Galapagos

Writing this half way through our second day on Galapgos. Trip began with another Mr. Hoggs wild ride through the Andes. When we finally hit level ground, te terrain couldn't have been more different. Straight road to Guayaquilthrough endless milesmof farmland. Agriculture is a large part of the economy of Ecuador. We saw cocoa, sugar cane, bananas (with plastic bags covering the bananas), rice and other crops we could not identify. The road took us through many small poorer towns, that, apparently, existed to benefit the farm laborers. Finally, into Guayaquil. This is Ecuadors largest city. It is very industrial, but modern, high rise type of downtown. Stayed at a nice hotel, but confusion about the shuttle service to the airport the next day had us concerned. Everything turned out well and made it into Barta with no problem. After a briefing, emergency exercise, lunch, and unpacking, we did out first excursion on North Seymore Island. We took about a three hour hike through the island. The first thing we saw were the sea lions. We were able to witness a lot of behaviors. They can appear very ferocious, even with pups. If a pup approaches a female, that is not the mother, the pup is subjected to very stern warnings. We, also learned and witnessed a lot about the male sea lion instinctual behavior.The blue footed boobies had recently had chicks. We saw chicks in various stages of decelopment. How they get the blue feet is a very interesting, complicated process. We did see marine and land iguanas. The tortoises will be on the last day. A highlight was watching the Frigates in their mating displays. The male has a pouch on it's neck that it can expand through a hole in it's trachea. It gets quite large. It will stay inflated for about forty minutes. During this time,the females fly above the males checking out the pouches. We actually saw a female swoop down and land beside the male (and the real courtship began). This morning we anchored at Espanola. We had a beach walk that was littered with sea lions. After only a day, everyone is getting blasé about sea lions. We then did a snorkel by the shore and off a small island near the shore. Saw lots of sea life. A pair of sea lions followed Becky and I for a short time. They like to swim in front of you and watch their reflexion in your mask. This afternoon will be a walk at Punta Suarez. Hope to see the albatrosses.