There are many magical aspects of the Galapagos Islands, but for me, the iguanas are supreme. There are endemic (native only to a particular place) marine and land iguanas on the islands. The marine iguanas are the only reptiles that drink salt water. Eventually, they blow out the salt through their nostrils. How cool is that? They are herbivores and feed on the ocean algae. They fascinate me – how they move both on land and in the water and their chameleon-like color changes to match the seasons. The land iguanas are equally interesting. They eat cacti and other plants and come in various colors according to island location as well. While I am looking forward to leaving the islands at the end of March, I am going to miss these characters.
Tag Archives: Land Iguana
An Early Christmas: 48 hours on U.S. soil (with a stop in Guayaquil)
Matt and I were prepared to spend our first Christmas away from Wisconsin since embarking on our international adventure. It had been a long 7 months primarily on the island, but Matt isn’t off school for an extended amount of time until the end of February. Even when he was headed to New York City for a long weekend on business, I was planning to stay behind. Then my family offered to fly out to NYC for an early Christmas with us and I couldn’t resist. Plans were quickly finalized, including a visit with Matt’s mom and sister, and our whirlwind weekend was upon us.
Direct travel from the islands doesn’t really work, so we spent a night in Guayaquil, Ecuador, before heading to NYC. Guayaquil is the largest city in Ecuador and its banking and commercial hub. We had heard horror stories about Guayaquil and were given the usual warnings to be extra careful because the city was dangerous.We were pleasantly surprised. We stayed in a lovely hotel right across from “Iguana Park” (formally named Parque Seminario) and the Cathedral and a few blocks away from the delightful Malecón 2000 or river walk.
Monkey Welcome
Cathedral
Can You Spot the Iguana?
Chilling in the Park
You would think that iguanas lose their appeal when you live in a town filled with them, but they don’t for me. I find the dragon-esque creatures to be equally fascinating and hilarious. Iguana Park was filled with land iguanas, a relative of the marine iguanas in Puerto Ayora. There were easily hundreds of them all over the park. We admired them and the turtles and koi in the pond. Early the next morning we went for a walk before our flight so I could visit the iguanas again and… no iguanas! Matt and I were mystified: where the heck did they all go? We wandered about and Matt teased that they were brought in for the tourists every day and shipped out at night. At one point I stopped under a tree in the lilac family to enjoy the sweet scent. We continued walking and I joked “what, did they all climb up to sleep in the trees at night?” We looked up – Yep!
We Had No Clue These We Above Me
Iguanas and Birds
Mini Dragon
Waking Up in a Tree
Count the Iguanas!
We headed to the airport and our only excitement there was that one of our bags was flagged for a narcotic check so Matt had to go in the secret room for that process. As you can see, he didn’t look nervous due to a clean conscience.
Narcotic Check
At 8:30 pm we landed in New York, whizzed through immigration and customs and were in Manhattan at the house my family rented by 10 pm. Mick and Andy were out picking up our requested Indian food for dinner and Tom, Sue and Shannon had managed to stay awake to greet us despite being up at 4 am for their own flight. We visited into the wee hours until Mick, Andy and I finally called it a night at 2:30 am. The next morning we were able to have breakfast together before Matt headed to his meeting, Tommy, Sue and the kids to the Rockettes show and Mick, Andy and I for a walk alongside Central Park to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Leaving the House
Enjoying the Met
An Afternoon at the Museum
Angel Tree
Man With Beard²
We reconvened in the late afternoon at Times Square, walked around bit and caught the first of many subway rides back to the house before dinner at Paola’s, a delicious Italian restaurant, and a nighttime visit to the Empire State Building.
Family Time in Transit
Manhattan in Manhattan
Riding the Subway
Lobby Plaque
Empire State Building
Shannon Catching On
Matt’s Favorite – Chrysler Building
The next day we took the Staten Island Ferry to get a view of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan. It was a gorgeous day – more like September than December – and the trip was warm and sunny.
NYC
Lady Liberty
Marilyn and Jenny flew in that morning in time to meet us for a late lunch at Katz’s Deli, made famous in When Harry Met Sally. While the scene was chaotic, it actually was a pretty efficient operation considering the crowds.
Geiger Contingent
Capitalizing on Hollywood
Crowded Katz
Matt and Marilyn/Mom
Group Goodbye
Premature Goodbye
One last stop before heading back to the house for final packing and our trip to the airport: Rockefeller Plaza and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The crowds were intense, but seeing the skaters and tree was worth it.
