Dear Garrapatero Beach,
Thank you
so much for a lovely morning. As we drove in our big white bus and sat in the
blue leather seats, we overflowed with excitement and anticipation of our
meeting. Your beautiful blue and clear water is both enchanting and marvelous.
The water crashing over the countless large, grey lava rocks took our breath
away. Your lagoon revealed bright pink
flamingos feeding off micro-shrimp. Everyone was amazed by their knees that
bent backwards and the hidden black wings.
Thank you very much for letting those with energy kayak. We
saw many incredible creatures – sea turtles, marine iguanas, and sea lions. We
could see the brown-green spotty head of the sea turtles pop out of the water
and the most remarkable sea turtle experience – their mating. The male sea
turtle wrapped his long, brown flipper around the struggling female in order to
maintain their position of love. The black reptile with gray spikes along the
top of his head to the back of his lengthy tale swam a great distance. We
followed him swimming for around 200 feet. His spiny tail swiveled back and
forth in a motion similar to that of a shark. And finally, thank you for our
short but magical glimpse of a sea lion. Its brown, smooth, and shiny head with
long, yellow whiskers popped out of the water and was soon followed by the
splash from its brown tail. Our new friend had disappeared. Thank you so much
for letting us meet your friends.
For all of us who didn’t want to go kayaking, your white
sand beach blinded us and reflected the unbearable sun onto our bodies. Thanks
to our kikos, we were protected somewhat
from the hot Galapagos sun. Even though some of us didn’t necessarily enjoy
your waves and water, we were very thankful for our new finch friends under the
shady, long-reaching poison apple trees with each branch overlapping the others
creating a cover that protected us. We watched our friends, the finches, attack
the apples we brought for snack; they fought over it like it was territory.
When an apple core was left on the bench, the finches were so close we could
almost touch them. Even though some of us were too tired to go adventure in the
water, we want to thank you for not only the fun in the sun but also for
providing us with shady trees to rest and recharge for the rest of our
activities.
Thanks to this nice adventure and recharge, we were prepared
for the rest of our day. We stopped and admired the largest crater on Santa
Cruz - Cerro Mesa - that was previously a volcano. At the restaurant, we were tricked by Dr.
Clayton and Ms. Fleming into thinking we were eating a unique Ecuadorian
cuisine - guinea pig. Fortunately, we later discovered that we were just eating
chicken after all. After leaving the restaurant we went to the sublime lava
tunnel and observed the wavy walls. There was a hole in the middle of the
ceiling where the light shined through allowing a small but lush bright green
plant life. After 20 minutes in the lava tunnel, we hopped back on the white
tourist bus and journeyed with wind in our face to the Charles Darwin Research Center.
The half-mile trek with occasional shade to save us from the blazing sun
allowed us to observe a whole new species of turtles and two land iguanas. The
shell of these Española turtles was unusually high – showing an odd view of
their flexible, brown, and wrinkly necks. Finally, we ended the day by shopping
for souvenirs and gifts in Puerto Ayora. We were all very blessed to get a
better glimpse of the culture, the people, and the economy of the Galapagos.
None of the later events of today could have occurred without the great start
you gave us.
Thank you again,
Hannah, Chelsea, and Lauren
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