Flora and fauna

Flora and fauna

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Flora and fauna pictures and comments

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Quito (Sierra Madre) and Cotacachi (La Mirage)

No wonder the trip was so much fun... ...this is who I get to travel with!>			<Matthew make himself at home in his room at the Sierra Madre. It was clean, inexpensive, and reasonably quiet. Ecuadorian drivers honk at intersections rather than stop for the light. Don't laugh, it works!. Recommended.
	<Quito delights. Here is a nice antenna (I'm always looking for radio stuff). Parked outside is the Quito police car. The police themselves have the classic stature of the Ecuadorian people; there is a contest to see how many Quito gendarmes you can fit into this vehicle.	One thing that bugged me a little bit about Ecuador... they get a little sloppy with their geography. You would think that a country that was named after something would at least know where it was. Here is my measurement of their equatorial markers' location.>
I'm a sucker for taking flower pictures. The weather was overcast during most of the time we were in Cotacachi, but this guy still looked good. It stared at us as we left our bungalow every day.>			<At 8300 feet in the Andes, flowers and tourists bloom.
		It doesn't get any better than this! In the bungalow at La Mirage.>
We were in Cotacachi during the religious celebrations during and around Easter.		The experience of the processions and impact of the gathering of the local people cannot be fully expressed in pictures or words.
This is where the procession ended up. The church at Cotacachi sure drew a crowd that day.		How far do you have to go to find people that are not interested in technology? Further than Cotacachi. This family saw the preview screen of the digital camera and became the willing subjects for this picture. Could have sold them one...>

Isle Santa Cruz

We were walking through the streets of Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz... and this Hibiscus just sort of jumped out and begged to be immortalized on the Web. It was gorgeous even before I edited it a bit. Enjoy...		Here is the map of the islands found at the Charles Darwin Research Station..
	Here William tells us where we are. Note the perspiration on his face. Everywhere in the Galapagos is hot. In the rain it's hot. Underground in lava tubes it's hot. The ocean water was (86 degrees F) hot. Heck, even in air conditioned rooms it's hot.		Here is a nice shot of our Galapagos Guide, Richard talking up the tortoises we are about to see. On the wall behind him are some carapaces from the various species on the islands. Darwin Station raises, re-introduces, studies, raises monies, and in general acts as a focus for the scientific study of Galapagos life.

Islote Sombrero Chino

Chinese Hat. Easily recognized by all. Lovely island. Let's begin our visit with...		Penguins! Bizarre little creatures. They sit around (well, stand around is more like it) in little groups just sort of looking at the world go by.
	We got rather close in the Ponga. They couldn't have cared less; if we weren't a possible food or mate, we weren't on the Penguin map.		Our closest daylight approach. Cute little guys. You should see them "fly" underwater! When we kayaked real near them at night, they were unworldly. They just stood there, in the moonlight (full moon) quietly looking at each other or the ocean. Again, we weren't interesting to them. You got the spooky feeling that they were communicating telepathically. They had to be. Sorry, I don't have a picture... and, of the Galapagos experiences I had, Penguins By Moonlight was surely one of the most moving.
Galapagos endemic Lava Lizard. Not much to look at (though the mating season brings out more color), but another example of natural selection.		Bet you were wondering what Lava Lizards eat...
	Note that the flower pictures you see from the Galapagos are mostly yellow or white. Why?		Another lava lizard. They are a little more mobile than either flavor of Iguana, but much less impressive.
Matt is reacting to the smell of dead and dying Sea Lion. Ugh. This is the horrible downside to the El Nino season. No nutrients, no fish, no milk, starving pups. And there wasn't a %^&* thing we could do about it.		Sea lion pup. This one was reasonably well fed (no ribs were showing). It wasn't out of danger yet, but there was hope. Just as we left the islands, the water temperature was changing, and presumably the mix and quantity of fish for the sea lions.
	Two sad Gardners view three sad sea lions...		...as the waves crash on the beach.
Matt and William look out over some real beautiful coastline.		So much beauty that it almost numbs you after a while..
	On the way back to the panga, this pup checked each of us out to see if we were mama. We weren't, but even the males in our group were lactating.		A little artsy, but the moon did rise gloriously that night. Richard ran to get his video camera and taped the whole rising. I just got this (heavily processed) picture. Sleep well.

