Hello all from the Galagagos Islands.
After another truely horrible sleep at the Hostal Suites Madrid, I am going to stop going on reviews on tripadvisor (we could have slept on the street it may have been quieter), we got up early and made our way to the airport for our flight to Baltra.

This is where everything has changed.
We got off the plane and our transfer was waiting. Although the hoops you have to jump through just to get out of the airport is impressive. Our tickets, passes and luggage got checks no less than three times!

As we made our way across to Santa Cruz island across the ferry, we saw our first booby ;) The blue footed booby is the galapagos´ most famous bird. It isnt endemic but has feet that look like they have been dipped in blue paint. They were so much bigger than we expected as well unfortunately too far away for a photo.

And then it was onto our hotel, Semilla Verde. It is run by an English ex-pat Rob and his Ecuadorian wife, Daisy. We can not talk up Rob enough. He speaks more than me, yep I know thats hard to believe, and has more energy than Phil, again surprising I know.
We were shown to our room and wow is the only way to describe it. Ill put some photos up next time. Semilla Verde is his mid life crisis and if this is a mid life crisis I think Phil and I are about to have one.

Things to ponder;
How old do you have to be before you qualify for a mid-life crisis?

After a traditional Ecuadorian lunch (i'm going to try and con the chicken recipe out of Daisy) it was off to the Highlands. Rob truely loves his guiding. He is an absolute wealth of knowledge due to his 7 plus years of doing guides.

First stop was Los Gemelos, the twin craters in the highlands. These were produced due to volcanic activity and when the magma chamber below became empty the top section collapsed causing the big craters. They have since revegetated. The local scalesia tree is found here, in huge numbers although sadly the native vegetation is being overtaken by introduced plants.

Interesting Fact:
The Scalesia tree is a member of the sunflower family.

Due to the higher rainfall the forest of the highlands is thick and dense.

There was a large number of finches calling and flying around. The vermillion flycatcher is the hardest and rarest bird in the Galapagos and unfortunately were too elusive for us.
 
It was then onto the lava tunnels. These tunnels are prolific in the highland area and some of them are known to continue for up to 3km!! We were let off at one end and what was when we entered was there was no one else in there. About half way through we encountered a school group. The next thing we knew the lighting that did exist in there (and it wasn't much) went off. Hmm a bit unnerving and eerie but gave us a whole new perspective of the tunnels.

Back into the 4WD and onto our first look at the Galapagos tortoises. The tortoises stay on one local property pretty much year round just making their way up and down from the coast during the year.   Although as it turns out Rob has two still hanging around at his place, should be nice to wake up to! Into the forest we went and we didn't have to go far before we saw our first tortoise.

Nuzzled into the mud it is one of their favourite sleeping and resting spots. They spend most of their time doing this. A little further on in another mud puddle were two more.  Rob was quick to tell us that at this time of year they start moving back to the coast, so we were thrilled to be seeing them. We moved further into the forest and came across a 500 pound tortoise lumbering around the scrub.

I think we were both in awe of how a tortoise of such weight could move around quite so easily. Feasting on the ripened fruit it had so much to choose from it usually didn't end up finishing one before moving onto the next. For most of the year they eat plants so the fruit is pretty special for them.  After watching this magnificent creature it was back to the house to look at the old shells and bones. This was the end of our highland tour and we both we really excited that our expectations of Galapagos seem to be spot on.

It was then into Puerto Ayora for a walk around and tea. We were dropped off into town and found that the warm and slightly muggy weather was just perfect to relax in with a cold beer.

After a couple of beautifully cooked seafood dishes and another couple of beers we headed back to Semilla Verde for an early night before our first boat tour to Sante Fe island.
More on that one next time.