Rockefeller Tree
Christmas Cheer
5:30 pm and we were back in a cab for our 8:45 flight to Ecuador. A whirlwind trip but worth every minute!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Day Tripper, Yeah
True Love, Booby Love
Last Saturday we took our first day trip. The trip entailed a 35 minute bus ride across our island (Santa Cruz), a 40 minute boat ride to North Seymour island, a 1 1/2 hour guided walk around North Seymour, a boat ride (during which time we were served a delicious lunch) to a beach for snorkeling that is inaccessible by land on Santa Cruz, a boat ride back to port and a bus ride home. We were picked up at 7:30 am and dropped off around 3:30. While the price seemed steep at $168 per person, we compared notes with several of our fellow travelers and found it was an average price for the tour.
The Alta Mar
Getting Pointers from Captain Alex
Wake
Waiting in the Harbour
Embarking
Studying up
Navigation
Natural Captain
While Matt and I were most excited about the snorkeling part of the trip, the walk around North Seymour proved to be the highlight of the day. We disembarked the Alta Mar and headed out with our English speaking guide, Carlos. Our group had 2 Germans, 2 Norwegians, a Colombian and us. English was the common denominator and everyone was quite friendly and fluent. The other group were older Ecuadorians who stuck to themselves and were led by the Spanish-speaking guide.
Touring North Seymour
First spotted animal: the Sally Lightfoot Crab. We didn’t find it too exciting as Santa Cruz is loaded with them.
Sally Lightfoot Crab
The birds are the real stars of the show on North Seymour and we were not disappointed. Within a few steps we came upon these Swallow Tailed Gulls.
Island Greeter
Swallow Tailed Gull
Carlos urged us along. Gulls are strictly supporting cast around here.
There they were: the Frigatebirds in all their glory.
Frigatebird Roadblock
The adult male Magnificent Frigatebird is essentially indistinguishable from the adult male Great Frigatebird unless you are close enough to see the sheen of the feathers. The Great Frigatebirds have a green sheen and the Magnificents a purple sheen. We saw Great Frigatebirds and the green sheen was gorgeous.
Green Sheen
A few fun facts about Frigatebirds. They have the largest wingspan to weight ratio of any bird. Per Carlos, if they end up submerged in water, they drown because their wings get too heavy. They look impressive but are sneaky kleptoparasites, meaning they steal their food and nest materials from other birds. One way they steal food is to chase down a bird that recently caught something, shake it by its tail feathers until the bird pukes up its catch and then eat the catch. Lovely, right?
Just Hanging
Look at Me, Ladies!
Adolescent Resting
Wheee!
Holy Cow, Batman!
Soar Like a… Frigatebird
We were incredibly lucky to see the birds in all phases: eggs, babies, adolescents and adults. The birds live in colonies on sparse nests that look more like the birds just plunked themselves down rather than actually did any building. The single males scope out a territory where the posse then congregates and attempts to attract the females that fly overhead. The red throat pouch is their pickup move. It takes about 1/2 hour to inflate with air and then slowly the process of deflation occurs.
Puffed Up
Showing Off
Not Impressed
Just Let Me Sleep!
Couples are monogamous for the season and produce a single egg that is tended by both birds for a 6-8 week incubation period. Baby birds are allowed to stay in the nest for a year during which time their parents (although eventually just the mother) continue to feed them. As a result, usually a bird produces every other year. The adolescents have either white heads (Magnificents) or white heads with rust colored patches (Greats). The females of both species look essentially the same and are black with white breast and shoulders.
Paternal Love
Birds!
Baby chillin’ Under Mom
Feed us!
Waiting for Mom to Come Home
Bird of Prey?
Darn Teens Waiting to Eat
Fluff!
Conserving Energy and Trying to Stay Cool
Keeping Watch
We also saw Blue Footed Boobies on the island. This couple was particularly sweet.
Enjoying the View
Boobies
This one was incubating an egg in its nest, which basically is an indentation in the sand with one twig. No McMansions here.
Booby With Egg
In addition to the birds, North Seymour is home to many land iguanas. These guys look sleepy, but we saw one chase another out of its territory and they could sprint pretty fast! Interestingly, the iguanas on North Seymour were introduced from Baltra in the 30s. Subsequently, the iguanas became extinct on Baltra when it was used as a US military base. Because they are on nearby North Seymour, they can now be reintroduced to their original habitat on Baltra.
Partly Shed Skin
Pining for Baltra?
In the Scrub
Not Sure About this Guy
Cooling Off
Stretched Out
Fine Specimen
Finally, lest you think we live in paradise, we don’t.
Paradise Lost
Kerry On! 