Isla Bartolome

Pinnacle Rock. Galapagan landmark. Shaped partly by American bombardiers, this rock is part of every pamphlet produced about the islands. The snorkeling beneath it was wonderful; the only place we swam with the Penguins. That's Jeans hat.		Jeanne again. Having trouble with some of the local fraternity guys. Better get used to it Jeanne. They eventually let her on the island; sea lions don't like to be clapped at. Hurts their little ears.
	The intrepid band mounts a great effort to scale the heights of Isla Bartolome. It's not too tall, but I bet it's hot at noon!		And, summit they do! Can you read the latitude and longitude?
Gardner family. Jeanne with her winsome pose... and Bret blinked! I composed the picture purposely... that's Pinnacle Rock in the background.		The FlamStings. Me with my hat and sock. Molly with her water bottle and... she blinked! There goes our chance at a Christmas picture! I guess I'll have to edit her eyes open...
	This is the view from the top of Bartolome of a little submerged crater maybe 15 meters across. I asked if it was a good place to snorkel... Richard said no... beneath Pinnacle Rock was the place. He was right (naturally).

Espanola

	Here, just around the coast from Buccaneers Cove, lies this anchorage where Darwin landed only to complain that there was no place to put his bedroll "for the multitude of [marine] Iguana nests". Sadly, there is no problem now.		Nice little riparian scene with river and ocean rounded lava rocks of disparate origin.
Ma and Pa Sally Lightfoot. I had more trouble getting a crab picture. Unlike all the other wildlife in the Galapagos, the Sally lightfoot crabs would not let me get close; and I had to get close to get any kind of picture with the DC210. Then I stumbled upon this portrait of Ma and Pa.		If this guy could just talk.
	At the grottos on Espanola. Here we met Darwin's toilet, some great grottos, much wildlife and a great walk in the tidal pools. When you look south from here, you see Antarctica.		The obligatory knees and reflected faces picture taken in a tidal pool.
		Say Goodnight Gracie.

Onboard the Resting Cloud

	William leaning into the wind.
Pierce at the bow.

Las Plazas

A slightly blurry Sylvia is inspected by a land iguana. I told the iguana that Sylvia always looked blurry; contact lenses for Iguanas are so hard to get in Ecuador. He spit salt at me through his nose.		Close-up of a Galapagos land iguana that was a little yellow footed that day.
	One Boobie.		Two Boobies
Along with the Sea Lions on the Plazas, there were very content Land Iguanas. These guys were large (though rumored to be smaller then the guys on the "western islands") and well fed. Their bad time will come as the anomalous rains dropped by El Nino stop.		Sea Lions on the Galapagos come in two flavors, Sea Lions and Fur Sea Lions. Gotta look at the ears and eyes to differentiate. Anyway, in this picture, a great many lounge in the greenery on the Plazas. The amount of biological diversity on these Plaza Islands was extraordinary. You could see from one end to the other of each island, yet there were a few individuals (at least) of most of the endemic Galapagos species.
	Molly smiles back for an instant while walking along the cliff edge where Blue Footed Boobies nest by the hundreds. Interestingly, "blue feet" came in many shades ranging from a dark, almost corporate, blue to turquoise. Why?		This picture is interesting not just because it is a rather large Galapagos land Iguana, and not because the big guy has yellow feet (we did not come in the Iguana breeding season which our guide assures us is far more colorful), but because the carpet of green that embraced the islands is quite anomalous. Another gift of El Nino and its rains.

			Here is an image that is interesting because, well, how many times do you find a Marine Iguana in a cactus? The cactus finch on top is a nice touch.
Close-up of one of the waterfalls cascading from the western cliffs of Santa Cruz island. Visible from the Plazas
	Early in the morning before the taxi (most taxis are little Fiat 128s) the better part of the FlamStings lean their sleepy heads on the wall in front of the Sierra Madre hotel. We loved it there; inexpensive, clean, quaint and courteous.		As the plane banked away from Quito, a peek back over the wing caught a volcano towering above the clouds, a reminder of the amazing geology of the Andes.

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This page last updated Thursday, December 28, 2000
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