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We have settled in at Puerto Villamil on the island of Isabela. We are staying in a "family hostel" which is quite adequate. I can lie in bed and listen to the sea! Meals involve rice with various meat, fish or beans. We have a brisk 1/2 hour walk to work. Pasing iguanas and flamingos each day. Frigates and blue footed boobies are also very common sights.
Work starts at 8.00. Tasks include feeding and cleaning. The noise of 20 or so tortoise munching through elephant leaves is amazing. The highlight is to find a clutch of eggs. These are removed from the pen to prevent predation. In the centre this is normally due to ants. They are placed in an incubator to increase the success rate of hatching. Hatchlings are placed in small pens and fed on prome juicy elephant leaves. As they grow they are moved to larger pens and given bigger leaves and stalks. They may be released when they grow to 20cm. but some are kept to maintain the breeding programe.The centre has succesfully released many tortopise back into the wild. They are generally released where they, or their forbears were found, except where volcanic activity makes this too dangerous.
Our free time has involved some boat trips and many visits to a local lagoon and beach. We have seen many birds, whales, sharks, turtles and rays. It is spellbinding snorkelling and coming face to face with a turtle. They are incredably graceful even while grazing on seaweed.
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