I'll try to bring you up to date this time. As we told you in closing the Machu Picchu blog, we returned to Quito on the 12th, did laundry on Sunday the 13th and left early on the 14th for the GalapagosIslands. Caryl had been bemoaning the pace and I was silly enough to suggest that we would get some relaxing time on the ship. HA!!!

We flew into Baltra on Baltra Island (also known as south Seymour Island. We got to the ship in time for lunch and then to our first briefing prior to the afternoon excursion.Our hopes of relaxation were shattered with the director's opening words "This is not a cruise - this is an expedition!!!!!!"

The islands are located about 1000 km off the west coast of Ecuador to which they belong. We were told that the group consists of 15 main islands, 3 smaller islands, and 107 rocks and islets. It is also atop the "Galapagos Hotspot", a place where the Earth's crust is being melted from belowcreating volcanoes. The oldest island is thought to have formed between 5 million and 10 million years ago. The youngest islands, Isabela and Fernandina, are still being formed, with the most recent eruption in April 2009.

The Galápagos islands and its surrounding waters form one of Ecuadors provinces, a National Park and a Biological Marine Reserve. The islands have a population of around 23,000 and it is very difficult to get a resident permit to live there.

The cost to enter the park varies from $10 to $100 per person - we non resident foreigners paid $100 each.

We are all familiar with Charles Darwin and his most famous book "On the Origin of Species" but I, for one, was not aware that most of his research on his theory of natural selection was done in five short weeks.

But back to our own "expedition" - wake up was at 7AM each morning with breakfast at 7:15 - no need for glamour on an expedition.The 80 (or so) of us were divided into about 8 groups. By 8:30 the groups were being called to disembark from the ship into zodiacs and taken to the shore for the first of two daily hikes. Sometimes we had dry landings but often we had to jump into the water and wade to shore. One wet landing was particularly wild with high waves pounding the shore and everyone soaking wet to the waist or higher.

Fortunately, they had short walks as well as long ones and I went on the short walks with the "rest of the old and the disabled"!!!! Our naturalist was always very gentle with us.

The "long hikers" were usually back by 11:30, then lunch and a short rest before the afternoon hike began.In the evening and before dinner, we had a briefing detailing the next days "adventures" . By the time dinner was finished, we all stumbled into bed. During the nights, the ship moved from one island to another and on a few occasions, we even moved during lunch.

I won't go into details of the species we saw but most noteworthy were:

·Galápagos land iguanas

·Marine iguana,

·Galápagos giant tortoise - known as galápago in Spanish, it gave the name to the islands

·Galápagos green turtle

·Sea cucumbers - an Asian delicacy

·Flightless cormorant

·Great frigatebird and magnificent frigatebird

·Blue-footed booby - popular among visitors for their large blue feet which they show off in courtship

·Galápagos penguin - the only living tropical penguin

·Waved albatross - the only living tropical albatross

·Galápagos hawk - the islands' main scavenger and "environmental police"

·Galápagos sea lions

Our pictures tell the rest of the story including the mating giant tortoise - it takes four hours and a great deal of grunting to complete his job. No, we did not hang around till the end.

On Friday afternoon we flew back to Quito to be picked up once again by "Mama and Papa" Beuno. We would never have survived these past six weeks without having a "home" to come back to. Yes, on Saturday we did laundry and moved to a hotel on Sunday as they have two other couples coming to stay at their house prior to the Latin American Retrouvaille Conference that starts on Thursday and closes on Sunday afternoon. In the meantime, we are enjoying the relaxation for the first time since we left home in early January.

Now for some sad news.Fernando and Ana Luz Bueno, the immediate past coordinators, have been organizing this conference from its' inception and as the day draws nearer and nearer, the stress has been building. Delegates have been arriving since this past weekend and Fernando and Ana Luz have been personally trying to greet each couple and priest as they arrive. They are, in fact, hosting two couples, that arrive today, in their own home.

On Saturday night, while a group of us met at the new coordinators home, Beuno's received word that their daughter Gaby, eight months pregnant had begun to dilate. Gaby's pregnancy has been a critical one from the early stages with several high risk medical concerns, one of which is that Gaby is close to forty years of age. Last night her water broke and she was rushed to hospital. They induced labor this morning and we kept in touch with Ana Luz as the day progressed. About an hour ago, she called to say that Gaby is fine but Raphaela is an angel in heaven.

This may well be the last blog entry as I doubt that we will have internet connection at the retreat centre and we will probably not have time to write even if there is a connection.

So - hasta luego.

PS - We should return to sunny warm Edmonton late on 28 Feb 2011