the continent (I heard 7 cm-year) It is believed that as one disappears at one end, other islands form at the other end. One theory guesses that the animals transfer to another island as theirs disappears.¨
Brief History of Galapagos: 1535, Tomas de Berlanga discovered the islands (a cleric who got offtrack on a trip from Peru). Claimed them for Spain.
1600s, periods of exploration and conquest.
1700-1800s, mainly a place for pirates and whalers. We visited a cave where they left markings. Alas, NO GOLD!
1832, Ecuador took possession of the islands with Jose Villamil as first Governor.
1835, Darwin´s Voyage on the HMS BEAGLE began, with Fitzroy as captain. This voyage gave Darwin his ideas and evidence for his theories of evolution by natural selection.
Mid-1800s, periods of colonial decadence of resources and people. A penal colony was established there and much corruption took place.
1869, economic exploitation began with orchulla and lidrin were used for dyes.
1879, Manuel Cobos, a businessman and dictator, came to the islands. He cleaned things up and got rid of criminals, but he was extremely cruel and ruthless, and eventually a dictator. His way or the highway! Although he established sugar plantations, raised cattle, and produced sulfur, and was not well liked, he was assassinated in 1904 by one of his workers.
1959 established as a national park. 1960s developed for tourism. Today over 180,000 visitors per year (with a mandatory $100 a pop as you enter the airport!). No wonder Ecuador didn´t want to sell to the US when they were offered $15 million after WWII. France and UK also made an offer. Baltra Island was an essential Allies airbase during the war protecting the Panama Canal.
The animals stand out here because of their lack of fear of humans. They act like we are just annoying paparazzi. They are VERY strict about no touching and not letting them touch you! We complied!
Frigate birds: we saw some but NOT the big red-breasted ones.
Yellow warbler - the only warbler found here
Marine iguanas - saw TONS of these of all sizes, black like the lava rocks they love.
Pencil sea urchins - with blunt, very thick spines. Saw these on Isabella
Sally Lightfoot Crabs - larged, red, very interesting looking hanging on the sides of rocks next to the surf. Saw lots of these on the pier in Puerto Ayore.
Galapagos penguins - NOT see these cute, funny birds.
Sea lions - There are two species. Both are diurnal, one being awake during the day, the other at night. The day ones had smaller eyes and ears that were less long and pointed than the night ones. One of them is derived from the Humboldt current, so that it has a thick coat and is called the fur seal (almost decimated in earlier centuries). The other, the California seal, is the same as the one found in California, only smaller. I remember them in La Jolla being MUCH more aggressive! These seals were laying all over the piers, up on the benches, steps, and on boats moored in the harbor. We didn´t see it but they apparently can jump completely up over the gunwales of the boats and just sun themselves! People are very tolerant and give them wide berth. They are also very noisy!!
Blue and red footed boobies - They court for several weeks before mating. When they are ready, the male presents the female with a twig. Sometimes she accepts it, indicating her willingness to mate, but often she refuses - up to about 10 times for some. This behavior is a holdover from times when boobies actually made nests. Now they just lay eggs on the ground in a depression. The masked booby does the same thing. Only the red footed ones still have a real nest in a tree. I saw only the blue footed ones.
We had our last breakfast, this time cooked by Germani, Rafael´s wife, of omelet this time with veggies in it and an unusual berry juice. We also met Rafael, his son who is studying online to be a lawyer. Rafael drove and escorted us all the way to the ferry, over to Baltra and on the bus to the terminal where we said goodbye. We promised to recommend his place to our friends - Casa de Hermandaje Germania - for $50-night for both of us including breakfast and only a couple of blocks from the pier - great location for taking our day trips.
Interesting people we met: at breakfast Kirstin and friend (didn´t get his name) who are traveling from California for 6 months with no particular schedule around South America. We met so many young people doing long extended trips, making our 6 weeks look puny! But I reminded Betty of our year long sojourn in Europe in 1965, with $600 and a one way ticket (for me). We saw 28 countries in that year, including working in Munich for 4 months! Anyway, their facebook site is Our Next Adventure. They did a 7 day diving tour out to Wolf another island far out to the NW. They said the currents were terrifying and they had to hold on to barnacle covered rocks to not get swept away! Many sharks of all kinds! The guy got the bends (air bubble) and had to not dive for 2 of the days. Not my cup of tea but good for them!
Carol and Sheila - two travelers on the Legend boat tour of Gal. while we were waiting for our long delayed plane to Guayaquil, from Portland and Bend, OR. They were then flying from Quito to Santiago for a 10 day Insight Cruise sponsored by Scientific American where there are lectures of all kinds of scientific topics on board, as they cruise around, stopping, in Buenos Aires. Nice ladies!
Wilmer was at the Quito airport with a sign for us, and drove us through town to Bruna´s B & B. It was the last day flights will come in to the airport that is right downtown. Today the NEW one opens and they guess it will be an hour and a half to get there, instead of 25 minutes, and no public transportation except taxis. We just booked a 7 am flight to Lima and Cuzco, Peru, for the 24th, and we figure we have to leave here about 3: 30 am to make it!!
We have a complete apartment here (no other visitors although there are 2 other bedrooms), with kitchen, dining-living area with this computer (it´s much easier to do my blog on a regular keyboard than my iPad. I apologize for all the previous typos but it´s hard!). We even have Elena, who will do our laundry today while we sight-see, cook us breakfast and wouldn't let us clean up our dishes last night! The beds have lovely duvets, as Bruna and Miya, her business partner who´s away on Galapagos tours now, are both Swiss. Bruna said they came here and stayed for LOVE! Miya´s handsome son Samuel took us to a local shop to buy stuff for our take-in dinner last night. Bruna has an 18 and 22 year old son and daughter. They live elsewhere so we had the place to ourselves and had a lovely evening.
We´ve hired William as our driver (to save time, costs a bit more) for our one day tour of Old City Quito and out to the Middle of the Earth Equator line. Usually it takes 2 days but we leave tomorrow for Coca and our 4 day/3 night river adventure in the rain forest that Bruna arranged at the SaniLodge for us (check out their website). We´ll come back here from Coca and spend one night and again have Elena do our soggy laundry after 4 days in the rain forest!! Will start the malaria pills today. I think Betty opted out of them. Been sucking on coca candy for the altitude. Doesn´t seem to bother Betty. Have coca tea for breakfast this a.m.
Sorry this is so long! Read in segments if at all! This is basically for me! :) Miss you JACKSON and SARAH!! and Kerry! Trying to connect on Skype here with Doug before he leaves for Thailand. No success yet!
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