Day out at the zoo.

Ended up going to the zoo. Fantastic day, but lots of kids! Saw so much - condor, otters, lamas, totugas, preditor birds, parrots, pirana, rodents, tapier with stripped baby, piglike animals - really cute, penguinos, lobos, giraffe, 3 JAGUARS, lioness, lion, tiger, swans black from Australia, and white ones, and lots of other things I cannot remember now. Cost me about US$30 including taxi to and from zoo. The guy that took me there also picked me up.

Crap computer I`m on, so cannot type much.

In Iquitos now, had to pay S/. 140 (not sure how much that is, about US$60) for a room - travel insurance should pay for it though. Going to lodge tomorrow, there is a tour group going so I`m getting a lift with them.

Really tired, up at 2:15am this morning. It`s 10pm now and I need to find some food and a few last minute things for jungle. Lunch today was soupa with a chicken foot in it. Sort of ate around that. Main was rice, chips and crumbed chicken??

Have not seen a mozzie yet.

Lima for a bit longer than anticipated.

I am well and as per usual there are dramas with travelling. My flight to Iquitos was cancelled today due to bad weather. I`m on another flight at 6pm tonight. I got in from Guayaquil (Ecuador) at 7 last night and had to be at the airport early, so left the hotel at 2:30am! Just to wait until 5:30am to find out the flight was cancelled. Mad rush to get hold of people to check what to do. Got email from Peru Jungel people to say that they will meet me at the airport tonight. The boat usually only goes to the lodge on Mondays, so maybe it was also delayed due to the weather?? Will find out when I get there. Also spoke to my travel insurance co as I thought I may miss out on the Jungle trip altogether. Spent about an hour sorting the paperwork in case I need to pay for accommodation tonight and my trip is cancelled. They will pay up to $200 for a hotel. (Ha! It costs about $50 for a VERY nice room here, may be living like a queen for one day of my trip...)
Today is Independance Day in Peru, so I`m not sure what is going on in Lima. I`m looking on the internet to see if the zoo is open today. One taxi driver said it will be like a madhouse as all the poor families with their screaming kids go there for the day as it`s a holiday today (actually, he didn`t really say that, I`m just paraphrasing into Ingles).

There is also a celebration at Plaza de Armas in historic downtown Lima, so I may go there. But it only starts at 11am and I don`t feel like being mugged today.

I`ll come back to the airport at 3pm. Spoke to another couple who missed their flight to Cusco. The plane left 50min early, while they were having a coffee yesterday.

Bartholome

Went to Bartholome on my last day in the Galapagos. Pic of pinnecal rock and snorkel to see the choc-chip starfish.

I`m at Guayaquil airport now and board my flight to Lima in a couple of hours. Didn`t do anything while here in Guayaquil. Got in at about 4pm yesterday and just went to hotel. Watched TV and then went to the restaurant in the hotel for dinner. In bed by 9pm.
Decided not to run the 19km I was suppose too, as I`m sooo tired. Got up at 7am, packed my bags and went to the river. Very nice, but everything closed (Sunday??). Watched Batman, the dark knight in Spanish. Not too hard to follow...
Gotta go. Don´t know when next I`ll be able to contact you. Going to a hotel in Lima tonight, out very early tomorrow to go to jungle until Friday.

Santa Fe

Went on a really fancy big boat to Santa Fe today. It´s a 2hr jouney (on the boat we went on). Got there at about 10am. Went for a little trip in the dingy to look at blue-footed boobies, sea lions, marine iguanas on the rocks. Then onto the beach where there are sea lions. Not the mating season so it was pretty quiet.

Walk on a path to spot the land iguana. That was nice as I`ve not seen them yet. Only hunderds of marine iguanas. Also spotted a baby land iguana. They are a greenish-yellow colour where the marine ones are black (because they eat the black algae on the rocks - apparently). Spotted a Galapagos hawk, but it was flying and couldn`t see it up close.

Snorkel. Visability pretty good.

Fantastic lunch - better be, cost me $95 for today´s trip. Then home. Only 4:30pm. Meeting Helen, John and Susan for dinner tonight. May head over to the Darwin Research station now.

Tried to organise for a group to go to Bartholome tomorrow, but don`t think that is going to happen. Next time...

Another week gone.

