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| Sunset on "our" beach |
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| The new Baltra airport behind the old. Once a US military base, the army blew up all of the runways and buildings before handing it back over to Ecuador. Not sure what the story is behind it, but the new airport is an ecologically sustainable work of art: all natural lighting and "air conditioning" -- the shaded walkway from the planes is entirely solar panels. Pretty impressive. They had great empanadas, too. |
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| The view from our house, across Academy Bay. Puerto Ayora is off to the left. There are no roads to these houses -- you have to take a water taxi at .60 a ride. |
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| The geckos came out at night, hunting for flies and mosquitoes. Oakes was the only one of us able to catch them. Here we have Stevie Wonder II, identified by his snipped-off tail. |
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| Kung Fu and waterbending on the beach |
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| Our front door -- everything on the island is lava! |
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| Yellow warbler looking for a drink in the gutter |
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| Our path to the beach, a 3 minute walk. |
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| Low tide |
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| A hike to Las Greitas, a brackish pool and popular swimming hole, especially for local teenagers who huck themselves from the high walls into the deep water. |
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| Las Greitas, quite the oasis in the sweltering heat, 35 minute walk from the house |
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| Oakes studies a seal skeleton at the Charles Darwin Research Center |
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| Walking around, observing the Giant Land Tortoises |
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| Ubiquitous Prickly Pear Cactus. On one island introduced goats destroyed all of the cactus, thereby wiping out the tortoises who depend on cactus for food and shade. The goats have been removed and the tortoises are being reintroduced. Still, invasive species are the biggest threat to the ecological stability of the islands. |
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| The kids learned how to use a snorkel, handy for observing fish! |
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| Cassie enjoying the shade of some mangroves. |
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| Our boat tour to North Plazas Island, our third date since we've been here. |
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| Tuna steak, catch of the day for lunch on the boat. |
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| The Narel |
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| Heading out to Tortuga Bay, a 4K walk from town |
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| The semi-shaded walk to Tortuga Bay |
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| Beautiful, protected beach |
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| Oakes and a finch buddy. In the background, people are hopping a boat to head back to Puerto Ayora |
Missing it already.
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