Musings

Took the hotel shuttle to the airport, and went through special bureaucratic hoops to initiate our entrance into the Galápagos province. Our flight was on an Airbus, with new seats. And new vocabulary: código QR and rodaje. The latter means when taxi-ing.

Here’s our plane disgorging tourists (and a few locals). We found more bureaucratic hoops in the terminal, nothing that wasn’t solved by standing in line and presenting documents.

However, the airport is on Baltra, and we wanted to be on Santa Cruz, and there were many sturdy ferries to move us…

…and our luggage across the Itabasca channel. Yes, that’s the boat we rode in, and that’s our luggage on the roof. Darned sturdy roof.

Our first stop was a turtle sanctuary, where we ate lunch. Having gotten out of bed at 4:40, and it being after one (plus one time zone change), during which time we had little food and no coffee…we were darned glad to tuck into a superb spread cooked by the chef and team from our yacht, Grace. After dining, we donned lovely rubber boots, and took a stroll.

Here’s one of our two guides helping us understand the intricacies of tortoise life, love, and subsistence.

Most of the tortoises we saw were large males, which are typically about three times the size of the females.

We even got to see a lava tube. These are volcanic islands, like the Hawaiian archipelago, but much, much smaller.

Refreshed and excited from many turtle sightings, we bussed through Puerto Ayora to the harbor.

Right by where we put on our life jackets, a pregnant mama sea lion was zoned out while her very large offspring was dining on all milk s/he could extract.

Fascinating feet. Flippers.

We rode on pangas (dinghies) out to the Grace. Wonderful to have arrived at our home-for-a-week. Gorgeous sunset over Puerto Ayora.

And a giant moon in the opposite direction. This is the largest yacht allowed to ferry tourists in Galápagos waters. It has 100 guests. The Grace hosts sixteen.

Reminder: when the post time is 10:22 pm, it was posted at some point after the day it is dated.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Making tracks

First daylight view from our window, second floor. You can’t see the airport runways, a bit off to the right.

And here’s the hotel, viewed from over an irrigation channel.

Lupin, bush form—I think the seeds were/are harvested.

Didn’t recognize this. Online info suggests an Dalea species, perhaps Dalea coerulea.

Boulevard development appears to be stalled.

More lot development needed.

An older neighborhood. Note vacas.

Abandoned house. Note emptiness behind windows.

A more successful neighborhood.

Veggie operation, looks like beans.

Almost back to the hotel. That large bush on the right is a castor bean (Ricinus communis)—called a bean, yet not a Fabaceae bean, as in the field above. Do not eat castor beans.

Hotel flower. You knew I had to include a flower close-up.

Expect no posts for eight(ish) days. I’ll delay-post when I return to internet accessibility. Me, spouse, hat, masks, etc are headed west to Pacific isles aka the Galápagos.

Posted at 5:05 PM | 2 Comments »

We did a bit of outdoor socializing this evening. We had a storm cell come through before we convened, and it brought the temps down (yay!). So, it was quite pleasant, then the sun returned and the temp rose and the humidity re-blanketed us. That’s the way it goes.

Posted at 7:52 PM | Comments Off on Ice in our drinks

OTP in these parts means outside the perimeter, or away from the core of ATL metro and beyond the encircling Interstate. And we indeed passed beyond that limit, traveling all the way to Athens for a few brief hours of socializing, then, returning and catching this view of Stone Mountain en route. Ignore the myriad of power lines.

Posted at 7:23 PM | Comments Off on OTP

Shy rose? Petal screening privates, you might say.

Shy Olympics? Clouds screening upper slopes and peaks. One gorgeous day, however.

Posted at 7:05 PM | Comments Off on Anthropomorphizing

It appears that a spider found this protected spot to weave, and the rain stayed in the web rather than falling through. I wonder if the droplets have teeny critters zipping around in them.

Posted at 7:43 PM | Comments Off on Another world

So many lovely patterns in fern-world. Even the spines of the fronds have complexities.

I focused on the insect, and the whole photo looks mis-composed. My ID app says it’s a carpet beetle, Anthrenus species. On what I would call a potentilla, but apparently it’s not classified as a potentilla anymore, and is now a Dasiphora species and commonly called cinquefoil, a term previously used when it was a Potentilla species.

I know that taxonomists are turning to genetics for classification information, and finding groupings not recognized based on morphology and geography. Plus the Linnaean taxonomic system doesn’t have room for the hybrids and variations, etc., they can now distinguish. As I understand it.

For now, I’ll stick to looking for visual interest, as in the fern-patterns above, and avoid taxonomic mysteries.

Posted at 6:54 PM | Comments Off on Self-defense

Good omen. Also shading into fog to the left….

Bicolor beauties.

DYSWIS: do you see what I see

Posted at 8:58 PM | Comments Off on DYSWIS?

Sometimes, IMHO, plant sequences like opening buds aren’t predictable.

This doesn’t seem unexpected.

However, the open blooms are far more complex than the buds suggest. And the color shifts a bit. These are all from the same bush.

Posted at 10:32 PM | Comments Off on Communing with MaNachur

We changed three time zones, and traveled via train, plane, bus, and rental car. And I’m taaaahrd.

Posted at 10:42 PM | Comments Off on Sunset behind the Olympics