Showing posts with label trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trip. Show all posts

Monday, November 03, 2014

Galapagos Trip - Quito, Ecuador

What a city!
Staying for about 2 days only  - what can you see, truly - but wonderful two days.


Nice airport, really. Less than 2 years old, we've been told. 



Beautiful old town Quito - with the colorful houses and narrow streets. We walked some!


Parque el Ejido in central Quito




View from a park to the mountain ranges around Quito.


Basilica del Voto Nacional





One of the steep streets in Quito - lots of people with cars, but more walking on these wonderful days with look at the angel statue 'el Panecillo'.



Sunday in front of the palacio presidencial. 



Downtown - one of the colorful houses. Lots of flowers in many places, and lots of sculptures, too!

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Galapagos Trip - Animals on Santa Cruz


Sally Lightfoot crabs.



Sea iguana - a smaller one.


Grasshopper - colorful and as long as my whole hand.


Galapagos flamingos - a few of the ~ 300 bird population. 



A brown pelican in the mini harbor.



And the sea lion - on the planks along the hotel. Yes, its true, and we actually saw a young sea lion suck milk from its mother. 

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Galapagos Trip - the beach on Isabella at the hotel

Fine sand - with some lava rocks in some areas - but a wonderful beach. No dirt or garbage, no dogs, no people. Animals up close - pelicans, and a surprise visit of a sea lion, pufferfish in shallow areas. Crabs, sea iguanas on the rocky parts. Absolutely wonderful.

(Galapagos trip part Ipart IIpart III , part IVpart V and VI )


Sand on the beach 



Chairs are 20 meters from the sea - separated by fine sand only.



Mangrove flowers on the beach 


Sally Lightfoot crabs



Empty beach


Wading bird


Coconut palm

Thursday, October 02, 2014

Galapagos Trip V: some plant shots

Lots of plants we usually don't see.

(Galapagos trip part Ipart IIpart III , part IV)


Coastal plant on Isabella.



Caldera Plant on Isabella.



Ferns growing on trees on Isabella



Remote place on Isabella, grasslike plant with flower on lava.



Acacia - full of thorns, a large tree mainly thorns, at the turtle breeding center on Isabella



Coastal thorn thicket



Close by the tutle breeding center - no idea what plant.



Hibiscus at the Centro Cultural Metropolitano in the center of Quito.



Same place in Quito



... and same place ....



A yucca, same place. 

Monday, September 22, 2014

Galapagos Trip IV - Animals on Isabella

Great snorkeling - although our guide at times seemed more interested in taping animals than guiding us to spots to see them.
Love the fish, sea anemones, wonderful urchins.

I followed a sea turtle, swam with sea lions and penguins, dove with sharks (small and large) and saw grey and black stingrays.



Sea Iguana - I saw one swim, too, but way to fast to take a picture. (And watching trumps taking pictures, anyway!)



Endemic Galapagos sea lion swirling the water. We could see them from the hotel, surfing the waves, and snorkeling around them was fun!




The little harbor on Isabella - great place to snorkel, too. There was a huge school of 'feed' fish attracting lots of other animals. Think of penguins, sea lions, pelicans diving.



Blue footed boobies. Yes, that's their name, and there are lots of T-shirts available with these.



One of many sea turtles we saw (including while snorkeling :-) ). What a beautiful sight when they glide through the water. 



Boobie with chick.



Flamingos, here! There are said to be around 400 flamingos native on Isabella, and they get their color from shrimp larvae. 



Beautiful - but not that eager to move, this one at least. Amazing how slow they move when grazing (on the rocks or under water). Pretty large, this one was at least 1.5 m including tail. 



Different dude, similar expression. 



Hm. Rocks in the water. 



Land iguana. Quite pretty.



Same species.


Sally Lightfoot crabs - famous for their colorful shells. Lots of black crabs, too, which are super hard to see on all the black lava rocks. 



Friday, September 19, 2014

Galapagos Trip III - Tortoises in the wild

Tortoises - (vs sea turtles) - 'Galopegos' gave the Galapagos Islands their name. After eaten to near extinction, some of the species have recovered to some extent, others are still struggling. These here live wild in a huge sanctuary.



Lots of birds like white sticks




Bees or wasps nest



Eating a guava - invasive and damaging on the Galapagos



Taking a mud bath to cool and get rid of bugs



Often just the nose holes stick out, even less than on this picture


A finch around the water hole



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