March 19 – Word of the Day: Agridulce (Bittersweet)
So today was our last day in the Galapagos and the word of the day is bittersweet because it´s so hard to leave such and amazing place but at the same time I´m also excited to continue onward for more adventures. We began the morning with another delicious breaksfast before heading to the Charles Darwin Research Station. The station is a specialized breeding and rearing center for the endangered Galapagos Giant Tortoise. It happens to be a working branch of the international non-profit – Charles Darwin Foundation – which strives to protect and maintain the delicate ecosystems within each island. On our way in, J found a friend. 🙂
We were able to observe baby tortoises at vary stages of their lives from teensy turtles to giants!
The babies were cute but something about these giant tortoises made me wish I could give them a hug!!
After wrapping up at the research station, we headed back to the bus for a ride back to the channel. On the trip back we stopped to see Los Gemelos or “the twins” which are twin craters of sunken lava formed thousands of years ago. Unfortunately for me, I get excited and try to take pictures while walking… note to self – don´t take pictures while covering dangerous terrain. I slipped on some of the rocks and cut open my hand and foot and scraped my leg. What luck!!! 😦 Oh well, if that´s the worst that happens, it´ll be fine. I mean… I already survived a killer wasp attack. I can handle ANYTHING. 🙂
Upon arriving at the channel (and after cleaning my wounds with alcohol swabs and bandaging myself up) we took the ferry over to Baltra for our flight out. Later that afternoon we arrived in Guayaquil and relaxed a bit, grabbing a drink with another couple – Tony and Linda from our tour group. Later, one of the Canadian couples joined too so we had a fun time getting to know them.
Tomorrow we´ll spend the day enjoying and exploring Guayquil before we leave Ecuador to head to Peru!
andyoumaysayimadreamer 