This entry is a bit all over the place, but I´m too tired to fix it up!
Finally I´m at an internet cafe again. Most days I´m out from 7 or 8am to 5 or 6pm. Internet not always open either.
Been to San Cristobal and am now in Santa Cruz, the island I started on. Will be here until Saturday morning and then I fly out to the mainland.
Didn´t see much in San Cristobal. A small snake on a walking track. Sharks, green sea turtles and an eagle ray snorkeling. Cycled 60km yesterday, 20km up onto the highlands, looked at what should have been a small crater with fresh water, but it was so misty I could hardly even see the water. 10km down to the coast, walk to beach. Then 10km up and 20 down again (all in the rain). Didn´t go for a run. I did my last long run on Sunday before I left Isobela (I flew out on Sunday at 2pm). Ran 15km at night when we got back from Floreana ( an island 2hrs south of Isabela). Great snorkeling there. Then 22.5km on Sunday. Not far enough, but ran out of time. On Saturday night I saw two barn owls.
Ran 8km tonight. Saw another owl, but before I could take a pic (didn't have my torch with me), a motorbike came past and scared it away.
I´m going to Santa Fe tomorrow for the day. Also trying to get 10 people together to go to Bartholome on Friday, but not sure if that is going to happen. May go to Floreana again.
Boat trip from San Cristobal to Santa Cruz this morning was the same as most of the others - really bumpy! A wave hit us from the side and all the people on the opposite side to where I was sitting got thrown on the floor of the boat!
In San Cristobal I stayed with a family in their home. $15 per night, all meals included. Here in Puerto Ayora (the main town on Santa Cruz) I´ve booked into a hotel. $20 per night. Just went to the shop and got some buns, tuna, jam for lunch and dinner.
A few people I know from Isabela will be here tomorrow, so we are meeting up to go to dinner. I also met a few older German ladies and went with them to the highlands of Santa Cruz today. Pretty much the same trip as I did when I got here. But this time we visited a couple of small craters - I saw a Vermicilli Flycatcher (think that is spelled correctly). Walked throught the lava tunnel again too. And in the bush looking for giant tortoises. We fed one some guavas and took photos as it was chomping away. Very cute.
I think I´m getting worse with my running! I seem to be tired a lot and I´m a bit worried about my Inca trail run. Will have to wait and see how I go...
I miss Cairns, we have such a nice spot. I cannot wait to get home and just see the wallabies and the odd echidna. Here on the Galapagos there is not a wide variety of animals, and I´ve not been able to go to all the places where I know you can spot them. But it is very nice. Saw 20 pelicans on the beach at Isabela the other day. And the sea lions are very cheeky, they will swim right up into your face. And the yound ones play with each other, jumping out of the water. Lots and lots of marine iguanas.

The weekend from hell

As per usual it was overcast and raining on the weekend. Friday was sunny, so that at least was good.

The weekend eight of us went to volcano Sierra Negro and volcano Chicho. Walked in the mud and mist for about an hour before we got a bit of a view of Sierra Negro´s crater. Volcano Chicho was like walking on the moon. Some good views.

Sunday six of us went to the Tunnels to snorkel. Didn´t see anything. Well, everyone else saw turtles, sharks and various other underwater stuff. I just saw sand. Mantarays absolutely huge on the way home. The others went for a swim with them. I stayed on the boat. Best part of the day was the flying fish that flew next to the boat.

I´m going to leave Isabela probably on Sunday. Going to look around at the other islands.

Turtle Breeding Center

We work at the center each weekday from 8 until we are done (usually about 11 - and that includes extended standing around time, chatting to each other). We have breakfast at our hostel at 7 am. It´s always the same: egg (scrambled, omlette or boiled), a bun (each of us get our own plate with a tablespoon of margarine and jam), freshly squesed juice and a cup of hot milk. Well, I get hot milk, some of the others get hot water. That´s so you can make your own coffee (Nescafe).

At the center there are currently people from three different volunteer groups. There seems to be no control on how many people arrive, as it seems that each day we get more people! There are now four teachers there. Three of us teach high school Biology and the other one is an IT teacher.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday is feeding day. The tortoises are so cute. They literally come running when it´s feeding time. Someone collects the food somewhere and we put it in the cages. As us girls feed the little ones, we get to put in leaves - lots of big spiders... Even found a frog today. Big deal as frogs are introduced into the island. We called the boss to come and take it away and dispose of it. You also clean out the lagoona that holds their water.

Tuesday and Thursday is cleaning day. Clean out the left over food from the previous day. Sweep the paths. That´s about it.

We had a look at the incubation chambers today. Pretty primitive. Just an old wooden cupboard with a fan at the top (to control temperatue). The eggs are kept in plastic containers with sand in them. 6 eggs per container. Container wrapped in gladwrap.

There are of course adult turtles here too. It´s their young that are reared here at the center. The babies get released when they are about 5-6 years old. By this time their shells are hard enough to withstand the introduced predators - cats, dogs, donkies, rats, etc.

Isabela Island

Internet slow, and on my way to lunch - usually a soup, then rice, beans and a meat. At least the juice varies each day. Passionfruit, orange, paw-paw, grapefruit. Fresh.

Been to some of the outerlaying islands. Swam with the sea lions and penguins - on the equator? Yes!

Work at the breeding center is pretty easy. Got 4 girls and 5 boys there at the moment so we are done by 11. Start at 8.

Been for a few runs. There are road here, made of sand or gravel. Very nice tropical island, but windy and it´s been mostly overcast.

On Galapagos

I don`t know the time difference. Just get on the internet when I get time, usually at night. It´s 7:15 pm here now.

On Galapagos.

Arrived at about 12pm.

Went to a nature reserve and saw some male giant tortoises. Also went for a run to one of the beaches. A bit late (gate closes at 6pm), so I just got to run to the beach and then had to turn back. Will go there again tomorrow and run along the beach. Only about a 7 km run. I´m not sure how long the beach is, but it will be good to go to the end. Saw a couple of little lizzards. They are very jumpy, hopping from rock to rock. Also saw the finches on the beech.

Got until 1pm tomorrow here in Porta Aura, then we go to Isabela Island. We work every weekday from about 8.30 to lunch time. Then it´s free time. I don´t have any swimming goggles, so I hope there are some there that I can use. Bought an underwater camera.