The Galapagos Islands.. but no pictures

No pictures? That’s a half-truth. I decided to upload quite a few pictures from our time in the Galapagos, subdivided into three groups:

Videos

Under Water Pictures

Above Water Pictures

As there were just too many to choose from to make the cut onto my smugmug site, I realised it would just take me far too long to choose from that group pictures to add to this blog. So if you want pictures, the links are above for your perusal. One gallery has 140+ pics. Be warned.

So, what’s left is the text. And again, there is just far to much to write. So let’s get the superlatives out of the way first. The Galapagos Islands are like stepping back in time to an era where humans simply did not exist. The animals are plentiful, the animals show no fear of man, and the experience is as best described as “Jesus Christ, what the hell?”. I have never, for instance in my 27 years been within 1 meter of a wild hawk, only for it to turn to me and screech “what the hell are you looking at?”.. or watched amazed as a sea bird bravely confronted a human to tell him to get out of his patch of shade… or been hunted down by fearless pelicans intent on getting me away from their nest… or had blue-footed boobies and pelicans drop from the sky and dive for fish not meters from my head as I snorkeled… or float with the biggest grin as sea lions swim within centimeters of my face, only to turn in the last instant and perform dazzling underwater acrobatics… or swim with huge marine turtles who viewed me as nothing more than another curious relative of the sea lion… or seen a whale shark appear from the deep blue, white spots contrasting strongly against the seas around, and then watch the giant to slowly swim away, yet at a pace an Olympic swimmer could never match… or sat enthralled watching Albatross practice a mating dance that can last hours, only minutes after watching others jump off cliffs to gain flight… or sat next to a group of 50 marine iguanas as they huddled together to keep their body temperatures high… or walked along a beach, where scores of sting rays sat in the surf a few meters away, letting the oxygen-rich water rush over their gills.
The Galapagos are everything you've heard about and more. Leaving the Islands was heart-breaking.

We were lucky to have booked on a “luxury” boat - Queen of the Galapagos. If the Google-bot sees this page, please put it at the top. People need to know about this boat. She is luxurious, she is classy, she is style, she is comfort. Her crew are first rate, her itinerary is more than adequate, and I have to admit, lying here in a hostel bed, I miss her a lot! Our guide made the trip as well; knowledge pouring out of his ears, ready to answer even my obscure questions. He possessed the drive and motivation to inspire us (as if we needed inspiring) to give a damn about this beautiful world we live in, to love it, and to try and make a difference.

I could go on and on… and on and on and on. But I’m simply going to leave this blog here, barring one little PS below, because the pictures can tell a better story than I can. I'm sorry if you were expecting my usual detailed filled blogs. You'd think for this experience I'd go all out, right? Not so. I'm still in shock. Maybe one day I'll blog about it in detail.

Much love, on a huge come-down,
Adam

P.S. the promised post-script, is more for the afore-mentioned Google-bot than anything else. I want it to find these keyword tags:
- Panasonic, DSC TM1, FT1, review, purchase.
I’m not going to give a lengthy review of this camera. I only want prospective purchases to note one thing.
Do NOT buy this camera.
It failed on our penultimate day, with no warning. The LCD monitor is a purple mess, the lens functions based on what I can only assume is the camera’s mood, and it simply refuses to take a picture or video that isn’t a black screen. Luckily I got 6 days out of it, but that’s simply not good enough. And what’s worse, is that in anything less than crystal clear water within a meter from the surface, the pictures are grainy, noisy, lacking in detail, and the camera simply struggles to obtain focus. Suffice to say, Panasonic and I are going to have words.
Have a look at the Olympus Tough series, or the superb Canon D10. Or better yet, invest in a DLSR with a fast lens and an underwater housing.

Quickish Update Mk II

Hey folks. Well I'm just posting this to get the last few days out the way so the slate is clean. Why? Because tomorrow we fly out to the Galapagos and will spend 8 days on a boat sailing the islands. I can't wait! I'm pretty nervous about the sea-sickness (this being the roughest time of year for the seas around there), and considering I get sea-sick in the bath tub, and remembering my last excursion on a boat to sea, well right now my mind is in worry-mode.

To start us off - a sunset in Huanchaco, again!

Me at the Peruvian/Ecuadorian border crossing. There were a few pictures here representing anti drug squads who patrol the border. Peru is Latin America's second largest exporter of cocaine

Anyway, since my last update, we've arrived in Ecuador. From Trujillo, we took an 18 hour bus ride to Guayaquil (Ecuador's biggest city), which plenty of people recommended against. But we found it quite nice! Granted, it's not a top-ten desitination by any stretch, but the city has a bit of charm.

Guayaquil's lighthouse. Not sure if it's necessary as the city's on a fairly calm river.

View from the lighthouse

Guayaquil's redesigned waterfront. Loads of money has been spent on this place, and it's now quite safe

And again. That's Fran there

There's a park in the middle of the city that has the obvious wildlife, like squirrels, shitting pigeons and the like. What's a bit unusual is all the iguanas that are around there as well! Iguanas in a city park. Bizzare. There are even some tortoises in the pond, but the tame iguanas steal the show.

Iguanas find all sorts of places to rest. Like this tree

Or in a flower-bed

Little girl watches on as the boy starts pulling the animal's tail.

Portrait

Me and my new mate

We also stayed at one hell of a posh Guest House (La Casa de Romero if anyone's interested). Quite far out of town, but I guess when you have great accomodation, it adds a lot to your experience of a place.

From Guayaquil, we came to Quito, and we arrived last night. Today has been half admin (getting the tickets sorted, also laundry before the trip!) and half sight-seeing. I'll be back in Quito when I leave in a few weeks time (boo hoo!) so I'm not too fussed on seeing everything in one day. So I guess: more to come from Quito in a few weeks.

Inside Quito's gothic cathedral

Cathedral, another view

Anyway, like I said, this was a shortish update.
Remember we'll be away from the 'puter until next Saturday I reckon, so I'm unfortunately going to get even further behind in replies etc. Sorry dudes!

Before I go, there are two things I want to mention:

1. I've uploaded a video from the new underwater camera just to test my hosting site's functions and to see the quality. Here's the video. I tried compressing it before uploading, but it's still big. If anyone could please let me know what the image quality is like on your computer, plus how long it took to load, that'd be great. Hopefully I'll have some better videos to upload once the Galapagos is over and done with. (If you can't get HD on the video below, try this link)



2. My new Canadian friend Jen has sent me the coolest link:
Read between the lines, someone somewhere is preparing for the invasion. They don't want to panic us, but information like this is leaked for a reason. It's coming people. Stock up on food and ammo. And remember. Aim for the head.

Later
Adam