Friday, July 8, 2016
Everyone is here, at the lovely Swissotel in Quito. We get picked at 5:50 tomorrow for the flight to the Galapagos.
Bruce took in several small museums in the old city. Especially noteworthy is the Casa del Alabado, a private collection of pre-Columbian items beautifully displayed in a restored building downtown and opened a few years ago.
The first item predates ceramics, about 4000 bce, about 5 inches tall. The second shows Inca era ceramic skills, just before the Spanish conquest.
*****
Saturday July 9 to Saturday July 16 -- Galapagos aboard the Ocean Breeze.
An early start, about 6:15 am at the airport:
We have all seen documentaries and read books on the Galapagos. They describe what we saw. But it is like the difference between a great painting and a reproduction.
Around 300,000 tourists visit the Galapagos each year. We followed itinerary "A". Dan has volunteered to create an album for the family, so a chronological recapitulation doesn't seem to be in order. So, instead, just some limited remarks on a few topics here:
We were well attended. The 14 of us were served by a crew of 11. The Ocean Spray:
When we returned from a hike, we were greeted with fruit juice and water. The fruit juice changed on each occasion.
We had perfect weather, but the water was cold. Most of us required wet suits, but braver, younger souls did without as the trip progressed. When we returned from a snorkel, we were wrapped in a towel and served a hot drink. We had not only cocoa but cinnamon milk. The last snorkel had sea lions and schools of rays swimming with us.
The food was remarkable, beyond just great. The service was the best we have experienced..
Remains: There are hawks in the Galapagos, but few predators otherwise. The animal and plant populations max out the available resources. When the el Nino arrives, the warm water kills off the green algae and zooplankton. At the end of the fod chain, the dead animals deteriorate slowly in the relatively dry climate. They're all over the place:
Hundreds of thousands of goats were exterminated on Isabella Island decades ago.
This year, the el Nino was much weaker than expected and the rains were sparse. So there was a lot of plant dieback.
Beautiful, but bleak.
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