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So I´m back from the Galapagos islands! They were amazing, absolutely beautiful. The weather was so so hot the whole time we were there too so that made them even more exotic-seeming!
We managed to stay in a hotel on Santa Cruz for 4 nights instead of a boat, which is definately a good thing since i know i would have been sea sick the whole time. As it was, we got a boat most days to neighbouring islands (which i was sea sick on anyway!)
The day we arrived we went on a walk round the nearby area. We visited the Charles Darwin centre and a tortise sanctuary where they have succeeded in reintroducing two species of tortoise back to the island from near extinction., we got to see where they rear the young ones before releasing the majority into the wild. On the walk we also got to see two types of land iguana. They were huge! And bright red.
The next day we went to Floriana, another island. Here we saw more turtles on land and went for a walk up to the second highest peak to get a beautiful view of the surrounding forrest. That afternoon we took a boat around the coast to visit a couple of bays. We went scuba diving in one and saw sea lions, a stingray and Dory-type fish (as in finding nemo)! Unfortunately the boat broke down so we had a lot longer than expected to scuba dive, and since I got sea sick on the boat I had to spend a long time in the water. It didnt matter since I got to learn how to scuba dive (kinda!) but I did get stung by a jellyfish when climbing back onto the boat. Aparently theyre attracted by the fumes of the engine. Nice! That day we also went round a rock known as Devils crown and saw bluefooted boobies and massive black birds with red chests that I´ve forgotten the name of!
On the third day we visited Santa Fey and did a guided scuba dive. We saw a huge shoal of fish, but unfortunately no sharks were there feeding at the time. We also got within a metre of sea lions, both on land and in the sea, and saw a sea turtle, plus many many kinds of fish. Later we went back to Santa Cruz to view flamingos and muck about on a beautiful beach.
The next day we went on a long and VERY hot walk to a beautiful bay on Santa Cruz. The water was beautifully warm but everyone was feeling the heat and instead of walking back again we got a boat back round the island. After lunch we visited some lava tunnels, which were wonderfully cool. That afternoon/evening there was a really random BBQ party at a local ranch for everyone in our tour group. Despite being basically the only people who spoke english apart from 3 others who also spoke fluent Spanish, we managed to communicate through dance and karaoke! There was lots of konga/salsa/YMCA and other random dances as well as spanish Karaoke to enjoy. A very odd but fun night!
Unfortunately the next day we made our way back to the mainland. On the way we got to stop off at twin craters, formed when magma chanbers collapsed. They were huge, about 1000m deep and 900 accross. Here we finally got to see some of the famous finches, as well as a flycatcher bird.
I am now in Latacunga in Ecuador. We don´t have a solid plan atm so updates as and when I manage to get to the internet!
xxx
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