Wall of Tears

Today, we went to the Wall of Tears. It was built in the 1940's by 300 prisoners, who were sent to the Island to serve out their sentence doing hard, manual labor.  They were supposed to build their own prison, but only got around to completing the first wall. Four years after the prisoners arrived on Isabela, most of them escaped and in 1959 the penal colony was freed. There's me in front of the Wall. Pretty appropriate expression, don't you think?

The tortoise picture was taken as we were walking from the Wall of Tears back to the Taxi that took us home. I don't know what it is about tortoises, but I guess I like 'em. 

Snorkeling in Tintoreras

Tintoreras are what they call white-tipped sharks over here. So when I learned that we would be snorkeling over by Tintoreras Bay, my first question was, naturally, "Are there going to be sharks?" "Yes," the local guides laughed. "That is the point! You will see sharks, sting rays, penguins, sea lions, everything." OK, but isn't there a big difference between getting up close and personal with a penguin and getting up close and personal with a shark?

Turns out the shark thing wasn't so bad. We snorkeled by a group of 5 them, just hanging out underneath of a lava reef, probably sleeping. Not gonna lie, I was glad when we got back on the boat shortly afterwards. But the morning was pretty awesome. We did see everything they promised, and more. Hopefully soon, I will learn how to upload more than one picture in a way that doesn't make the website painfully slow. Until then, enjoy this cute little guy napping en el sol.

Turtles, turtles, and more turtles!

Ok, so they're not really turtles, they're tortoises. But since I'm 'kno turtul skolar', I figured I could title this entry with the word 'turtles,' and not lose too much credibility. After all, all tortoises are turtles, right? Something like that. At any rate, after a one-hour walking tour of the little Island of Isabela, Galapagos, we got a 3 hour-tour of a wetlands area, the highlight of which was the Ameldo Tupizo Tortoise Breeding Center. I even shot a 10-second video of a little guy pulling himself into his shell as the big, scary researcher approached. Enjoy!

First blogging job ever.

Hello, and welcome to my blog! This blog was started in May 2009 when 5 "team members," one leader and 3 members of her immediate family were sent to the Galapagos Islands to produce news-worthy articles and on online magazine about issues affecting the Galapagos Islands. From Eco-Tourism to life on one of the more remote islands in the Galapagos, we are charged with bringing it all to life in an interesting, albeit factual way. Happy Reading!